Archive for April, 2012
TCI government aims to pull down PNP HQ
(CNS): The Turks and Caicos Islands government has served civil proceedings on the Progressive National Party (PNP) to recover the land where the political group has its offices. According to local reports, the UK interim government intends to destroy the building on the crown land, where it says the PNP has trespassed. The TCI government said in a release that, following the construction of the headquarters in 2005, the PNP appointed management agent, Provident Management Services Ltd, which was said to have sub-leased six offices in the headquarters to PNP MPs for a total of $465,083.61 over a three year period, which was paid by the government.
The government said it is seeking the return of that money, which it claims Provident was not entitled to.
Government has filed suit in the TCI courts for damages, as well as the $465,083.61, an order that the headquarters are pulled down and the cost of returning the land to its former state.
The current attorney general, Huw Shepheard, said that when the administration became aware last year that the headquarters had been built on crown land to which the PNP had no title, he wrote to the PNP setting out the claim.
“It had been our hope that matters could be settled amicably without the need for proceedings. Unfortunately, discussions with the PNP have not been successful. In those circumstances, the government has been left with no choice but to bring these proceedings for trespass and damages to recover this plot of crown land and what is properly owed to the government," he said.
The PNP’s attorney, Carlos Simons QC, said he did not believe that the government’s method of service met the requirements of TCI procedural law so the PNP did not need to respond and that the trespass claim was entirely misconceived.
“The party has been in open possession of the Airport Road property since at least 2005 with the full knowledge of the leaders of every government department concerned with dealings in crown land and with their acquiescence, if not consent,” he said.
He added that the PNP would rigorously defend the “spurious claims brought by the interim government.”
Clayton Greene the PNP leader said it was another blow to democracy.
“If parliament is to work, then political parties must send people there. If we do not have at least two political parties, we can have no opposition,” he said, adding that the claim was another attempt by the governor to break the will of the PNP.
“The governor is hell bent on silencing to voice of the Progressive National Party and by extension the voice of a significant number of people in this country,” he said.
Meanwhile, as the country continues under the cloud of a corruption investigation, a member of the clergy has called for the return of former governor Richard Tauwhare to face questioning in the on-going Special Investigation probe, since he was the chief overseer for government affairs during the Michael Misick administration.
Bishop Derek Browne, President for the Methodist Conference of the Bahamas and the Turks and Caicos Islands and Pastor for the Wesleyan Methodist Church in Blue Hills, said he was equally responsible for anything found to be untoward during the former administration, and should be asked to answer to charges similar to those that his former cabinet colleagues were facing.
“The situation that we are in now has not started with the British folk,” he said. “Richard Tauwhare needs to come back here … he should be here because much of what went on went on either with his approval, or if it was any matter of being set up, he set up for others to do the dirty work.”
The preacher said the former governor was a part of what was going on and justice was not one-sided and the church could not sit by and watch injustices run amok. He also criticized the current administration.
“The church is the conscience of the society; the church has to speak out against the dictatorship, and that kind of style,” Browne said. “When I looked at certain things being done, it seems to be done with the intention of sinking the Turks and Caicos Islands.”
Cayman’s London office rep under fire in UK press
(CNS Business): Lord Blencathra, the director of Cayman Islands London Office, has been criticised in the UK for lobbying on behalf of Cayman’s financial services industry while, as a member of the House of Lords, he is able to vote on legislation affecting the territory. "It can't be right for a member of the legislature, responsible for setting tax policy, to be employed by a well-known tax haven," Shadow Cabinet minister Jon Trickett told the Independent yesterday. However, the British peer maintained that he had been meticulous in ensuring that there was no conflict of interest between his role as lobbyist and his duties in the Lords. "You cannot point to one single incident, speech, vote or question where I have sought to advance the Cayman Islands in the Lords," he told the UK press. Read more on CNS Business
Ministry to measure local health risks
(CNS): Health Minister Mark Scotland opened a regional meeting of chief medical officers Monday with a call to improve healthcare throughout the Caribbean, while announcing that next month his ministry will undertake a risk-factor survey. CMOs and other officials from 13 countries are attending the two-day CARICOM meeting, which Scotland told the gathering was about “identifying priority health areas and promoting technical cooperation among all of us so that we can all optimize our resources”.
