Archive for April, 2009
Rich to flee UK 50% tax
(Times): Two of Britain’s best known entrepreneurs are considering leaving in protest against Alistair Darling’s new 50% tax rate, as leading figures from business and the City warn of a talent exodus. Hugh Osmond, the pubs-to-insurance entrepreneur, is thinking about a move to Switzerland and Peter Hargreaves, the £10 million-a-year co-founder of Hargreaves Lansdown, the financial adviser, is looking at the Isle of Man or Monaco, with more likely to follow. Osmond, whose net worth is estimated at £230 million, said: “A lot of people will be off. It’s highly unlikely that I will continue to have the UK as my country of residence. …"
Late gazette does not qualify UDP candidates
(CNS): Despite the fact that an extraordinary supplementary gazette has been published by GIS citing details of government contracts held by both Mark Scotland and Dwayne Seymour’s companies, the two UDP candidates remain, according to the constitution, disqualified. However, as yet no challenge has been made to their right to continue on the hustings. Although many have expressed their concerns over this off the record, it seems none of the candidates are prepared to undermine their own campaign with the distraction of a legal battle. (Scotland & Seymour far right at UDP rally)
According to the late Gazette Extraordinary No. 27/2009 published on Friday, 24 April, four days late as required by the Constitution stated in section 19(g), Scotland has published his interest in Advanced Road Construction and Paving Ltd. (ARCP) with current government contracts for the parking lot for Government Office Accommodation Project, the repair and upgrade to football fields, the reconstruction of Dorcy Drive, and a subcontract to Royal Construction which is working on the George Town Library. He has also published an interest in MCM Consulting Ltd, which has contracts with the NRA for the East West Arterial. Meanwhile, Dwayne “John John” Seymour has published his interest in APS Airport Professional Services, which has a contract with Cayman Airways.
Both men have stated openly that the failure to publish their government contracts before the deadline was an oversight and not a deliberate attempt to deceive. Their legal status as candidates, however, is still in question as even though they indicated that they have not broken the spirit of this constitutional requirement, they have still not complied.
Following stories across the media about the situation, the UDP released an official statement from the two candidates on Friday in which they said they wished to assure the public, and in particular the people of Bodden Town, that they had made full and frank declarations of all their business interests along with all the other candidates in their Declaration of Interests forms filed prior to Nomination Day in the register of interests at the Legislative Assembly.
However, the register of interests does not require candidates to list their government contracts that those businesses may be involved with. To ensure that the voters can easily identify and understand what government and public contracts those businesses have, and any potential conflict of interest a candidate would therefore face if elected, the Constitution requires all candidates to fully disclose those details in a public gazette.
Scotland said that it had recently been brought to his attention (despite wide publication of the fact at the beginning of the year by the Elections Office) that he was also required to gazette his contracts with the government, under section 19 (g) of the Cayman Islands constitution, but said that his road paving company is widely known to have government contracts and further pointed out that this information was already in the public domain as all government contracts are a matter of public record.
“The short delay in meeting the technical requirements of section 19 of the Constitution was an honest oversight rather than any intent to conceal all such interests, as can be seen from my Declaration of Interests,” Scotland added. “In order to ensure that there is no doubt as to what contracts with the government are held by any company in which I am a director or manager I have made the necessary arrangements to ensure that they are published at the earliest opportunity in an extraordinary gazette.”
He said he had been advised that the late gazetting of the contracts does not impact his ability to stand as a candidate and to contest the May 2009 General Elections. The Constitution, however, states otherwise. “No person shall be qualified to be elected as a member of the Assembly who…. is a party to, or a partner in a firm or a director or manager of a company which is a party to, any contract with the Government of the Islands for or on account of the public service and has not, in the case of a contested election, caused to be published, at least one month before the day of the poll, a Government Notice setting out the nature of such contract and his interest, or the interest of any such firm or company,….”
While the Governor’s Office seem to have agreed to the publication of the late gazette, Alan Drury, of the Governor’s Office, confirmed to CNS last week that the Constitution would not be suspended.
