Archive for May, 2009
Governor starts cyber space journal
(CNS): Sevens months before he is due to leave the islands, Governor Stuart Jack has announced that he has started a blog, which he says is an attempt to communicate more and an opportunity for people to tell him what they think. “From time to time there are things I want to say to the people of the Cayman Islands which do not always justify a formal press statement,” Jack said in his blog. “I cannot be on the talk shows all the time. Sometimes I have had complaints that the Governor was not communicating with the community frequently enough.”
He also suggested that people both here and further afield would like to have a better idea what a governor gets up to and thinks, and as a result he would be updating his blog once or twice a week.
The governor’s blog is located on the governor’s office website and has a comment box for readers to submit their thoughts. In his first entry he talks about the trip he and his wife, Mariko, took to South America, the newly appointed governor, Duncan Taylor, and the forthcoming elections and referendum on Wednesday.
During his trip to South America he said he saw that each of the countries had its own strengths and its own problems, many of them around economic difficulties, poverty and crime. He said that while the Cayman Islands has problems we must keep things in perspective. “Compared with most other countries in the Western Hemisphere we remain blessed,” he wrote. “This is still one of the safest places to live in or visit that this seasoned traveller has known,” he said.
He said Cayman was lucky to get Duncan Taylor as he has an extensive knowledge of the Caribbean. “His style will not be exactly the same as mine, but I do not expect any radical changes in the policies he pursues or the FCO wants him to pursue, for example on good governance,” Jack wrote.
“Anyway Cayman has still got me – and Mariko — for the next seven months. A journalist recently asked me if, now that my successor had been named, I was winding down. While it is perfectly fair for someone to ask that question, the very suggestion that I am winding down is more likely to wind me up!”
He said he was determined to push ahead with the work, including the problems in the police force, improving parole arrangements, efforts to modernise government and to start implementing a new Constitution. He then asked everyone entitled to vote to use the last few days to study the text and take part in the referendum, and told voters to look for candidates in the general election who think seriously about the whole country and all its people not just their constituency and supporters.
He said Cayman needed to think hard about the future as a result of the current economic uncertainty and climate change, which he said was a major challenge for small, low lying islands.
CLICO placed in hands of Deloitte controllers
(CNS): Two “controllers” from the offices of Deloitte & Touche have been appointed by CIMA to assume control of the affairs of the beleaguered insurance firm Colonial Life Insurance Company (Trinidad) Limited, trading locally as Clico (Cayman) Ltd pursuant to Section 13(1)(vii) of the Insurance Law (2008 Revision). As of 15 May Stuart Sybersma and Ian Wight will be responsible for assessing its financial position and submitting a report to CIMA as soon as possible.
A statement issued this weekend by Deloitte said the operations of CLICO will continue to be managed by the Controllers subject to the cease and desist orders previously issued by CIMA on 3 March 2009 and 9 April 2009 which currently precludes the issuance of any new insurance policies.
“The Controllers wish to stress that the operations and coverage of CLICO’s existing health and life insurance policies remains in effect subject to premiums on such policies continuing to be paid by policy holders. Health insurance claims should continue to be submitted in the normal manner and will be processed and paid by the Controllers,” read the statement.
It also indicated that redemptions or surrender of discretionary investment products previously issued by CLICO are subject to review by the Controllers.
CLICO’s office will be closed to the public until Thursday 21 May 2009 at which point further information will be provided. In the meantime written enquiries can be forwarded to the Controllers at Clico.Cayman.Ltd.in.Controllership@gmail.com and telephone enquiries will continue to be handled at +1 (345) 949-2925.
Voters warned to mark ballots clearly
(CNS): Spoilt ballot papers placed into the voting boxes will be discounted the Supervisor of Elections Kearny Gomez has warned. He explained that failure to mark a ballot correctly could result in it being rejected by the officials who do the counting. He said that for the General Elections, voters are instructed to place an X within the space to the right of the candidate or candidates for whom they wish to vote and for the Referendum they should mark their X next to ‘Yes’ or ‘No” on the ballot paper.
