Archive for September, 2008
Walkers creates new post
(CNS): Locally based offshore law firm Walkers has created a new position of Chief Marketing Officer to build on what the firm described as its continued global growth and international recognition. The new post has gone to David Byrne (left), formerly of Clifford Chance, where he was global head of business development for the group’s finance and capital markets divisions.
"The establishment of the Chief Marketing Officer position and securing David’s services is an important development for Walkers as we look to build on an already successful marketing and business development platform," said Mark Lewis, Walkers partner with responsibility for marketing and business development. "By combining our business development activities and communication strategy into one global structured operation, we will add a new dimension to our business development effort, resulting in improved levels of responsiveness, to the ultimate benefit of our clients."
Walkers said Byrne comes to the firm with a wealth of business development experience.Head of marketing for the UK finance team at Linklaters for three years before joining Clifford Chance , Byrne also has a strong finance background, having initially worked for ten years with the Barclays Group, for both the investment banking arm Barclays Capital and its international wealth management division.
"I am delighted to be joining Walkers at such an exciting time, with the inherent strength of the practice across multiple business lines, prospects for further international development and the imminent move to our new global headquarters," he said.
Byrne is already familiar with the Cayman Islands and the wider Caribbean as he managed Barclays’ offshore marketing in the region for three years, prior to the creation of FirstCaribbean International Bank, based in Barbados.
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Complaints Commissioner announces end of term
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(CNS): Complaints Commissioner Dr John Epp announced today that he will not accept reappointment as Complaints Commissioner when his five-year term expires in mid-2009. Epp has assisted the Governor’s Office to complete a job description for the post and expects that in due course the job will be advertised. As the first person to hold the position of an ombudsman in the Cayman Islands, Epp established the Office of the Complaints Commissioner (OCC).
He was also responsible for interpreting and applying the Complaints Commissioner Law and relevant laws of the Cayman Islands, and assisted in writing Regulations made to clarify certain matters under the Complaints Commissioner Law (2006 Revision), a release from the OCC says.
As Commissioner, he successfully negotiated a solution with HE the Governor on the question of the OCC’s jurisdiction in police oversight. Epp has also lent his expertise in many special projects, including written submissions on topics of interest for the Attorney General. In establishing the office, he set the tone of professionalism, fairness and independence, thereby gaining the respect of the civil service and the public. He selected, trained and managed staff of the OCC, which has performed difficult tasks toa very high standard.
Over the past four years, the OCC team has completed ten Own Motion investigations (which are instigated by the Commissioner in the public interest), seven Special Reports and 150 investigations arising from suitable written complaints from residents of the Cayman Islands. Moreover, the OCC financial statements and output records are produced and audited in a timely fashion.
“Our goal of establishing a fully functioning office with appropriate systems was met, but this office constantly strives for improvement. In order to better equip our team, we participated in several training programmes, such as the one provided by the Canada’s leading Ombudsman, the Ombudsman of Ontario,” said Epp.
As a result of its performance, the OCC was recognised as important and effective by the press, and in the Cayman Observer 2006 “Review of the Year” the OCC was cited as number 3 in a list of “10 people and organizations that enjoyed a particularly successful year”.
Recently the government of the day wrote in the booklet "The Cayman Islands Constitution: A Reflection of Who We Are: Explanatory Notes": “It is good practice in a democracy to provide independent checks on the efficiency, fairness and integrity of all our institutions. Caymanians have seen that the creation of the office of the Complaints Commissioner has had a profound effect in investigating government agencies whose practices contravene the principles of fairness, efficiency and good administration.”
Epp, who is not stating his future plans at this time, said, “Reflecting on these early years of operation of the OCC brings a feeling of optimism for the perpetual success of this institution locally. Our efforts to establish credibility within the community continued to show positive results.” He also stated, “ I am very satisfied with the result of my tenure as Commissioner.”
The OCC team is made up of Susan Duguay, Scott Swing, Barrie Quappe, Bridgette von Gerhardt and Claudine Williams-Simons.
The OCC is located on the 2nd floor, 202 Piccadilly Centre, Georgetown, Grand Cayman, phone number (345) 943 2220. The website is www.occ.gov.ky.
