PPM queries integrity of FS
(CNS): Leader of the Opposition Kurt Tibbetts has accused Leader of Government Business McKeeva Bush of gross misrepresentation regarding government finances and questioned the competence and integrity of Financial Secretary Ken Jefferson. “The fundamentally different positions taken by the financial secretary in a matter of mere weeks and the radically different advice that he has given to the former and present governments raises serious issues not only about the state of the finances of the country but also about the competence and integrity of the financial secretary,” he said.
In the wake of recent claims by Bush that the projected operational deficit at the end of June of $29 million was now expected to be $74 million and that the country’s reserves had declined from the previously projected $126 million to CI$17 million, Tibbetts has raised serious doubts. The opposition leader pointed out that for the advice and guidance provided to the Cabinet by the Portfolio of Finance and Economics to have changed so much in such a short period raises serious questions and has demanded an immediate meeting of Finance Committee to scrutinize the sudden and radical differences.
Tibbetts explained that the opposition, which now includes four members of the former Cabinet, had delayed their statement in response to Bush in order to analyze the claims he had made. “We have concluded that much of what has been said by the LoGB in his recent statement grossly misrepresents the actual financial position of the country,” Tibbetts said.
The opposition leader said that on 5 May Jefferson had set out the actual state of government finances as of 31 March 2009. “These were not projections, but the actual numbers,” Tibbetts added. “According to the Cabinet Note … the actual operational deficit of the government as at 31st March 2009 was $18.8M.”
Tibbetts said that Cabinet was informed that the actual cash balances of the government as of that date were $110 million, made up of unrestricted cash of $29 million and restricted cash of $80 million.
“The financial secretary also assured Cabinet that the projected operational deficit of $29M and projected cash balances of $126M at the end of June were holding true,” the opposition leader stated.
He said that the figures given by Bush on 12 June to the country were a deliberate misrepresentation designed to make the stewardship of the country’s finances by the PPM look as bad as possible.
“And we say this notwithstanding that the financial secretary has recently been reported as confirming the allegation that the projected deficit has now been revised upward to the huge sum of $74M,” Tibbetts said. “There is something radically wrong with the picture painted by the LoGB and apparently endorsed by the financial secretary. The variance between the previous projections made by the financial secretary to the PPM Government and the recent announcement by the LoGB is so great that it defies belief.”
He added, “No amount of incompetence could possibly have led to projections which were so hopelessly off. There must be another explanation. It is inconceivable that the financial secretary has suddenly discovered that the advice and information which he consistently provided to Cabinet over the course of the past year and right up to the eve of the elections was completely wrong.”
Tibbetts suggested that either the PPM Cabinet was deliberately and consistently misled by the financial secretary or the true position is now being misrepresented to paint as bleak a financial picture as possible.
“In view of the gravity of this matter, I call on the financial secretary to immediately convene a meeting of Finance Committee in order that the true state of the finances of the country can be properly enquired into and made known to the public,” Tibbetts demanded. He said that broad and sweeping statements such as the one made by the LoGB on 12 June were not satisfactory given the financial secretary’s previous advice to the PPM Cabinet only two weeks before the elections.
“There are issues that demand explanation and questions which require answers by both the LoGB and the financial secretary and I call upon the financial secretary to explain to the country the basis for the vastly different state of the government’s finances,” the PPM leader said.
He also called on Jefferson to explain what instructions he had received from the present government regarding the management of government finances and if they had caused him to revise his earlier projections regarding the state of the government’s finances.
Tibbetts asked if any policy decisions been taken by the present government regarding additional expenditure during the present fiscal year which has negatively impacted the projected operational deficit or cash balances of the government.
“What is the current undrawn balance of the CI$154M loan facility which was approved by Finance Committee in May of last year for use during the current fiscal year? Is it proposed that the entire approved loan of CI$154M be drawn down and utilized in the present fiscal year and what will be the impact on the government’s finances if the entire loan amount is not drawn down in the current fiscal year?” he also asked.