“The X should be inside the box with the candidate’s name. If the X intersects on the line between the names of two candidates, that vote will be invalid,” he added. East End and North Side voters may choose one candidate and voters in Cayman Brac and Little Cayman may choose up to two candidates. In Bodden Town, he noted voters may choose up to three candidates and in West Bay and George Town, voters may choose up to four candidates.
“If a voter marks more candidates than he or she is entitled to, the ballot will be rejected and none of the votes will count, “Gomez said adding that voters who have two, three or four votes will not help their candidate by putting more than one X behind that person’s name. And that even XXX for one candidate will count as one vote. However, where a voter may choose more than one candidate, but some of the marks are not clear, the whole ballot will not be rejected. Marks that show a clear intention will count as long as the voter has not marked more candidates than he or she is entitled to.
He explained that those voting in the Referendum are being asked if they approve the new Draft Constitution and the answer is YES or NO. “Voters should place their X in the space to the right of their answer, within the box,” Gomez aid. “Any mark other than an X will slow down the counting process, since observers will be scrutinising all ballots. He also said voters should not sign or initial their ballots for either the election or the referendum explaining that if the voter could be identified by any writing or markings, the ballot will be rejected.
He noted that voters need to check the location of the polling division and station they should attend on Wednesday, 20 May, to cast their ballots pointing out that the polling place might not be the same as in the 2005 ele
Voters are not permitted to cast their ballot at any other station – only the one assigned.
There will be only one counting station for the three electoral districts of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, East End and North Side have only one counting station, referred to as the Main Counting Station. For Bodden Town, George Town and West Bay, there will be a sub-count of ele
The Supervisor said each district’s Main Count Counting Station is where the final ele
For more details log on to www.electionsoffice.ky or click on the link at the top of the CNS home page.
TV apologises to independents over mistake
(CNS): Cayman 27/CITN has issued a letter of apology to four of West Bay independent candidates for a production error which resulted in their paid for advertisement being attributed to the People’s Progressive Movement (PPM), but not before the United Democratic Party (UDP) were able to use the error to accuse the four of being PPM members. “Sadly the UDP in its infinite wisdom and maturity chose to smear the reputation of our independence by illegally reproducing a portion of the segment and projecting it onto their platform backboard during a recent meeting,” said Woody DaCosta one of the candidates.
The independent candidates that paid for the airing of their launch rally on local TV explained that CITN had issued the apology because the programming guide had inferred that their public meeting was paid for by the PPM. The four candidates, Woody da Costa, Lana Mae Smith, Paul Rivers and Choppy Delapena, said that after the UDP used it as a political tool to try and suggest they were posing as independents but were really PPM, they were forced to meet with CITN to negotiate damage control, one remedy among many they said was a letter of apology.
The open letter from General Manager Mike Martins explains that the PPM attribution was made by one of CITN’s vendors dealing with the TV guides and acknowledged that it was totally incorrect. “CITN would like to make it clear to all electors, the programme that aired was 100% paid for by independent candidates and not by the PPM or any other political party,” the letter states.
The issue of the genuine independence of independent candidates has been particularly contentious as both the political parties have raised the issue that independents will be forced to support one party or another if they were to be elected. The UDP has already claimed a number of independent candidates for itself during the campaign, such as Ezzard Miller, Theresa Pitcairn and John McLean, while they in turn have jealously guarded their independence.
Although the PPM has not staked a claim to the West Bay Four independents, the members of the UDP have nevertheless accused them of being PPM in disguise. The unfortunate mistake by CITN offered the UDP an opportunity to make further political mileage on the subject.
Meanwhile, last month another inferred error in attribution made by the PPM was corrected by the Cayman Islands Cancer Society, which denied having any connection with the party following the appearance of Christine Sanders, one of its employees, on the PPM promotional billboards.
“Neither Ms Sanders nor the Society is affiliated with any political party, group or individual,” the board of directors said in a statement. “The PPM never asked Ms Sanders or any member of the Board of Directors for approval for the use of any imagery featuring the Cayman Islands Cancer Society or its directors or employees, and no such approval was ever provided. As such, the use of such imagery was not authorized by the Society.”
