Candidates declare contracts

| 21/04/2009

(CNS): Two of the candidates contesting the forthcoming general election have revealed interests in government contracts as required by the constitution. The list of interests reveals that in the district of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman MLA Moses Kirkconnell has interest in Brac Information Centre, among others, which has agreements with several government entities and candidate for George Town Burns Conolly reveals his business also has a considerable number of diverse government contracts.

As well as Brac informatics Kirkconnell also listed retailer Kirkconnell Ltd. where government entities might also purchase products; Cayman Brac Power and Light which provides electricity to the Sister Islands; and Moses Kirkconnell/Mabry Kirkconnell which rents office space on Cayman Brac to government.

Conolly reports his interest in his firm the Burns Conolly Group Limited which has design and engineering contracts for the Summary Courts building and the Law School; a design architect contract with APEC for new MRCU aircraft hangars; and outstanding fees due from the Port Authority on a 2002-2005 project management contract. He also lists his interest in Secure Cayman Ltd. which does locksmith works for various government entities, although no specific contracts are in place.

According to section 19(1)(g) of the Cayman Islands (Constitution) Order 1972 no one can stand for election if they do not first declare what interests they have with government publically. It states: “No person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the Assembly who…is a party to, or a partner in a firm or a director or manager of a company which is a party to, any contract with the Government of the Islands for or on account of the public service and has not, in the case of a contested election, caused to be published, at least one month before the day of the poll, a Government Notice setting out the nature of such contract and his interest, or the interest of any such firm or company, therein;…”

Both candidates made the deadline as their interests have been published in the 20 April government gazette. Any candidates that have forgotten to declare or have chosen not to reveal possible government interest will now be breaking the law if they continue to run for office.

 

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Category: Election 2009

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  1. Anonymous says:

    Having a contract with government and doing ad-hoc work with them is actually 2 different things. If I have a retail store and government comes in to buy my products that is different than being given a government contract that a bid/tender went out for. Let’s make sure we understand the difference as we engage in this discussion!

  2. Anonymous says:

    This Article should not have been posted by CNS before end of day yesterday; all candidates had until that time to declare their interests.  CITN’s news boradcast yesterday evening confirmed that all candidates other than four had declared their interests….Kurt Tibbetts is not one of the four! 

    • Anonymous says:

      There are two separate issues here..which is confusing the public and obviously CITN.

      All candidates are supposed to register their interest in companies and in shareholding, with the Legislative Assembly by Nomination day. All but four did apparently.

      This issue however is a Constitutional Issue…section 19-1(g) of the Constitution automatically disqualifies anyone from running if they fail to have published any contracts with the Government by “Government notice” (ie The Official Gazette) at least 30 days prior to polling….

      As of this morning, only the two candidates mentioned in the article have done so. Maybe the others do not have any interests in companies that have contracts, they would be okay. see http://www.gov.ky under “Gazettes” under “extraordinary gazettes” and you will see that only two have and no other Gazettes have been posted yesterday as well. It is now impossible to comply with this thus candidates that have contracts with the Government and did not declare must stand down.

  3. Transparency Watch says:

    We Need To Find out..

     

    Does Mark Scotland not have contracts with NRA, Goverment?

    Does Dwayne Seymour not have contracts at the airport?

    Does Anthony Eden not have contracts from the medical side?

    Does Kurt Tibbetts not still have contracts with Govt?

    Does Eddie Thompson not do printing etc for Govt?

    Does Mike Adam not involved in some medical insurance thing?

    Does CG not have contracts too? What about Rolton Anglin-no accounting business?

     

    I ask by way of this media for each and every candidate, who did not declare by Monday, to confirm publicly that they do not have interests in any entity that has a government contract.  I also ask that the Elections Office request an affidavit from each candidate to confirm the same.

  4. Caymanians for change says:
    With respect to any candidate that is running for political office in this election we as Caymanians should be discerning in our choice for leadership  and consider the qualities that we are looking for in those that hold themselves up for public office. What did we learn from the Cliffordgate situation in the investigation of Charles (Chuckie) Clifford and the decision  from the Commission of Enquiry into the allegations surrounding the removal of files commissioned by Gov Stuart Jack and why, which was reported by Sir Richard Tucker. Chuckie was not exonerated and some of us wonder whether there would have been a different result if he was judged in  another country.
     