Joining Scotland to open the conference, being held for the first time in Cayman, were Dr. Rudolph Cummings, Programme Manager, Health Sector Development, CARICOM Secretariat, and Dr. Delroy Jefferson, CMO of the Cayman Islands. As he opened the conference, Scotland said that it marked the 20th such meeting of CMOs, and the knowledge that participants gain could be used to influence relevant legislation and policies in their home countries.
“As you join here this week to discuss some of the region’s more pressing health issues, you are sure to gain invaluable knowledge and new insights which you can take back to your legislators and policy makers so that these issues can be addressed pro-actively on a regional and global scale,” he said.
Noting that the Cayman Islands is not a full CARICOM member, the minister said that “we have always supported, participated in and certainly benefited from regional health initiatives”.
Scotland added that while participants come from all over the Caribbean, the health issues are comparable. “For while we all hail from different countries with our own unique identities, many of the health challenges we face are very similar: maternal and child health, aging populations, control of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) and injuries, and AIDS prevention and control – to mention a few.”
The issue of NCDs is being addressed locally, Scotland said, as his ministry has recently allocated funds to undertake a health-risk-factor survey in May, with the Pan American Health Organisation assisting in the training for and planning of the exercise. In previously announcing the launch of a committee to establish a framework for the survey, Scotland said the results will allow health professionals to identify specific issues that contribute to the rapid local rise in chronic disease.
PAHO is also assisting in developing Cayman’s National Health Policy and Strategic Health Plan, he said, by providing a consultant to help facilitate the process, which will also start next month.
Following the CMO conference, from 19-21 April, Cayman is hosting for the first time the annual CHRC/CARPHA (Caribbean Health Research Council/Caribbean Public Health Agency) Scientific Conference, which will encompass almost 60 sessions covering research done in each country on such issues as communicable diseases, diabetes, obesity, and nutrition.
The three-day event, the 57th annual symposium, is the largest health research conference in the English-speaking Caribbean, with more than 200 delegates expected to attend, including researchers, policy makers and healthcare providers.
Miller calls for Dart invoice
(CNS): The Independent member for North Side has called on the Dart Group to release the invoice that it received from government for the $5 million it paid recently before the ForCayman Alliance Investment deal had been agreed. Speaking at a public meeting in West Bay on Thursday hosted by activists against the closure of the West Bay Road and the crown land swap, Ezzard Miller challenged the developer to show the documentation explaining that cash payment. He said the proposed investment alliance was not a good deal and suggested that Dart was getting ten times the value that government and the people of Cayman would get out of the agreement.
Miller said the group’s failure to wait on the findings of the review and just go ahead and start work on the Esterley Tibbetts Road extension showed a lack of respect for the wishes of the Caymanian people. He said he wanted Dart to produce the invoice for the payment it made to government as part of this side agreement between it, the National Roads Authority and the government.
“I want Mr Dart to publish the invoice from government for the $5 million. If the government has not given him an invoice, it is a payment for something they don’t want us to know about,” he told the people at the meeting. “Produce the invoice for the $5 million so the people of this country can know why you paid the Cayman Islands Government $5 million in the middle of the review team reviewing the road project.”
He pointed out that the closure of the West Bay road would bring Dart billions of dollars in future as it would create significant beach front property for the group. Miller said it was time to start demanding a say in these issues. The independent member said the entire Dart deal was put together the wrong way because government should have spoken to the people of West Bay about closing the West Bay Road and giving away land before it spoke to Dart, Miller stated.
“It is time to start to do things for Caymanians … it is time to stop doing things for everyone else and we just tag along,” he added. Miller told the people not to back down on this fight and to stand up for their children and grandchildren. The independent member pointed out that through perseverance, the Eastern Sea Port had been stopped, the referendum had been announced and so the fight to stop the closure of the West Bay Road had to continue until that was won.
Miller took aim at the premier and said the people could not place any trust in anything he was telling them. Bush had stated just a few weeks ago that the referendum on one man, one vote would be too expensive; the premier had claimed that the proposed November ballot held separately from a general election would cost around $750,000. However, on Wednesday the premier revealed that the referendum he was now planning for July would cost only $300,000, Miller noted.