Therefore, if it is not to be suspended in according with the constitution the two candidates remain in breach of it and remian constitutionally disqualified. Moreover, even if the candidates continue on to Election Day without facing a challenge from other candidates or registered voters, who are also entitled to challenge their qualification according to the constitution, it is very likely that other candidates in Bodden Town will challenge either one if they were to poll enough votes to gain a seat.
Seymour noted that it is possible that there are other candidates unaware of this separate requirement in the Constitution, thinking that once they had completed and filed their declaration of interest form they had complied with all requirements. He also said that he has no contracts with the government, although it is with the nationally (i.e. government) owned airline. “I have a contract with Cayman Airways that I will publicly gazette out of an over abundance of caution.” explained Seymour.
Wally backs Conservation bill
(CNS): Describing the environment as a precious thing that needed to be preserved, Walling Whittaker declared his full support on Saturday night (25 April) for the National Conservation Bill which he said was languishing in obscurity. “The National Conservation Bill needs to be passed,” he said. “We need to stop paying lip service to the environment and pass this legislation.” He also called for a full recycling programme, which he said would require a change in behaviour but one those who loved their country would be willing to make. He also promised to get people back in work and predicted 5-5-5 for the elction result.
Speaking to George Town voters on Marina Drive on Saturday evening, the independent candidate said he fully supported the National Conservation Bill exactly as it was proposed and wanted to see its passage as soon as possible. He also noted that the George Town dump, aka ‘Mount Trashmore’, was getting “higher and higher, stinkier and stinkier and uglier and uglier.”
Criticising the incumbents, though not insulting them, on a number of familiar topics, from unemployment to the lack of affordable housing, Whittaker said the most important thing and the very first job he would see to when elected was the auditing of the various outstanding annual reports across the government ministries and departments.
“How can we run a country if we don’t know how much money we have?” he asked. Although he said not everyone and everything in the current administration was bad, he said it was important to elect people that could get things done and that the message from the parties that independents couldn’t get anything accomplished without them was nonsense.
He predicted that the voters would return five candidates from each of the parties and five independents, which he said would mean the parties could not do anything without the independents and the people would get a coalition. “If you put enough independents into the Legislative Assembly you will change the face of politics and send the message that you are tired of empty promises,” he said, adding that the clear advantage of independent candidates was that they answered directly to the people no on else especially not a party and a party leader.
He presented his case for a national lottery, pension reinvestment, tackling crime by recruiting old Caymanian officers back to the RCIPS and the idea of buying land when it became available for Caymanians to buy back from government at an affordable rate. He said that he had neversaid he would prevent Caymanians from selling their land to foreigners or anyone else as had been attributed to him recently, but his intention, he said, was to try and buy good value land when it became available that could be sold back to Caymanians. Otherwise he said future generations would never be able to afford to buy a piece of their own country.
Above all, however, he promised the people jobs. As former director of employment relations he said he know about getting people in work and that he would develop a manpower board that would take over the issue of work permits and ensure that the right balance was found between the 27,000 work permit holders and those Caymanians who were being laid off on a weekly basis. “I know what it takes to make our people employable,” he said. “Tell your friends that Walling will get them the jobs.”
He asked the enthusiastic and not insignificant crowd of people to vote for number 12, and said he had the solutions that the parties were already borrowing for their manifestos. He said he didn’t mind, though, as he wanted to help but he did wish they would give him credit at least and say that they were Walling’s ideas.
Ignorance is not bliss
One rather worrying commonality emerging from this election campaign is the failure of many candidates on all sides to have done their homework or to really understand the role they are asking for.
While the issue with UDP candidates Mark Scotland and Dwayne Seymour has clearly demonstrated that our existing and would-be politicians are unfamiliar with the country’s Constitution, this incident is not the only one where would-be and existing members of the Legislative Assembly have revealed a serious lack of knowledge during the campaign of past, present and future legislation and policy.
Candidates have criticised ministers without seeming to have the faintest idea what the policies of the last four years have been and made glaringly inaccurate statements that existing research and data contradicts. Others have admitted to not reading the proposed new Constitution but still telling voters to vote no, and many have demonstrated a clear ignorance of the policy developments and reviews that have taken place over the last decade or so in the Cayman Islands on everything, from implementing a national lottery to what legislation has and has not been passed.