‘Banana gun robber’ eats evidence
(BBC): A US teenager who was thwarted in an attempt to rob an internet cafe armed with a hidden banana ate the "weapon" before he was arrested, police say. John Szwalla entered the shop with a banana concealed under his T-shirt and demanded money, saying he had a gun. The shop’s owner and customers overcame the hapless thief and called for help, but they said the teenager ate his "weapon" before the police arrived. Officers joked they may charge the 17-year-old with destroying evidence. Bobby Ray Mabe, the owner of 109 Biz Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, said police officials took pictures of the banana skin instead.
Taxes and happiness
(MarketWatch): Northern Europeans are the happiest people on the planet, according to a new survey. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development says people in Denmark, Finland and the Netherlands are the most content with their lives. The three ranked first, second and third, respectively, in the OECD’s rankings of "life satisfaction," or happiness. There aremyriad reasons, of course, for happiness: health, welfare, prosperity, leisure time, strong family, social connections and so on. But there is another common denominator among this group of happy people: taxes.
Net News letters’ mystery
(CNS): Of the various accusations made against Justice Priya Levers that led to the tribunal, it was revealed during this week’s fact finding proceedings that the authorship of the series of letters critical of the judiciary which appeared in June and July of 2007 in Cayman Net News was the most serious. However, other than hearsay from a witness whose evidence has been cited as contentious, it became apparent that there was no other evidence that Levers was the author. When the publisher, Desmond Seales, and managing editor, Barry Randall (left), of the paper took the stand, the possibility that those letters were generated in house was raised.
Randall, who is based in Miami and gave evidence via video link, and Seales took the stand on Wednesday (13 May) and neither stated who the real author was, though Randall said he had no reason to believe it was Levers. During questioning by both Timothy Otty QC for the tribunal and Stanley Brodie QC for Levers, it became clear that the sentiment in the letters was most definitely shared by Randall and had formed the basis of editorials written by him and Seales on a number of occasions. Randall admitted to criticising the local judiciary, not least in connection to his own case, and it was noted that one of the pseudonyms on the letters was Randall’s own sister-in-law, Thelma Turpin.
Witness statements submitted to the tribunal by former staff writer John Evans also indicated that the letters could have been written by Randall. Combined with the various witness statements, the evidence from Randall and at times the bizarre evidence given by Seales, it was clear the letters could very well have originated inside Net News itself.
During the questioning neither men were able to answer the question as to why, when the real Thelma Turpin had called to say she did not write the letter attributed to her, nothing was done to try and establish who had written the letter using her name. Randall told the tribunal that, while he was curious, he was not concerned and had no particular responsibility at that time for ensuring that letters are actually from who they purported to be from. “This really is a matter for the Cayman office, not for me, at that time,” he said.
Otty asked Randall about his own run in with the local judiciary and he confirmed that he had threatened legal proceedings against, amongst others, the chief justice, Justice Levers and Foldats, the clerk of the courts, and that letters critical of the judiciary have continued to appear in Net News since the tribunal was announced. When asked by Otty about Evans’ suggestion that he (Randall) was the source of the letters, Randall said, “Mr Evans is grossly mistaken.”
Brodie then questioned Randall with regard to an editorial dated 26 July 2007, the day before the Leticia Barton letter appeared, entitled “Judicial Responsibility”, which included a quote from Lord Bingham, similar points critical of the chief justice, the judiciary in general and the legal aid system, as noted in the Leticia Barton letter the next day, as well as references to Randall’s own case.
Brodie then asked if Randal saw this as all pure coincidence. “So far as I am concerned, yes,” he said. Asked if he felt it was a possibility that the Leticia Barton letter was also not a genuine letter but generated in house, he said it was a possibility that he did not rate very highly.
When Seales, the publisher & editor in chief of Net News, came to the stand, Otty questioned him extensively about why, since he had said that letters had been generated in house before, he did not seek to find out who was the real author of the Thelma Turpin letter. Seemingly not to understand the questions, Seales however admitted a failure in due diligence. When pressed further he kept saying there was no need to investigate the letter as it was signed by Turpin, who he had known for thirty years. Asked why when he found it was not written by Thelma Turpin he did nothing to discover how it came to be published, Seales said because he had taken her at her word. Otty noted, however, that she was not the author. Again Seales said, “I took her at her word, sir.” At which point Sir Andrew Leggatt, the chair of the tribunal, noted that if Seales did not understand the question he should not answer.
