Archive for April, 2009
Walkers helps the Blues
(CNS): The National Trusts’ Blue Iguana Recovery Programme (BIRP) received another financial boost from local law firm Walkers, which has donated another CI$20,000 – the third cheque presented by the firm to the National Trust in the past three years. These donations followed Walkers’ commitment in 2006, as a Gold Sponsor of the Trust, to donate CI$60,000 to BIRP, which has been used to fund its operational costs.
"This is the third year that Walkers has helped fund the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme in this way," said programme director Fred Burton in a Walkers release. "Corporate sponsorships like this are absolutely key to the ongoing operation of our programme. Now we are entering a new and exciting phase of operations with a new protected area, I also hope that Walkers’ example may inspire others to join in helping us secure the Grand Cayman Blue Iguana’s future for the long term."
Earlier this year BIRP received a major boost from the government’s decision to protect a large area of Blue Iguana habitat in the east interior of Grand Cayman. This newly protected area provides almost 200 acres more capacity for the project, to add to the 85 acres of good Blue Iguana habitat which had previously been available.
"The achievements of the Blue Iguana Recovery Programme are nothing short of remarkable and have helped ensure the survival of this species, which had been so close to extinction just a few years ago," commented David Byrne, chief marketing officer with Walkers. "Walkers is proud to have supported the Programme and we were delighted to hear that the new protected land brings into sight their ultimate goal of releasing a thousand blue iguanas to the wild."
To date, 290 Blue Iguanas have been released into the wild as a result of the programme, according to Burton, the majority of these having been released in the Salina Reserve. "The remnant wild population in 2002 was estimated at less than 25, so we are making progress in the right direction," Burton added.
The Blue Iguana has been a favourite symbol of Cayman for the staff at Walkers for a number of years, the release noted. In 2003, Walkers had a custom designed blue iguana stuffed toy made in order to promote the firm and the Cayman Islands at overseas conferences. The toys were so popular that they have become an important part of the firm’s global marketing effort. Many of these toys are donated to the gift shops at the National Trust and the National Gallery, with profits from their sale helping to support local educational and arts programmes.
Walkers’ staff also made a direct contribution to improving security for the Blue Iguanas last year, raising money through the firm’s ‘Dress Down’ programme, after a number of blues were killed in 2008. The CI$6,476 collected in July 2008 was the largest sum that the National Trust had ever received from a corporate dress down event.
(Left to Right): BIRP Director Fred Burton, Trust GM Frank Balderamos, Blue Iguana warden John Marotta, Walkers chief marketing officer David Byrne, and Stanley the Blue Iguana.
Issue-led political forums fail to draw crowds
(CNS): With so many other events competing for the attention of residents last weekend from the Chamber’s Earth Day clean-up to the Batabano Junior parade the political events “Breakfast with the Candidates” and the “Youth Mixer” organised by local activists were both poorly attended. While candidates turned up in force potential voters were thin on the ground. However, with the big day only four weeks away the candidates did not pass up the chance to get their message out both on addressing sexual violence and how to meet the needs of the communities young people. (Left: Eddie Thompson)
Hosted by the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre (CICC), in partnership with the Estella Scott-Roberts Foundation (ESRF) “Breakfast with the Candidates” at the Family Life Centre on Saturday morning gave candidates an opportunity to tell voters what they intended to do if elected to address the increasing violence and abuse against women and children in the community.
The first speaker of the candidates present was Sandra Catron who was due to attend her sister’s funeral that morning but as a long time outspoken advocate on these issues made time to offer her thoughts before leaving for the service. Calling for an open sex offender’s register and the immediate implementation of gender legislation she said waiting around for cultural and behavioural change would not protect women and the children. “We have to move the moral compass with legislation,” she said. “We cannot wait for people to adjust their attitudes and I will demand the much needed legislation.” She said Cayman lags behind the region in implementing necessary laws. Catron criticized the current administration for talking about implementing laws but not actually doing it. She said she would work towards a definitive sexual offences act which included treatment and punishment and covered the issue of internet predators.
