Archive for November, 2012
Swim association introduces official national records
(CNS): The president and Technical Director of the Cayman Islands Swimming Association CIASA has established new, all inclusive CIASA Swimming Records. Once the association has properly compiled the times they will be used as a reference to develop a list of National Records held by Caymanians swimmers. “With the assistance of CIASA Director Adrien Royston we are delighted to release the first set of CIASA Swimming Records,” said President Peter Mackay. “This is something which our new Technical Director Ian Armiger has been instrumental in introducing and these records will now make it easier for us to produce a comprehensive listing of Rankings and of National Records.”
Thanking Coach Ian and CIASA Director Adrien Royston for the time they have spent putting these records together Mackay added, “Reviewing historical data, compiling it and checking it over and over is a time consuming job but having these records – and ultimately the rankings – will help move the sport of swimming to one which is transparent and affords all competitive swimmers, registered with CIASA and swimming for a recognized club the opportunity to see how they rate compared to their competition.”
“This has not been an easy task,” said Coach Ian Armiger. “The records are posted on the CIASA website www.ciasa.ky and are listed by age group, event, club, meet the record was set in etc. As can be expected, when going back through historical documents to develop records such as these, we may have made some mistakes. We hope that all CIASA members – past and present – will review the records and if they see any inaccuracies will let me know so that they can be corrected.”
The criteria for holding a CIASA Record are as follows:
– CIASA registered member and/or competes under a CIASA recognized Club
– CIASA designated meet (must meet FINA Officiating Standards)
– Overseas licensed meets
New budget revenue measures now in place
(CNS): All of the new draft revenue measures to help balance this year’s budget are expected to be in place by the end of this week, the premier said in a statement released from his office Friday. In an email to the finance industry sent last week, the government outlined the measuresthat will see the financial services sector in particular digging deeper to help produce the surplus budget agreed between the local and UK governments. McKeeva Bush said that with the passage into law of the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility and the balancing of expenditure reductions, Cayman was in a stable budgetary position in comparison with other major economies. He said his government would continue to engage with industry as it works towards improving the budget development process.
“I thank the Ministry, as well as all involved in this multifaceted process, for working toward achieving our mutual goal of a stable national budget, and a continuously healthy financial services industry. I particularly thank Legislative Drafting for its work in preparing multiple pieces of legislation under a tight timeframe, and with limited staff,” the premier said.
“As the public is aware, the process of developing a budget involves many moving parts, chief of which are revenues and expenditures. For the 2012/13 budget year Government placed a renewed emphasis on expenditure reductions, which have mitigated the revenue measures that are now in consideration,” he said, despite the fact that operational expenses in this year’s budget remain the highest in Cayman’s history.
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List of JPs grows as fifteen more sworn in
(CNS): Another fifteen people were added to Cayman’s already long list of lay magistrates last week. Sworn-in on Tuesday, by Deputy Clerk of Court Cecile Collins, herself a JP, officials said the new group will strengthen the capacity of the local judicial system to provide official services to members of the public. There are now over 150 JPs in the Cayman Islands who will all be subject to mandatory training sessions. JPs are appointed under the Summary Jurisdiction Law, which regulates the operation of the summary or magistrates’ courts, including the appointment of magistrates. Although they have no legal training they have authority to preside over certain criminal cases. They also have powers to issue summonses and warrants.
Magistrates can take affidavits, administer oaths, solemn declarations and affirmations; and admit persons to bail, or remand them. They also possess general judicial and administrative powers in relation to the administration of justice. JPs may also serve, as required, in the Youth Court, or otherwise, in addition to their duties of assisting with passport applications and other documents; and assisting their communities with various initiatives – such as working to divert vulnerable or at-risk youths away from the penal justice system.
During their swearing in ceremony Attorney General Samuel Bulgin said the appointment was prestigious but not meant to be merely symbolic.
“It is meant to be an obligation to further assist your country,” he told the novice JPs, “Your appointment means that even though you have no formal legal training you have been adjudged as having the common sense, intelligence, integrity and capacity to act fairly, and prepared to give freely of your time for no material reward.