Compared to previous meetings and the recent motorcade, the people gathered on the empty lot opposite Fosters were largely supporters but the activists pressed on with their presentations regardless. Railing against the deal government is proposing to enter into with the islands’ biggest developer, the speakers vowed not to give up the fight.
The meeting brought together representatives of the West Bay Action Committee, Save Cayman, the Concerned Citizens Group and the Coalition to Keep Bodden Town Dump Free — the four major campaign groups opposed to the Dart deal — as well as East End MLA Arden McLean and Miller, who both called on the people not to accept what government was proposing.
Report exposes more failures
(CNS): A UK expert who reviewed the Cayman Islands Public Management and Finance Law (PMFL) has pointed to the lack of consolidated government accounts as its biggest failing and urged government to rectify this problem with the closure of this year’s accounts as soon as possible. A report by Keith Luck, the former director general finance at the FCO, was released by the Governor’s Office on Friday following an FOI request by CNS and reveals further details of the failure of the Cayman government to account for its spending. Luck pointed to poor understanding and leadership and said the people of Cayman “are without their key controls” because of the failures, and recommended a radical simplification of the system.
“A significant concern is the absence of robust Departmental Accounts, but it is the lack of Consolidated Accounts for Government, let alone an Entire Public Sector (EPS) Account, that has to be the biggest failing. Without these the Government and people of the Cayman Islands are without their key controls,” Luck said in the executive summary of his comprehensive report. “My principal recommendation however is a strategy of radical simplification. This needs to begin alongside closure of this year’s accounts. It will require a rigorous and resolute focus on simplification, standardisation and burden reduction.”
The British bureaucrat said government had to get back to basics and then re-build, and strongly recommended that the extent to which outputs and output reporting are used to control and drive appropriations is seriously examined.
Luck found that IRIS, government’s core accounting and information system, had contributed to the difficulties in PMFL but these were symptomatic of wider governance issues. While accrual accounting was now embedded in the system, it was not fully implemented and “understanding is still low in some areas even amongst senior managers,” he said. Luck found that capital accounting still operates on a quasi-cash basis and compliance with International Accounting Standards was inconsistent.
Although less adjustment was required to the human resources element of government, he said that performance management was the biggest challenge and that reform would improve behaviour and outcomes across the civil service.
In his report Luck pointed to weaknesses in leadership and a lack of management sanctions, which meant no one was held to account for the failures. The lack of effective performance management and appraisal was an issue, along with the failure by management to properly delegate. “Some Ministries still double-check and micro-manage which adds to bureaucracy and reduces efficiency,” Luck stated.
The former FCO top accountant also revealed that the Public Sector Investment Committee (PSIC), which should oversee Capital Project Appraisals for all projects over CI$300,000, has never met, despite being mandated in Part XII and Schedule 5 of the Financial Regulations
Of the many observations Luck makes about the PMFL and the subsequent reforms of the system which have led to the pressing problems is the abject failure of government to publish its accounts.
“The most telling indictment of the reforms is the simple fact that the Government, regardless of the party in power, has been unable to fulfil its legal duty to lay accounts in the Legislative Assembly since the reforms were introduced. These missing individual Departmental and Consolidated accounts date back in some cases to July 2003,” he observed.
See the full Luck report below.
Backbencher encourages alternative energy use
(CNS): With the increase in energy costs and a need for environmental responsibility, government has accepted a private member’s motion to eliminate imposed restrictions by power providers on the domestic generation of renewable energy and send it back to the grid on a net metering basis. The motion brought by the West Bay UDP member Cline Glidden seeks to make it easier for people and businesses to use wind, solar or other renewable power while still on the local CUC grid, feeding excess power back when it is not needed and buy it back when it is at the same rate.
The goal is to eliminate fuel bills for green consumers as presently they are restricted in the amount of renewable energy people can move back and forth to CUC.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly last week, Glidden toldhis parliamentary colleagues that net metering would give people a way to reduce the strain of energy bills in face of the high cost of living as they were fast becoming the second, if not the largest, bill in the house. As Cayman is dependent on oil price fluctuations and the challenges that come with that, he said, encouraging people to install alternative energy options at home would cut costs, reduce the islands’ carbon footprint and create new jobs.