Otty then continued and asked him if there was concern that accepting the word of Turpin that she was not the author, someone other than her had sent in a letter purporting to be her. “You knew that to be the case as soon as you had spoken to Thelma Turpin,” Otty said. “Were you not concerned to try and find out who, in fact, had sent the letter?”
Seales then answered: “There was no reason to because she said so, sir, you are not going to move me.” Otty asked again if he was not concerned to see whether his own policies had been followed prior to publication of this letter, and Seales asked “Followed by whom, sir?” Otty then pointed to his staff. “Absolutely not,” Seales said. “They should have done so, they should have done due diligence, but they did not. Now, sir, then it is incumbent upon me to do so? I told you I have ten jobs to do.”
He said he had not raised it with his desk editor and had later discovered the original letters had been “trashed” and he could not throw any light on the authorship of the letters. Asked about the evidence from Evans suggesting that Randall could be the author of the letters and recounting a conversation between Evans and Seales about Seales saying Randall used the newspaper to fight his own personal battles, Seales denied the accusation.
“Did you tell Mr Evans on at least two occasions that you sometimes needed to keep a close eye on the material Mr Randall produced because he had a habit of trying to use the paper to fight his own personal battles?” Otty asked. “Poppycock,” Seales exclaimed. “He is not a journalist and I would not have him in my inner sanctum to make those sorts of decisions.”
However, Evans was employed by Net News as a reporter, evidenced by a reference letter submitted to the tribunal written by Seales, in which he acclaims Evan’s good character and his contribution to the paper as a writer.
Net New letter’s mystery
(CNS): Of the various accusations made against Justice Priya Levers that led to the tribunal it was revealed during this week’s fact finding proceedings that the authorship of the series of letters critical of the judiciary which appeared in June and July of 2007 in Cayman Net News was the most serious. However, other than hearsay from a witness whose evidence has been cited as contentious, it became apparent that there was no other evidence that Levers was the author. When the publisher and managing editor of the paper took the stand the possibility that those letters were generated in house was raised.
Barry Randall the Managing Editor who is based in Miami and Desmond Seales took the stand on Wednesday and neither stated who the real author was, though Randall said he had no reason to believe it was Levers. During questioning by both Timothy Otty QC for the Tribunal and Stanley Brodie QC for Levers, it became clear that the sentiment in the letters was most definitely shared by Randall and had formed the basis of editorials written by him and Seales on a number of occasions. Randall admitted to criticising the local judiciary, not least in connection to his own case and it was noted that one of the pseudonym’s on the letters was Randall’s own sister-in-law Betty Turpin.
Witness statements submitted to the tribunal by former staff writer John Evans also indicated that the letters could have been written by Randall. Combined with the various witness statements, the evidence from Randall and at time’s the bizarre evidence given by Seales, it was clear the letters could very well have originated inside Net News.
During the questioning neither men were able to answer the question as to why, when the real Thelma Turpin had called to say she did not write the letter attributed to her, nothing was done to try and establish who had written the letter using her name. Randall told the tribunal while he was curious he was not concerned and had no particular responsibility at that time for ensuring that letters are actually from who they purported to be from. “This really is a matter for the Cayman office, not for me, at that time,” he said.
Otty asked Randall about his own run in with the local judiciary and he confirmed that he had threatened legal proceedings against amongst others the Chief Justice, Justice Levers and Foldats, the clerk of the courts and that letters critical of the judiciary have continued to appear in Net News since the tribunal was announced. When asked by Otty about Evans’ suggestion that he was the source of the letters Randal said: “Mr Evans is grossly mistaken.”
Brodie then questioned Randall with regard to an editorial dated 26 July 2007 the day before the Leticia Barton letter appeared entitled “Judicial Responsibility” which included a quote from Lord Bingham, similar points critical of the Chief Justice, the judiciary in general and the legal aid system as noted in the Leticia Barton letter the next day, as well as references to Randall’s own case.
Brodie then asked if Randal saw this all pure coincidence. “So far as I am concerned, yes,” he said. Asked if he felt it was a possibility that the Leticia Barton letter was also not a genuine letter but generated in house he said it was a possibility that he did not rate very highly.