“Under no circumstances should you act in matters where you have an obvious or potential conflict of interest, whether the interest is personal, pecuniary or otherwise,” he added.
An orientation session facilitated by Magistrate Grace Donalds, who although retired has recently returned to the summary bench on contract, preceded the swearing-in and all JPs will be subject to on-going training in the future.
Accountants offer training on ethics to government
(CNS): A professional; development conference specifically for finance and audit personnel working in government opened Monday examining governance, performance auditing, ethics and values. Hosted by the Cayman Islands Society of Professional Accountants (CISPA) officials said the event was an opportunity to share best practice. . Keynote speakers will include the Governor, Duncan Taylor, the deputy governor Franz Manderson, the auditor general Alastair Swarbrick, and chair of the CTC Nick Freeland. Manderson encouraged all public sector finance employees to sign up for the training.
“I would also like to encourage managers in all government entities to consider attending the sessions to hear about what is happening in the government today. This is a terrific way to learn about what you need to know and to hear about what challenges lie ahead,” he added.
The training will run until Friday at the Grand Cayman Marriott Beach Resort. Working with the Civil Service College and a planning committee made up of senior accounting and auditing officials, the topics that will be discussed include governance, ethics and values, performance auditing and what is new and challenging with public sector accounting standards.
Sponsored by local accounting firms and associations, participants will pay only $100 per day to attend. Information about the event, speakers and registration is available at www.cispa.ky. For information about the event, please call David Stock at 244-3190.
Political corruption subject of public presentation
(CNS): A Leading Caribbean Scholar will be presenting a public lecture on Thursday at the UCCI about political corruption in the region. The presentation by Professor Trevor Munroe, one of the Caribbean’s leading public scholars, marks the launch of the university’s Distinguished Public Lecture Series. The opener will see Munroe addressing a subject that is becoming an increasing public concern across the Caribbean, including here in Cayman. Entitled: ‘Political Corruption in the Caribbean – Where to from Here?’, Munroe is expected to offer a riveting and enlightening presentation.
The lecture series is being presented under the patronage of the University Board Chair, Berna Cummings. Officials said the series aims to bring the best thinking and ideas on a range of issues and subject areas affecting the Cayman Islands and the general Caribbean directly to the people. It is hoped that this will help to form synergistic networks among members of the UCCI, the wider community, and various organisations and businesses.
UCCI said the presentations will be penetrating, rigorous, deep, and will present novel interpretations of important issues and themes relevant to the socio-psychology, history, culture, sociality and economics of the Cayman Islands. This first lecture will also serve to kick off preparations for UCCI’s Caribbean Conference slated for March with the theme, “Towards a Corruption-Free Caribbean: Ethics, Values, and Morality.
Since 2011, Professor Munroe has been Executive Director of Jamaica’s National Integrity Action Limited, a not for profit NGO dedicated to the building of integrity and the combat of corruption in Jamaica on a non-partisan basis. Prior to this he directed the National Integrity Action Forum a coalition of leaders of public sector anti-corruption agencies, a 2-year project launched in 2009 and supported by USAID. In 2012, Professor Munroe was appointed an individual member of Transparency International, the only such person from the Caribbean, one among 27 in the world.
As a scholar, he was promoted to Professor of Government and Politics at the UWI in 1998 and appointed founding Director of the Centre for Leadership and Governance in 2006. He had previously served as Head of the Mona Campus’ Department of Government. He is the author or co-author of eight (8) books primarily on issues of Caribbean democratic governance. His 1972 book on Jamaican politics remains the authoritative work on Jamaica’s transition to Independence.
Hehas written extensively on issues of corruption and governance, including authoring Transparency International’s National Integrity System country studies of Jamaica, the Caribbean and, most recently, the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Professor Munroe, a Jamaican Rhodes Scholar, who attained his doctorate at Oxford University, after 1st class honours degree at UWI, has received many academic awards, including the UWI Vice Chancellor’s Award for Excellence, The Mona Campus Principal’s Award for Research, the Honorary Doctorate in Social Sciences from Florida International University the first from the English-speaking Caribbean and taken up Fulbright Fellowships at Harvard University in the United States.