He acknowledged that CUC had made various efforts to encourage people to reduce their consumption and introduced the CORE and FITS programmes to deal with renewable energy. But while they have their benefits, he said, not many people had taken them up as there were too many challenges that were discouraging to the regular consumer.
The latest one is the feed-in tariff system, he said, but all electricity consumers had to be allowed to be as creative as possible about energy use to reduce fossil fuel dependence and Cayman needed to do more to encourage people to turn towards renewable energies. He said he did not want to eliminate the feed and tariff option for people that were interested in the commercial generation of power for sale to CUC, but for people who had their own turbines or panels at their home or business a better system was needed.
As he expanded on his motion in the debate, Glidden said that what he wanted to propose was a system that would allow a home owner to generate their own electricity via solar or wind, and sell back any extra power to CUC at the same rate as it would buy it from the grid, making a net zero bill at the end of the month.
He said that some people had already made significant investments in solar and wind systems and needed to be able to feed back to CUC without limits and at a fair rate, and therefore the limits needed to be removed. The MLA said he wanted people to be able to send power to CUC during theday and buy it back in the evening and eliminate the need for them to have to spend thousands of dollars on batteries, making the purchase of wind and solar power systems even more attractive.
Glidden said his proposal might well have an impact on CUC earnings but it would be beneficial for consumers and would encourage the development of an alternative energy business.
“This motion seeks to take away restrictions and encourage individuals to benefit …reducing their costs and dependence on fossil fuels, making us more environmentally friendly and providing jobs for those installing the systems,” he said.
The deputy premier, who has responsibility for energy, said that the government supported the motion and was already working on the issues Glidden had raised and it would form part of the energy policy which would be revealed later this year.
Gags galore
They say that the only thing to do when things get really bad is laugh, and that’s certainly what happened at the weekend when Rundown launched its annual dose of comic cure for Cayman’s ills. Alongside a ‘double helping’ of McKeeva, Shetty and Quincy, few were safe from the butt of the gags which peppered this year’s production of Cayman’s comedy review.
Rundown is always funny but this year it was also extremely clever and Henry Muttoo isn’t worrying about who he takes aim at and whose sensibilities he might be offending with his ‘un-PC’ but hilariously irreverent script.
The cast is refreshingly diverse and very funny with some great acting. Classic performers such as Harwell McCoy, Rita Estevanovitch and Michael McLaughlin — the inner circle of ‘Rundown Idiots’ — ensure the professionalism of the show and, of course, Quincy Brown's talent for acting, impersonation, singing and comic timing seems to grow better each year.
Priscilla Pouchie, who has virtually grown up on stage, also gives a great performance, especially singing for the double McKeevas – who are almost as funny as the real thing.
The newer members of the cast also add some interesting new perspectives on the traditional show, which brings back the much loved ‘Ital’ and the funniest talk show in Cayman, ‘Talkacross’; McLaughlin's impersonation of Gilbert McLean is classic.
The show, which has a special place in the heart of Caymanians and ex-pats alike, provides plenty of chortles and is sure to offend plenty of people as well — but if they can’t take a joke and all that …
Muttoo has proved more than able to carry on the review created by Dave Martin with quality material that offers something for all, including some very subtle gags that can easily be missed by those not paying attention but will appeal to the cerebral among the audience. The wit is complemented with splendid slapstick and visual comedy, not least of which is an excellent cameo by Hell’s very own Ivan Farrington, plus a great dance routine by Kevin Creary and Giselle Webb, and the Shetty and Shetty act by Judy Singh and Vijay Singhera is not to be missed.
Topical and sharp, the show takes a hilarious and flippant swipe at many of Cayman’s politicians and local characters, reminding them not to take themselves too seriously.
Oh, and Mutooo, whaddya mean "Cayman Olds Service"? Yer cheeky beggar…
Rundown opened on Thursday evening with a fundraising performance for George Town Primary School and the curtain rises again on Thursday 19 April, with performances starting at 8 through Sunday, when the curtain goes up at 6pm. The show then moves to Cayman Brac for one weekend before returning for its final showdown on Grand Cayman on 3 May, closing on 6 May.