Tibbetts said he and his opposition colleagues do not believe the statement made by the LoGB truthfully reflects the present financial position of the government. “I call on the financial secretary to publicly answer the questions I have posed and to convene a meeting of Finance Committee immediately so that these important issues and others raised by the LoGB in his statement can be properly ventilated and the true state of the government’s finances can be made known,” he added.
Read Kurt Tibbetts’ full statement here.
Category: Headline News
Have been hearing a little griping already about not being able to spend any money without Appropriations. Just wondering at what point someone is going to step up to the plate and make the call to fix the election cycle so this is not the case for ever. Imagine if the PPM had campaigned on the premise of asking for 3 1/2 more years to finish what they started, or called the election for November 2008 when they may have still had enough support to pull it off…..
I heard a lady on rooster to Mr. KT yesterday complaining about people are in their cars sleeping and aren’t eating for days …and PPM ran the Country in a mess that Social Services has no money to give Caymanians who do you think is getting the money it is Caymanians however ppl that Mac made Caymanians.. I have a tenant who got Caymanian Status from the generous give away and she stays home don’t work and rely on Social Services no joke.. they buy her groceries and clothe her and her children that are not Caymanian either.. my point Social Service is on a strain from these paper Caymanians ..so don’t complain about them honestly.. PPM however had to pour more money into Social Service which also help run up that deficit we are facing now!
How I see it positions like the FS and AG should be changed every 8 years… I wonder if PPM was re elected if these figures would have risen. I wonder if they only suddenly appeared becos Mac is Back XXXXXX…I really doubt PPM made a deficit of $74 Mill it sounds surreal the deficit went up and the income we made all of a sudden went down??? … I know they did a lot for the country but geez $154 million missing?? We deserve some answers…XXXXXX
What has Cayman come to people could break the Constitution and the Gov and AG has no responsibility to respect it either and millions could go missing soon as a new gov takes office….oh boyyy only in Cayman..
Here’s the smoking gun from someone who actually know what’s going on. XXXXXX
CNS: Could you email me here
The Financial Secretary’s pencil has two points. It just depends on which end of the pencil he was using when he did the estimates.
The time has come for us to commence charging a fee for all those monies transfering IN and OUT of this country. NO MORE EXCUSES. Put the F***ing law in place to charge these fees NOW!!
I know that this is not goinging to happen because the SPECIAL INTEREST groups will raise the roof on this point and dictate to the Government to implement: Personal Income Tax instead.
Get a life you RICH people of Cayman. Time to pay some money. THe poor people will implement an uprising if you decide this, as they are already P***ing away their savings through the pension funds who will soon have nothing left to manage. Then what will be people have left?
Why is it that we have to have such a high cost of living? Why can’t we devalue our dollar and make more people have disposal incomes and then pay their bills and keep their homes from being foreclosed on? NO this is not going to happen, because the RICH SPECIAL INTEREST groups in this country won’t hear of it. OH Dear they will have to pay the Govt. .0002cents on the dollar, that is such a loss.
THE TIME IS NOW to make the RICH pay SO the poor can survive. AND, we need to stop saying that there is no poor people in Cayman, bulls**t, I have seen more poor people in the last twomonths than I have ever seen before in my lifetime in this country.
Remember this everyone RICH & POOR: ALL The elected Government personnel and the Civil Service Personnel can pay their bills tomorrow, they have a guaranteed income every month, they turn their noses up at the rest of us out here in the REAL WORLD who live out side the plastic bubble. We don’t know where our next dollar is coming from, we don’t know if we can put bread on the table, or if we will have a table to put bread on tomorrow, we have no idea what future our children will have.
TIME TO TAX THE RICH…so the poor can live.
Tax the Rich so the poor can live is a guarrantee that this country turns into Jamaica and rest of the caribbean slums despite your good intentions.
Wealth redistribution penalizes investments, achivevment and ambition irrespective of your good intentions.
