Archive for April 20th, 2010

CI Sailing Club gets ready for summer

Cayman News | 20/04/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): Following on from the success of Race Cayman, the Cayman Islands Sailing Club (CISC) is preparing for a busy summer sailing season. The CISC will be restarting its youth and adult learn to sail and windsurf programmes on May 1st 2010. Youth programmes run weekdays and Saturday mornings with adult lesson taking place on weekends. The CISC will also run various youth and adult racing clinics over both long weekends in May and June 2010. The clinics are open to all dinghy sailors looking to learn about racing. There will be a youth social quiz night on Saturday May 15 open to all youth sailors. The CISC especially encourages schools to enter teams.

The popular summer camps are run throughout July and August. Each two-week session is open for children between the ages of 5-16 years. Registration has already started.

Cayman Islands News, Grand Cayman Island Sports News, Cayman Islands Sailing Club Michael Weber, CISC sailing director, noted that the summer season is a great time to learn how to sail and windsurf. “With lighter winds and drier weather, May and June are great months to try the sports.”

Weber also noted that the success of Race Cayman has created momentum in terms of developing its racing team. “One thing that we learned from the regatta was that we have the perfect facility for our young people to become very competitive sailors. We are now focusing on qualifying for the next Youth Olympic Games in 2014, meaning that children ages 11-12 years can begin sailing now with the hope of representing Cayman in four years.”

For more information about learning to sail in the Cayman Islands, please contact Mike Weber at sailing@sailing.ky

Cayman Islands News, Grand Cayman Island Sports News, Cayman Islands Sailing Club

Local radio hams face new rules

Cayman News | 20/04/2010 | 22 Comments

(CNS): The 25 amateur radio hams in Cayman who enjoy communicating over the global radio-waves are now subject to new regulations, which were formalized last month, the government announced today (Monday 19 April.) According to a GIS release, Cabinet adopted regulations to govern amateur radio in accordance with the Information and Communications Technology Authority Law (2006), which came into effect following their publication in the Cayman Islands Gazette on 29 March. Amateur radio is a service as well as a hobby, with participants communicating with fellow amateurs at home and abroad using a broad range of technologies.

World-wide, an estimated two million people are regularly involved with amateur radio, and as well as the 25 resident hams in Cayman, around 75 other operators visit the islands annually. Radio amateurs have a long history of contributing to developments in radio communication. Despite the growth in mobile telecommunications over the last decade, it is radio amateurs who often provide the first links between stricken communities and the rest of the world following natural or man-made disasters.

The effect of the new regulations will be to create a scheme for the issuance of amateur radio licences by the Information and Communications Technology Authority (ICTA) to persons who have satisfied the ICTA, by way of examination, of theirknowledge and competence with respect to electricity and radio, including amateur radio apparatus.

It will also allow for the recognition of licences issued by the United Kingdom and other countries which have agreed to grant, with respect to the Cayman Islands, reciprocal amateur radio operating privileges.

The regulations will ensure compliance with international standards, including the requirement that amateur radios be operated without any financial interest, and minimise the likelihood of interference caused by, and suffered by, amateur radio operators.

GIS said the regulations were developed in collaboration with the Cayman Amateur Radio Society (CARS). As an ICTA agent, CARS will administer the examination for licence applicants. President John Darby said the organisation was delighted that Cabinet had confirmed what he said were “important regulations” and was looking forward to working with the ICTA to licence amateur radio operators.

Minister for District Administration, Works and Gender Affairs, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, acknowledged the work of local hams in the wake of Hurricane Ivan in September 2004.

“Ham operators can play a pivotal role in emergency situations, just as they did during and after Hurricane Ivan when they provided an important communication link between Cayman and the National Hurricane Centre in Florida,” said O’Connor-Connolly. “These new regulations will ensure that they can continue to provide this important public service, in accordance with international standards.”

Young unemployed start job-prep training

Cayman News | 20/04/2010 | 10 Comments

(CNS): The first 25 candidates for the government’s young job seekers initiative Passport2Success have now been selected. On Monday 19 April the young people started the government programme, which is designed to help them become workplace ready by equipping them with the personal and career skills they need to find and retain employment. The first group of candidates were selected from dozens of applicants for the 11-week course, which government says will run four times in the year. Education Minister Rolston Anglin said it was the first of a number of programmes designed to get Caymanians into and back to work.

“Passport2Success provides a bridge from education to the workplace,” said Anglin at the youngster’s orientation session. “This is a part of the ministry’s vision to launch a number of initiatives, which are intended to provide all young Caymanians with the skills they need to succeed in the workplace.”