While ‘the man in the street’ may not find it easy to follow the twists and turns of legislative research, development and implementation, the voters have a right to expect that their existing and would-be legislators should have done that work and understood it. At the very least they should be aware of the policies that have been put in place and the laws that have been passed over the last four years. Without that knowledge they are not only misleading the voters about what has happened over the last term, but they are wasting campaign time criticising things that may not have happened. Moreover, and crucially, they may fail to see things that really do need to be criticised and addressed.
Ignorance on the part of any would-be politician is simply unacceptable and certainly not bliss for the electorate. The country’s legislators don’t all need to have PhD’s or be political science geniuses, they simply have to know the legislative history of their own country. After all, the cry from all the candidates is that they are doing all this, giving up their lives, to serve and to make a change — but if they have so little understanding of current policies and laws how can they know what they want to change?
Two candidate’s campaigns have been seriously broughtinto question quite simply because they, their party colleagues and their advisors had not read the most fundamentally important document to any potential politician – the country’s Constitution. These two candidates may very well pay the highest price for that. However, voters need to understand that many of the other candidates on their ballot papers may not have read the Constitution either or any of the new legislation passed during the last four years or even beyond.
It is therefore something that all of Cayman’s 15,000 plus registered voters should consider when they go the polls next month as they decide where to put their X or Xs. Is this candidate going to read the proposed legislation that will come through the Legislative Assembly during their time in office and look out for my interests, or will they simply rubber stamp laws because they have neither the grey matter nor the inclination to read what could sometimes be complex and difficult documents?
Shouting on the hustings and criticising everything that moves is all well and good, but being a member of the Legislative Assembly or a minster requires brains and some common sense. Not only do law makers decide what should be done, they need to approve the language and details of how it will be done. Quite simply, if the people’s representatives are not capable of reading and understanding the laws, they are not serving the people at all but doing their constituents a serious disservice.
Candidates tout party lines
(CNS): The candidates were different, the questions were similar but the answers were beginning to sound like ones regular attendees and listeners to the Chamber’s District Candidate Forums have heard before. With the UDP representatives reading from the party manifesto and the PPM member touting a well-rehearsed party line, the audience for the seventh forum of the series and the second in George Town, heard some very familiar answers.
Burns Connolly, the only independent candidate of the evening who was giving fresh responses to the questions, found himself sandwiched between two of the four UDP candidates for the district, Perlina McGaw-Lumsden and Mike Adam, and on the same platform as the PPM’s fourth elected member for George Town, Alfonso Wright.
However, when asked about the future of Cayman Airways and whether it should be sold, Adam broke free of the UDP manifesto and offered an insightful answer. Admitting he should know a little about the topic, he said it should not be sold but that many of the national flag carrier’s problems were down to the changing political influences with each election.
“It gets a new direction (at each election) and it takes roughly two years to ramp up the new plan…with a lot of funding supporting…We need less influence from the government and it should be run as a business,” he said. “We need to determine what its real niche is, as right now it is being used to be all things to all people.”
He said the costs were too high and the leasing of aircraft and the routes needed to be assessed. But he described it as a lever that the country needed to keep control of, and while it might be a luxury for a small country, it should remain in government hands.
Conolly too offered food for thought when he said that Cayman Airways should not be sold but needed to be budgeted and treated as a necessary national tool. He said it was something that should be funded and it was time to stop trying to think it should be profitable. He also said that the airline needed to be free of political influence and questioned some of the recent decisions.
“I would support taking politics out of the board and have people serve who were familiar with the airline business,” he said, adding that he found it difficult to believe the Washington route was a success and there was a need to look at Latin America.
Wright said that under no circumstance should it be sold as it was essential to the tourism industry. He recalled that countries dependent on foreign airlines were virtually shut down when fuel prices skyrocketed last year. He said privatizing would not make it anymore efficient even though the previous UDP government had considered selling it to Air Jamaica.
McGaw-Lumsden said no to selling it and added that there was a need to find profitable routes, “When we generate more profit we don’t have to have subsidies for this airline…..”
When the panel were asked if environmentalist should be involved in development, the panel all said they should play a significant and important role. Burns said that this was a big area for him and noted there was a desperate need to create a full national development plan for the future and embrace sustainable and green development. He added that development and the environment were not always at diametric opposites. Adam said we need to be careful with our development and not damage any more than we already have, and said he supported the involvement of environmentalists wholeheartedly.
