Archive for January 10th, 2013
New government sits in first parliamentary session
(CNS): The Cayman Islands’ new minority government will be sitting in its first parliamentary session today, Thursday 10 January and putting to the test the understanding it has with the opposition benches to form a quorum. There is no indication that the PPM or the independent members will not turn up however and the session is almost certain to go ahead. According to the draft order paper, the government is bringing three pieces of legislation to the House relating to the financial services sector none of which are expected to generate controversy. There is no indication that any MLAs will be voting against the bills and the new premier should not have a difficult session ahead of her.
Some eleven outstanding financial reports from various government entities, including the Turtle Farm, are being presented alongside the draft bills which include the Companies (Amendment) Bill, 2013, the Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2013 and the Exempted Limited Partnership (Amendment) Bill, 2013 (posted below).
After making a commitment to consult, the new premier, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, has already stated that she will not be bringing any legislation to the parliament over coming months that does not have consensus with members of the opposition. The parliament is due to be dissolved by the governor on 26 March ahead of the general election on 22 May. In the meantime, the premier has said she is confident that her Cabinet of five former UDP members will be able to continue holding on to government until the people go to the polls.
The parliamentary session, which will be televised live on CIGTV20 is likely to be unremarkable except for the crush on the opposition benches as the PPM and two independent members will be joined by the four UDP members under the leadership of the former premier McKeeva Bush.
Police confirm arrest in downtown George Town
(CNS): The Royal Cayman Islands Police Service (RCIPS) has confirmed that officers from uniform support arrested a 25-year-old man on Monday 7 January close to the FirstCaribbean bank in the heart of downtown George Town in the middle of the afternoon. The man was arrested on suspicion of threatening violence, possession of a weapon and possession of an unlicensed firearm, but no gun was found on the afternoon of thesearch. The man, who is believed to be from East End, and the car that he was in were searched by officers who recovered a knife. A police spokesperson said that the operation and subsequent arrest had been carried out in connection with a report made to the RCIPS earlier that day regarding threats.
Public servants target of health campaign
(CNS): Civil servants have are being given some help keeping New Year’s resolutions to get healthy with a series of presentations by the Civil Service College. The newly introduced Health and Wellness Week aims to empower civil servants to take ownership of their health, government officials stated. CSC Deputy Director Andrea Fa’amoe explained that the college is organising activities focused around the theme of wellness during the second week of every month this year. At the first Lunch and Learn event on Monday (7 January), participants learnt from Heart Health Centre’s Education and Programmes Coordinator, Jodie Kelley, RN, that heart disease is preventable.
Strategies for prevention include keeping: blood sugar; blood pressure; triglycerides and cholesterol, especially LDL, or bad cholesterol, within prescribed limits, while exercising regularly, eating right, cutting out smoking and immoderate alcohol use, as well as managing, if not reducing, stress.
Nurse Kelley reminded the audience that New Year’s resolutions have a better chance of success if they are "very specific, realistic and forgiving". So, she said, resolving to walk 30 minutes a day for three days a week, has a far better of chance for success than vowing to walk five miles every day. "But get moving! Exercise is by far the best "pill" you can take,” she told the public servants
Kelly said heart disease continues to be the primary cause of death in the Cayman Islands, spurred by uncontrolled high blood pressure and diabetes, as well as a bad diet and genetic predisposition. "The way you live daily affects your heart," she cautioned.
On Tuesday the presentation focused on nutrition, Wednesday’s on physical fitness and Thursday’s family well-being and the scheduled topic for Friday is finance.
For more information on heart-health visit info@hearthealthcayman.com or www.hearthealthcayman.com
Letter to the Governor
Please accept this letter as an apology on the behalf of the vast majority of Caymanians I have spoken with and heard comment from (The Silent Majority) that we have been deeply embarrassed by the behaviour of McKeeva Bush as a Caymanian and even more so as a premier, supposedly representing us.
We believe that, although you may have known all along, you can now see that McKeeva did not represent the majority of Caymanians in what he said or did. He was able to continue to wield power largely because of his manipulation of the issue of ‘One Man One Vote’ over the years, which allowed him to operate with a minority of support from voting Caymanians.
