Archive for November 6th, 2012
Legislators defeat environment with animal law
(CNS): On the eve of the implementation of the Bill of Rights, which formally enshrines the protection of the environment, a bill removing protection from an important natural site on Cayman Brac sailed through the Legislative Assembly on Monday afternoon without the slightest question or complaint from any of the MLAs present. Neither the minister with responsibility for the environment nor any member of the opposition spoke out for Dennis Point Pond, also known as Salt Water Pond, on the Brac, which has now been stripped of its designation as the island’s only animal sanctuary. The law is being amended in order to allow a nearby hotel owner to address an unpleasant odour that sometimes occurs as a result of the decomposition of natural material.
A bill to amend the Animals Law to remove the protection was brought by Juliana O’Connor-Connolly as the minister responsible foragriculture and second elected member of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman. It passed through its second reading yesterday, the stage of the process which allows members to debate the bill, without anyone questioning the future of the birds that call the pond home, including the endangered West Indian Whistling ducks.
Moses Kirkconnell, the opposition member for the Brac, gave his support to the bill and asked if the loss of the protected area could be re-designated elsewhere.
Premier McKeeva Bush was particularly enthusiastic about the amendment and said it was about giving up something to gain something as he spoke about how being able to clean up the pond, which would get rid of the smell and assist the owner of the Alexander Hotel, Cleveland Dilbert.
“Our tourism product is one of the most important things to us in terms of our economy and in Cayman Brac, being as small as it is, it’s difficult to keep the economy going," he said, adding that they should do everything possible ot help and offering his support.
“We have to give up something to get something … but that’s not what people want to understand — that we give up something because we need to get something. And so, as much as birds or whatever it is they want to protect there … it needs to be cleaned out.”
He said that there had been plans to develop the area but he did not know how people could live in the prevailing winds in the area when the pond smell was at its worst. Bush said the amendment to the law was an opportunity to help a Caymanian who had invested his money in a good hotel.
“We as a government … need to be able to help a local entrepreneur to invest when they have as Mr Dilbert has,” Bush added.
O’Connor-Connolly thanked the members and noted that the removal of the protected status would be welcomed by people living nearby as it would allow the government to clean up the rotting vegetation and pump in saline water when the area is at its smelliest.
However, it will also remove any legal barrier to the work that was originally proposed by the developer of the hotel, which is to construct a marina and dredge the pond to create a canal from the sea to the inland water, a project which the premier has said he would approve.
TCI public servants get pay cut reinstated
(CNS): While Civil servants in the Cayman Islands lament the loss of their 3.2% cost of living allowance for the second time during this administration, their peers in the Turks and Caicos Islands can look forward to the return of their 10 per cent pay cut once a newgovernment has been elected. Ric Todd the TCI governor said last Friday that the government was now in a position to reinstate the cut. This 10% deduction was one of the measures taken to reduce the TCI government’s expense following the financial collapse of the administration in 2010. The governor however has said that there are conditions under which the salary cut has been returned.
Todd said the newly elected government would have to take into account the conclusions and recommendations of the TCIG Pay and Grading review and that the incoming government following Friday’s ballot is satisfied that the reinstatement continues to be affordable alongside its other expenditure priorities.
“When the pay cut was announced it was made clear that we would work to restore it at the earliest possible opportunity,” Todd said. “Taking into account the significant economic and political progress made in the Turks and Caicos particularly over the past year…we closely examined the affordability of this measure ….”
Anya Williams, Deputy Governor said it was only right and proper that public servants, teachers, health professionals, uniformed services and emergency responders are properly remunerated for their achievements.
Meanwhile, civil servants in Cayman are facing pay grade freezes, the continued roll back of their cost of living allowance and doing more with less resources and people, even while the local government’s operating expenses have reached record levels with this year’s public spending reaching almost three quarters of a billion dollars.
Caymanians now have rights
(CNS): Finally, three years after the Cayman Islands 2009 Constitution was implemented, local people and residents at last have at least some human rights enshrined in local law. Tuesday is the official commencement of the Bill of Rights, which among many other things protects people’s right to movement, thought, expression, assembly and equality before the law, as well as protections for the environment, one of many areas that could act as a barrier to government complying with the Bill. From today onwards, any Caymanian, and in some cases ex-pat, who believes their rights are being trampled upon can seek redress through the local courts.
Government will be officially commemorating the day at the National Gallery this evening, and Richard Coles, the chair of the Human Rights Commission, which so far has remained rather low key, said there were challenges ahead but the commission would continue to “promote, protect, and preserve human rights for the people of the Cayman Islands.”