When Seales, the published and editor in Chief of Net News, came to the stand Otty questioned him extensively about why, when he had said that letters had been generated in house before he did not seek to find out who was the real author of the Thelma Turpin. Seemingly not to understand the questions Seales however admitted a failure in due diligence. When pressed further he kept saying there was no need to investigate the letter as it was signed by Turpin who he had known for thirty years. Asked why when he found it was not written by Thelma Turpin he did nothing to discover how it came to be published Seales said because he had taken her at her word. Otty noted however that she was not the author. Again Seales said, “I took her at her word, sir.” At which point Sir Andrew Leggatt the Chair of the tribunal noted that if Seales did not understand the question he should not answer.
Otty then continued and asked him if there was concern that accepting the word of Turpin that she was not the author someone other than her had sent in a letter purporting to be her. “You knew that to be the case as soon as you had spoken to Thelma Turpin,” Otty said. “Were you not concerned to try and find out who, in fact, had sent the letter?”
Seales then answered: “There was no reason to because she said so, sir, you are not going to move me.”
Otty asked again if he was not concerned to see whether his own policies had been followed prior to publication of this letter and Seales asked “Followed by whom, sir?” Otty then pointed to his staff. “Absolutely not,” Seales said. “They should have done so, they should have done due diligence, but they did not. Now, sir, then it is incumbent upon me to do so? I told you I have ten jobs to do.”
He said he had not raised it with his desk editor and had later discovered the original letters had been “trashed” and he could not throw any light on the authorship of the letters.
Asked about the evidence from Evans suggesting that Randall cold be the author of the letters and recounting a conversation between Evans and Seales about Seales saying Randall used the newspaper to fight his own personal battles, Seales denied the accusation.
“Did you tell Mr Evans on at least two occasions that you sometimes needed to keep a close eye on the material Mr Randall produced because he had a habit of trying to use the paper to fight his own personal battles?” Otty asked. “Poppycock,” Seales exclaimed. “He is not a journalist and I would not have him in my inner sanctum to make those sorts of decisions.”
However, Evans was employed by Net News as a reporter, evidenced by a reference letter submitted to the tribunal written by Seales where he acclaims Evan’s good character and his contribution to the paper as a writer.
Martin: “I feel victory!”
(CNS): Claiming that he provided the only possibility of a unified team of representatives from Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, joining with either the PPM or the UDP candidate, Lyndon Martin said it was a known fact that over the past four years the two incumbents had not worked well together. “The party divide inheritantly makes it impossible for them to get along,” Martin claimed, and asked voters to give him their second vote, saying the word on the street was that he would be elected on Wednesday.
Speaking at Scott’s Dock in WestEnd, where he was introduced by his brother Linburgh Martin, Managing Director of Close Brothers, the independent candidate said, “The smiles on the faces of those who thought it would be a walk in the park this election are disappearing. Some individuals thought it was going to be no contest … but I see now that everybody is paying attention and giving recognition to the campaign for the wings of change.”
Mocking the campaigns of the two incumbents, he said, “I watch with interest as we see the bickering in the political environment in Cayman Brac. We hear the camps that say – oh, I am going to be first elected … oh, no, I am going to be first elected…” Martin pointed out that there was also a position of second elected member for the district, and he was perfectly content to take that since nobody else seemed to want it. “I don’t hear anyone else campaigning to be second elected, so when you make that second ‘X’ you vote for the only man who’s applying to be second elected member for Cayman Brac and Little Cayman,” he joked.
Calling the right to cast two votes “a constitutional privilege”, he urged voters to examine their conscience freely and mark two X’s in the privacy of the voting booth and told them not to be intimidated by those who told them to only use one vote. “Elect two individuals who can work together in harmony, who can leave Cayman Brac on 21st May as a united team sent by the electorate of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman,” he said.
“The political landscape of this country has changed drastically and not all for the best. Party politics is here and is now embedded in the system,” he noted. However, adamantly maintaining that he was committed to remaining an independent, the former UDP member explained that the advantage of having an independent representative was that he was an independent thinker, not guided by the party caucus. “I want to have the ability to say this is right or this is wrong. That is the role of the independent candidate. My caucus is each and every one of you.”
