Archive for April, 2009

Ebanks: ‘I don’t owe salary’

(CNS): Launching his campaign in the district of North Side on the People’s Progressive Movement ticket, Joey Ebanks offered the people a plan for the community’s future to develop sustainable tourism and bring jobs. He also told the small audience that he did not owe the Turtle Farm money and he was not using turtle meat to buy votes. Supported by both the current seat holder, Edna Moyle, and Leader of Government Business Kurt Tibbetts, he said he was taking the people on a new journey.

Saying that it would be the last time he spoke about his opponents on the campaign platform and what they had said about him as he was from a new generation with a different way of doing things, he answered some of the criticisms. “I don’t owe the turtle farm any money for salary and I am not handing out turtle meat for votes,” he said on Tuesday night. He did not elaborate on the circumstances of how or when the salary advance was returned to the Turtle Farm but moved on to talk about his plans for the district of North Side.

He said there was a lot of talent in the district which was not being utilised, but he had already formed a district committee with which he was working to create opportunities for the community and to grow the local economy at what he described as a sustainable rate, and develop entrepreneurs.

Ebanks also said he had already started after-school programmes, which included sports and traditional activities like cat boating, as he said it was important for children to know their history. He spoke about adult literacy and giving the older members of the community a chance to excel too. “We need to treat people with respect and help them learn so they in turn can help their own children,” he added.

North Siders need to take advantage of the economic miracle in George Town, he noted, and said he wanted to introduce mentoring programmes between corporate Cayman and the district as well as improve access to scholarships for youngsters in the community.

He said the PPM had got many things done. One of them was the Clifton Hunter School, which the community would be able to take advantage of it as not only would it be a state-of-the-art learning facility for our children, it would be a recreation and sports facility for the community as well as a hurricane shelter and much more, he said. The school was proposed in 1972 and Ebanbks said that finally there was a minister who was getting it done and reforming education.  “Children can no longer learn under a tree. We cannot send our kids to the best schools in the world without first preparing them here.”

Speaking about attracting tourism business to North Side, he said the district needed a sustainable model as North Siders did not need another Seven Mile Beach. He suggested the district needed bed-and-breakfasts or a boutique hotel but it also needed entrepreneurs to exploit opportunities by offering kayaking rental, fishing tours, bicycle rentals, eco-tours and shore dive operations to tap into the potential tourism business in the district. He said such things were low cost start up and that together the community could work to make these things happen.  

If the people of North Side elected him into the Legislative Assembly, he said he would work hard to make these things happen and as the world economy might decline North Side’s economy would be on the up. “I will work so hard in this district, Arden McLean will need a new nickname!” he exclaimed.

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Polling stations designed to eliminate confusion

(CNS): The Election’s office has completed its work on how the polling station’s will be set up to enable electors to vote in both the General Election and the Constitutional Referendum on 20 May as easily and as efficiently as possible with minimum confusion. All polling stations will be divided up so voters come through the election process first to cast their ballot before passing through the referendum section to deliver their decision in that vote. Tents, classrooms and partitions will all be utilised to ensure the two polls are kept separate and apart. (Left Orrett Connor demonstrates voting process.)

During a demonstration for the benefit of the media yesterday (Wednesday 15 April) the Supervisor of elections Kearney Gomez, along with the two deputy supervisors Colford Scott and Orrett Connor, explained in detail and demonstrated the process by which voters would cast their ballots in both the polls without being confused or risk making mistakes. Gomez explained the set up was designed to funnel voters through the two areas giving them the chance to vote in both or either poll and then exit from the referendum area without having to return to the election area. With space a problem in some districts he said that the office would be using classrooms and four air condition tents where necessary to divide up the two polls.

Colford Scott explained the need for the clear separation of the referendum and election from each other. “The separation of the two is to avoid confusion and the question of putting the wrong ballot in the wrong ballot box,” Scott said. “We are operating with two different laws. If there was an election’s petition the officers working the election would be required to submit the documents and ballots to the court, where as if a judicial review was requested on the referendum then the officers for the referendum would supply the appropriate ballots and information.”

Scott said with two different sets of instruction running the two concurrently could have been very complicated. As a result the elections office has created a system where things happening in the election area do not confuse things happening in the referendum area.

Consequently, there will be double the number of people working on polling day to cover the two different polls. On arrival voters will be directed into the polling station by a field officer who will also ask voters to leave their phones and cameras with them before entering the station.

Connor explained that no cameras are allowed inside the station in order to protect the integrity of confidentiality. He said if people were allowed cameras the possibility of voters taking an image of the ballot as proof of vote could fuel possibilities of corruption regarding payments for votes. So once the voter is freed of his potential image taking equipment he will be directed into the station for the election there voters will be checked to ensure they are who they say they are, checked on the poll book by the polling clerks and then given a ballot paper and instructions by the presiding officer. They then entre the curtained ballot station where they cast either 1,2,3 or 4 votes depending on the district. Once they have voted they return the ballot to the presiding officer folded to match the ballot pad counter foil to ensure it’s the same one they were first given and once confirmed the voter is asked to drop the ballot in the box.