Theresa Lewis –Pitcairn who was unable to attend sent a message from overseas to the forum through Ellen Peguero, in which she indicated her concern about the gender violence and child abuse and said whether elected or not she would continue to give priority to these issues and called for education to extend to boys as much as girls and mandatory counselling.
Most of the candidates called for similar things including a cultural shift in attitudes, a challenge to existing myths, the need for sexual crimes to be equated to violent crime and transparency. The only other candidate to support Sandra’s call for an open sex offender’s register was Eddie Thompson who also pointed the finger at the church. Although speaking from church premises he still criticised the many churches on island for not speaking out as loudly as they should about both gender violence and sexual abuse. “I have advocated against it for years,” he said and lamented the failure of government agencies and the ngos to communicate. He also spoke about transparency and said he himself came close to becoming a victim of a perpetrator who was abusing boys in a sports club he belonged to in the past but when reports were made instead of the perpetrator being properly investigated and charged he was quietly removed from the island and no more was said about it.
Burns Conolly agreed that transparency was crucial and went across the board and said that it was time to stop covering up for those in authority or high offices who were also accused of these crimes and that no matter who was involved this crime would only be addressed through disclosure.
Perlina McGaw Lumsden also spoke from genuine experience of abuse in her own family when she was young and later sexual harassment as an adult. She said the UDP would attack the issue through comprehensive educational programmes and establish a public/private partnership. She also noted the need for co-ordination of existing agencies and resources for the crisis centre.
Gilbert McLean, Walling Whittaker, Bernie Bush, Dr Frank McField, Alfonso Wright and Ellio Solomon also attended and offered heir support for future legislation, increased transparency and expressed their desire to truly tackle the problem. After being challenged to really put their money where their mouths were by activist Marilyn Connolly, all the candidates agreed to take the Darkness to light seminar offered by the Crisis Centre which educates individuals on the issues surrounding the identification of abuse. Anthony Eden the minister with responsibility for gender affairs did not make the forum as a result of other commitments.
Later that day the same candidates were also crowding on to a platform at the former Marquee Cinema for a youth forum organised by Luigi Moxam a youth activist and local entrepreneur. Sadly however, there were very few young voters there to challenge them. Given a microphone and a platform however, the candidates pressed on regardless offering their thoughts on the issues affecting young people. Bernie Bush, independent candidate for West Bay who has devoted most of his life to dealing with youngsters noted that getting young people involved in the political process was an important issue and he knew how to engage young people. He said aside from the need for physical facilities for young people in West Bay a sense of belong was important but adults had to show young people respect and understand their needs.
Dr Frank McField raised his concerns over the fact that the gang issue in Cayman was not being addressed which he said had been festering for years. He said the gangs now control the schools and there was a need to recruit from those gangs people who can help address the problem but there are no quick solutions to the social problems facing young people which had developed over a long period and could not addressed over night. “We need preventative policies we don’t have people working with the gangs,” he said adding that people ignore these things until they are impacted and then they complain. He also said, “There has to be a real strategy to address the alienation of young people which the courts and police have helped to intensify.”
Most of the candidates said restoring the strength of the family and the disconnect between the youth and the community were important goals.
Wolves lead the pack
(CNS): Wolves, the most popular team in the Dominos Pizza Men’s Basketball League, is ranked number one in the standings, after 10 weeks of play, the Cayman Islands Basketball Association report. With a wealth of talented players and one of the largest fan bases among local men’s basketball teams, Wolves is strongly rivalling last year’s champion, George Town Sports Club (GTSC) for the honour of most-liked team. Coach of the Wolves, Duran “Trini” Whittaker, attributes his team’s large fan base and popularity to its attitude towards the game. “It’s all about basketball and having fun, while giving the fans what they want – good, hard-fought basketball,” he said. (Photos by Tara Bush. Left: Collin Anglin adds another two points to the board )
Since its inception three years ago, Wolves have made it to the playoffs twice, only to lose in the semi-finals. In the top spot this year, the team is once again poised for a shot at the championship. Coach “Trini” says his team is going all the way because of his secret weapon – Dwight O’Garro — one of the leading players in the league. O’Garro is backed by a roster of other good players, including Gary “Butcher” McLaughlin, Earl Allen and Carson Fagan.