He served as a Senator in the Jamaican Parliament between 1998 and 2007, championing integrity building measures and playing an active role on Parliamentary Committees dealing with corruption prevention. For many years, he served on the Executive of Jamaica’s private sector led Think Tank and as a Director of the Jamaica Confederation of Trade Unions, having himself co-founded the UAWU, one of Jamaica’s major trade unions. Dr Munroe has special expertise in building labour-management partnerships, having played a lead role in forging the accord between the trade unions and the trans-national corporations in the Bauxite Alumina sector in the late 1990s and led the team responsible for building trust amongst sector participants in the Partnership for Transformation chaired in 2011 by Jamaica’s Prime Minister.
Ryan ‘authors’ Ritz statement
(CNS): A statement delivered by the premier via government’s new television channel last week about the Ritz Carlton and the outstanding duty owed on it may have been written or approved by the former owner of the Ritz Carlton, Michael Ryan. According to the properties on the Word document posted on CNS below, it was ‘authored’ by Ryan on a computer at Stingray Construction, one of the companies he still owns that was established during the development of the luxury resort. The details of the authorship on the copy of the statement released by the premier’s office were picked up by the opposition leader, who has called on McKeeva Bush to say if he was speaking on Ryan’s behalf or as premier of the Cayman Islands.
The statement concerned the outstanding $6 million in duty missing from government coffers that was owed by the companies Ryan previously owned but which were seized by RC Cayman Holdings, the new owners who bought the hotel at auction. In the statement the premier discussed the current situation at the Ritz Carlton and was critical of the new owners, the sale price and other issues regarding the concessions that they had asked for.
Leader of the Opposition Alden McLaughlin came under attack from the premier in the statement, not least because he has raised the issue in the Legislative Assembly, where he suggested that Bush had missed an opportunity to negotiate with the new owners, who were offering to pay the bad debt even though they were not legally liable.
In the address delivered by Bush on government TV on Thursday, which for some reason appears to have been authored by Ryan, Bush denied missing a chance to negotiate with RC Cayman Holdings, accusing them of undervaluing the hotel at auction and insisting that he would get the duty from them as they were now responsible.
In a statement released Monday evening, McLaughlin said it was critically important that the premier was honest about who wrote the statement and how Ryan’s name and company came to be stamped electronically on the document.
“When the Ritz-Carlton property was being developed in2002 the government, led by Mr Bush, who was then Leader of Government Business, granted various concessions to Michael Ryan, the developer,” McLaughlin stated, explaining why Ryan had been in the position of owing government so much money.
The PPM administration pursued the outstanding debt throughout their tenure and Ryan and his companies paid in quarterly instalments until 31 March 2009. However, after the elections in May 2009, when the UDP took office, the payments stopped and none have been made since.
“On behalf of the people of this country, I now call on the premier to provide a full and frank explanation of his relationship with Michael Ryan and to tell us why his government has not collected any of the outstanding duties payable by Michael Ryan … or his companies. Further, he must explain why he has compounded the situation by squandering the opportunity afforded by the recent sale of the Ritz-Carlton to recover the outstanding $6M which, had he acted in a timely and competent manner, the country could have obtained,” McLaughlin said.
“The premier must explain how it is that the statement which he made on 22 November … was authored by Michael Ryan and prepared at the offices of Stingray Construction, one of Ryan’s companies,” he added. McLaughlin further stated that Bush’s accusation about him and his relationship with one of RC Holdings' legal representatives, Rick Finlay, of Conyers Dill & Pearman, were unfounded.
“Because I raised the issue of his mishandling of this issue, which has caused the country to lose $6M, the premier has attacked me and inferred that somehow I am defending RC Holdings and alleged that I have some association with Rick Finlay or Conyers Dill Pearman, who act for RC Holdings," the opposition leader stated.