    The six senior civil servants who all served as permanent secreatries and gave compelling evidence and unanimously said that there should be a hiatus period between retirement and eligibility to stand for election to the Legislative Assembly.
     
    Sir Richard Tucker said
     
    "There is to my mind something disquieting and uncomfortable about a situation where a permanent secretary who has been working closely with a minister should be able to resign, taking with him political information which he has obtained in the course of his employment and then be entitled to stand shortly afterwards as a political opponent of his former minister for election"
     
    "I have made it plain that in my opinion Mr Clifford had no right to remove them when he resigned from office in 2004" and he did not receive any written approval. Mr Clifford admitted that the documents were confidential.
     
    "There was a prima facie breach by Mr Clifford of the General Orders by communicating to the press documents which came into his possession in his official capacity. There was also a breach of the well known duty of confidentiality.
     
    "There is no doubt and it is not disputed that it was accurately reported in the Cayman Net News that supporting documents for articles which appeared in that newspaper were hard copies of minutes and other documents supplied to the newspaper by Mr Clifford."
     
    "..greater attention needs to be paid to the question of the security of government documents by requiring retiring officers to surrender them (and if need be by shredding them) in order to prevent their disclosure or unauthorised use".
     
    Sir Richard Tucker has problems with with eplanations given by Chuckie:
     
    "Firstly it is doubtful whether Mr Clifford did complain to the Governor in any meaningful way andit was certain that he did not complain to anyone in authority; Secondly there is the timing of his disclosure to the press. Therefore the evidence tends to suggest that Mr Clifford acted for personal political purposes rather than altruistic reasons" "The evidence leads me to the conclusion that Mr Clifford’s reasons for acting as he did were not related to the public interest but to his own political ambitions".
     
    Caymanians for Change
    • Anonymous says:

      Caymanian for Change,

      "Chuckie was not exonerated and some of us wonder whether there would have been a different result if he was judged in  another country".

      If this were in a different country? Other countries wish they had this as a ‘scandal’. You certainly would not see a Commission of Enquiry about it.

      Why wasn’t there a Commission of Enquiry concerning McKeeva’s involvement with First Cayman Bank? Now that was a real scandal. How about a Commission of Enquiry over Frank McField’s Affordable Housing Initiative activities?

      Much ado about nothing.

  5. Anonymous says:

    So, let me get this straight any candidates that have forgotten to declare or have chosen not to reveal possible government interest will now be breaking the law if they continue to run for office.  So does this mean that Dwayne Seymour is running illegally?  He is running, always using his "experience" on his ownership of his company. 

    Has anyone questioned Pearlina McGraw’s interest as Director in a company which has government contracts?

    It seems that UDP isn’t following the "rules", so now who enforces the rules??????

     

  6. Susan Mearse says:

    Kurt should declare which other businesses he intends to run into the ground and then not pay his debts until he is sued.  At least he runs the country the same way as he runs his businesses.

  7. big bout ya says:

    Some people need to stop trying to transfer their business interest to family members and please remember your wife is considered one under the marriage law. The foreign money is flowing Cayman especially from these Big Construction companies got to keep them projects rolling aaaah Cayman. remember second oldest profession is politics and it is closely link to the first . Yes i too want to see certain politicians interest .

  8. frank rizzo says:

    In the recent Turks and Caicos Commission of Inquiry, Sir Robin’s first line of questioning of the elected members concerned the Declarations of Interests, which to a person almost, were either non-existent or grossly inadequate.  We know the outcome of the Inquiry thus far, does Cayman want to follow?

    • Anonymous says:

      Clifford: Enquiry

      What could be more relevant – an enquiry in the turks and caicos, or the enquiry here in the Cayman Islands where we discovered that Clifford acted wrongly?

      PPM is pathetic.

      • Anonymous says:

        I voted for Mr. Clifford last election and will be doing so again on May 20th.  I don’t think he did anthing wrong I think he was showing the people of Cayman what McKeeva was doing in the dark……

        Whatever happened to First Cayman Bank and McKeeva?  Why don’t the UDP people talk about that.

        • A Wally Whittaker Supporter says:

          Have Sense!

          Why would the people vote back into office someone who has done absolutely nothing but bring shame and disgrace on public office by being found to have acted improperly before a Tribunal of Enquiry?