Whittaker said one of the biggest decisions he has to make on game day is who to start and which two players he will not register for the game. Despite Wolves’ enviable position as the league leader, Coach “Trini” knows only too well that the real battle is for the league title. Right: Osmer Miller (#15 Colombia) takes the shot while Sebastian Sache (15 Shaolin) reaches for a rebound.
Defending champions GTSC have lost four games and may find it difficult to make the play offs. Tarheels are going through a rebuilding year and Shaolin has lost three games. Columbia, the team that moved up from Division Two, are in the number three position.
Esso Blazers are in second place, and by all accounts, are in the best position to take the league this season, because they have a deep bench. Like GTSC, Esso Blazers are waiting for their college players to return, but are in a better position with enough skilled players to take them through the season. Silver Bullets, who have a weak bench but five very good players, are in sixth position.
National Basketball Technical Director, Victor “Voot” O’Garro, said the tournament is a toss up this year.
“This is the most balanced men’s league we have ever had. There are no clear winners and while fans may have their favourites it will come down to the last point in the last game before we can determine the dominant team,” he noted. Coach O’Garro explained that the strength of this year’s league be partly attributed to the dismantling of Juniors, which is comprised of U-19 players.
So who will get a chance at the playoffs? Which of the four teams – Wolves, GTSC, Shaolin or Columbia — will take the championship trophy?
With the skills amongst the players and coaches on an equal level, it comes down to the X factor – who wants the championship more.
The Dominos Pizza Men’s League games continue every Sunday and on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday at 6:15 p.m. at the courts off Eastern Avenue.
Photos: Osmer Miller (#15 Colombia) takes the shot while Sebastian Sache (15 Shaolin) reaches for a rebound.
colombia vs shoalin 2
Collin Anglin adds another two points to the board.
Florida to outlaw human smuggling
(SunSentinel): For a state that is a hub of human-smuggling operations, up to now Florida has had no state statute outlawing such activities. That is set to change, with the Senate poised to approve a law making human smuggling a first-degree misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail for each person smuggled. The new state law is hoped to act as a deterrent preventing tragedies at shore and sea where numerous Haitians, Bahamians and Cubans — including pregnant women and children — bound for the United States drown each year.
Anglin backs constitution
(CNS): The second elected member for the district of West Bay, Rolston Anglin, is the first United Democratic Party candidate to declare his support for the new constitution at the Chamber district forums. So far his colleagues have said that the UDP has taken a conscience position with some of them saying they are voting ‘no’ and others simply refusing to say how they will vote. However, last night Anglin said he would vote ‘yes’ as he believed the proposed constitution was a genuine collaborative effort.
Speaking at the second candidiate forum in West Bay at the John A Cumber Hall last night, (Monday 27 April), where he gave an impressive and articulate performance, Anglin told voters to inquire and question the Constitution but he believed it was advancement on the current document and he was going to support it.
“What is there is truly a compromise document. It is no one’s document in particular. It is the result of a collaborative effort between the government, opposition and the NGOs,” he said adding that the UDP has taken the view internally that all members will exercise a conscience vote but he would be voting for the constitution.
His fellow panellists for the evening were Pauls Rivers and Lana Mae Smith, who are both running for the first time as independent candidates in the district but sharing the same platform on the campaign trail. Smith said she too would be voting yes to the constitution as it was the “bible of the land” and long overdue. Rivers however, said he was still deliberating over it as he had concerns that section 16 in the bill of rights was not a free standing right. Explaining his own situation, he said his own son had disabilities and did not want to see him face enshrined discrimination. However, he said there was room to improve the document at a future date so he was thinking he may in the end support it.
During an evening that saw the candidates discuss crime, unemployment, the failure of Caymanians to share in the economic success of the islands, the failure of the Turtle Farm and the needs of West Bay, Anglin showed the benefit of his experience when it came to understanding the future needs of Cayman’s economy when he noted that there was a need to attract the investment management firms behind the development of the hedge fund sector.
“The movers and players would then be actually located in Cayman,” he said, adding that not only would this generate fees and income directly, it would have a knock on effect to other areas of the economy provide work for lawyers and others as well as more scholarships and opportunities for Caymanians. The other two candidates both cited local produce and developing cottage industries as possible third pillars.
