Archive for June, 2010

Opposition leader to respond to budget

Cayman News | 18/06/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): The debate on the premier’s budget presentation, his first as minister of finance, opens this morning with the opposition’s response. The leader of the PPM, Kurt Tibbetts, will be the first member of the House to comment on McKeeva Bush’s over three hour budget speech presented to the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. Tibbetts is likely to question the reliability of government’s earnings forecast given the recent prediction inaccuracies. Not only did the PPM face a massive shortfall after predictions from the Financial Secretary’s Office proved inaccurate in 08/09, in the last budget in October the UDP had predicted a $5million plus surplus for the end of this financial year, which will now be close to a $50million deficit. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)

The failure of the government’s significant fee increases, such as work permit and business fees, to generate anything like the revenue hoped for and the absence of comment by the premier on the significant rise in violent crime in the country are also likely to be addressed by the opposition leader. The opposition is also probably going to request more details on planned divestments and the government’s plans for the two high schools, as it appears from the budget presentation that it will be placing the Clifton Hunter campus on hold.

Ezzard Miller, the only independent member in the House and the representative for North Side, is likely to make the most of his allotted time. With a reputation for scrutinizing the financial element and paying close attention to detail, Miller is likely to raise a number of questions for government regarding the budget and in particular how it will benefit or disadvantage his constituents.

The budget debate could last several days as all members of the legislature are allowed two hours to add their comments and suggestions for improving the government’s fiscal plans for 2010/11 or, in the case of ministers, give the House, and by extension the public, an overview of what they will be doing with the money appropriate to their respective ministries for this year.

Once the contributions are all made, the premier will exercise his right to reply and consider any proposals that have been made to improve the country’s fiscal plans before the members adjourn the sitting and move into Finance Committee, where they will scrutinise the allocations for government departments and agencies.

With spending cuts across the public sector of around 11 percent this year, the committee is expected to question how this will impact government departments, agencies, statutory authorities and government companies, and the services they provide.

Check back to CNS later today for more on the budget debate.

Big Mac’s little gamble

Guest Writer | 18/06/2010 | 65 Comments

It may go down as McKeeva Bush’s slickest political maneuver yet. He is artfully allowing a referendum to decide whether or not Cayman will legalize gambling. If all goes according to plan and the people vote the way he hopes, West Bay’s smooth operator can still play the pious churchman while finally getting that casino he’s been salivating for all these years.

“It’s the will of the people,” he will say. “I am simply respecting the democratic process. My hands are clean. Now let’s play some Black Jack!”

What is this whole gambling-government connection anyway? Put simply, it’s a creative way to tax mathematically challenged citizens as well as those who are prone to unrealistic fantasies. The worse you measure up on those two scales, the more money you are likely to gamble away. To some people, however, gambling is far more sinister than simply a way of squeezing money out of the rubes.

The Cayman Ministers Association (CMA) has stormed to the front of this issue. Armed with “research” (cut and pasted from Wikipedia, no doubt), they are making the case that a national lottery and a casino will increase crime and pretty much lead to every other Caymanian selling their children for one more turn at the craps table. I know that the CMA folks speak to God every night but I think they are wrong about this, nonetheless. Gambling does not necessarily lead to social decay. It can, of course, but so too can incompetent politicians and we certainly don’t seem to have any problem accepting them in Cayman, now do we?

The CMA’s claim that legalized gambling will lead us to runaway crime is difficult to take seriously because we’re already there. Serious crime is here; it didn’t wait on the grand opening of our first casino. Just this month, for example, we had a streak of daily armed robberies striking nearly every gas station in Grand Cayman. What, if gambling is legalized we will have two gas stations robbed per day rather than just one per day? Our murders-to-population ratio is already close to or ahead of Detroit and Kingston. Are a few slot machines really going to make it any worse? Maybe, but I doubt it.

Could some Caymanians throw away their lives gambling? Sure, but very few would. It’s a minor issue that might impact a tiny handful of people at most. Most Caymanians are not total morons with no understanding of near impossible odds. Virtually everyone here who chooses to gamble would still keep enough cash in their pocket to buy baby food on the way home. If the preachers are so terrified of Caymanians being hypnotised by roulette-wheels then they should devote their energies to making sure our schools do a better job of teaching mathematics. Anyone who has taken a basic statistics course, for example, would find it nearly impossible to place extravagant bets on the long-shot games casinos offer. Generally, only the very wealthy and the very stupid spend large sums of money gambling. It would be no different in Cayman.