          • Anonymous says:

            Wally Whittaker Supporter,

            As for shame and disgrace Ask Twyla what she thinks of your candidate and why. 

            That Tribunal of Enquiry nonsense was simply a waste of time and money. That pales in comparison to the shenanigans of the UDP.  Who is the only Minister ever to be removed from office for scandal? Yet his constituents keep voting him back.  

            • Anonymous says:

              I’mglad to know that someone can remember what happened to McKeeva and First Cayman Bank.

              If McKeeva is such a good leader what happen to the rest of his party (Frank, Gilbert, Roy , Lynford and Lyndon)?  Also I can remember Mark Scotland saying last election that he wasn’t elected because of his association with UDP…….  As for Mr. Ellio he is cut from the same material as McKeeva. 

              God help this Country if the UDP gets elected because of people like DC will begin to rule this Country again.  At least with the PPM everything is done through a bidding process, unlike the UDP.

              I can proudly say this is one Government that we haven’t heard about any corruption….. 

               

        • Anonymous says:

          You cannot be seriously comparing Clifford’s enquiry with the Turks & Caicos corruption scandal that will lead to the suspension of their constitution. Judging by your lack of undersytanding you must be a UDP Supporter. 

      • frank rizzo says:

        Clifford: Enquiry  Just trying to stay on topic. My comment is relevant to declarations. What does the Clifford enquiry have to do with declarations? Candidates who fail to comply with statutory requirements are inviting potentially detrimental attention.

  9. Anonymous says:

    I think the declaration of interests is a wonderful exercise that moves our country forward with respect to transparency.

    Does the Honorable Kurt Tibbetts have contracts with govt? Does Dwayne "Jon Jon" Seymour have contracts with the CIAA/Airport?

    This measure will only be effective if it is enforced by the elections office. Such enforcement may be highly unlikely considering the way our system is set up and the culture of lack of holding people accountable. Who was held accountable for  the Dr. Syed fiasco, the Helicopter payments, Charles Clifford being found guilty of wrongdoing? I wonder who has/will be held responsible for the lax guarding of prisoners on work release?

    On another note, I would advocate the elections law even go a step further and request that all candidates declare who their donors are, how much they donated and prohibit money from overseas being used to finance/influence Cayman elections.

  10. Anonymous says:

    Does he think we are stupid?  The only reasons I can think of that Kirt and the rest of the candidates with government interests did not declare them are: they are too lazy to do so, they do not care enough to do so, they have something to hide, or they think that their fellow Caymanians are too stupid to notice that they failed to do so.  How the candidates are acting now is a true indication of how they will continue to act if they are elected.  Do we really want lazy, oblivous, apathetic, sneaky, and/or condescending leaders for our island?  It is time to start holding people accoutable for their actions.  Bravo Burns and Moses, your sense of responsibility is acknowledged and applauded.

  11. Anonymous says:

    Does he think we are stupid?  All of the comments recently have been about how so many policies are already in place, but not being enforced and being ignored.  And rightly so.  Are we not a civilized island?  Do we not believe in checks and balances like the rest of the democratic free world?  This is a BLATANT example of people ignoring the constituional regulations.  Either Kirt Tibbitts is too lazy to declare his government interests, doesn’t care enough to bother doing so, has something to hide, or thinks that his fellow Caymanians are too stupid to notice that he has failed to do so.  We will show him otherwise – let’s start holding people accountable!

  12. Anonymous says:

    I AM SURE that more of those candidates have Government Contracts.

    Doesn’t Hon. Kurt Tibbetts have the contract to print for Government??
    Does that mean he cannot run in this elections??

    WOW!!!

    • Anonymous says:

      Not so sure that Kurt still owns this business at all. Was this not another one of his failed business attempts and he had to sell it???!!!

  13. Anonymous says:

    Once again these type of laws and rules are ignored, I just listened to the Rooster North side debate apparently none of the candidates have been transparent with their disclosure of their financial interests.

    It is the same old story…The media needs to houn d these candidates and not be party to any collusion.

     

  14. Anonymous says:

    Kurt?

    Don’t tell me that Kurt Tibbetts doesn’t have any interests in Government contracts. Come on kurty get it off your chest. Go declare.