Anglin, however, noted that given the modern global situation it was not sensible for small nations such as Cayman to try and rely on export industries. He explained that around the region sugar and other export and manufacturing industries had been wiped out by the bigger nations and that Cayman should focus on the service sector. He suggested that Cayman was well placed to develop the airport because of the UK aviation regulations which would enable it to become an air gateway for US airlines to link passengers to other South American destinations.
Anglin also noted that it was not that serious that the country was running a deficit when asked about balancing the budget. He said everyone was aware that the United States was currently running a massive deficit, and while he did not advocate anything like that, it was not necessarily bad for government to run a deficit in hard times. He said while government spending was a concern, it was not the time to cut jobs and there was a need to get confidence back in the economy and develop public private partnerships to help deliver services. Smith and Rivers both said they would cut salaries for senior civil servants and MLAS.
When it came to environment Smith said she wanted to see the National Conservation Bill passed and it was the most important piece of legislation which was overlooked during this administration, and she said there was a need to enforce the existing litter law. The dump was described as a major problem by all three and Anglin noted the cross party work that has been done on developing a waste to energy programme as a solution.
Rivers spoke passionately about how development has left Caymanians behind and the very real need to take stock of how Cayman was developing and for whom. Anglin however, noted that not everything foreign was bad and said inward investment into the financial services had resulted in that sector’s economic success. He did, however, note that Caymanians needed to enjoy the opportunities presented by the sectors success. He also agreed with his fellow candidates that it was time for non-Caymanians civil servants to also face a rollover policy.
The three candidates debated in front of another sizeable West Bay crowd which could not resist enthusiastically applauding the candidates for their comments, despite Chamber President Wil Pineau’s request for them to wait until the end before showing their appreciation.
Balancing the budget
It’s becoming clearer by the day that most of the world is in the grip of a deep and long economic recession. This looks like the real thing – a severe enough recession is called a Depression.
Cayman has just begun to be affected, and there is worse to come. Back during the Great Depression of the 1930s, Cayman was poor. Caymanians might not have noticed much difference in their lifestyles. This time Cayman is rich, and the difference may shock us. Our MLAs have warned of a decline in Public Revenue, but the eventual decline may be as much as thirty or forty percent of last year’s total. They haven’t warned us about that.
Let’s face it: their modest financial skills can barely cope in times of plenty; how will they manage when the cashflow dries up? Thriftlessness in good times is poor training for the self-discipline that’s needed in bad times. They have two basic options for balancing their Budgets. They could turn to the taxpayers for a bailout, or they could cut expenses.
There are three main kinds of bailouts that the taxpayers could be called on for. First, new or higher taxes, and user-fees for government services. Second, stealing the assets of the private-sector Pension Funds. Third, a state lottery. All dangerous ideas. Let’s look at them briefly.
Raising taxes or fees is not practical. We taxpayers all have our own books to balance. We aren’t in a position to hand over any more of our money to the tender care of professional politicians. Their fat pensions are safe; our thin ones are not.
We have already been hit by large falls in the values of our savings. We’re in no shape to make good a shortfall in Public Revenue from any decline in tourism and tax-haven operations.
Fewer construction projects mean less Revenue from Work Permits, and less Import Duty from all the things that migrant workers buy. Already, imports of construction materials are way down; imports of everything else are bound to follow.
Pension Funds are a convenient source of bailout money, and a tempting one for politicians desperate to preserve their bureaucratic empires. All that’s needed is a change in the Law to require that a large percentage of the assets and future contributions be invested in Cayman Islands Government Bonds.
What could be simpler? What could be more patriotic? After all, our present Pension Funds have lost 30% of their values by being investedin overseas stocks and bonds. Surely our MLAs couldn’t do any worse. At least they could guarantee we’d get our money back. Well, it sounds good – as long as we can trust our rulers to treat it as a repayable loan.
However, the trouble with allowing politicians anywhere in the world to get their hands on people’s savings is that they don’t always give them back. What they usually do is spend the money on pet projects that don’t produce any profit – and then, as each person’s pension comes due they pay it out of current Public Revenue – that is, current tax receipts.
