Archive for March, 2011
Master’s scholarship on offer for brightest postgrads
(CNS): Government officials have opened the application process for prestigious Chevening Scholarship Award, which gives the brightest Caymanian students interested in postgraduate study the chance to go to one of Britains’s leading universities. Candidates have until Friday 15 April to apply for the funding offered through the UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Awards are normally for one-year masters programmes, but may also be considered for other courses of a minimum three months duration at any participating school. As the programme is intended for future leaders and decision-makers, successful applicants must demonstrate this level of potential and officials said there is strong competition for the limited number of scholarships on offer.
Over the past fifteen years, some 25 Caymanians have received Chevening scholarships, some of whom have returned to the Cayman Islands to take up employment in a number of Government Departments and elsewhere. The Chevening programme is administered locally by the Governor’s Office and the Education Council.
Further information on the Chevening scholarship programme can be found at www.Chevening.com. Further information is also available on the Governor’s Office website (www.ukincayman.fco.gov.uk).
Completed applications must be submitted by the Friday 15th April 2011 deadline. Please contact Melenie Mylrea at the Governor’s Office (+1 345 244 2431 or Melenie.Mylrea@fco.gov.uk) if you have any questions and for application forms.
CITA plans marketing summit to help boost tourism
(CNS): The private sector tourism body, which includes around 200 businesses in the industry, will be holding its first ever marketing summit in May in order to find ways to help improve the sector’s economic fortunes. The Cayman Islands Tourism Association (CITA) said it plays an integral role in coordinating international promotions that are advertised through the Department of Tourism, and with the help of a new marketing committee it hopes to provide more ideas and feedback from the industry. The summit was one of the ideas to come from the new committee’s first meeting, along with its aim to plan international promotions and provide more marketing recommendations.
The new committee is co-chaired by Tom McCallum and Melissa Ladley, both of whom have long-standing marketing experience and CITA involvement, the organisation said in a release this week.
The committee plans to hold meetings with the CITA membership to share ideas and information and invite input and feedback from those in the business. The next CITA General Marketing Meeting will be held in conjunction with their first Annual Marketing Summit, which has been scheduled for 2-4 May at Camana Bay. The summit will include a panel discussion with the general membership and a series of workshops and breakout meetings over the three days, CITA stated.
In the goal to find compelling promotions that are in line with the Cayman brand, the committee said it is working on an eight month lead time to plan promotions to ensure that adequate time is allocated for stakeholder involvement.
“Through research and consultation this committee will provide a series of formal recommendations with regards to the general marketing and promotions strategies and execution for the Cayman Islands,” CITA revealed in the statement. These proposals will be submitted to the DoT and the Ministerial Council for Tourism and Development.
Members of the marketing committee include
Harry Lalli, Brickhouse/Treasure Island– CITA President
Trina Savage Christian – CITA Executive Director
Tom McCallum, TheReef – CITA Condo/Villa Director
Melissa Ladley, The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman
Markus Mueri , Abacus/Deckers/Prime – CITA Restaurant Director Nominee
Nadia Hardie, Sunshine Suites – CITA Hotel Director
Nancy Easterbrook, DiveTech – CITA Director
Steve Broadbelt, Ocean Frontiers – CITA Immediate Past President
Danielle Wolfe – Caribbean Club
The next General Meeting is CITA’s AGM (Annual General Meeting) on 14 April at the Marriott Beach Resort from 3:30pm to 5:30pm where the 2011/12 CITA Board of Directors will be elected into office. For more information about CITA contact info@cita.ky or 345-949-8522.
Sub-pilot reveals secrets of Cayman Trench
(CNS): Local author and sub-diver Gary Montemayor will be holding a presentation and book signing at Books & Books this Friday launching of his debut book Down the Cayman Wall. As a Deep Sub Pilot, Montemayor has explored the perilous depths of the world’s oceans in search of new species and precocious phenomena. Down the Cayman Wall he encountered alien sea creatures including an aggressive 26 foot prehistoric shark. Montemayor moved to Grand Cayman from Hawaii in 1996 and spent the next 8 years diving a 21 foot research submarine to 1,000 feet in and around George Town almost every day.
