Archive for August 24th, 2009

Anglin defends law delay

(CNS): In the face of public criticisms, Education Minister Rolston Anglin has defended his recent announcement to delay the implementation of the Education Modernisation Law (2009), which was passed in the Legislative Assembly in March of the year with his support. Anglin said he still unequivocally supported the bill, as he did in opposition, but that he was not prepared to compromise its effectiveness by enacting it without the necessary structures that will make it work. The minister said the law was skeletal in nature, leaving more of the specifics to be defined in the regulations, which have not yet been written.

“There has been some criticism about the postponement of the new Education Modernisation Law (2009), which I acknowledge has, in part, been generated by the fact that I have not sufficiently explained why this necessary step was taken,” Anglin said in a statement on Monday, 24 August. “The law continues to have my support as Minister. It will be implemented. The only question is when. After consulting with the ministry’s Chief Officer; the Deputy Chief Officer, who has been in charge of the project since it was launched by the former minister; a representative from Legislative Drafting; and the overseas consultant hired by the former minister for education, it was unanimously agreed that the 1 September start date was not feasible.”

He said many things needed to be in place before the law could successfully be implemented, including the development of a wide range of regulations which have not been drafted.  “The Education Modernisation Law 2009 is skeletal in nature, which is quite different from many other laws in that it leaves more specifics than usual to be defined in the regulations. And those who follow the making of laws know that it is the regulations that give any law its teeth.  In this instance, the Regulations give the New Law its meat and teeth,” Anglin added.

The minster said he was also concerned that the original timelines would not give stakeholders enough involvement in the development of the regulations or the appointment of the two bodies – the Education Advisory Council and Professional Standards Council as educators have been away for the summer. Anglin explained that the consultation period would now start in September. Finally, he stated that principals and educators in both the private and government schools have reported a lack of familiarity with the law in its final form so an awareness-raising campaign was needed before the law could be implement effectively.

“The postponement of the new Education Modernisation Law is about what’s best for our children, teachers and parents. Governments are at times accused of both moving too fast, and of moving too slow. Both of those accusations, at the time that they’re levelled, can be right. Choosing the wrong speed at which to move sometimes leads to outcomes that are not in the country’s best interests. We are working to avoid that with this law,” the minister said.

He emphasised that he was committed to implementing it as quickly as possible but was not prepared to compromise its effectiveness by enacting it without the necessary structures to make it work.

“I believe this law is an adequate starting point. The government will bring it into effect as quickly as possible,” he added. “My commitment to this law was firm from Day One, so this is not about politics.”

The former education minister and the architect behind the new law, however, told CNS last week that he believed the delay was political, since although the bodies had not yet been appointed and the regulations not written, the preparations were laid, and as the regulations would be a reflection of the policies already in place, it meant the timeline should have been sufficient. Alden McLaughlin said that staff in the ministry and the legal drafters had all agreed that the 1 September start date gave them sufficient time to write the regulations and implement the law.

He said that educators were familiar with the law as it was the formalisation of the changes which had already happened in the education system.

“The law was designed to underpin the fundamental changes which took place over the last few years," McLaughlin said last week in an interview with CNS. “Rather than develop an education law and then make policy to fit the law, the law in this case supports the policy changes that have been made already.”

McLaughlin said that the delay was ominous as he believed the new government intended to roll back the improvements that have been made to the education system over the last four years, changes which McLaughlin said had been made in consultation with stakeholders throughout the system.

He raised his concerns that the new minister was not prepared to follow through with the work required, for example to meet the needs of students once another year was added to the school leaving age which was part of the law. McLaughlin said that a number of UDP supporters on the campaign trail had suggested the policy changes to education had introduced things that were “too difficult" for Caymanian students, such as plans to introduce the International Baccalaureate.

“Education is not one of this government’s priorities; they have no vision about it,” he said. “This is just part of a move to begin developing a case to stop the improvements.”