But unless they have built up a reserve fund, the current receipts will never be enough. So either existing taxes have to be increased or new ones have to be introduced. In effect, the Pension Funds are nationalized. The pensions become state pensions, and the extra tax-levies needed to pay them usually become an Income Tax.
The Chamber of Commerce twenty years ago beat back an attempt to do this exact thing. These days the Chamber is just part of “The Establishment”, but it is thanks to the extraordinary far-sightedness of Chamber Presidents Nick Duggan and Tommie Bodden and their Councils, that we all aren’t paying Income Tax today. God forbid their victory should ever be betrayed.
As for lotteries – they are universally recognized as being a tax on the poor and financially naive. Yet those are the very people who are always the first victims of economic hard-times. That’s why casinos in poor countries are always closed to local residents; it’s for their own protection. If we ever get a casino in Cayman, no Caymanians will be allowed to play the tables, and no immigrants either. Rich retirees living here might be allowed in, I suppose, and maybe some of the well paid expats – but certainly not the low-paid migrants. So why encourage the most vulnerable among us to fritter their hard-earned money away on lottery tickets?
A state lottery would be yet another boondoggle. There’s a bumper-sticker on the Island that says it all: “Crime wouldn’t pay, if the government ran it”. Tax all the existing raffles and numbers if we have to, but please don’t let’s vote for a state lottery. No, when you get right down to it, the only practical way for governments to balance their budgets in a recession is to reduce Public Expenditure.
Something like two thirds of our Public Expenditure every year goes on state employees’ salaries and benefits, and that’s where the bulk of the savings will have to come from. If our representatives had been prudent enough to put some cash away for a rainy day, they could spend that; but they didn’t.
There is plenty of fat that could be cut. The Turtle Farm may have to be closed down for a while. MLAs may have to fly Economy on their overseas junkets. Post your suggestions online.
Message in a bottle from hell
(BBC): Builders working near the site of the Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp have found a message in a bottle written by prisoners, museum officials say. The message, written in pencil and dated 9 September 1944, bears names, campnumbers and home towns of seven young inmates from Poland and France. At least two survived the Nazi camp, an Auschwitz museum official said. The bottle was buried in a concrete wall in a school that prisoners had been compelled to reinforce. The school’s buildings, a few hundred metres from the camp, were used as warehouses by the Nazis, who wanted them protected against air raids.
CIFSA and government in conflict
(CNS): The government’s partnership with the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association may be in jeopardy as the two have disagreed regarding the best way to address the issues surrounding the OECD’s grey list. The partnership was formed as a taskforce to co-ordinate the efforts of the public and private sector to address that and other continuing global attacks on the country’s financial services sector. However, CIFSA has written to the Leader of Government Business criticising the amendments to the TIA law and demanding immediate bi-lateral treaties as well as legislative amendments to the CRPL to address what it claims is a mounting crisis in the industry.
CNS has seen letters from both CIFSA and Kurt Tibbetts, who has written back to the organisation reaffirming the government’s commitment to the Tax Information Authority Law passed in December 2008. This law enables Cayman to enter into agreements with OECD countries and others when necessary without a bilateral treaty and has been hailed by government as a masterful stroke to deal with the OECD requirements. Tibbetts also stated in the letter that the government is still committed to the continued pursuit of bi-lateral treaties as well. He further noted that any amendments to the Confidential Relationships Preservation Law would not take place until the next session of the Legislative Assembly.
Writing in his relatively new role as chair of CIFSA, Anthony Travers has told government that members of the association are unanimous in their concern regarding the negative responses being received on a daily basis by clients and the move by institutional clients to take their business to jurisdictions on the so called OECD white list – Cayman’s competitors– and that something must be done immediately.
“We bring this to your attention because we are afeared that if not all immediately available steps are not taken to remedy the current position accelerating and irreversible damage will be done to the Cayman Islands Financial Industry." He states that statistical information regarding the first quarter of 2009 is already indicating that overall transaction flow maybe down as much as 50 per cent.
