Archive for May 1st, 2009

Mac vows to rescue CAL

(CNS): The country’s National Flag Carrier, Cayman Airways may have haemorrhaged some $90 million during the last four years, the Leader of the Opposition McKeeva Bush said last night when he promised to turn the airline around if the people voted for him and his team the United Democratic Party on 20 May. He said it would be hard after four years of mismanagement but they could do it. He also said he would deal with Boatswain Beach and make that more successful too.

Speaking at the very last Chamber Candidates District Forum in West Bay last night (Thursday 30 April) the Leader of the UDP said that when he was in government he had set the subsidy for Cayman Airways at a specific amount each year and kept the deficit down. Since he had been in opposition he said despite his efforts he had not been able to get the government to reveal exactly how much they had given to CAL in the way of subsidies.

“We have tried very hard to get the figures… but they wouldn’t tell us anything…. but we found out that…since June 2005…its been something like $90 million in losses. It is only mismanagement that made that happen. We will have to work hard again to turn that around but it can be done,” He said adding that the country had to maintain Cayman Airways.

He also said Boatswain Beach can work and that the figures by the financial experts revealed that it could be a successful attraction. He said he intended to work with private sector partners to make it more so. Bush explained that the facility had been tied in with the plan to build a cruise jetty in West Bay which he said the cruise industry had agreed with and contributed some $8 million. He said they had supported it because it would have put the passengers right by the farm. “If we are going to have cruise visitors here it should benefit our Boatswain Beach,” he said. “You elect the UDP and it will be come successful.”

All of Mckeeva Bush’s fellow candidates appearing on the same platform agreed that Cayman Airlines needs to be protected. His UDP colleague Cline Glidden explained that Cayman either subsidizes its own airline or a foreign one and if the country is going to continue in the tourism industry it was needed as a major partner. Glidden also stated that Boatswain Beach was created as a world class attraction and its problems were down to mismanagement as its financial position couldn’t be that bad given the significant salary advances that had been given recently, he said.

Bernie Bush an independent candidate said he had always supported Cayman Airways but was concerned over the growing losses and noted that there was a need to see the audited accounts. “Looking from the outside there is a lot of belt tightening that could go on and I don’t think the management have been listening to its own staff.”  

Henry Morgan also running as independent in the district said he didn’t know how much it was subsidized but he felt it should be supported by the locals.

During the much anticipated debate featuring the Leader of the Opposition the candidates discussed job creation, unemployment, fiscal management, gambling, (which no one supported), West Bay’s issues, development of small business, which McKeeva said would benefit from reduce duty, rollover, tourism and the proposed port development. The UDP candidates both stated that they supported the development of cruise birth facilities but not the plans to redevelop the cargo facilities in George Town but did say where that facility should be moved.

When asked about the constitution McKeeva Bush would not offer his own position despite being part of the negotiating team. He restated the UDP’s position that it is a matter of conscience and would accept the people’s decision. “While I agree with many aspects there are areas that I am not satisfied with and areas that will not do anything for these islands,” he said adding the constitution would not put a job in anybody’s hands and it was only going to be as good as those elected to run a government under it. Glidden however said that he felt he was able to support it especially as the UDP had been able to restrict some of the early proposals which would have given too much political control to government during the negotiations.

Bernie Bush who had been involved in the early days with the constitution and he said he would be happy to support it. A deciding factor for him he said was the support of the Cayman Ministers Association and the felt it made provisions to protect Caymanians.  Morgan said he had some problems with it and was not sure he agreed so wouldn’t be able to vote yes but he did not explain his concerns.

When it came to addressing perceptions about Cayman’s Financial Services industry overseas McKeeva Bush said that the current administration had failed to promote the Cayman Islands on the global stage and neglected the industry and the private sector had been forced to tackle the public relations position themselves. He said a UDP Government would work hard to improve the situation and work hard to help the world understand what we do the biggest issue he said was putting back the lobbyists that the government had sacked.

Bernie Bush agreed with his namesake and noted that the lobbyists needed to be re-instated. He also said that in recent conversations with a senior figure in the industry he had been told that eh and other professionals in the sector had experienced difficulty getting to meet with government to express their concerns.

Whenit come to the four candidates closing statements McKeeva warned that the country needed a united force in government after the election and while the UDP cold work with anyone the voters needed to elect a government with a plan and that was the UDP.