Tickets are available at Fosters Funky Tangs and the CNCF offices at the bargain price of $20, given the amount of laugh you get for your money.
Earthday clean up attracts 1500 volunteers
(CNS): More than 1500 people from schools, businesses, church groups, and other community organisations early Saturday morning for the Chamber of Commerce’s 15th Annual Earth Day Roadside Clean-Up. Bags and bags of garbage were collected by the most volunteers the initiative has ever attracted, from the roads and beaches. “With fifteen years of this event behind us it just keeps getting bigger and better,” said Wil Pineau the Chamber’s CEO.
“The community spirit generated by this clean-up event is always spectacular. It’s a perfect opportunity for our members to work side-by-side for something that is meaningful to us all,” he added.
Pointing to the wider benefits of the popular clean-up he said it also remind people about the importance of the local environment.
“Although our community benefits significantly from this event it is the economic benefits of taking care of our tourism identity that will positively impact our many businesses. Our beauty is bountiful but it still needs looking after. The Chamber sees this Earth Day event as an excellent way to remind people that we are caretakers of our environment and that we have an obligation to take that responsibility seriously. I am pleased to say that more people than ever took that to heart this year,” Pineau said.
Event sponsors included BritCay Insurance; Dart Cayman Islands.; Island Heritage Insurance; Kensington Management Group Ltd.; KPMG; Transocean Inc.; CUC Ltd.; The Phoenix Group; Conyers Dill & Pearman; Cayman Islands Yellow Pages; Cayman National; Foster’s Food Fair IGA; Department of Environmental Health; Mourant Ozannes, Walkers, Deutsche Bank (Cayman) Limited, LIME, Sagicor Life of the Cayman Islands, Grant Thornton, CIBC-First Caribbean International Bank, Appleby, Foster Food Fair, HSBC, Royal Bank (Cayman) Ltd. Consolidated Water Company Ltd. Cayman Maritime Authority, Greenlight Reinsurance Ltd., Miller Lite, CIBC Bank & Trust Company; and Caledonian Global Financial Services.
Special thanks were given to Department of Environment Health for providinglatex gloves and garbage bags and the Recreation, Parks, and Cemeteries Unit who with a team of 20 staff and 7 pickup trucks will collect all the trash bags on today (Monday April 16) that were placed on the roadside.
Following the hard work and effort the volunteers enjoyed a free brunch at Tiki Beach sponsored by LIME.
George Town man denies double arson attack
(CNS): A 30-year-old George Town man has denied attempted to endanger four people’s lives during a double arson attack last year. Sven Connor pleaded not guilty on Friday morning to two counts of arson charged against him in the Grand Court. Connor is accused of trying to setting fire to a house on Fairlawn Road in the Fairbanks area of George Town. The crown claims that on the night of 15 December last year Connor set fire to the air-conditioning unit at the home of Theresa Brown and Eric Russell a mother of four endangering their lives. Connor is accused of then setting fire to Brown’s mother’s house on the same property later the same night after she moved there as a result of the first fire.
Connor faces charges of endangering the lives of four people as well as intending to damage the property by fire. Police confirmed at the time that despite the double arson attack no one was hurt in either fire.
After Connor submitted his not guilty pleas to both the charges he was remanded in custody to Northward Prison until 27 April when he will return to court for a trial date to be set. Connor was represented by defense attorney John Furnis
Driver pleads guilty to Esterley Tibbetts road death
(CNS): A 32-year-old man has admitted killing Richard Martin in a road smash on the Esterley Tibbetts Highway last year. Patrick Dixon pleaded guilty on Friday morning to causing death by dangerous driving in the early hours of 30 November after the Chevrolet Blazer he was driving smashed into a Honda Logo being driven by 52-year-old Martin, a resident in Cayman originally from Pennsylvania, USA. At the time of the crash, which happened close to Lakeside Villas, Dixon was also arrested for driving under the influence, a charge which Dixon denied and the crown withdrew. After his plea he was released on bail and ordered to return to court for sentencing on 25 May.