This unique exposure to the same patch of sea and its inhabitants left him with a rich tapestry of unique experiences. The book follows the author on a hunt for answers about the deep. While guiding an expedition into the Cayman Trench for a film crew from BBC’s popular show Blue Planet Montemayor crosses paths with an underwater giant.
Not just about giant sea creatures lurking at great depths the book also reveals the discovery of an underwater neighbourhood full of unusual characters.
The island of Grand Cayman, its people, its places, and its way of life forms the backdrop book which critics say ranges from hilarious to peculiar, and even totally surreal.
Montemayor has accomplished more than 2000 dives in manned submersible and has served as a test pilot for two prototype submersibles. He is the newest Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, a Fellow of the prestigious Explores Club of New York, and a member of the American Polar Society. He has also been asked to sit on the Board of Directors for the Institute of Nautical Archaeology of Texas AM and was recently selected as the Honorary Consul for the US Embassy to the Cayman Islands.
The event will include a book discussion and signing as well as a visual presentation of incredible photographs from Montemayor’s expeditions. It is free and open to the public starting at 7pm 1 April
DoT seeks families for city kids’ vacation
(CNS): For the fifth summer in a row, the Department of Tourism, Cayman Airways and Fresh Air Fund have come together to give a small group of kids aged between eight and twelve years from New York a week-long holiday in the Cayman Islands. The Fresh Air Fund programme depends however, on the support of local hosts that can welcome the children, often from underprivileged backgrounds into their homes. The DoT is appealing to Cayman families to host one or more Fresh Air Fund child during this year’s summer vacation and where they can experience true Caymanian hospitality. This year, the children will be visiting between 25-31 July and will have a packed agenda visiting the local sights which means there shouldn’t be any extra demands on families hosting the kids.
However, the charity encourages families to involve fresh air kids into their regular family activities and practices, including games night, dinner time, story-telling and the Caymanian tradition of Sunday dinner among others.
To qualify families will be required to undergo a home visit and screening interview with representatives from DoT, the host home must be safe and clean with places to play indoors and out and be a positive environment for kids. The Fresh Air Fund child must have a dedicated bed to him or her during the stay as the kids are not allowed to share the bed with other members of the household.
Each member residing within the household over the age of 18 will have to obtain a Police Clearance as a security measure to ensure that the child will be in a safe environment and the host family must be able to provide three character references from upstanding members of the community verifying that they should be considered for this opportunity.
To learn more about becoming a host family do to the DoT website
$69m unaccounted for after failed ministry audit
(CNS): In the latest batch of backlogged financial reports tabled in the Legislative Assembly two from the tourism ministry reveal that well over $69 million of public money spent between 2007 and 2008 cannot be accounted for as a result of the auditor general being unable to verify any aspect of the ministry’s financials. Charles Clifford, who was the minister with responsibility during the time, said that the issue of financial reporting before Cayman had a political minister of finance was an administrative function for which the civil service and ultimately the governor was responsible. These reports join a growing pile of other useless reports, while the public accounting for the latest financial year continues to fall behind.
Not one of the latest batch of more than a dozen reports tabled in the country’s parliament on 17 March, mostly from statutory authorities, were for the most recent financial year and most were either several years old or carried some form of qualification – or both — rendering them essentially meaningless.
The dated reports come in the wake of comments by Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick, who pointed out in his own report on the state of government financial accounting recently that spending time producing these old reports was a waste of time. He said that all of the ministries old accounts will get failing grades and core government backlogged reports are all “fundamentally unreliable” because of “significant deficiencies” in the supporting documentation and information.
Swarbrick advised government that it should give up on the old accounts and spend the scarce resources and time on producing the most recent and up to date financial reports, which will have more meaning for the public.