Over his period of power, McKeeva has made many decisions that we have been very much against but have been unable to prevent. In this most recent term, he has cost the country millions of dollars as a direct result of his decisions and actions. I am sure we do not have a full understanding of all he has cost us, but cancelling the port project started by the PPM and the costs associated with that, the whole Cohen fiasco, the cancelling of the GLF port deal and the associated penalties are some of the issues which have cost us unnecessarily. We are sure we will continue to see issues come to light that will end up costing us even more.
We are very concerned about what he may have tried to commit these Islands to that we may not be aware of as yet. We have no way of knowing what these may be but a recent example would be the attempted deal with the Philippine Airlines.
Of major and urgent concern to us is the ongoing Dart deal in which he was instrumental. While none of us would try to stop Dart from investing in Cayman, we believe (especially where concessions are being sought from our government) it has to be done in a manner which is beneficial to both the Caymanian people and the Dart Group. From the little information we have, it seems obvious that McKeeva did not get a fair deal for the Caymanian people. We have not been allowed access to the PricewaterhouseCoopers report, but from all accounts it did not find the deal to be fair and we are sure it looked at the issues raised by many regarding, amongst other issues, future concessions which were to be given to the Dart Group.
Probably the most urgent issue is the closure of a stretch of the West Bay Road. This brings absolutely no benefit to the Caymanian people. The new road that Dart is building will open up his landlocked properties in that area and make them more valuable. While the new road will benefit the Caymanian people as a bypass road to ease traffic to and from West Bay, it also benefits Dart by increasing the value of his holdings in this area. The closing of a stretch of the current West Bay Road benefits no one except the Dart group.
We therefore urge you to use all your powers to stop the closure of this stretch of West Bay Road. If McKeeva has bound us in some way, we ask you to stand firm and fight it, even legally if necessary, as you are our last chance to stop it. It is Crown land and you will have to sign transfers of ownership if that is the manner in which it was planned. We ask you to refuse on our behalf to do this. We understand this may require public funds being utilized if it becomes a legal battle and we have been very upset with the wasting of public funds over these recent years, but we feel very strongly that this is an issue worth fighting for, especially when compared to some of the wasted funds in previous cancelled deals.
4 arrested in jewel heist
(CNS): Four men have been arrested and are currently in police custody in connection with the Kirk Freeport robbery on Monday evening. Police said that the men had been arrested on suspicion of various offences including being in possession of an offensive weapon, possession of ganja and taking a vehicle without the owner’s consent as well as robbery. The suspects reportedly made off with a significant quantity of Rolex and Breitling watches during the armed hold up which happened around 6:45pm at the duty free jewellery store located at the Strand off the West Bay Road in the heart of Grand Cayman’s tourist district.
One of the masked men was reportedly brandishing a handgun when the gang entered the store and threatened staff before making their escape, the police believe on foot to the rear of Kirk Freeport and towards the construction site on West Bay Road opposite The Caribbean Club.
An RCIPS spokesperson stated Wednesday that officers investigating the crime were continuing to follow positive lines of inquiry but were appealing for witnesses to the robbery or to anyone who may have seen the suspects either before or after the incident.
Three of the four men are described as being over six feet tall and the fourth between 5’5 and 5’9. All of the men were wearing masks and the first man was described as having a slim build and wearing a woollen black ski type mask with no holes cut out for the mouth. He was wearing a heavy black ‘bomber’ style jacket and black pants or possibly jeans with dark coloured gloves.
The second robber was slim to medium build and was wearing a black mask, a black jacket, black pants and black shoes, also with dark coloured gloves. The third man was described as slim wearing a black mask, a black jacket, black pants and black basketball style shoes with white soles and white toes. He was wearing light coloured gardening style gloves. The final robber was described as medium build and wearing a black mask, a black jacket, blue jeans and black shoes. He was also wearing light coloured gardening style gloves.
Anyone with information is asked to call the Drugs and Serious Crime Task Force at 949-4222, or Crimestoppers on 800 TIPS if they wish to remain anonymous.