The minister called upon participants in the programme to understand the importance of adding value to the organisation they work for and explained how Passport2Success was designed to reflect the values and expectations of the workplace. The initiative is sponsored by local firms, LIME, CML Offshore Recruitment and Butterfield.

The first intake of students is made up of 13 men and 12 women, two of which are young mothers. They were selected from all over the islands, including 10 from George Town, 6 from Bodden Town, 5 from West Bay, 2 from Cayman Brac, and 1 each from East End and North Side.

Programme facilitator Shannon Seymour of the Wellness Centre said the application process had gone very well with a flood of enquiries, many of which were from people who are still in school wanting to know if they can get signed up for September. “Applications are still being received via the website,” Seymour said, explaining that the first group represented a diverse range of academic backgrounds and career interests. She said that the business community has also been overwhelming in its support for the programme. “We will be able to secure meaningful work placements for all our participants thanks to the interest shown by local employers.”

Ministry Chief Officer Mary Rodrigues said she was delighted with the response from participants and employers for this first Passport2Success programme. “The interest we have generated in this inititiave is indicative of the need within our community for education and training provisions, which bridge the gap between compulsory education and the workplace,” she said, adding that it was encouraging to see an appetite from young people to improve their skills.

“We will be monitoring closely the development of this programme to see how it best fits within our wider agenda for providing opportunities for people at every level of education and ability.” Rodrigues also acknowledged the support of the private sector in the initiative. “We are very grateful to all the employers who have generously committed to giving lectures or offering work placements. We are particularly grateful to the programme’s sponsors, LIME, CML Offshore Recruitment and Butterfield, for sharing in the minister’s vision and helping us raise awareness of Passport2Sucess,” she added.

Passport2Success is a full time programme, which runs for 11 weeks. It will be based at the International College of the Cayman Islands in Savannah Newlands. More information about the programme can be found on its website at www.Passport2Success.ky.

Clock ticks on budget

Cayman News | 20/04/2010 | 21 Comments

(CNS): The Governor’s Office confirmed on Monday that the UK has responded to the three-year plan submitted by the government at the beginning of April and work is currently being done to answer the Foreign and Commonwealth Office queries. A spokesperson for the governor said that a number of questions have been asked by the FCO regarding the proposed three-year plan and that considerable work is now going on behind the scenes. As that work continues, however, the clock is ticking on government as the Public Management Finance Law states that it must table the budget in the Legislative Assembly before 1 May.

The Governor’s Office said it was not yet in a position to disclose the details of the UK’s questions but it confirmed that the work on the full three-year plan would have to be completed before the 2010/11 budget was brought to the Legislative Assembly as a result of the borrowing requirement for the next fiscal year.

Following the news from the Financial Secretary’s Office last week that almost two thirds of government departments have failed to submit the target reductions for the 2010/11 fiscal year, government may miss the budget deadline. If so, it will have to bring an amendment to the PMFL to extend the period of time needed for preparations before it can bring its 2010/11 spending plans to parliament.

During last Thursday’s press briefing the premier said that the elected arm of government could not control the personnel costs of the civil service and the governor and deputy governor were working on reducing the HR budget by 8% as requested, but the elected arm of government was helping to direct expenditure reductions based on the information from civil servants.

McKeeva Bush said that the elected arm of government did not have the power to cut civil service numbers as that was up to the governor, who, Bush said, had spoken plainly about the need to rein in public spending.

With just over two months remaining in the 2009/10 budget year, government is expected to be facing another considerable deficit in this financial year and will need to borrow in order to pay its bills. Although the Cayman Islands government demonstrated its ability to borrow on the open markets at favourable rates with last year’s bond offering, in order to extend the debt it must gain approval from the UK.

The Minister for Overseas Territories, Chris Bryant, has not yet given permission to increase the CIG’s debt burden and the FCO has made it clear that the minister is expecting to see new revenue raising measures as well as cuts to public sector spending before it offers its approval.

However, Bush is hoping that his proposals to cut government expenditure over the next three years and encourage inward investment will be enough to persuade the UK not to base its approval on the introduction of some form of direct taxation. Although the signing of the two MOUs in the last two weeks will go some way to illustrating the UDP administration’s goal of generating revenue through private sector investment, neither the port or the proposed new hospital are likely to make any major financial impact in 2010/11 and may not be sufficient to persuade the UK that the CIG can bring borrowing back within the limits of the PMFL without taxation.

Archive for April 20th, 2010

CI Sailing Club gets ready for summer

Local radio hams face new rules

Young unemployed start job-prep training

Clock ticks on budget

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