However, the government said it wanted to complete all of the accounts and was committed to complying with the Public Management and Finance Law. The Ministry of Finance, which is now responsible for government accounting, said it was not prepared to ignore the past financial statements. Ministry officials said that, although the accounts were late and wrong, they still had value.
“Despite the lack of timeliness and technical accuracy … these reports still have tremendous value to the wider public as they provide a record of the government’s finances during this period. Without them there would be no record of the government’s financial performance during this significant period – a truly unacceptable position,” the ministry stated.
When the premier tabled the financial reports for the former tourism, environment and commerce ministry he was at pains to emphasise that the financial years covered by the report were nothing to do with the current government.
Clifford, who was at the helm at the time, is suggesting that there is political manipulation going on, especially as staff who were at the ministry during his tenure were all removed, breaking the continuity of the financial work. Clifford said that when he was there his ministry officials assured him that they were making good progress in bringing the accounts up to date in preparation for audits.
“I was never given any indication that there was a record keeping issue that could potentially affect future audits,” he said, noting however that at the time it was an administrative function. “Of course part of the problem is that the majority of the senior officers in the ministry were removed from office immediately after the 2009 general elections, and that no doubt affected the continuity of the work on the financial statements and ultimately the audits. This change of personnel could have been intentional in order to set the stage to criticise the outgoing administration.”
Clifford said he believed staff had been removed quickly at the insistence of the premier, which would have prevented the necessary exchange of information. “I know that the current minister, who is also the premier, refused to move into his office until certain senior officers were removed from the ministry, so I doubt that there was any opportunity for a proper hand-over or transition with senior civil servants.”
The former minister also noted that while the accounts issue was an administrative function when he was in office, the new constitution heralded in the new political post of Minister of Finance, meaning that McKeeva Bush, who now holds that post, has political responsibility to ensure proper financial reporting.
“I believe that the premier’s rush to change ministry staff following the last general elections has negatively impacted the work that was being done on the financial statements and ultimately the audits,” Clifford stated. “The ministry became focused on other things while the important checks and balances, such as financial reporting, public accountability, transparency in government and other good governance policies, were simply seen as hindrances to the new government’s agenda.”
Clifford also stated that the Governor’s Office ought to ensure that the “apparent desire to politicise the civil service” is discouraged because it is unsustainable in a small country such as Cayman.
CFI says firm can handle $7M bill
(CNS): In the wake of the largest award following a civil trial in the history of the Cayman Islands, the insurance company holding the $7 million tab says it may be appealing the judgment but if it has to pay it will not impact the firm’s ability to do business. Hurlstone Ltd and others were awarded the whopping sum following a lengthy legal battle in which the contractors had counter-sued Sagicor General Insurance, now Cayman First, for abuse of process and malicious prosecution, and won. The case was related to the reconstruction of Windsor Village after Hurricane Ivan in 2004. The insurance firm had originally filed suit against the contractors, accusing them of fraud and conspiracy over the cost of the work, but withdrew the suit before the trial at the end of 2008.
Cayman First Insurance (CFI), which is now left holding the bill for the historic award handed down by Justice Alex Henderson of $6,938,064 plus interest and some $85,000for reputation, said that the company is considering an appeal so it could not go into detail about the judgment.
However, it was quick to try and reassure customers that the parent company of CFI has taken action to ensure that the firm’s capital base is maintained at a level to meet the requirements mandated by CIMA.
“CFI has determined that, based on existing information, the company’s capital and ability to operate will not be impaired by the developments associated with the Judgment,” the firm said in a statement in the wake of the award. It also said steps had been taken to ensure that policyholder and other stakeholder interests were adequately protected.
CFI is now under the controlling interest of an entirely new organisation but it said the directors were committed to meeting any legal obligations related to the legal proceedings, once finalised, despite the fact that the matters pre-date the involvement of the new owners.