“Nothing could be further from the truth. I ceased active practice in the firm of Charles Adams, Ritchie and Duckworth, where I was a partner with Rick Finlay, following my election for the first time in 2000, some12 years ago. I retired from the firm completely in 2004 and have had no association with the firm or Rick Finlay since," McLaughlin said, before demanding that the premier had some explaining to do about his relationship with Ryan.
Related article:
See the opposition leader's statement and Bush's statement authored by Ryan below.
Instructions to see the authorization and properties on the document are as follows:
Click the attached statement entitled “Ritz-Carlton Statement TV mv 21Nov 2012 doc”. Save the statement. Once you’ve saved the statement, without opening it, highlight the name you have given it and right click. When the dropdown box opens, scroll down to the bottom and click “Properties”. When it opensclick “Details”. Scroll down and you will see the “Author” of the statement as “Michael Ryan” and the “Company” as “Stingray Construction”.
Mac mum on 2013 SPS
(CNS): The premier made no comment regarding what is normally one of government’s major political moments when he laid the Strategic Policy Statement for 2013/14 on the table of the Legislative Assembly on Monday. Although the presentation of the SPS is usually a major televised address from the country’s parliament, this year it was an exceptionally low key affair. McKeeva Bush suddenly produced the document, which came as a surprise to the opposition benches, and, as he presented what is considered a key government document, Bush limited his comments about it to the fact that it was early and complied with the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility now contained in the Public Management and Finance Law.
CNS has not yet obtained a copy of the SPS but government sources say that it contains plans for a phased reduction in the civil service, as well as a cut in benefits for public sector workers and a centralization of procurement. It is understood that operational revenue predictions are down while government earning are up, according to the documents predictions.
Three years after he delivered the first SPS for this administration, in this latest SPS Bush points to the exact same infrastructure projects as the saviour of Cayman’s economy. The George Town cruise berthing facility, the ForCayman Investment Alliance, the expansion of Grand Cayman’s airport, Dr Shetty’s medical city and the Cayman Enterprise zone are all cited as areas that will generate income for government.
It is not clear when, or if, the premier plans to make a televised address on the document or file a motion for the parliament to debate the SPS, as is traditional, but CNS will post the document in full as soon as we are able.
Although the legislature has made very slow progress on its list of business over the last few weeks, the premier adjourned the Legislative Assembly Monday evening with no return date.
FCIA compliance questioned
(CNS): Activists campaigning against the plan to move Grand Cayman’s landfill from George Town to Bodden Town have written open letters to Dart and to Environment Minister Mark Scotland asking how the proposed ForCayman Investment Alliance (FCIA) can be made legally compliant without a public tender process. Since government transposed the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility (FFR) into law earlier this month, the group opposed to the move has stepped up its campaign against the deal on the basis that they do not believe it can be lawful given the ‘new rules’ that government must follow and the FCO’s move to stop talks on the cruise port facilities deal, which, it said, fell foul of the FFR.
In their letters, the activists state that all major public projects and divestitures of public assets must now be submitted to public tender, and they use the events relating to the George Town cruise berthing project as an example. The UK has said that this project can only proceed subject to public tender. In addition, had the FCO not intervened in the deal between government and China Harbour Engineering Company, it would have been signed behind closed doors, as was revealed by CNS following the admission by the lead negotiator.
The activists say that this shows the importance of the FFR, which also impacts several components of the agreement between Government and DRCL (Dart) because it has not been tendered and involves the swapping of crown land.
“In the interest of an informed public, transparency, good governance and the rule of law,” the activist ask both Dart and the minister how they plan to make the terms of the FCIA agreement legally compliant with the FFR.
“The spirit of the FFR is to ensure our country of good governance of the public finances, fiscal responsibility and best value for money; and that public procurement is undertaken in a transparent and competitive manner,” the Coalition to Keep Bodden Town Dump Free write in their correspondence.
“The FFR is intended to ensure that all major public development projects are done openly and properly – not secretly behind the people’s back — subject to due process and public scrutiny, and in compliance with international best practice on procurement.”