Travers asks government to take immediate action to implement four more bilateral treaties, as CIFSA places “no value at all” on the treaties signed under the unilateral exchange, and he says that mechanism is not yet fully recognised by the OECD. He suggests, if the law cannot be amended immediately as the House is not sitting, that government make an immediate statement of intent to repeal at least the criminal sanction part of the CRPL. He goes on to impress upon government the gravity of opinion in the sector that the industry is in serious trouble and states that the real time commercial implications are rendering the position of local financial professional untenable.
In his response, Tibbetts notes that it is not the first time Cayman has been blacklisted (although on this occasion it’s grey) and while the government is doing all it can to get on the white list he seems to indicate there is no need to panic. He writes that neither “under” nor “over reaction” are constructive. Standing by the unilateral mechanism, he said efforts were still being pursued to enter into bi-lateral agreements with OECD member states, but he did not react to Travers’ suggestion that to expedite matters the government send the agreements to OECD without the signatures of the involved countries. Tibbetts did, however, state that the government does proposes to repeal the CRPL and replace it with an access to information law and data protection law during the next legislative sitting, but he said announcements relating to this shouldbe carefully managed as he would not want to see it “turn into a self inflicting wound".
The CRPL has thrown controversy between government and private sector before, as government does not see the law as a privacy law and it is understood there are concerns that any move to change it would be interpreted on the global stage as an admission that it actually is a secrecy law. However, the private sector has long said the criminal sanction element of that law goes against the government’s position that it is a gateway rather than a barrier, and it needs to be amended. Tibbetts also noted that government was dependent on CIFSA and the rest of the private sector to alleviate any concerns or misconceptions among the client community about moves in relation to CRPL and how they might be interpreted.
The government made much fanfare of the establishment of the joint taskforce and convened a special press conference on Friday, 13 March, toannounce its creation. Tibbetts said at the conference he was happy that the private sector wanted to collaborate with government in the effort to get Cayman’s message out. “We in government welcome the opportunity to partner our existing efforts and resources with those from CIFSA to augment and diversify our voice on the international stage, particularly in relation to the strength, stability and contribution of the Cayman Islands financial services sector,” he said.
James Bergstrom, one of the Task Force Members present at the briefing, said it was established to build on the significant efforts and actions which have already been undertaken by various members of the private sector, as well as by the Cayman Islands Government. “We believe that CIFSA is the most appropriate organisation through which to co-ordinate these efforts. The make-up of the task force is truly a representative body of Cayman’s private sector and includes bankers, lawyers and accountants. It will also provide the Cayman Islands Government with a more focused contact point for co-ordinating its efforts with those of the private sector.”
Tibbetts stated that he would be holding an industry meeting on Wednesday of this week and hoped a representative from CIFSA would be there. However, the two letters indicate that government and CIFSA are not now necessarily coming from the same position in regards to how they feel the current crisis should be addressed, leaving the effectiveness of this taskforce in question.
Unity at Brac Chamber Forum
(CNS): Although both independent candidates, Lyndon Martin and Maxine McCoy Moore, have noted on the campaign trail the discord between incumbents Juliana O’Connor-Connolly and Moses Kirkconnell, and the tension between O’Connor-Connolly and Martin during the last election was well known (even though they were on the same UDP ticket), at times during the Chamber Candidates’ District Forum on the Brac Friday, 23 April, it was hard to tell whether the four candidates for the two Sister Islands seats were on different teams or a unified force, since they all appeared to largely agree on almost all of the questions put to them and the event remained cordial throughout.
Though there were no questions specifically on Cayman Airways, all the candidates noted at some point during the event the need for improvement in the air service. All said they would take pay cuts as MLAs. They would not control the type of vehicles imported into the Sister Islands but would provide incentives for people to bring in environmentally friendly cars. All were agreed on the importance of diversifying tourism in the Sister Islands. All four were adamant that civil servants should not pay health insurance, and there was general agreement on need for small business development.
All four said they would be willing to take a Cabinet seat if it was offered to them and that it should include responsibility for District Administration, with the two independents saying it should be enshrined in the constitution that one representative from the Sister Islands sat in Cabinet.