Wright revealed what could be one of the reasons why the PPM government failed to bring the promised National Conservation Bill to the Legislative Assembly this term, as it clearly did not have the support of all of the party members, when he said that there are times when, if we listened to what the environmentalist want, we would have little or no development. However, he did say that they should have a role as they were important in preserving things that are Caymanian. McGaw-Lumsden said government would not have all the answers to everything and she supported the role of environmentalists.
When it came to the question of supporting a lottery, two of the candidates must have either forgotten Conolly’s role as chair of the official committee that examined the issue in 2002 or didn’t know about it. Wright repeated the comments made by Joey Ebanks in North Side on the previous evening saying it was not viable, while McGaw-Lumsden said there was no data or proper analysis of a potential lottery for Cayman and the majority of Caymanians did not support it.
At that point Burns noted that there was in fact a considerable amount of data as a result of the committee’s extensive work and said not only was it viable, as some $1 million a week went through the illegal numbers game, as much 70% of the population supported it. He said there were many options to set up a lottery and the estimations that came out of the research were in order of $40 million going to good causes in the first year. Despite the administration’s rejection of it at the time, it should be considered, he said. Adam said he didn’t support a national lottery because the churches didn’t support it and in his opinion it didn’t expand the economy but merely redistributed existing money.
All fourcandidates were guilty on occasion of the politicians favourite game which was evading the question posed but answering the one they wished had been asked and both Adam and McGaw-Lumsden read frequently from the UDP manifesto to answer questions repeating almost verbatim many of the answers given by other UDP candidates in the forums so far. Nevertheless, the four candidates covered a wide range of issues, from traffic congestion and crime to Cayman’s relationship with the UK and the economy, as well as the problems facing George Town. The need to renovate George Town Primary and the dump were cited as top priorities, as were crime and unemployment.
Cayman 5th worst hit destination in region
(CNS): Although Tourism Minister Charles Clifford has said that Cayman is weathering the economic storm relatively well given the circumstances, recent statistics from the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO) paint a different picture. For the first quarter of 2009 Cayman’s stay over tourism was down more than 11% when compared with last year and one of the most severe declines in the region. Jamaica, Cuba and Mexico all enjoyed an increase in arrivals and only four other destinations had a steeper decline than Cayman.
The drop in tourist visits has been described as wreaking havoc on the region’s main industry by Winfield Griffith, acting director of research for the Barbados-based organization. The declines in the first quarter are the worst since the tourism slump that followed the 9/11 attacks in 2001, Griffith said yesterday (23 April). "The point at which it will hit bottom is not clear," he added.
Anguilla took the worst hit with a decline of 18.8 percent, according to the CTO statistics but numbers fell sharply in Antigua, St. Lucia, Montserrat and here in the Cayman Islands. Griffith said the small islands may be struggling the most in part because airlines have been eliminating flights within the region.
The disappointing statistic also come before the full implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, which will require that all US residents travelling to the Caribbean, Bermuda, Canada and Mexico have a passport in order to return to the country which takes effect on 1st June.
The CTO statistics also show sharp declines in arrivals by cruise ship passengers: down 28.7 percent in Jamaica, 25.8 percent in Puerto Rico and 19.6 percent in the Cayman Islands.
Police silent on suspect
(CNS): It is now more than a week since the 38-year-old inmate arrested for the murder of Sabrina Schirn appeared in court and was returned to Northward without being charged, and no update regarding the investigation has been offered by the police. However, police have said that the man who is serving a seven year sentence for an unrelated offence, who was believed to be working on the prison farm in East End around the same time of the 21-year old Sabrina’s murder, remains a suspect.
Following his court appearance last week, police said that the case was now with legal services and forensic evidence was still being reviewed. Since his return to Northward, CNS has attempted to discover if the inmate has been returned to the normal prison population and the usual routine of a prisoner of his category which is believed to be ‘D’.
Dr William Rattray, the Commissioner of Corrections, said he could not comment on individual prisoners but on a general note he said any prisoner who is suspected of a criminal offence would be re-graded to either Category A or B pending the completion of police investigations. “If a prisoner is charged with an offence they would remain at least Category B.”