One must EARN and be helped and encouraged to EARN for themselves not to take handouts.
Rich people are a GOOD thing for ANY country and creating a divide between rich and poor is as death blow to this and ANY economy. We must encourage the rich to invest and take risk, not punish their risk taking and investments, so opportunity can prevail for those who have none.
The path to hell is paved with good intentions my friend. Don’t just fall for the easy answers, nothing good comes easy.
I knew something was wrong with the figures of the Country when Kurt spent so much time trying to explain the deficit.
The PPM knew their poor financial management was going to come out, and it has only started.
response to Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Wed, 06/24/2009 – 17:52.
"Get a life you RICH people of Cayman. Time to pay some money."
"Why can’t we devalue our dollar…?
"THE TIME IS NOW to make the RICH pay SO the poor can survive."
"TIME TO TAX THE RICH…so the poor can live."
"…we have no idea what future ourchildren will have."
What in the world do you have between your ears and what are you high on? Do you really think that deliberately devaluing or causing the devaluation of our dollar is a good thing and will somehow help us? Look at Jamaica. Look at Zimbabwe where I imagine by now they probably need a wheel barrow of money to get a few essential items from the grocery store.
As for all your RICH people bashing rants, the only people you remind me of is Obama and his left wing liberal cronies. You all believe in stifling capitalism and punishing people for getting an education, working hard and taking risks in order to do well for themselves, or God forbid become rich in the process. You believe in the "spreading the wealth" philosophy and rewarding people who don’t bother to try and get a higher education but rather be seen as victims instead of getting off your butts and actually try to get a life. Your socialist views and twisted belief that somehow making the rich people poor will automatically make the poor people rich makes me sick and has no place in Cayman. Do you really believe that socialism is the answer to Cayman’s financial problems now, or ever? When last did you hold down a steady and financially rewarding job given to you by a poor person? I say to you, stop complaining, stop expecting handouts, stop expecting to live off of the sweat of someone else’s brow rather than that of your own.
As for what future our children will have, you can do your part by instilling the proper values in your own children at an early age. Love and nurture them; teach them right from wrong; let them know there are consequences for doing wrong and rewards for a good education, respect, hard work and success in doing what’s right. For Heaven’s sake just don’t preach that socialist poison to them. That will not help Cayman.
Did anyone notice how McKeeva in his statement artfully juxtaposed "total cash balances from all sources" of $106 millionfrom his previous administration (which he failed to disclose included restricted cash balances) with the "minimal cash balance" of the PPM administration of $17m (which he failed to disclose did not include unrestricted cash balances totalling some $80m)?
This is a wily one. He is obviously manipulating the figures to mislead the public.
I have a couple of questions for you RVT-D and that is:
1. How do you think we are going to get any further ahead in this country if we don’t start taxing some of that money leaving the country?
2. Why must everything in this country cost so much when we don’t have anything other to offer than some clear water and white sandy beach?
3. Do you think that we are going to continue on this path without having our incomes taxed?
4. We are paying taxes in pensions and every time we get a statement we have lost more and more money, and why is it that this is a LAW that is failing everyone, and the only ones feeling the blow from this is going to be the poor in the future? XXXXXX
5. So what if I think like OBAMA and his liberals, I’d prefer to support OBAMA’s government who is trying to help the poor people, than what we have had for the last several years whose only way of helping the poor is to raise taxes and implement laws that only benefits the greedy SPECIAL INTEREST groups. I say fix the F***ing laws in this country as they are bulls**t and bringing more suffering to the poor and middle class people.
6. Why don’t you ask Social Services who is benefiting from their monthly giveaways’? It is the newStatus Holders and their so-called off spring of which no one has proven that they are infact their blood children!!! Who pays for this..the poor !!!!