With an AM Best rating of A-(Excellent), along with significant enhancements to the company’s reinsurance program, the company said it was a strong and viable entity. Speaking to the press in the Bahamas this week, Ian Fair, chairman of Bahamas First, said the group would suffer "absolutely zero" financial impact by the award as the case had come up as a potential liability during due diligence before last year’s sale. He explained that the potential financial ramifications were "ring fenced" and excluded from the transaction.
The award against the firm follows from the Hurlstone family and others counter-suing Sagicor General Insurance (Cayman) for abuse of process and malicious prosecution, and after the insurance firm’s original suit was abandoned the insurer’s allegations could not be sustained. The Hurlstone plaintiffs said their characters and business affairs had suffered greatly as a result of the allegations made by the insurance firm in 2006. They also suffered as a result of having their assets frozen during the process of the insurance firm’s suit, which the attorneys said was extremely detrimental to their clients.
Henderson described the unproven allegations as of a serious nature: that the work undertaken by Hurlstone had been inflated and the contractors had conspired to commit fraud against the insurance firm. The judge said that Sagicor never possessed a body of evidence capable of proving it was defrauded or was the victim of a conspiracy. The allegations against Hurlstone and the others were based on a report produced by Alan Purbrick of Capital Consulting, which turned out to be wrong.
When Hurricane Ivan ripped through Grand Cayman in September 2004, Cayman General was a wholly owned subsidiary of Cayman National Corporation. Following the problems the insurance firm faced with the significant claims after the storm, the government accepted a 24% share of the company as part of its settlement for damages sustained in the hurricane to public property.
Cayman General then sold its shares to Sagicor, who in turn sold all of its shares to the Bahamas First Group, which has since renamed the firm as Cayman First Insurance.
No ribbons as civil servants move to GAB
(CNS): Although there have been no ceremonies, ribbon cuttings or photo opportunities to mark the completion and opening of the new government administration building (GAB) as yet, the first of the country’s civil servants are moving in. Computer Services, followed by the planning department were the first public sector departments to start moving last week, and during the course of this week the Public Service Pension Board will join them. Dates havenow also been set for the health ministry staff, the Portfolio of Internal Affairs and the community affairs ministry to move during the first week of April. Civil servants from education, financial reporting, the Attorney General’s Office and the civil service portfolio will follow soon after.
“Moving into this state-of-the-art administration building is quite a milestone for our public service, said Chief Officer of District Administration, Works, Landsand Agriculture Kearney Gomez, who was the CO in the ministry when the project started. “This facility will no doubt enhance our service delivery but moreover, it provides civil servants with a safe and healthy work environment,” Gomez added.
He explained that the transfer of civil servants was being phased in order to streamline the move and minimise disruptions in service to the public. “Nevertheless, we ask for patience and understanding as departments settle into their new accommodations.” The CO added.
Although specific dates have yet to be confirmed, during the second half of April Hazard Management and GIS will move, followed by the relocation of Department of Lands and Survey, the Deputy Governor’s Office, the Internal Audit Unit, the ERA, General Registry, the premier’s ministry and the maritime authority in May.
Although there have been none of the usual ‘official photo ops’ when the keys were handed over to government or when the first staff moved in, it is understood that the ministry still plans to have an opening ceremony sometime in the future.
The project was initiated by the former leader of government business, Kurt Tibbetts, during the 2005-2009 PPM administration and is a certified LEED building as a result of a number of green energy saving features. Although the development of the public service building cost around $80 milllion to build, it is expected to save government more than $10m per annum in accommodation costs.
The building has become something of a political footballm with the premier blaming the construction of the GAB (as well as the school projects) for the public deficit. Bush has also toyed with the idea of selling or leasing the building to private investors in order to release capital but in the face of possible public protests the idea has since been shelved.