By the way, morality and crime aside, would a Cayman Islands lottery even be profitable here? Has anyone crunched the numbers? Cayman is not Florida with a population of 18 million. We only have about 50,000 people. How many out of that will buy lottery tickets every week? How many will they buy? Assuming tickets would be $1, it’s difficult to see where the money will come from for big prizes. If we are talking about nothing more than a $50,000 or so payoff, I can’t see much excitement being generated. It would feel like just another Rotary Club raffle. No big deal. Maybe tourists would buy large numbers of tickets, but that’s far from certain.

There is also the cost of printing the tickets, distribution and sales, advertising, salaries for managers and bean-counters and, don’t forget, security guards to prevent winners from being shot by a criminal when they show up at the lottery office with their winning tickets. Considering all that, our government could end up losing money.

Speaking on a radio talk show, CMA’s anti-gambling point man Reverend Nicholas Sykes described gambling as a dishonest means of making money. He’s right; gambling is a scam. It’s taking money from people while promising them the chance of a very unlikely payoff. Like Sykes says, gambling is immoral. It’s almost as bad as taking money from people while promising them the chance of a big payoff in the sky after they die.

Ironically, in the end, I must agree with the Cayman Ministers Association. I say vote “No” because gambling would be a disaster for the Cayman Islands. Why do I think this? Not because gambling is inherently evil or because it will make all of us start beating our children and smoking crack. The only reason I’m against legalized gambling in Cayman is because Caymanian politicians would control it. That alone pretty much guarantees that it would turn sour fast. Gambling revenue could be a fine addition to our economy, no doubt. But given the quality of the people we keep electing to run things, it surely wouldn’t work out like we might hope.

First of all, more money in the hands of our politicians—UDP or PPM, it doesn’t matter—would not be used to pay off debt or actually improve education or anything else that matters. Have no doubt, the budget would be shuffled around so that our politicians had more to spend on tourist “attractions” that nobody goes to and other mysterious black holes that always seem to emerge in Cayman. They would spend away new wealth on pay raises and pay offs. And if some crime or social problems did bubble up directly due to gambling, they would ignore it or be so slow to react that the entire country really could end up being dragged to hell—just like the preachers are warning.

So, the bottom line is thatgambling may be stupid but it’s not evil. It would not condemn us to certain and absolute destruction. However, given the realities of Cayman politics, the safe vote is a definite “No”. We aren’t ready for the additional responsibility.

Reward posted for arrest of ‘Dudus’

Cayman News | 18/06/2010 | 6 Comments

(Jamaica Observer): The police have placed a US$20,000 bounty on the head of fugitive Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke, who is wanted in the United States to answer charges related to drugs and gun-running, the Jamaican police have said. The reward is the latest effort on the part of the police and the Jamaica Defence Force to capture Coke, 42, who fled his West Kingston community base of Tivoli Gardens on May 24 when law enforcers moved in to capture him. "The police would like to find Coke to execute a warrant of arrest issued by the Courts of Jamaica for him to face extradition proceedings," read the statement from the constabulary’s director of the communication Karl Angell.

The statement also called on persons who knew where Coke was hiding to contact Operation Kingfish at 811, Crime Stop at 311 and Police Control at 119 with the relevant information.

The arrest warrant was issued a month ago, but Coke has been successful in eluding a tight dragnet set up by the security forces, although those close to him, including his brother Leighton ‘Livity’ Coke, sister Sandra ‘Sandie’ Coke, along with business partner and confidante Justin O’Gilvie have all turned themselves in, something that several prominent Jamaicans have appealed to the fugitive to do.

Cayman’s coral in crisis

Cayman News | 18/06/2010 | 18 Comments

(CNS): Following a major bleaching event in local waters during 2009, corals around the Cayman Islands have since fallen victim to disease, which is now advancing through some of the oldest types of coral. Andy Bruckner, a well respected coral reef scientist who has done considerable work on coral disease, has been in Cayman for the last few weeks examining the situation and to hold disease workshops to assist the Department of Environment and others working in research and management. The goal is to find out more about what he called the “white plague”, the disease that is destroying the coral, and find ways to contain its progress and slow down the damage which is already quite significant.

