Archive for November 26th, 2010
Robber strikes at MoneyGram in George Town
(CNS): Updated 8am Friday – Police officers have now confirmed that an armed robber struck at a local mini-mart last night (Thursday 25 November) in George Town. The MoneyGram store in at Meringue Town, Boilers Road, was targeted by a lone gunman. Armed with a handgun, he threatened staff and customers at the money transfer counter at around 7:40pm. After taking an undisclosed sum of cash, the robber made his escape on foot towards Walkers Road, witnesses said. Although there are no reports of injuries or shots being fired, police said the victims were badly shaken in the incident. (Photo courtesy of Cayman27)
The offender is described as a young male, approximately 5 feet, 6 inches tall, wearing black long sleeve shirt, dark black gloves, blue jeans and black shoes. He spoke with a Caymanian accent.
A police spokesperson said, “This was a frightening and disturbing incident for the cashier, who was threatened with a handgun in order to obtain cash.” At this stage it is not being disclosed what monies were stolen, the police added.
Police are appealing for any witnesses or information to George Town CID on 949-4222 or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477(TIPS).
Mac talks fiscal prudence
(CNS): The country’s premier said that fiscal prudence will continue to be the dominating factor in his administration as he delivered the government’s strategic policy statement on Thursday morning. Setting out the government’s broad policy objectives this annual statement is designed to set the scene for the 2010/11 budget. However, McKeeva Bush took the opportunity to also note what he said were real improvements in the current public finances. He announced that in the first quarter of the 2010/11 financial year government had achieved a surplus of approximately CI$15.4 million. In the budget it had expected a deficit of about CI$6 million but because of prudent action spending was much lower than expected.
Aside from the various goals and ambitions of attracting new business to the islands and creating an attractive environment for investors, the premier focused on the need to put government’s financial house in order. He pointed to the much lower than expected deficit at the end of the 2009/10 financial year as a clear demonstration of his government’s success in that regard.
“In its first full year of office, my government has been able to reduce the unaudited budget deficit for the entire public sector to CI$15 million, for the year ended 30 June 2010,” he said. “This represents a whopping reduction of CI$66 million from the corresponding figure of CI$81 million for the year ended 30 June 2009.”
He said the improved results demonstrated that government was heading in the “right direction” the theme of his 2010 SPS. Bush said the opposition should judge government on the facts and without prejudice as the performance represented a CI$30 million improvement on the revised Budget Deficit which was made public in April this year.
With an overall improvement of $10 million inrevenue combined with a reduction in expenditure of$18 million less than the revised budget expectation as well as extraordinary expenses and statutory authorities losses both less than a million dollars than expected government had made a serious dent in the deficit.
“In simple terms, we have performed three times better than the revised budget expected,” Bush told the Legislative Assembly. “This is the kind of performance that will help us overcome the economic difficulties that we had to face left by the former government and we are giving ourselves the flexibility in our fiscal policy to take advantage of the prospects for economic improvement in 2011.”
He said that the first three months of this financial year — July to September 2010 government had continued on its track of prudent financial management with core public expenditures CI$18.5 million less than the budget anticipated. “This is not an accident; it did not happen by chance—it was the result of deliberate and prudent action by Ministries and Portfolios and by Honourable Ministers and Members of Cabinet,” the premier said.
In order to achieve economic growth, after overcoming the recession the plan was to focus on reform in the public sector; limits on new borrowings; the re-alignment of the existing revenue base; the reduction of operating expenditures and consideration of the use of PFI as an alternative source of funding – policy objectives that the premier has talked about since his election to office.
According to the policy statement document after the loan which government is still securing with Cohen and Company Ltd of $155 million the government will not take on any new borrowing as it believes there will be no more deficit budgets.
Bush said he that his government had the guts to put the country’s fiscal house in order. This he said would also send the right signals to stakeholders in the international centres such as Washington, New York and London to improve the situation for the financial industry. “This is part of our role in working hand in hand with the private sector to ensure our future prosperity,” Bush said.