Clinton appears ‘free’ in GT
(CNS): Hours before the former US leader was due to appear at a mysterious and expensive speaking engagement at the Ritz Carlton, Bill Clinton was spending some time on Monday soaking up the local atmosphere out in the open of downtown George Town. He had already been spotted on Seven Mile Beach and out and about in his car on Sunday, and despite efforts to keep the 42nd American president under wraps, Clinton appeared to be relaxed and happy meeting and greeting with locals and tourists along the Harbour front in George Town. Accompanied by officers from the RCIPS and his own unmistakable secret service detail, the former president stopped to chat and shake hands with a number of people in Cayman’s capital for free. (Photos Dave & Chris Wright)
Clinton was in the Cayman Islands on Sunday and Monday to appear as the guest speaker at special dinner on Monday evening organised by a company called Whisky Productions, which cost $1500 a ticket, well out the price range of most locals.
The details of which charitable organisation or indeed which profitable organisation was on the receiving end of the funds raised by Clinton’s after dinner presentation at the Ritz remained a mystery as a result of a media blackout of the event.
Clinton was believed to be speaking on the topic of humanity, as per his dinner presentation in Jamaica last October. The organisers were reluctant, however, to reveal the ‘hows and whys’ of the event, including the beneficiaries of the former president’s efforts or what he was paid for the speech at the $1500 per head event and how much will be raised and for whom.
With the local RCIPS also covering security for Clinton’s short stay on the island, the cost of the support from the local law enforcement to the public purse has not yet been revealed.
Clinton arrived in Cayman under the cover of darkness in the early hours of Sunday morning at Owen Roberts International. After the private jet which brought him and his entourage touched down in Cayman, the RCIPS Uniform Support Group accompanied the secret service in a motorcade to the Ritz Carlton, where Clinton was staying.
His presence stirred considerable attention during his short stay, with locals as well as visitors trying to catch a glimpse of Clinton before he departed on his private jet just after 9pm on Monday evening.
Tourist arrivals continue steady increase
(CNS): Statistics from the Department of Tourism show that visitors to theCayman Islands are still on the up, with a ten percent increase in air passenger arrivals and close to a twelve percent rise in cruise visitors throughout February. The DoT reveals that 29,911 people who flew into Owen Roberts international Airport last month said they were here visiting. Meanwhile, down at the cruise ship terminal, ships brought in a total of 144,379 people, an 11.9% increase on 2010. Both sets of statistics are also an improvement on 2009 and bode well for the tourism industry in general. The breakdown of visitors travelling by plane also reveals that arrivals from Canada once again showed the biggest increase.
The introduction of the direct WestJet service from Toronto to Grand Cayman, which began last year, appears to be continuing to boost arrivals from the North American destinations as there was a 35% increase in the number of passengers coming from Canada during February.
However, the growth was not confined to the Canadian market as passengers from all over North America were also up last month as total arrivals from the US increased by over nine percent. Arrivals from Europe also increased from 566 passengers to 791, only arrivals from the UK, Ireland and other destinations showed a fall in numbers.
While the continued passenger numbers remained promising, many people in the tourism sector continue to state that the improvement in numbers is not converting into economic improvement. They say that while arrival statistics have shown a continued increased over the last few months, those visitors are not spending as much as people would hope in the restaurants and shops or on tours and services, leaving many tourism related businesses still struggling.
Info boss foils secrecy attempt
(CNS): The information commissioner has found against another public body attempting to deny public access to information without genuine cause. In her ninth hearing under the FOI law Jennifer Dilbert has instructed the country’s health insurance board to release previously redacted parts of minutes of a meeting. A section of the minutes from a September CINICO board meeting had been labelled “private and confidential executive session” and the part was denied to the applicant while the rest were revealed, but the FOI boss found there was no lawful reason for any of the minutes to be withheld. In the hearing Dilbert once again found a number of procedural irregularities by the PA during the request process.
The board had claimed that under section 20(1)(b) of the FOI Law the disclosure of the information “would, or would be likely to, inhibit the free and frank exchange of views for the purposes of deliberation”, but Dilbert noted that for this section of the law to apply the document would have to contain evidenceof free and frank discussion but she said the withheld paragraphs did not.