The Disease Response Training was organized by the Coral Disease Health Consortium to give scientists and resource managers from the region classroom and in water training on the identification of coral diseases and approaches to characterise a disease outbreak, as well as better determine the causes and links with various stressors. The goal of the training is to help the Department of Environment, dive operators and others respond to the disease and find out what is causing it. Scientists from St. Matthews University also took part in the workshop.

Bruckner has warned that the damage is already quite bad on Grand Cayman and it is now affecting coral around the north of the island, which had survived the actually bleaching but is now succumbing to disease. The coral expertexplained to the media this week that the disease probably began attacking the local coral because it was weakened by the major bleaching event in the area last year but other stressors are now adding to its spread.

Although the bleaching made the coral more susceptible to the disease, Bruckner warned that the bacteria causing the disease itself was probably coming from human impacts on the environment, in particular sewage runoff. He warned that over development on canals and the waterfront without natural barriers, such as mangroves, would add to the problems.

The assessments he has conducted on the status of Cayman Islands reefs revealing the threats affecting them and the resilience, including the ability for these reefs to survive and recover from major disturbances, will help the Department of Environment determine how to manage the situation. Bruckner’s work will reveal how the reefs have changed since the last Cayman-wide AGGRA assessments (in 1999) and patterns of recovery from the 2005 Caribbean wide bleaching event as well as the massive 2009 bleaching event.

After two weeks Bruckner said he has seen a lot of white plague on the coral along the reefs around the islands and said the concern was that the disease was eating the type of coral that takes the longest to grow. He also warned that it is not possible to recover the coral which is already dead but the goal was to try and limit the damage to healthy coral and encourage new coral, by rescuing broken coral from the sea bed in the wake of storms or other damage and put it back on the reef.

Although the DoE has had a reef project monitoring the sate of the local coral for many years, the spread of the disease is causing further challenges at a time when the department’s budget has been severely cut and it hopes the workshop will help support its work.

Coral plays a crucial role in Cayman’s marine eco-system, in particular forming the feeding grounds for the islands’ diverse fish populations, including those we eat as well as the one’s tourists come to look at. Without it the country’s fish stocks could be severely impacted and dive tourism threatened. Bruckner also noted that healthy coral reefs offer protection from hurricanes.

Mixed signals on environment

Cayman News | 18/06/2010 | 37 Comments

(CNS): As government continues with the consultation on the proposed national conservation law, the recent message it is sending on its policy for the environment is mixed. While on the one hand government says it intends to pass the law, improve public transport and promote environmental awareness in tourism and development, on the other it says it intends to go ahead with the North Sound channel and a commercial cargo port, suggesting the natural environment is still under threat. Premier McKeeva Bush has confirmed that a private sector plan to develop a cargo facility in East End is going to Cabinet for discussion and that he is seeking investors for the channel project to attract yachts to the country.

Bush told the Legislative Assembly on Tuesday, “A channel for the North Sound is an absolute necessity if the country is going to ever get business from the mega yacht industry. Bearing this in mind, government will be seeking investors to do a necessary channel. Public discussion will take place, environmental impact adhered to so that any agreed work can keep damage to the minimum.”

The long waited National Conservation Law that could ensure the protection of the country’s natural resources in the face of this kind of development, which has already gone through extensive consultation and revision, is currently being reviewed again. There is hope, however, that this latest round of consultation could see the law back on track.

The minister with responsibility for the environment, Mark Scotland, has said since taking office that he would bring the legislation to the Legislative Assembly but it needed to be revised, which has raised concern in the community that the provisions in the bill to protect the country’s threatened natural resources could be undermined.

However, the ministry instructed the Department of Environment (DOE) to undertake further consultations some time ago and those consultations are now open to the wider public. At the beginning of next month the DoE will also organise public meetings and this latest period of consultation is set to close on 16 July.