To illustrate the point, he gave credit to the work done under the leadership of PPM Education Minister for the past four years, Alden McLaughlin, saying that the next government must continue the positive process of reform of our education system. “He did well for education. He made some mistakes, spent a little too much … but on the whole the education system over the past four years received more attention than it has in any other four year term.”
On the other hand, he said that tourism had done well under the previous UDP government. “The reason I can say that is because I have no political beef with either party.”
On education, he said there was a need to look at introducing a comprehensive curriculum for the pre-school years to ensure smooth transition into primary school. He also emphasized the need to reward teachers, and said that regardless of buildings, “if teachers are not motivated to teach, children will not learn.”
“Our tourism product is no longer competitive and we must continually look at the pricing versus the value that we’re offering in the tourism industry,” he said, adding that we must make sure that we are evaluating what we’re doing as a tourism industry to ensure that our tourists want to come back – “and feel like they got a good deal while they were here.”
Irrespective of who forms a government following the election, Martin said he had already conveyed to both sides of the House that he was prepared to work with whoever was elected. “All I want is a fair share for Cayman Brac,” he said, noting that he had been invited to run in a district in Grand Cayman but said, “That would not have been fair to the district because my interest and passion is still with the people of Cayman Brac.”
Martin promised to represent “people who are from somewhere else but are Brackers now”, and said a good representative does not look at colour or gender or how successful you are, nor was it about just taking appointments in an office but rather going to constituents’ homes to understand their issues.
Turing to the economy, he said the average “Jo Bloke” was living hand to mouth, pay cheque to pay cheque, which was “wrong and unnecessary”, and that everyone should share the economic prosperity of this country. He further said that Brac graduates must have the benefit of staying and working on this island, and that when jobs in the Cayman Islands were created that people were trained to take those jobs.
Martin said he supported the introduction of a human resource authority, as called for in the Vision 2008 document, which balanced the needs of employment against the supply of employees, as well as the balance between the Labour Department, which understands who in the industry is looking for work, and the Immigration Department, which is granting work permits. He said it was important to have a body that combined these things under one unit.
While the campaign so far had been clean, he warned that in the final days, “because we’re getting so tight and the race is so close, you’re going to see other tactics employed. You’re going to see desperation begin; you’re going to see panic kicking in. People will start to throw mud.” Promising to stick to his pledge of no mudslinging in his campaign, though reserving the right to defend himself, he claimed, "I feel victory!"
“Those of you who … believe that your country has delivered to you all the opportunities that you deserve as a citizen, you don’t need change,” Martin said. “But for the rest of you who believe that the country has sold you short, that there is more that can be offered, that you are losing control of your country … that we’re losing our identity, that our tourism product is diminishing, that our financial industry is in threat , that we are facing challenges that we have never faced before … for those of you who want change, I’m asking you to join with the wings of change campaign.”
External exams next week
(CNS): The John Gray High School and the Cayman Brac High School will remain open on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (18, 19 and 20 May) only for Year 11 and Year 12 students who are sitting CXC and GCSE exams. Students who will be sitting their exams on these days must come to school despite the holidays and should plan to arrive at school early. According to Fred Speirs, the CXC Local Registrar, Cayman Academy students and privately entered candidates will also be sitting CXC exams on those dates.
The George Hicks Campus and all government primary schools will be closed on Tuesday May 19 May to facilitate the setup for elections. School will resume as usual on Thursday 21 May.
The schedule of exams that will be taking place over those days is as follows:
• Monday 18 May (Discovery Day) – GCSE Maths, CXC Religious Studies, CXC Principles of Accounts
• Tuesday 19th May – CXC English, AS Level Spanish
• Wednesday 20th May (Election Day) CXC Maths, GCSE Spanish, GCSE PE
Grand Cayman Private candidates will write CXC exams at Cayman Academy, and Cayman Brac Private Candidates will write their CXC excams at Cayman Brac High School.
All CXC candidates are advised to be at their exam centres 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the exams. CXC Exams start on all three days at 9:00am and 1:00pm. In the case of John Gray High School, candidates writing exams on Tuesday and Wednesday are advised to ensure they go to the correct venue.