Kirkconnell said he had experience with Cayman Airways and business as a whole, and also had an interest in the Development Bank and what that can do for the community. O’Connor-Connolly, the only one with ministerial experience, noted that she had been promised a ministry in a UDP administration. She said she would be willing to try new areas for a ministry position, citing health, sports, youth and education.
Martin said he would be willing and able to accept a ministry, particularly in the areas of youth and education as he had experience as chairman of the Education Board for CB&LC, had sat on the Education Council, and had experience as a lecturer. He also had an interest in rehabilitation and community service. McCoy-Moore said she had always been a strong advocate for education and had served as the Little Cayman Education Service PTA President.
Three of the candidates were satisfied with the recovery progress after Paloma, though O’Connor-Connolly said that initially she was not satisfied at the “pace of revenue” from the government, though now she was. In a bi-partisan gesture, she said, “Both Moses and myself put 110% in the Paloma recovery process.”
Martin said he “differed slightly” and said the initial progress was very slow and even now, six months after the hurricane, the Brac was still not open for business and hotels still not operational. As well as emphasizing the need to make sure the outside world was kept updated, he said this had been the ideal opportunity, while hotels are closed, to elevate and improve the road on the south west of the island so the tourism sector would not be prone to flooding.
Martin called for the immediate passing of the National Conservation Bill when answering a question on the environment, the most strident answer of the four candidates, though all agreed that not enough was being done to protect it and it was an essential part of the tourism product for the Sister Islands. Martin also noted the need to “change basic human behavior” and introduce a recycle programme, an point echoed by McCoy-Moore, who also said she would immediately move the proposed landfill on the Bluff.
Answering a question from the Cayman Islands Financial Services Association, Martin said that only after the industry as a whole recovered and was in good health could it “widen its wings” to the Sister Islands. Once the industry recovered there could be particular concessions to attract business to the Sister Islands, such as reduce company formation fee, and a niche market could be found for the Brac.
Kirkconnell said it was important to understand that the Cayman Islands was not on the OEDC blacklist and a taskforce could be set up to look for ways to attract businesses from jurisdictions that were on the blacklist. He also promoted the idea of back offices in the Brac, starting with government, who should lead by example. He said government must open a company registry office here and improve air service to promote business.
O’Connor-Connolly said the first task of Cabinet would be to re-establish the requisite partnership with the financial services sector – “the experts”. Among other improvements we need to "learn art of negotiations with the Mother Country”, for which there should be "a tripartite of financial partners, NGos and government themselves” to go to London. As for the Sister Islands, she said we should “retool our people” with scholarships for the financial services.
In a discussion on the most critical areas for the district, Martin said he would start by changing the government system of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, so that ministry decisions were made at the local level covering all aeas of government, echoing an earlier statement by Kirkconnell that the Minster of District Administration should be resident on the Sister Islands.
While the other three candidates stated education, learning the Cayman heritage and more sports as their vision for the youth, Martin said we need to stop judging the young and forcing them into a mold of what we would like them to be.
Fishermen find diver’s body off Dolphin Pointe
(CNS): A visitor from the United States died during a diving trip yesterday (Sunday 26 April) and the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) says it has begun an investigation into the circumstances of the 58-year-old man’s death. The 911 Emergency Communications Centre received a call at approximately 1.55pm from a vessel which was taking part in the fishing tournament reporting that they had found a diver floating in the water off Dolphin Pointe, West Bay.
Moments afterwards 911 received a call from a staff member of Divers Down reporting that a diver had gone missing while on an organized dive. The fishing boat informed operators that they were coming to shore and performing CPR on the victim. Police and medics responded to the North West Point Dock where the patient was met and taken to hospital. Unfortunately, the victim was later pronounced dead. The man was on vacation in the Cayman Islands from Colorado, USA.
The RCIPS sends its condolences to the family and friends of the victim. Detectives from West Bay are investigating the death.
Police have also said that the Sand Bar is currently closed today (Monday, 27 April) due to inclement weather conditions and a further assessment will be made at 11.30am and checks will be made throughout the day by the joint Customs, Immigration and RCIPS Marine Unit and the Department of Environment. The boating community is thanked for their cooperation.
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.