Hedge Funds to sue FSA
(Telegraph UK): A group of the world’s biggest hedge funds are planning to sue the UK Financial Services Authority for millions of pounds of losses incurred as a result of the regulator’s ban on short-selling last week. Lawyers are being galvanised on behalf of a raft of hedge funds which claim the financial watchdog has illegitimately extended its powers and caused "wide-spread capital destruction." Go to article. Go to article.
Ancient reef reveals life
(ABC Science): The Discovery of an ancient reef in Australia may push back the evolution of the earliest animals by 80 million years. Researchers say they have uncovered complex organisms that in some ways resemble multicellular life in a large reef located in the Northern Flinders Ranges, 700 kilometres north of Adelaide in South Australia. Go to article
FOI unit lets in some light
(CNS): With just over three months to go before the Freedom of Information Law (FOI) takes effect the FOI Unit is hosting its annual Sunshine Week from 29 September to 4 October. According to the unit coordinator Carole Excell the aim is to raise public awareness about the FOI Law and its importance and is hoping that the public will come out to some of the events.
The law was passed in 2007. However, it has taken government more than eighteen months to prepare for the impact of the law and train staff. The law, it is hoped, will change the long held culture of secrecy within the civil service and create an open and transparent form of government which will see everyone in the Cayman Islands gaining access to information about their government.
Kicking off the week is the ‘Government Open Day’, which will take place on the Glass House lawn on Monday from 9:00 am, where the unit will be launching Cayman’s own ‘User Guide to the FOI Law’. Government departments will be showing people what they do and there will be free user guides and random giveaways.
On Tuesday between 9:00 am and 12:30 pm, the open day moves to the District Administration Building on Cayman Brac, where Sister Islands residents will get the chance to pick up their free copy of the FOI’s User Guide and meet people from government departments.
On Wednesday, 1 October, from 6:00 pm the public will have a chance to meet those people who will be responsible for divulging the information asked for. A Meet and Greet of Information Managers on the Glass House lawn, this is an opportunity to learn all about using the FOI Law. The Unit will be explaining the “how-to’s” of the FOI Law to ensure familiarity, and there will be more guides being given away.
A fun run is also planned for Saturday 4 October and students aged 11 to 16 are invited to submit essays in a competition on the Topic: “How will the Freedom of Information Law benefit the Cayman Islands?”
For more details log on to www.foi.gov.ky
UDP and PPM agree to meet
(CNS): The war of words between opposition and government over constitutional talks escalated yesterday, when the United Democratic Party (UDP) released a statement accusing the People’s Progressive Movement (PPM) of not showing up to a meeting. However, an eleventh-hour public meeting was proposed by government for Thursday in Bodden Town, literally days before the arrival of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office team from London.
While UDP spokesperson Rolston Anglin, West Bay MLA, said that the opposition had not been officially informed of the proposed meeting, he confirmed that the Leader of the Opposition and the UDP members were still happy to go along. “It would have been nice for the government to send the invitation to the meeting to us and wait for our response but we are happy to attend,” said Anglin after the proposed meeting times were sent in a written statement to the press.
The wrangling over meetings started on Friday (19 September) when Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts said he had received a letter from Leader of the Opposition McKeeva Bush proposing a public meeting between the government, the NGOs and the opposition in the Legislative Assembly building on Monday, 22 September, to begin discussions on the party’s differences over the proposals.
Tibbetts wrote to Bush on the same day, stating that that the government would not be attending for a number of reasons, including that it had no prior knowledge of the date, and the government was still waiting to see a document laying out the opposition’s position on the constitutional proposals.
“You cannot seriously be expecting us to convene a meeting,” he wrote. “Even if you had established a basis for such a meeting by providing us with your position on our Revised Proposals or published proposals of your own, we would require more than a half day’s notice.” He accused Bush of disingenuousness and said it was time to stop playing games.
However, on Monday Bush and his team turned up at the LA with their published proposals, waiting for government representatives who did not show. “After all the letters and the stated plans by the Government to meet, it is hard to understand why they have not shown up and extremely disappointing,” said Bush who added that the UDP had received a letter from the government at the last minute, stating that they would not attend without first having seen the opposition’s position.