Meanwhile, Cayman Islands Governor Duncan Taylor said that ensuring that people’s rights are upheld would be a job for public officials who have a duty under the Constitution to ensure that all acts they carry out and decisions they make are “lawful, rational, proportionate and procedurally fair manner“, as set out in the Bill, which is the first schedule of the constitution.
“The 2009 Constitution gives you yet greater protection for your rights and freedoms and greater authority to defend them,” Taylor told the people of Cayman Tuesday. “Adherence to the Bill of Rights, Freedoms and Responsibilities will help us to become a stronger society where all being are equally valued, can participate fully and are treated with fairness, dignity and respect.”
Although a step forward and an improvement on the previous circumstances where Caymanians had to seek redress in the European Court of Human Rights, the enshrinement of a local Bill of Rights has still proved to be a controversial. For some, the bill has gone too far, whereas others believe it has not gone anywhere near far enough as a result of pressures from the church.
During the negotiations over the 2009 Constitution the Bill of Rights became bogged down in irrational arguments about gay marriage and devil worshippers, as well as more complicated and difficult arguments in relation to the rights of foreign nationals versus Caymanians. As an appeasement to religious fundamentalism and because of the significant number of non-Caymanian residents, Cayman’s Bill of Rights has ended up allowing discrimination in a number of areas and it separates locals from foreigners in various issues, such as taxation and education.
Nevertheless, there are for the first time certain rights enshrined in local law, and despite having three years to prepare, government may not be ready yet to fulfil the obligations it now has to its people. In a number of areas government may find itself falling foul very quickly of the new laws, not least because of a lack of funding in many areas of public life.
Attorney General Sam Bulgin, whose chambers will be tasked with defending legal actions filed by people against the government, said the bill signified that government has accepted its legal obligations to secure the basic human rights for all. This means anyone who alleges that government or its public officials have breached or threatened to breach their rights will be able to bring a claim that could result in a legally binding and enforceable judgment.
Bulgin explained that the court would be the guardian of human rights and will be called upon to adjudicate on controversial matters. From now on, there will be limits to the scope and legitimacy of executive and legislative decision-making, and Bulgin pointed to the importance of an independent judiciary, served by an independent legal profession, which would interpret the constitution, consistent with the rule of law. However, he pointed to some of the limits on the new rights.
“It is also important to bear in mind that a Bill of Rights does have certain important restrictions,” he said. “Freedom of expression does not allow persons the right to wilfully make defamatory statements about others. Freedom of movement does not permit the unlawful trespassing on another’s premises, while freedom of assembly does not give the right to unlawfully block a public thoroughfare to the inconvenience of others,” he said.
“The limitations are necessary for balancing the interests of various rights against the interest of public order, safety, morality, etc. The question will be whether restrictions on the rights and freedoms are proportionate and or reasonably justifiable in a democratic society,” Bulgin added.
The attorney general said some of the rulings from the courts could be perceived as “challenging or threatening deeply rooted and strongly held cultural assumptions,” and warned they could be unpopular. Describing the implementation of the Bill of Rights as a dawn of a new era, he said it would require “a degree of recalibration and readjustment”, especially by public officials.
“It may be seen as daunting but we should all show a willingness to embrace it. It is, ultimately, about a just and fair society for all,” the attorney general added, in the face of what could become a mounting workload for his office if Caymanians choose to take advantage of the new legal protections.
Government misses goal for debut LA TV coverage
(CNS): Despite a successful test of the government’s new television channel, CIGTV20, with signals sent to the WestStar cable system from midnight last night, it failed to provide the hoped for debut of the regular proceedings of the country’s parliament. Although the state opening and other special occasions, such as the budget addresses, are televised, the normal day to day affairs of the Legislative Assembly are usually confined to recorded coverage on Radio Cayman in the evenings during meetings. However, in future, with its new TV station, government is hoping to broadcast the entire goings on live.
A release from the premier’s office Monday evening explained that thelive coverage did not materialize due to a technical problem with the remote connection to the cameras in the Legislative Assembly. However, CIGTV20 will air the recorded programs tonight from 7pm with a statement from Premier McKeeva Bush concerning the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility and the cruise port facility.
“The video cameras in the Legislative Assembly send video feed and are controlled via fibre optic cable between the Government Administration Building and the Legislative Assembly Building. While video was able to be received at the studio control room in GAB, the cameras at the LA could not be remotely manipulated,” government officials stated.
Engineers are said to be working on resolving the problem in time to cover the LA when it resumes on Wednesday.
Instead of the planned repeat of the morning session of the Legislative Assembly this evening, CIGTV20 will begin its evening programming tonight at 7pm with a statement from the premier followed by a series of GIS Spotlight shows at 7:20pm. The premier’s statement repeats at 8:05. At 8:25pm a recorded news conference announcing public consultation for the Strategic Plan for Education will be broadcast.