While the board had fought the FOI on the grounds that it must have the freedom and protection to determine the best course of action for the organisation without harmful interference, which could occur if certain information is made public, the applicant had questioned whether the board could have anything to discuss that would “override the general public interest in openness and transparency”.
Dilbert said in her ruling that she recognized the legitimate need, expressed in the FOI Law, for public authorities to “conduct candid and robust discussions, make hard choices, and conduct business in the secure knowledge that an exemption to disclosure is available where applicable”. However, quoting findings of the UK Information Commissioner in a similar case, she concluded that “for a record to have any prospect of protection under this exemption it is a prerequisite that the record must actually document a free and frank deliberation in the first place.”
She went on to point out that since the withheld “executive session” did not contain a “free and frank deliberation” such as different views, opinions, positions, arguments or recommendations of individual Board members”, but only consisted of general statements of fact and decisions, the exemption does not apply to it, and the record must be released.
While there will be times when a public authority may need to use section 20(1)(b) of the FOI Law to protect opinions and frank discussion, Dilbert noted in the report that public authorities are not at liberty to cordon off, a priori, a section of its activities or records, and post a “private and confidential” label on information in the name of protecting free and frank deliberation, effectively placing those activities or records beyond the reach of the law.
“I find that disclosure of the ‘Private and confidential Executive session’ part of the minutes of the CINICO Board meeting of 7 September 2010 would not inhibit the free and frank exchange of view for the purposes of deliberation, and that the exemption in section 20(1)(b) does not apply,” she revealed in the decision.
Deputy Information Commissioner Jan Liebaers emphasized that although the law provides a clear legal imperative towards openness, transparency and accountability for the sake of good governance not everything discussed by a board or other public authority will always need to be disclosed, but in this case the exemption does not apply.
As appears to be the case with many FOI requests, the information commissioner once again uncovered procedural weaknesses during the application process. In particular, the fact that the chief officer who would conduct an internal review was involved in the original refusal but the applicant was not informed until the Information Commissioner’s Office had been asked to hold a hearing — delaying and frustrating the requester’s access to the information.
In the first instance the information manger (IM) was the one who told the applicant they could not have access to all the minutes because of section 20 of the FOI law but the IM was acting under the instructions of CINICO’s board and its chair. According to the law this exemption is limited to the minister or chief officer concerned. When the applicant applied for an internal review the original involvement of the chief officer, who sits on the board, was not revealed until the ICO began examining the case then the procedural break downs were revealed.
Dilbert referred to another of her decisions where she had to address problems regarding the involvement of senior officials in refusals who then go on to unlawfully conduct internal reviews.
In her decision 7-01010 regarding a request by CNS to the Public Service Pension Board Dilbert had said: “It is critical that each public authority identify and designate the person who will conduct internal reviews in accordance with section 34(1) of the Law. In the interest of fairness and expediency, wherever possible, this should not be a floating responsibility that is transferred to another person if and when the designated person has already been involved in the original decision. Instead, in these circumstances applicants should be informed of their right to appeal directly to the Information Commissioner.”
She also noted that after the hearing was opened the PA raised two further exemptions in its submission, hypothetically stating that these “could” also apply. The commissioner pointed out, however, that there is no provision in the law allowing a public authority to raise potential exemptions in what she described as “a piecemeal manner, or in a hypothetical manner without any supporting evidence”, as was the case in this hearing.
“I do not encourage or condone the application of exemptions so late in the appeals process, since doing so would undermine the timeliness, credibility and fairness of the process, and would risk delaying the applicant’s fundamental right to access as established by the FOI Law,” Dilbert added.
Following the commissioner’s decision, the public authority now has 45 days to apply to the court for a judicial review otherwise it must release the minutes in full.
See the Information Commissioner’s full decision below.