7. I say devalue the the CI Dollar and give this country a fresh breath of fresh air or start taxing every dime leaving this country. The only people benefitting from this is the RICH anyway and the SPECIAL INTEREST groups who kiss up to every government in office and yank their pants legs and dress hems to keep them in their corner. Tell me when the last time you saw a memeber of any elected government make sure that every person in this country got a fair share of the pie. Hell our Planning Dept is giving away the pie to outside interest everyday.
8. I know of Caymanian starting a business (born to both Caymanian parents with Caymanian grand parents); submitted an application to the Trade & Business Dept. for a virtual business. Well, our Immigration Dept. staff is lacking in this arena because they couldn’t understand the trade they declined the license telling them they needed to have a warehouse or rent space to house the ‘virtual’ business. But yet I know of a guy from Germany who rented an apartment and does all his business via the internet in this country from his rented apartment home, this is a complete virtual business and no questions was asked of him, because his Fronting Caymanian Status Holder partner is an Accountant in with the SPECIAL INTEREST Group. But yet the first true born Caymanian trying to make a life in this country doing the exact same business has to get a warehouse. So tell me how can Caymanians try to make it in this country when you have idiots over at the T&B License dept. declining their license because they don’t understand the type of business? Do you think the majority of Caymanians want to rely on the Government for handouts?
Finally to you Sir/Madam: the reality is it is time to stop the RICH for making the POOR poorer with their greedy acts. No one wants to strip them of their wealth, but they need to pay for harbouring their riches in this country.
I WANT US TO REMAIN ON THE GREY LIST…why? That’s the only way we are going to retain some sense of stability. IF we are clean and white and pure, then we are going to loose more than we had before.
Yeah, I know my comments are radical but you know what, I would prefer to be a radical than to sit back and let them F**K me up the A$$ for the rest ofwhat I do have left while the RICH get away with it!!
RTV-D if you don’t want my rebuttal don’t respond, I will challenge you on your every word!!!!
Submitted by Anon 2 (not verified) on Wed, 06/24/2009 – 09:02.
Perhaps you are the one who should take off your partisan glasses off. You can site the constitution all day long to evade the fact that "The Leader of GOVERNMENT BUSINESS", means to lead the _government business_, which includes/umbrellas responsibilities in how the country’s finances are going to be allocated and accounted for. It is the FS job to undertake the specific responsibilies of handling finances, however is it also the LEADER job to insure that such finaces are properly handled, accounted for, reported back to the public timely irrespective of the constitution!!
What your suggesting is that if the FS took the country on a course of total devestation, and the governor did not intervene, the leader of government business hold no accountability whatsoever?
You’re being misled just like the former perpetually mislead "leader"
Give me break!
"you can site the constitution all day long to evade the fact that "The Leader of GOVERNMENT BUSINESS", means to lead the _government business"
The problem is your lack of understanding of these issues. How about a little education. "Leader of Govt. Business" was simply a title appropriated from the Standing Orders of the Legislative Assembly for the person who would present bills on behalf of the govt. in the House, and used to mean the person in Exco ( as it was) who would be the spokesman for the other members of Cabinet.
Understanding the way the Constitution works is key to understanding the limits of power and responsibilities of the LOGB. One cannot have responsibility without authority. This was the key reason that the new Constitution provides for a Minister of Finance and for the FS to no longer be a members of Cabinet. This has nothing whatsoever to do with partisanship and everything to do with a proper understanding of the Constitution. I understand why you would wish to deny anything that does not suit your political agenda but facts are stubborn things.
Kurt was probably taking the seem style of management used on Hampstead.
And what ever happened to Hampstead?
The FS is responsible for consolidating the govt finances. In other words he uses the figures and estimates provided to him from all the CFO’s and CO’s in the various Ministries, brings them together and presents what the big picture is. These are the same people who cant get the govt accountsfinalized so they can be audited. Could these people be part of the equation?
This is really quite simple. Finance matters are the responsibility of the Financial Secretary. This is so because in 1972 it was thought that Caymanians could not be trusted with them. What has happened is that as with the SPIT investigation and the helicopter, the lack of accountability on the part of the Official Members & Governor has resulted in complacency, and so the job is not getting done.