“National conservation legislation for the Cayman Islands is a topical issue and we have been receiving a steady stream of public enquiries on the proposed draft National Conservation Law,” said DOE Director Gina Ebanks-Petrie, who has stated on a number of occasions the desperate need in Cayman for this law. “To help people understand the proposed legislation, we have prepared a summary guide on the proposed law to explain what it means and how it might change things,” she added.

Ebanks-Petrie pointed out that people can submit written comments detailing any issues they may have with the proposed National Conservation Law and, equally important, they can voice their support for the legislation as it currently is.

Meanwhile, until the law is passed the ongoing developments on Grand Cayman, as well as the planned proposals, are taking place in an environment that has no legal protection. While the premier made various comments about the environment throughout his budget presentation on Tuesday, he sent a mixed message when it came to protecting the country’s resources.

Bush talked about projects that will have a major impact on the environment, such as the North Sound channel and the cargo port, but he also spoke about involving environmental experts to mitigate the negative impacts and about pursuing more environmentally friendly practises in the tourism sector, with partnerships between the Department of Tourism and the DoE.

He also raised the question of a public transport plan, as he said the country could no longer keep building roads and questioned the need for every family to have two cars. He said the country had to discuss a sensible plan of public transport that involved those who are now the operators of the business. “This could be a chance for us to set the future right. Can we afford to build as many roads? Does everyone here need to own two cars? Does every maid need to have a car?” he asked rhetorically.

And although government has added 25 cents a gallon to fuel, which may encourage drivers to think about more environmentally friendly vehicles and alternative energy for their homes, there were no incentives mentioned in either the governor’s throne speech or Bush’s budget presentation regarding alternative energy. Bush talked about a review of duty tariffs across the board but did not say if he was considering concessions on solar panels or other materials associated with reducing energy use or conservation.

Nor was there any news on changes to the legislation to facilitate electric vehicles. Although the governor in his throne speech said that the Ministry of District Administration, Works, Lands and Agriculture would be reviewing the laws governing traffic and roads, there was no indication from Duncan Taylorthat the review included changes to enable and encourage electric cars on Cayman’s roads.

Comments regarding the National Conservation Law can be submitted by email to DoE@gov.ky, faxed to 949 4020, or mailed to NCL Comment, c/o Department of Environment, P.O. Box 486, Grand Cayman, KY1-1006. If the law is not redrafted it will be subject to another mandated 21 days of public notice and additional comment before it can be taken to the LA for a vote.

This guide to the law can be downloaded at http://www.doe.ky/laws/national-conservation-law.

Tylenol pain relief meds pulled by makers

Cayman News | 17/06/2010 | 3 Comments

(CNS): Following a recall by Mc Neil Consumer Healthcare Inc. in conjunction with the US Food & Drug Administration, local supermarket Foster’s Food Fair has said it has pulled the affected Extra Strength Tylenol Rapid Release Gel Caps from its shelves. McNeil initiated the voluntary recall as a result of consumer complaints of a musty or moldy odour that has since been linked to the presence of trace amounts of a chemical called 2,4,6,-tribromoansiole (TBA).

After a thorough investigation, it was determined that the source of TBA was the result of a breakdown of a chemical that is applied to wood used to build wooden pallets that transport and store packaging materials.

This recall is a follow up to the product recall that McNeil announced on 15 January this year and is being taken because the products were inadvertently omitted from the initial recall action. Consumers who have purchased this product should stop using it immediately and anyone who ahs suffered an adverse reaction is advised to consult a physician.

Until Foster’s Food Fair IGA has a further correspondence from the manufacture on this affected product, it said it will not be available in its stores across Grand Cayman. “We are sorry for any inconvenience this may cause, however the safety of our customers is our top priority,” the firm said in a statement. “We encourage all customers who have purchased this product to return the affected product to their Foster’s Food Fair IGA of purchase for a full refund.

For more information visit www.mcneilproductrecall.com

Water Authority tackles another burst main

Cayman News | 17/06/2010 | 2 Comments

(CNS): (Updated) The Water Authority is issuing another warning to drivers regarding the latest burst pipe. Repairs on a broken main in the Spotts area, near the Coral Bay Village are expected to take about two hours during which time the WA said service may be interrupted for customers located on Shamrock Rd, from Midsummer Dr to Spotts Newlands Rd. Motorists are asked to drive with caution and obey all traffic signs as crews work on the problem.