The letter sent by one of the leaders of the group, Alain Beiner, points to comments made by the UK’s OT minister, Mark Simmonds, in his letter to the premier earlier this month in which he tells Premier McKeeva Bush that there are “serious risks” involved where due process is not followed.
“Respecting due process and the spirit of the FFR would help prevent suspicion, conflicts of interest, confrontation with the UK, and potential accusations of corruption,” Beiner states. “Respecting the goals and guidelines of the FFR would help ensure that our country makes the right decisions. As such, not only is compliance of the FCIA deal with the FFR a legal requirement, but it’s clearly in the best interests of our country.”
The group is opposed to the move of the landfill, which they say is being undertaken in the interests of the developer and not in the interests of the public. The coalition is asking government to go back to its original plans and address the dump on site in George Town.
However, Mark Scotland, the environment minister and also the district representative, has said government cannot afford to carry out its original plan to deal with the dump via waste-to-energy and the offer by Dart to cap and remediate the existing dump and start a new landfill in Bodden Town is the only way that the growing problem of Mount Trashmore can get addressed.
Although the For Cayman Alliance deal’s compatibility with the FFR has been raised frequently over the last few months, neither the governor’s office nor the FCO have commented on whether they believe the deal does or does not meet the new requirements of the amended Public Management and Finance Law, which concerns the FFR.
Two drivers injured in dump truck smash
(CNS): Police have now confirmed that the driver of the large dump truck which was carrying marl was injured this afternoon when the truck he was driving overturned and smashed into a small plumber's store in the Tall Tree area of Savannah. A second man in another vehicle was also hurt police revealed and the store has been extensively damaged.The smash that occurred around 4pm on Monday afternoon caused traffic delays after the truck blocked the Shamrock Road heading west in to George Town, as traffic was diverted around the back of the incident and behind the Texaco Service station.
Motorists are being asked to proceed with caution in the area as the road remains partially blocked as crews work to clear ithe aggregate that spilled from the dump truck when it crashed. There are still no details on how the smash occured.
Cops’ Christmas clampdown aims to keep people alive
(CNS): The RCIPS’ annual road safety campaign starts this Friday and police have said that they will be clamping down on drink driving, speeding, cell-phone driving and failing to wear seatbelts over the coming weeks in a bid to reduce deaths and injuries on Cayman’s roads. The ‘Stay Alive’ initiative starts on 30 November and runs into January 2013. The RCIPS said officers will use a combination of education and zero-tolerance enforcement to challenge dangerous driving behaviour and reinforce the ‘don’t drink and drive’ message. Targeted operations will take place throughout the campaign period to detect those who drink and drive, commit traffic offences or use the roads for criminal purposes.
“We do not want another family in the Cayman Islands losing a loved one as a result of drink driving or dangerous driving on our roads,” said Superintendent Adrian Seales. “Too many people still get behind the wheel of their vehicles after drinking. When they do that they gamble with their own lives and the lives of innocent road users. Our message is quite clear – if you have a drink designate a driver, or take a cab.”
Seales also reminds motorists who speed that a heftyfine could put a serious dent in their pockets this Christmas.
“Since the introduction of the new Traffic Law speeding fines are incremental. That means that the basic fine increases by $20 for every mile over the speed limit. For example, if you are ticketed for travelling at 50mph in a 25mph limit you will be fined $500. If you are also found to be using your cell-phone and not wearing a seatbelt your fine increases to $800.
The senior officer warned that those ticketed for speeding in a school zone, while the lights are flashing, can see an increase of $40 on the fine for every mile over the limit
“If you are found to be travelling in excess of double the limit – for example 51 mph in a 25 mph zone – you face six months in jail. That’s how seriously we take road safety in this country,” he warned. “We want everyone in the Cayman Islands to have a safe and enjoyable festive season. So, if you want to play your part in reducing deaths and injuries on the roads, or you want to avoid having to pay hundreds of dollars in fines, join us by playing your part in our ‘Stay Alive’ initiative to make Cayman’s roads safer for everyone.”