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FOI boss backs Duguay

(CNS): In the wake of concerns raised by auditor general regarding government confidentiality clauses in contracts using public money and possible moves by the Public Accounts Committee to delay the public exposure of his office’s reports, Information Commissioner Jennifer Dilbert has offered her support to Dan Duguay and is urging the government to publish the auditor general’s reports in a timely fashion and to minimize the use of confidentiality clauses to shield contracts from the public.

“The government, both past and present, has stated its commitment to Freedom of Information in the Cayman Islands,” Dilbert said on Monday, 24 August. “However, several serious issues that impact timely and full openness have been raised by the auditor general I feel compelled to address, specifically, contractual relationships between government and the private sector; and the publishing of government reports.”

She said that the auditor general had recently raised concerns about the seeming overuse of confidentiality clauses in government contracts.  “The FOI Law clearly changes the nature of contractual relationships between government and private contractors,” the Information Commissioner noted.  “There must now be an expectation, in line with the experience of other countries with similar FOI laws, that information contained within such contracts may be open to public scrutiny, irrespective of any confidentiality clause.  This would not prejudice the private contractor’s position, however, since the contract will be subject to exemptions to disclosure contained in the Law that will protect a private company’s sensitive commercial information.”

Dilbert said that public authorities should avoid broad confidentiality clauses when negotiating new contracts. “This should have the positive effect of reducing the potential number of FOI appeals being escalated to a formal Hearing before the Commissioner, saving both time and money for all concerned,” she added.

While the commissioner acknowledged the authority of theLegislative Assembly to set its own rules for disclosing the auditor general’s reports, she noted how important publishing them at the earliest possible date would be to public confidence in government.

“The publishing of reports, in a timely manner, will be a determining factor in establishing whether or not government is truly committed to two guiding principles of freedom of information – transparency and accountability.”

Although PAC chair Ezzard Miller has refused to go on the record regarding future plans for Duguay’s reports, recent comments by PAC member Ellio Solomon to The Caymanian Compass indicated that the committee wanted to control the release of the reports and not just ‘dump’ them on the public.

Miller told CNS that the PAC  had agreed that they would not speak to the press about issues which were still under discussion at PAC and that a joint statement about the future process on releasing reports would be made once the committee had reached a decision on which it was agreed. It is understood, however, that the proposals will be presented to the LA this week about what will happenin future to the AG’s reports and the process of public disclosure.

Dilbert recently made her first ruling regarding a disputed FOI request and ordered further disclosure of government salary information as she said it was in the public interest. She said that she is hopeful that government will meet these and other new challenges that inevitably present as more access requests are filed under the FOI Law.  “The Cayman Islands as a whole can only benefit from such willingness of government to account to its people for what it does in their name,” Dilbert added.

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Men robbed at gun point

(CNS) : Police said this morning that the Criminal Investigation Department in George Town has begun an enquiry into the robbery of two men which occurred in the vicinity of the Tortuga factory on North Sound Road on Friday night (21 August). The men said they had been threatened by two robbers who had what appeared to be a hand gun as they demanded cash and then made their escape in a vehicle. Officers are now appealing for anyone in the area who may’ve seen something to come forward.

The 911 Emergency Communications Centre received the call reporting the mugging at 11.10pm. A man stated that he and a friend had been walking in the area when they had been approached by two men armed with what appeared to be a handgun who demanded they hand over any money they had. The victim told police the offenders were given an undisclosed sum of cash and they left from the location in a vehicle. He said they were both dark skinned and were wearing dark clothing.

Meanwhile, during a road block during the early hours of Saturday morning police said they arrested two men on suspicion ofpossession of an illegal firearm. The block was conducted on West Bay Road in the vicinity of the Courtyard Marriot where the vehicle was searched and a weapon was recovered and the two male occupants were arrested.

The weapon has since been examined and it has been determined that the weapon is a flare gun. The two men aged 24 and 27 have been released on bail pending further enquiries. Police said they were unable to draw any connection between the two incidents at this stage.

The RCIPS vows to continue with road blocks such as this in an effort to disrupt the movements of criminals, identify and bring to justice offenders and provide reassurance to the community.

Anyone who can help with the armed robbery should contact George Town CID on 949-4222 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.         

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