Government News: Top Stories

Embattled Turks and Caicos leader to resign

The Associated Press Translate This Article
13 February 2009

PROVIDENCIALES, Turks and Caicos (AP) - Jet-setting Prime Minister Michael Misick said Friday he will step down as leader of the Turks and Caicos Islands at the end of March, citing a lack of support for his scandal-plagued government.

The surprise announcement came hours after the deputy prime minister resigned over differences with Misick, whose big-spending, Hollywood lifestyle helped turn the Turks and Caicos into a celebrity hotspot. But it also fueled a corruption probe in the British territory, a Caribbean island chain 600 miles (1,000 kilometers) southeast of Miami.

'What the country and our party needs now more than ever is stability and certainty,' Misick said during a press conference in his office. 'I have tried in recent weeks to create this. It now appears to me that the divide within the party is too deep.'

Misick said he would step down as party leader on Feb. 28 and resign as prime minister on March 31.

The island's opposition party leader applauded the announcement.

'His resignation is long overdue,' said Floyd Seymour of the People's Democratic Movement. 'He owed the country an apology for causing it so much embarrassment. The entire government should also resign because they condoned a lot of the things that he had done.'

With two private jets on call and a Hollywood actress wife, Misick lived like the stars who inhabit the islands where Ben Affleck married, Eva Longoria honeymooned and designer Donna Karan owns a home.

He says his lifestyle allowed him to court high-end developers and helped put the British territory on the map. Since he took office, the gross domestic product in the territory of 22,000 people has more than doubled to $750 million—largely through a resort-building boom.

But his financial dealings also are the focus a British investigative commission that is looking into allegations of corruption, including that Misick and other officials profited from the sale of government-owned land.

The 43-year-old London-educated lawyer and realty broker was elected in 2003 to lead the islands after eight years in the opposition. In 2007, he was sworn in for a second four-year term after leading his party to a sweeping victory, capturing all but two of 15 parliamentary seats.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Floyd Hall, who resigned Friday, said Misick's decision to halt a legislative session in December as lawmakers moved to enter a no-confidence vote against him effectively brought the government to a standstill. Hall also served as finance minister.

Hall's announcement came one day after the resignation of another Cabinet member, Home Affairs Minister Galmo Williams, who said he would challenge Misick for the governing party's leadership in a vote later this month.

Misick named Lillian Boyce as the new deputy prime minister after ousting her from Cabinet last month, the government information service said Friday.

Boyce was among those who requested in December that Misick be removed because legislators no longer had confidence in him. Nine of 13 parliamentarians of Misick's ruling Progressive National Party signed the letter.

Copyright © 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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