The Water Authority said it appreciated the patience and understanding of the motoring public as they continue to provide services to all of their valued customers and apologized for the inconvenience.

Yesterday evening the authority worked on a broken water main in the Pease Bay area of Bodden Town interrupting service for customers located in the vicinity from Kipling Street to Midland Acres. Motorists are asked to drive with caution and obey all traffic signs.

Woman suffers vicious attack

Cayman News | 17/06/2010 | 68 Comments

(CNS): A young woman was rescued from a vicious attack in the early hours of this morning in West Bay by police officers patrolling in Garvin Road. A police spokesperson has confirmed that at about 2am on 17 June Uniform Support Group Officers approached a parked vehicle and clearly interrupted a savage attack that was taking place on a young female who was in her car. With the arrival of the police the offender ran off into the bush area and the officers rendered first aid to the victim who had suffered a cut throat as well as bruising to her face. Although a full scale search was carried out for the suspect no arrests have been made to date. (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)

“The officers, by going about their normal patrolling duty, clearly prevented what could have been an even worse attack,” Detective Inspector Burton who is leading the hunt for the attackers said. “Every effort is being taken to try and arrest the attacker.”

The young victim was transported to the Cayman Islands hospital where she was treated for her injuries.

Financial lawyer says moves not ‘significant’

Cayman News | 17/06/2010 | 1 Comment

(CNS): Following news of another fund moving from the Cayman Islands one of Appleby’s partners based in Switzerland has said that the recent re-domiciling in the industry is not necessarily all that much of a concern to the jurisdiction. Despite moves by SkyBridge Capital, Citigroup funds Marshall Wace’s funds, Zais Group and rumours of a lot more, Matthew Feargrieve from the Cayman law firm’s Zurich office said while there is a lot of “jurisdictional arbitrage going on” it’s not statistically significant.

He said that re-domiciliation is a very expensive and complicated procedure, and it is only the bigger managers that are likely to be able to absorb the cost.

“On the other side of the coin, and this is something you don’t really read about, we are seeing more inflows of single managers into Cayman,” Feargrieve told HFM Week.

Increased US economic activity and what Feargrieve calls a growing “boredom” with the AIFM carnival are all playing their part, but, essentially, while the regulatory hubbub will subside, onshore products will never provide the alpha managers and investors crave.

“And Cayman is still the default jurisdiction for that,” Feargrieve told the industry’ magazine’s website.

Meanwhile, as the uncertainty overhow much Cayman will be effected by Europe’s AIFM continues, in Washington on Wednesday senate Democrats offered a scaled-back version of the planned tax on investment fund managers. Reuters reports that the new investment fund managers’ tax, aims to tax 75 percent of investment fund managers income at ordinary tax rates, with an exception for assets held at least 5 years, of which only 50 percent would be taxed at ordinary income rates, according to committee documents. Senate rejected a larger, costlier bill.

World Cup blackout due to TV rights, says WestStar

Cayman News | 17/06/2010 | 37 Comments

(CNS): Viewers in Cayman attempting to watch World Cup 2010 coverage on ESPN or Univision will be disappointed as a result of a blackout on all channels other than Cayman 27 and Island 24 for the tournament. According to the local television provider, the blackout on ESPN and other channels is due to distribution rights in the Caribbean. The firm said it was only able to provide World Cup coverage on its local channels. “Broadcasting rights are a major source of income for FIFA, which sells distribution rights for specific regions and WestStar has acquired the broadcast distribution rights in the Cayman Islands,” the firm said.

“These rights require WestStar to only carry the feed delivered from IMC, the authorized re-seller in the Caribbean, to ensure the interests of the sponsors are protected. As a result, all feeds on other cable channels have been blacked out,” WestSar Director of Operations, Traci Bradley explained in a media statement.

Although games were shown on ESPN and other channels over the weekend, WestStar began blanking out channels, including the Spanish channels which local viewers pay extra for and which they hoped would enable them to see the games with Spanish commentary.

WestStar said it regretted the inconvenience but World Cup fans could still enjoy full coverage of the games on the local channels now located at 24 and 27.