KT is right to say the FS has questions to answer, and it is his responsibility. The issue is that, because Cayman as a country is financially independent (unlike some territories, and unlike most territories when they achieved political independence), spending is the exclusive area of the elected government. This reality is why we have the PMFL to keep things within reasonable limits. We are now skirting and in some areas have exceeded those limits. This is the result. The FS can only do so much when such a vast amount is going out the door. The projections being wrong (assuming good faith): this is his fault. The country being out of money: that is the PPM’s.
I’ll be the first to admit that the PPM Government seemed to equate each additional dollar with an additional vote. That is of course not what happened. It is also true to say that much of what the PPM began is necessary, in fact, there is still more, much more to do. Government does not have enough money to provide the infrastructure Cayman now needs, and the Cabinet are spread too thin to manage each Ministry and ensure value is achieved. Remember, everything that is decided is carried out by civil servants (whose salaries incidentally make up about two-thirds of Government expenditure anyway).
The bottom line in all of this is that even though the Financial Secretary has responsibility, the public look to the LoGB to, in the corridors of power, apply pressure, employ gravitas, basically not take any crap from civil servants (and that including the FS) and make sure the job is done. Responsibility without authority. MB is more able and more comfortable to do this than KT. He will also spend less, particularly on education, because he has no interest in a smarter Cayman. The new Constitution will transfer authority for finance to an elected Minister as well, and if we follow the standard formula, that Minister will be No. 2 to the Premier both officially and unofficially, so the necessary accountability mechanism will be in place to ensure both that i) the buck is no longer passed and ii) the pressure is on to deliver.
The other thing coming in the pipeline that I don’t think people realise is the introduction of the Premier. Contrary to widespread popular belief, this is not just a name change. The Premier will appoint all of his or her colleagues in his or her sole discretion, and even some civil servants such as the Cabinet Secretary. Do you do what the person who can fire you says? Of course you do. So this will clarify the lines of authority and improve the implementation of policy. This is why the new Constitution was so sorely needed: to bring the mechanics in line with the expectations of the public.
The last thing to remember, for those of you who blame everything on the PPM leadership style, is that the PPM stuck so rigidly to the letter of the current Constitution primarily to illustrate its flaws, to serve as a backdrop for the constitutional modernisation initiative. They did this well; the constitution was approved. The image of the PPM as weak, equivocating and unaccountable is a caricature partly born of this effort/strategy. They even called themselves eunuchs! This image became ingrained and did them in, but it paid off for Cayman. This is why Alden said the passing of the referendum caused him a ‘wry smile’. They sacrificied to see it achieved. History will acknowledge this.
The whole game is about to change beyond all recognition so, assuming we can afford to wait, Cayman will be just fine.
The previous leader of government business needs to stop using the terminology that he was misled in this misled in that………if he was so easy to be mislead then what kind of leader was he. He’s just making himself look bad. A good leader or boss of a business knows what’s going on in the company.
"The previous leader of government business needs to stop using the terminology that he was misled"
Well clearly we have all been misled by someone, be it the FS, the previous LOGB or the current LOGB.
Kurt crying "misled" again!
The PPM needs to tell the people of the Cayman Islands the truth about all the money they wasted. The roads in East End were being paved long after May 5th.
PPM needs to explain.
This type of financial loss is "progress" for the PPM’s effort to destroy Cayman.
It is amazing how many financial experts we have on this site. Unfortunately not all of them understand how Government works. The FS is responsible for the projections that were originally given and if they were not totally correct then he needs to make a statement as to why the figures were not fairly accurate.
One thing that seems bogus is that the UDP could conjure up these figures in less than a month.
Something is definitely not correct.
The leader of the UDP is a master at putting the blame on others. How many times have you heard him say he was wrong about anything. Not even First Cayman Bank or Boatswain Beach, or the Dr. Hortor Memorial Hospital, or his interference wiht the liquor licence board, I could go on for so long.