“They wanted to meet with us! Why are they not here?” asked Mr Bush. “Had they shown up we could at least start the process of planning our discussions and they would have bee
The UDP said it had sent the position paper to the Constitutional Secretariat for forwarding on to the Government as a courtesy. “We have also sent copies to the various NGOs involved and of course we have also presented our paper today to the media for dissemination to the wider public,” Bush added.
On Monday afternoon government confirmed it had received the opposition’s proposals and said although it was disappointing and unfortunate that the opposition had left it to virtually the eleventh hour, the government intended to carefully consider the opposition’s paper with a view to narrowing the differences between the two parties. It proposed a new meeting public meeting date for 10:00 am on Thursday, 25 September, at the Bodden Town Civic Centre.
“I remain optimistic that even at this late state some degree of unity will be achieved by the Cayman delegation in advance of the start of the talks with the UK on Monday,” said the LoGB.
Containing no real suprises,the UDP’s position paper is available on the Constitutional Secretariat website www.constitution.gov.ky . It summarises the points raised in the UDP’s original discussion document, broadly agreeing with a number of governemnt proposals but disagreeing with some of the major points. The paper opposes changing the balance of power between the Governor and elected members, increasing the number of elected officials and placing the Attorney General outside the house. It also states that the bill of rights should be dealt with in separate domestic legislation and should not form part of the constituional document. The opposition is sticking with its idea of introducing a second chamber in the form of a senate, and also warns the people that a preamble statement has considerably less importnance than people are being led to believe.
Nine more gamblers arrested
(CNS): The Police Commissioner’s commitment to enforcing the gambling law is becoming increasingly apparent after nine more people were arrested at the weekend in connection with illegal gambling offences. The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) said they had arrested a number of people over the weekend on suspicion of various violations including illegal gambling and drugs offences.
On Friday, 18 September, George Town neighbourhood police officers, along with officers from the Immigration Department, arrested four people for being involved in illegal gambling. Three were arrested for selling lottery tickets related to the numbers game, and one was arrested for buying lottery tickets. At the same time a fifth person was arrested for carrying a restricted weapon. Then on Sunday, 21 September, officers arrested another five people for being involved in illegal gambling, four for selling lottery tickets and another for buying.
Last week David George, Acting Commissioner of Police, told CNS that he believed illegal gambling was often linked to other forms of crime and that enforcing the gambling law was part of a holistic approach to crime prevention.
Meanwhile, even before the weekend started officers arrested two men in the early hours of 18 September for possessing an offensive weapon and the other for breaching bail conditions. Officers said that investigations are ongoing to see if the men are linked to other offences, including recent George Town burglaries. On Friday night / Saturday morning (19/20 September), officers arrested two people for drugs offences. A 31-year-old man was arrested on suspicion of possession of cocaine with intent to supply and consuming a controlled drug, and a 44-year-old man on suspicion of possession of cocaine, possession of ganja and consumption of a controlled drug.
Anyone with information about crime taking place in the Cayman Islands should contact their local police station or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS). All persons calling Crime Stoppers remain anonymous, and are eligible for a reward of up to $1000, should their information lead to an arrest or recovery of property/drugs.
A constitution for the common man
When it comes to the details of politics, most people in the street are considerably less interested than those who take up office and throw themselves into the political arena, who in turn find it hard to appreciate that others couldn’t care less.
While people are certainly interested in the society they live in and the broad rules that govern them, few are really interested in the minutiae of the details that form a country’s political make-up.
This may go some way to explaining why, throughout the public discussion and education campaign on the constitutional modernisation process, the people have not been as enthusiastic as our local politicians would’ve liked. In fact, with the notable exception of the meeting convened purely to discuss human rights, the meetings were poorly attend, and it has to be said that people found them dull. This has no bearing on the skills of the presenters, who worked hard to try to help the people of Cayman understand the constitutional proposals. Unfortunately, the people were just not desperately engaged with the process, which is perfectly understandable.
Most ordinary people are too busy worrying about the normal and immediate things in their lives, such as how the kids are doing in school, what’s happening at their work, what coverage they have on their health care, where the next hurricane’s coming from and the price of gas. Trying to get their heads around whether the Attorney General should be inside or outside Cabinet, if the Speaker of the house should be elected from within or outside the Legislative Assembly, or whether there should be single-member constituencies with one-person-one-vote in the Sister Islands is just not something they prioritise.