He added that one of his main goals was to inspire the private sector as his government understood the best strategy for achieving sustainable growth in the local economy was to encourage the private sector to do what it does best — create wealth and generate jobs.
“As you may recall, the theme of my 2010/11 budget address was “Partnership for Recovery”, in which we suggested that there must be a new emphasis on the public/private sector partnership to drive the economic recovery,” Bush told the house.
He reemphasised the importance of the financial services industry which despite the economic downturn still accounted for around 40% of the government’s revenue and in the most recent study 60% of the employees are Caymanians.
From immigration policy changes to a new stimulus package the premier said he was still committed to the promise he made some two months ago.
“The Stimulus Implementation Group has compiled and filtered over 250 suggestions and initiatives submitted by numerous committees and associations. They are now in the process of prioritizing a list of measures which are targeted for implementation in the remainder of this fiscal year. At the end of the promised 90-days, I will be unveiling this stimulus programme, thereby charting the way through the recession and back on a path to economic prosperity,” Bush promised.
“It is important to demonstrate to our private sector partners, both local and international, that we are prepared to identify problems, prescribe solutions and oversee their implementation. In short, we will provide the leadership that sets this country on the right path, and given the evidence, the country has seen to date, we are heading in the right direction,” the premier declared.
PPM: Mac ignoring crime
(CNS): The opposition took aim at the premier in the wake of his Strategic Policy Statement presentation on Thursday when it said he had failed to address the crucial issue of crime. During the almost two hour speech in which McKeeva Bush had outlined government’s broad strategic policy goals for the next budget year Alden McLaughlin said he was “astounded” that the premier had not said one word about the growing problem of violent crime. The George Town opposition member told the House that he did not think there was an issue which was more important than the impact violent crime was having on the country.
He said all of the efforts government claimed it was making to try and attract new business would be thwarted unless this key issue was addressed.
While McLaughlin was at pains to say he was not blaming government for the increase in criminal activity he said that he believed it had responsibility to do something about it. He pointed out that the premier never lost a single opportunity to tell the previous administration when he was leader of the opposition that government had a responsibility to tackle crime even when at that time elected officials had a lot less influence than they did now in the wake of constitutional changes.
Under the constitution the government has three ministers on the national Security Council and is in a better position than any previous government to influence the police strategies for dealing with crime. McLaughlin stated that as the members squabbled with each other yesterday the Bank of Butterfield was robbed, shots fired and people terrified.
The PPM member also questioned why a private member’s motion he had spent considerable time preparing and filed with the Legislative Assembly calling for a full national strategy to deal with crime back in February, had still not even seen the light of day.
Given that the SPS is an important milestone in the political calendar McLaughlin said he found it unbelievable he was silent on the issue of crime. “For the premier to deliver the SPS and not say one word about crime is astounding,’ McLaughlin said. “I don’t believe there is an issue that is more serious.”
Not only was the crime problem going to impact the efforts to attract business and tourism, McLaughlin noted how it was also changing the culture and way of life of Caymanians. He said there were certain areas of George Town now where when he visited local teens would ask him for ten dollars to watch his car. “The sense of safety that was part of our lives, and our country is being lost,” he said. While he accepted that rime was complex and there would never be enough money to do the things needed to address the fundamental causes of crime the country had to find a way to stem the siege through a comprehensive strategy.
“I can’t say that government isn’t doing anything about crime, but we don’t know as it hasn’t said anything about it,” he said, adding that it was very worrying to see such an important issue omitted from the SPS. “Government appears not to be giving crime the attention it deserves. “Improving the fiscal position will all be for naught if we are all forced to walk around with a police guard as the premier does,” he said. “Government has a responsibility to do something…but the silence is deafening.”
In his response the premier criticised the opposition for what he said were “wild allegations” he said it was easy fodder for the opposition to criticise government over crime and it was merely political tactics that the opposition member knew would score points with the public. He said there was not a single member in the Legislative Assembly not concerned about crime but despite the National Security Council government still had no power over policing.
Bush also noted that revealing the country’s strategy for dealing with crime was a security risk before he said that his government was doing all it could to deal with the issue and the opposition member was misleading the public.