He also confirmed that all external work programmes have been suspended, including community service, the farm, and work release. “We still have Category C and D prisoners working outside the perimeter fence but within the overall prison boundaries,” he added.
Sabrina’s decomposed body was found by her friends and family in a remote area of East End near the rock quarry on 17 March, two days after the car she was driving was found less than a mile away. While the details of the autopsy have not been revealed, police have indicated that Sabrina was killed with a machete. The prison confirmed the 38-year-old inmate, who was at the time considered a low risk offender who worked on the prison farm that was adjacent to the area where the body was found, had been arrested on 5 April. Police held the man for the 12 days allowed under the law before charges must be brought. In the absence of any charges he was returned to Northward Prison last week.
No further arrests have been made in connection with the killing, despite the mounting speculation that at least one other individual could have been involve in the murder or its attempted cover up.
While the community has been vociferous in its concern regarding this investigation, current elected officials and most of the candidates have remained silent on the issue. However, Sandra Catron and Burns Conolly, independent candidates for Bodden Town and George Town, have both called for the immediate removal of the Director of Prisons and those others involved in the administration of the Prison Service. Conolly has asked for the governor to look into a full review of the situation surrounding the policies and procedures of the Northward Prison Farm Work Programme and called for the immediate removal of those in charge to allow a free and independent investigation into the matter.
"If they are found to be innocent of any wrong-doing then they should be returned. However, if they were found to be in complicity with the lack of security and procedures then they should be removed from their positions permanently. We have other investigations ongoing for far less significant issues than this unfortunate loss of life,” he said.
Conolly added that he was astounded that government and few candidates had come out publicly on this issue. “I want to move this issue to the importance it should have. Many in the community have called for this but few in the political arena have chosen to speak out. I am surprised that we are still talking about the removal of the prison director now some two to three weeks after it became known that a prisoner had been arrested in connection with this unfortunate crime. The director should have stepped down or been removed immediately to facilitate a proper and transparent investigation.”
Catron also called for an investigation recently and the suspension of prison staff, saying she found it absolutely shocking and abhorrent that someone who is incarcerated because he has already broken society’s laws should be afforded the opportunity to re-offend while in prison. “This is by far one of the most unreal situations I have ever heard of. How can any of us feel safe knowing that even after incarcerations we are still not safe from criminals,” she said.
Recent reports that a prison officer had been suspended in connection with the incident have been denied by prison authorities as only rumour. However, the same authorities also dismissed questions submitted by CNS regarding the potential of an inmate being involved in Sabrina’s murder as “speculative gossip" several days before the admission that an inmate may have been involved.
LIME touts its green credentials
(CNS): Regional telecommunications firm LIME has said the firm is stepping up its “Go Green” efforts with two new initiatives to promote environmental preservation in the Caribbeancountries where it operates. A three day tree planting programme started on World Earth Day which finishes today 24 April and an e-billing campaign to cut down on paper. CEO Richard Dodd said the firm was committed to reversing the environmental damage done to the region over the years.
For the last few days LIME’s employees joined forces with primary schools, community groups, service clubs and other organizations to plant some 3000 seedlings to replace trees that have been harvested or destroyed over the years. (Here in Cayman LIME worked with the National Trust)
Customers across the region are also being asked to go paperless by using “eBilling” or Direct Debit to pay their bills. “eBilling”, which will allows customers to receive and pay their bills online, will come on stream within the next few weeks, the firm said and Direct Debit is already available in some markets. To encourage customers to choose these payment options, the firm said it will be rolling out a promotional campaign and providing discounts and other incentives.
LIME also plans to restart its former industry-leading mobile handset recycling and safe battery disposal programmes and it will be expanding to other islands the telephone directory recycling initiative which is currently being undertaken in Barbados and about to be restarted in Jamaica.
Announcing the expanded environmental focus, CEO Richard Dodd said green initiatives were always meant to play a part in the Cable & Wireless regional re-brand.