“We have been asked whether we will work with whomever is elected and I say of course we will. We must work with whomever the people select as their representatives if we are there in the legislature. Nevertheless, the country is in a position today where we must have a clear plan that has been discussed, a plan that has been refined and a plan that has been agreed upon prior to an election. If this is not so there will be unnecessary bickering, fault-finding and politicking,” he said. Using his experience as a veteran politician to steer the voters away from the independents Bush warned that any delay in forming government would be detrimental to the electorate. He said there needed to be unity and harmony in the Legislative Assembly and that could not happen with people who did not know what they were going to do when they got there.

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UDP’s Ambassador for Jesus

(CNS): At a public meeting in Spot Bay, Sister Islands MLA Juliana O’Connor-Connolly criticized the current PPM government for passing a new Education Law rather than the simply amending the old one, and indicated that their motive for doing so was so that they could remove the clause that enshrined religious education. She also warned her supporters that there was a Muslim teacher at the Cayman Brac High School and “at least one” who was an atheist, and asked, “Do you think they’re going to be teaching your children religious worship and instruction?”

Though the bill had been circulated for comment some four months before being tabled in the House, O’Connor-Connolly said that not getting a flightso that she could be in the Legislative Assembly for the passing of the bill gave her time to read it through many times to make sure there was no reference to the section that enshrined religious instruction in law.

Dismissing the counter argument that it was covered in the National Curriculum, O’Connor-Connolly, who at a recent Chamber forum on the Brac suggested education as an area that she would like to take on in a Cabinet position, asked, “What will happen when we get a Minister of Education who does not believe in God?”

Calling the sequence of events “a parliamentary miracle", she said that her version of how the word “religion” was added into the law was fully documented. She said, “Rather than take the traditional method of amending the Education Law, which was working good, those same ministers was educated under that law … and your children went through that system, because they had good parents who cared about their future, because they had good teachers who cared about the children, and because we were still a land where the fear of God was present.”

Urging people to talk to their children about what they were learning at school, she said, “There is at least one teacher who is a Muslim right here at the Cayman Brac High School, and that is her religious right, but when they do assembly – because we come from a Christian background – she refuses to close her eyes or to have our traditional reverence.” She told those gathered that this teacher had explained to her class why she was a Muslim.

“Listen carefully,” O’Connor-Connolly went on, “there’s another one, I’m reliably informed, who isan atheist. Do you think they’re going to be teaching your children religious worship and instruction?” She said, “They didn’t just show up in our education system. They had to be interviewed. They had to be hired.”

The UDP incumbent said, “This is not a popular topic. It’s one that easily can be blown out of proportion, but when it comes to standing for God Almighty, I made my choice a long time ago and I’ve gone too far to turn back now, and when you’re ready for a representative who does not believe in God, then don’t vote for Juliana.” She said that her constituents could go to bed knowing that they won’t hear that she’s been arrested or that she was in Northward.

While not commenting further about the content of the Education Law or any of the changes that have taken place within the education system, O’Connor-Connolly also criticized the money spent on expensive schools saying it was mortgaging our children’s future and that the successful people of today did not learn in elaborate classrooms.

At the meeting, O’Connor-Connolly, who is running for her fourth term and was the first female Cabinet member, also emphasized experience as MLA and as minister. “I have met challenges,” she said. “We need representatives who can think on their feet,” she said.

Speaking of the UDP, she said “As a lawyer I know what it is to be an integral part of that team.” She said the last budget the LoGB – biggest capital budget ever

When the UDP votes money for the Brac, it is not later taken away and given to Grand Cayman, said the MLA, and she bemoaned the cuts for the Brac in the Supplementary Expenditure, dismissing the excuse that the Brac had had additional funds for the Paloma recovery. O’Connor-Connolly noted the rising cost of living on the Brac in terms of groceries, electricity and spoke out against suggestions that civil servants should pay towards health insurance.

“We don’t want to live in fear, especially as we get older,” she said, and several times reminded people that she and the UDP had increased the ex-gratia payments to seamen and veterans and said they would do everything in their power to raise it to $800 per month.

She also criticized the national debt, forced retirement at age 55 to 60,a dn said that the affordable housing initiative on the Brac had been started under the UDFP who had left $800,000 in the budget for its development, since when only four houses had been built.

To boost the economy of the Brac she suggested moving the maintenance department of Cayman Airways Express to the island, which among other benefits would improve the air ambulance service. Alternatively, she suggested support for Dr Charles Reid’s private medical air-evacuation proposal.

She said she had been criticized for paving certain roads when she was minister. “Well, you remember whose roads used to be paved before you elected Juliana O’Connor Connolly?” she asked, and claimed she was a representative for all the people and an “ambassador for Jesus Christ”.

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