The FS is only as good as the advice and service he gets from his Portfolio of Finance. And that’s the problem. The service they give him and have been giving him is p-ss poor. Some major personnel changes are needed there to put in place persons with the right qualifications and skills to operate at this very high level.
Submitted by Anon (not verified) on Tue, 06/23/2009 – 23:06.
you’re the clueless one, ALL financial responsibilities of this country untimately falls under the leader of this country.
What what you are seeing here is a stark and undeniable difference between lack of leadership of Kurt Tibbetts and decisive leadership of this new leader and Tibbetts needs a way to save face by blaming someone else. This is his modus operadi, its always someone else’s fault.
It is the leader’s obligation to this country to insure the Finacnial Secretary performs according to certain standards and expectations. PERIOD
For the former ""leader"" get get up there again and talk about how he was misled for a duration of four years with respect to the finances of this country and was unable to achieve proper financial accountability is just absolutely pathetic.
"It is the leader’s obligation to this country to insure the Finacnial Secretary performs according to certain standards and expectations. PERIOD"
Huh?! You just make it up as you go along. There is nothing in our Constitution which says that and until such time as there is a Finance Minister that is certainly incorrect. It is primarily the Governor’s responsibility to ensure that the FS performs according to certain standards and expectations. Clearly, now that it is clear that there are fundamental questions about the FS’s performance he is being called to account as he should be. Take off your partisan glasses and you will see the truth.
It is clear to me that when you start that many contracts just before elections, when you pave that many roads, when there is no toilet paper in the school, no money for books and equipment, when the schools do not have toner for their copiers, when Social Services cannot issue food coupons, when the hospital is out of supplies, when Cayman Airways cannot pay for hotel rooms for pilots training in Florida from last year, when it takes 10 months to buy ambulances, when you cannot pay for police motorcycles, when Government has no credit anywhere, when government checks bounce, when you go shopping with $5 and spend $100 what do you expect?, when……
……when the roosters come home from a spending spree by an irresponsible government you and I will have to pay…
What else is hiding in the closet?
A LoGB who could not ensure that proper accounts were kept during his tenure should show some humility.
Submitted by Anonymous (not verified) on Tue, 06/23/2009 – 21:42. — you are clearly clueless. The lack of accounting is also the financial secretary’s responsibility.
I am amazed
The PPM will not accept responsability for anything at all. BOBO this is your mess, now stop passing the buck around.
Absolutely correct Hon. Tibbetts! Either the FS is completely incompetent or the new LoGB is completely irresponsible by playing politics with something as critical as the state of the Government’s finances. At least one of them has no business being in cabinet !
Kurt Tibbetts questioning the Financial Secretary’s accounting!?
The Financial Secretary has a competence issue???
This last government didn’t even HAVE propoer Accounting!!
Give me a break!!! Tibbetts is a total joke and has no credibility. The finanical mismanagement which continues to be brought to light by this last "government" is a total outrage.
To Kurt Tibbetts question- Its quite clear which side you are on, but I beg you to not take sides in this very important issue forget UDP M. Bush and PPM K. Tibbetts. This is very servious and the Financail Secretary has a lot of questions to answer such as why two differenct estimates are given to the two different Leaders and such a vast difference, what happened to reserves that he said was there, this is just two if he can’t answer these then we need to know why he is still the Financial Secretary.
You say the last government didn’t have proper accounting, can you then tell me what the Financial Secretary has been doing for the last Four Years, he is the Government Accountant.
Give me a break- I beg to differ The Financial Secretary is a total Joke and has no Credibility, the Governmnet can only manage or mismanage the figures he gives them.
Just something to think about
It may not be fair to criticise the Financial Secretary. He could not possibly have known before the election how many "consultants" the new government would hire, how much they would cost and how much money would be spent taking large numbers of people around Europe. Living large does not come cheap.