“When we launched our new Caribbean Business last year we made it clear that we are committed to preserving the environment for the next generation and beyond, and we are now making good on that commitment,” he said. “We want to strongly encourage governments and other private sector entities across the region to take immediate action also, so we can see measureable improvements in our environment”
He noted that environmental protection is not a new focus as the company has consistently infused eco-friendly practices into its operations and currently recycles plastic bottles, toner cartridges, large batteries, cable and other scrap metals. In addition, the company is now actively looking for biodegradable alternatives to the plastic bags used at its stores and plastic phone cards used for top-up and international calling.
“LIME is committed to ensuring that we do all that is possible to halt and reverse the damage that has been done to our environment over the years. This is one of the most important things anyone of us will ever do. That is why we are actively providing opportunities for our customers, our staff and the wider public to help make a difference,” Dodd added.
Museum officer offers kids some advice
(CNS): Students from George Town Primary School had a lesson on duppies and creepy crawlies recently when Museum Education Officer Nasaria Chollette visited the school as part of their Caymanian cultural class and read two stories from her book, Storytelling Rundown where she also explained to the children who are creating their own school version, the purpose of a museum. Chollette who appeared as her “stage” character, “Miss Nas”, also awarded some students a copy of her book and read Limbert and the Duppies” and “Creepy Crawly."
Chollette asked students to bring one item each from home representing who they are for a classroom museum and students will be inviting Chollette back to visit their museum when it is complete. This visit was to year 1 students in Joan Feare, Trista Scott and Tunisia Barnes’ classes who explained that for the last six weeks pupils were exploring a unit called "Oh Land of Soft Fresh Breezes", taken from the opening line of the Cayman National Song. The unit focused on Caymanian culture, and on the last day pupils were asked to wear traditional Caymanian clothes while parents prepared Cayman foods such as turtle, fried fish, fritters, and Johnny Cake.
“As you can imagine it was a very exciting day,” said Barnes adding that Miss Nas’ appearance was a highlight of the closing day’s events. Other people participating in the six-week project included Roy Bodden, Twila Vargas, Orlee Ebanks, Carmen Conolly, Ulene Mclaughlin and Erica Daniels of the National Trust who shared traditional Caymanian stories and games.
Spreading the word regarding the museum Chollette recently appeared in character on CITN’s “Kids Stuff: Out and About”. The quarterly show will air again in June, when Miss Nas expects to make a guest appearance, presenting on the topic of “Nickas”.
Silva to seek opportunities at offshore conference
(CNS): CIFSA Vice-Chairman, Eduardo D’Angelo P. Silva says he will be seeking opportunities for Cayman business next week when he attends the Offshore Alert conference in Miami. “Offshore Alert is the ideal platform to facilitate discussions on a range of important issues facing Offshore Financial Centres the world over. I am confident that there will be a strong focus on identifying opportunities during these difficult economic times,” he said.
Silva, will take seats on two panels at the event alongside other financial services professionals from around the globe and says he is optimistic about the potential benefits to the Cayman Islands of CIFSA’s involvement in the conference. His first panel will deal with ‘Power Politics’ and the effects of assaults on OFCs by the world’s leading economic powers and financial organisations.
This panel follows the keynote speakers Jeffrey Owens, Director of the Center for Tax Policy and Administration of the OECD and Wendy Warren, C.E.O and Executive Director of the Bahamas Financial Services Board and will focus on the anticipated policies of U.S. President, Barack Obama as regards OFCs and the UK’s review of regulations governing the products and services offered by its Crown Dependencies and Overseas Territories.
Silva will also sit on a second panel which deals with the future of OFCs and how they can navigate the current recession. He a is also planning to use the opportunity of the Offshore Alert conference to engage representatives of other offshore jurisdictions in preliminary discussions to explore common challenges and potential opportunities for the sector. “Offshore Alert is a convenient forum for the offshore financial services community to come together to tackle issues facing the industry as a whole” he said. “The global economic crisis and events such as the recent G20 summit in London have placed Offshore Financial Centres firmly in the global spotlight. A collective response to the changing conditions in which the industry operates could prove beneficial for all.”
CIFSA is a sponsor at the 2009 Offshore Alert Conference, which takes place between the 26th and 28th April. This year’s event marks the seventh in a series of financial due diligence conferences specialising in sharing and analyzing information and intelligence on fraud, money laundering, tax evasion, compliance, risk management and asset recovery as it relates to OFCs.