Moreover, many simply don’t know how they feel about such issues because they don’t fully understand the implications. And why should they? In the same way that politicians don’t understand subjects outside their remit (helicopters, for example), why should the man in the street understand the implications of constitutional law?
While most people will agree that the revision of the constitution is important, what they want are broad ideas which they can understand and agree or disagree with. Most people are not interested in the details. By and large the constitutional discussion period and educational campaign was not a great success and, in hindsight, was probably a waste of time and money. A number of people who persistently demonstrated a real interest in the forthcoming constitution were religious in their attendance, and in each district a handful of new faces would appear, but by and large no more than a few hundred people actually engaged in any type of real constitutional discussion during the educational phase.
Whether it is the fault of the government, the opposition or just plain lack of interest on the part of the people is less important than the lessons that need to be learned. As the discussions begin with the UK and as a potential draft constitution takes shape, the resulting document needs to be sold in much simpler terms. The politicians and NGOs involved need to spell out the big issues and the changes that will actually have an impact on people’s lives. In short, they need to present the constitution for the common man.
Despite its best efforts, the government failed to engage the people to either agree or disagree with their proposals. Whether the UDP’s scare tactics added fuel to the fire is less apparent than the wide-scale apathy and, in some cases, total incomprehension over what the constitutional document contained and, more important, what it would mean to their lives. The government cannot afford to make the same mistake again.
While the Leader of the Opposition has certainly used the situation to his advantage to ensure that the constitution is not established until he can take up the mantle of leadership again, his observation that the people are not ready is probably right. However, many of the people will probably never be ready because they just don’t understand the issues. Consequently, what is called for is real political leadership. And as the referendum will take place during the election campaign, it is the perfect opportunity for both sides to take ownership and pin the constitution to their political masts in simply political campaign terms, by agreeing or disagreeing with the document and spelling out why — it is, after all, what politicians are supposed to do.
Caybrew features in Cayman Went
(CNS): The Aston Rutty Civic Centre on Cayman Brac was packed to capacity with upwards of 550 residents for a test screening of Cayman Went, an independent movie shot largely on the island. Meanwhile, Cayman’s only brewery, Caybrew, is set to receive welcome publicity as it was featured in many of the scenes.
After the show Matthew Leslie, the distributor for Caybrew, said the company was very happy to be part of the movie and wished the crew success. “It’s a beautiful story line and the whole environmental friendliness falls in line with Caybrew’s philosophy,” he said.
He added that they were very happy with the product placement, with characters drinking bottles of Caybrew or out of cups with the company’s logo in several scenes, and even extended to the Caybrew box in which one of the main characters keeps a baby bird he’s looking after.
The main “product placement” is the island itself, and the film highlights many of the Brac’s attractions, beginning with underwater shots during the opening credits. The film also features rock climbing on the Bluff face. This aspect of Brac tourism is known among some proponents of the sport, but despite the efforts of rock climbers who have tried to promote this on the Brac over the last decade, it has never found support from the Department of Tourism and the Ministry.
According to Tourism Minister Charles Clifford there were liability issues and questions about who owns the face of the Bluff. However, he said he didn’t see why rock climbing could not be developed. “I will initiate looking into that and see where we go,” he stated.
Watching this first showing were many residents who appear in some of the scenes of the movie, as well as actor Jeff De Munn, who plays one of the main characters; Jim Ritterhoff, who wrote the original script for the movie; Director Bobby Sheehan; Executive Producer Sara Feldman Sheehan; Associate Producer Steve Menges; and Production Manager Elizabeth Hennings. Ritterhoff read a letter of apology from Producer Gil Wadsworth, who was unable to make the showing because his father is seriously ill.
The audience clearly enjoyed the show and seeing people they know on the Big Screen, especially Garston Grant and Tenson Scott, who both had small speaking parts.
Koala faces extinction
(IAR): Australia’s iconic koala may be heading for extinction unless there are changes in how the populations are managed, an Australian zoologist has claimed. The koala, which was previously hunted to near extinction in the 1920s, is a marsupial found in the coastal regions of eastern and southern Australia and lives almost entirely on eucalypt leaves. Go to article.