Abandoned cash timeframe increased by 12 months
(CNS): Following the controversies surrounding the passage of the Dormant Accounts Law 2010 the government has amended the law after consultation with the private sector. The law which was originally passed in July of this year was designed to give government a legal mechanism through which it could seize, cash, valuables and property which has been genuinely abandoned. However, the original draft of the law was seen as being two broad and the dormancy period too short. Government has now increased the period from six to seven years and limited which financial institutions are included.
Go to CNS Business to read the full story, to comment and to read other business news.
Premier ignores crime in policy statement
(CNS): The opposition took aim at the premier in the wake of his Strategic Policy Statement presentation on Thursday when it said he had failed to address the crucial issue of crime. During the almost two hour speech, in which McKeeva Bush had outlined government’s broad strategic policy goals for the next budget year, Alden McLaughlin said he was “astounded” that the premier had not said one word about the growing problem of violent crime. The George Town opposition member told the House that he did not think there was an issue which was more important than the impact violent crime was having on the country.
He said all of the efforts government claimed it was making to try and attract new business would be thwarted unless this key issue was addressed.
While McLaughlin was at pains to say he was not blaming government for the increase in criminal activity, he said that he believed it had responsibility to do something about it. He pointed out that the premier never lost a single opportunity to tell the previous administration when he was leader of the opposition that government had a responsibility to tackle crime, even when at that time elected officials had a lot less influence than they did now in the wake of constitutional changes.
Under the constitution, the government has three ministers on the National Security Council and is in a better position than any previous government to influence the police strategies for dealing with crime. McLaughlin noted that while the members squabbled with each other yesterday, the Bank of Butterfield was robbed, shots fired and people terrified.
The PPM member also questioned why a private member’s motion he had spent considerable time preparing and filed with the Legislative Assembly calling for a full national strategy to deal with crime back in February, had still not even seen the light of day.
Given that the SPS is an important milestone in the political calendar, McLaughlin said he found it unbelievable he was silent on the issue of crime. “For the premier to deliver the SPS and not say one word about crime is astounding," McLaughlin said. “I don’t believe there is an issue that is more serious.”
Not only was the crime problem going to impact the efforts to attract business and tourism, McLaughlin noted how it was also changing the culture and way of life of Caymanians. He said there were certain areas of George Town now where, when he visited, local teens would ask him for ten dollars to watch his car. “The sense of safety that was part of our lives and our country is being lost,” he said. While he accepted that crime was complex and there would never be enough money to do the things needed to address the fundamental causes of crime, the country had to find a way to stem the siege through a comprehensive strategy.
“I can’t say that government isn’t doing anything about crime, but we don’t know as it hasn’t said anything about it,” he said, adding that it was very worrying to see such an important issue omitted from the SPS. “Government appearsnot to be giving crime the attention it deserves. “Improving the fiscal position will all be for naught if we are all forced to walk around with a police guard as the premier does,” he said. “Government has a responsibility to do something … but the silence is deafening.”
In his response the premier criticised the opposition for what he said were “wild allegations”. He said it was easy fodder for the opposition to criticise government over crime and it was merely political tactics that the opposition member knew would score points with the public. He said there was not a single member in the Legislative Assembly not concerned about crime, but despite the National Security Council, government still had no power over policing.
Noting that revealing the country’s strategy for dealing with crime was a security risk, Bush said that his government was doing all it could to deal with the issue and the opposition member was misleading the public.
Bermuda Premier ditches bodyguards
(Royal Gazette): Premier Paula Cox has confirmed she has not retained the bodyguards that were a prominent feature of her predecessor Ewart Brown’s regime. Cox also said she does not engage police escorts, while underlining that an audit of contracts is being carried out to ensure no consultancies are being inadvertently continued. The Premier has repeatedly stated she wants to trim unnecessary spending to make savings of $150 million in her first year in office. Brown was accused of trying to look important by insisting on travelling with personal bodyguards at home and overseas at the taxpayers’ expense.