The voter then moves into the referendum room, passing another field officer at the entrance. The exact same process is then repeated but this time the instruction will be for voters to mark a cross by ‘yes’ or ‘no’ before dropping the checked ballot into the box. Voters can opt to vote either just in the election or just the referendum or both by passing through and indicating whether they will or won’t vote.

However, the elections office says that with a historic big turn out for elections in Cayman it is hoped that as people will have to walk through both areas to vote in either poll they will make the decision to exercise their democratic right to do both.

Aside from eliminating confusion and mistakes the voting process is also geared up to completely eliminate any possible fraud or mismanagement at every step of the game. With ballot boxes sealed, ballot papers numbered and crossed checked and agents or candidates also watching the general election and observers appointedby the Governor watching the referendum in every station the integrity of the ballot is well guarded the elections supervisors all explained.

Scott noted that the number of postal votes has been significantly reduced this year as only overseas voters will use that method which should also help speed up the count. Election workers and anyone else working on election day, those in the Pines or in hospital or otherwise unable to vote on polling day will be able to vote in advance using one of the election’s office new mobile polling stations. This units will, in the weeks preceding polling day be stationed in the districts at strategic places to offer access to everyone who needs. Scott also explained that a team of election and referendum officers will also attend the homes of those who are house bound to offer them the opportunity to cast their votes in both elections.  The aim, the elections office confirmed is to afford every single one of the 15, 361 people entitled to vote can do so.

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Kirkconnell focuses on unity in the Sister Islands

“Give the other politicians your love and respect, but give Moses your vote,” Elvis McKeever told a large crowd at Spot Bay Wednesday night, the only reference to Moses Kirkconnell’s rivals during the launch of his bid to retain his Sister Islands seat. Also notably missing throughout the meeting was any mention of the UDP, and while he stood in front of a PPM poster, the ruling party was not referred to directly either. In an atmosphere more like a community meeting than a political rally, with no criticism of the opposition or a clear agenda for the next four years, Kirkconnell chose to begin his campaign by emphasising fellowship and unity on Cayman Brac.

After starting the meeting with music and comedy by local performers, Kirkconnell told supporters gathered in the front yard of Roy and Ann Walton that he wanted to highlight the friendship and talent on the island. “Before we talk about anything I want to acknowledge the strong bonds we have as a community,” he said.

Looking back at the experience of the hurricane that hit the island as a category 4 storm in November 2008, Kirkconnell said, “Paloma brought heartache and loss and hard work, but it also gave us the opportunity to bond," and he claimed that the last five months and the next five months would be seen in the future as a “special period of history” for the Sister Islands.

Turning to the last four years, he pointed to “results you can touch”, and catalogued developments on the islands, making special mention of Sports Instructor Mitchum Sanford, the sports programme and the new field. He also noted the Day Care Centre, the Tibbetts Annex of the Kirkconnell Community Care Centre (KCCC), the Ann Tatum Ramp, the hospital upgrade, the affordable housing programme on the Brac, the medical wing of the Aston Rutty Civic Centre, and the efforts of the Beautification Committee. The new MRCU building, which is nearing completion, would have laboratories that would in emergencies back up the mosquito control system in Grand Cayman, he noted.

However, he said the most significant development was the opening of the Brac campus of the University College of the Cayman Islands, where over 150 people attend and classes include vocational courses, electrical training, planning and computer studies. More vocational classes were planned, he said, which would be “a huge huge plus for the Sister Islands”.

Noting the upgrade at the Brac fire station, he said the island needed a new station on higher ground.

Kirkconnell also pointed to the generator upgrade at the civic centre, which was much needed during Paloma. “What would we have done…as the power failed on the island?” he asked, and noted that the medical wing of the centre was still in use by clients of the KCCC. The Day Care was also built to category 5 standard and was used as a hurricane shelter.

The emphasis on rebuilding after the storm had been to restore homes to the same standard and to keep communities intact. Public and private funds had been invested and they had tried to do that in a structured way to get to people who need it most. However, about $10 million more would be needed, he said.

He said the new Alexander Hotel would be finished by May, and noted two other developments under construction – the condos being built by James Ryan and Robert Banks, and Charles Kirkconnell’s development (the new phase of Carib Sands) on the south side.

“We must face the reality of what the world offers us today,” he said. “The global economy is in unchartered waters.” We must understand how to protect ourselves and how to choose the right leaders who will work with what we have, Kirkconnell said.

While Paloma had destroyed tourism, “the leg of the economy that we stand on”, the reconstruction of the Brac after the hurricane had offered the island a chance to retool for the future. The Brac Reef Beach Resort was being built to a new standard and was going to diversify its product, and the new condos would also diversify tourism on the island.

“The country has never faced what we will face in the next couple of years, but we will do quite well together…United we will stand,” said Kirkconnell.

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