Archive for January, 2013
CIMA consults over lifting veil on fund business
(CNS Business): The Cayman Islands Monetary Authority has begun a consultation process with local industry stakeholders in the financial sector to enhance corporate governance in the jurisdiction that could see considerably more transparency in the offshore and funds industry. Despite widespread coverage in the international media suggesting Cayman has plans to ‘expose all in a new database’, CIMA’s director said this is a discussion process and not an agreed regulatory reform. Cindy Scotland said the names of Cayman Islands regulated funds are already all available on CIMA’s website and the proposed funds database would be an extension of that. Read more and comment on CNS Business
Cops recover 300lbs of ganja
(CNS): Three Jamaican nationals have been arrested and are currently in police custody after a police operation in East End on Tuesday night. Officers from the Marine Unit intercepted a boat carrying both drugs and ammunition at about 9:40pm on 22 January. Officers on patrol aboard Niven D in the waters off the coast of East End spotted a canoe inside the reef and immediately initiated a land, air and sea operation involving officers from the Eastern Districts, the Uniform Support Group and the RCIPS Air Operations Unit. As the drugs boat landed, officers chased and arrested the three Jamaican nationals who had been on board the canoe.
Several rounds of ammunition and approximately three hundred pounds of ganja was recovered and the three men were arrested on suspicion of illegal entry and importation of drugs.
Acting Superintendent Richard Barrow described the operation as effective in keeping the local streets safe.
“This operation clearly demonstrates how a well-coordinated air, land and sea response can be successful in stopping drugs and ammunition reaching the streets of the Cayman Islands and causing devastation in our communities. We would continue to urge anyone who has information concerning the importation of drugs, ammunition or firearms to contact us via the confidential tip-lines available.”
With a street price for ganja of around $100 per ounce, the latest drugs haul could have been worth as much as a half million dollars.
Information on this or any other crime can be passed via the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777 or Crime Stoppers on 800-8477 (TIPS).
Man wounded at beach bar
(CNS): A 65-year-old man has been arrested in connection with a serious wounding of a 27-year-old man outside a popular tourist bar on the West Bay road yesterday evening. A police spokesperson said that the victim is currently in hospital being treated for his injuries as a result of an altercation in front of the Tiki Beach bar at around 8:30pm on Tuesday. Police received a report of a disturbance at the vehicle pull-in area at the front of the bar, where a man had received a wound to his neck. The local man was taken to the hospital in George Town and admitted for surgery. His condition is described as critical but stable. The suspect arrested in connection with the incident remains in police custody while enquiries continue.
Anyone who was in the area at the time of the incident is asked to contact Detective Sergeant Dave Morrison of West Bay CID on 949-3999. Information can also be passed via the RCIPS tip-line on 949-7777 or the confidential Crime Stoppers number 800-8477(TIPS).
Voters grow during extension
(CNS): The additional three week extension to the voters register in view of the general election in May is believed to have boosted the list of voters by several hundred names. Although the numbers for yesterday’s last minute surge are not yet available that combined with a steady stream since the register re-opened for the election and some 90 new voters on Monday alone is expected to see the list reach close to 19,000 names for the May election. Cayman will see the greatest percentage of the adult population being entitled to vote for many years at this forth coming general election after a successful nationwide campaign last year attracted thousands of new voters.
Cayman traditionally has a high turnout at general elections and with 18 seats up for grabs at the 2013 poll at a time of intense political turmoil, economic hardship and significant problems with public finance and public debt the need for more democratic participation is greater than ever.
There are growing expectations too of a record number of candidates likely to be running in the districts of George Town, Bodden Town and West Bay where this election will be focused. With few expectations of change in the representation for the Sister Islands, East End and North Side the would-be future politicians will be focusing on the remaining three districts which is where the greatest number of the more than three thousand new voters who have joined the list since the last election are living.
Check back to CNS later today for more on the new voter’s list figure
Truck troubles reduce rubbish collection
(CNS): The twice weekly garbage collection from residential premises on Grand Cayman is being reduced to one a week as a result of mechanical problems with the department of environmental health’s trucks. Officials said both residential and commercial garbage collection services have been affected due to the on-going problems and stated that commercial customers who normally see collection on a more frequent basis will also experience delays in the services. The Department of Vehicle and Equipment Services (DVES) is reportedly working to have the trucks back in operation but it is not clear what the difficulties are or if the problems are down to government cuts.
The DEoH apologized to customers and emphasised that efforts were being made to get back to normal and improve the collection services. Officials confirmed that the Sister Islands collection services are unaffected and operating as normal.
The public can get further information from the solid waste section at 949-8793 or DEH at 949-6696.
Pension board failed to justify exemptions
CNS): Although the information commissioner has upheld a decision by the Public Service Pensions Board to withhold some records from an applicant following a freedom of information request the commissioner has once again pointed to procedural failures by a public authority. In this case the board did not give any reasons for its decision to exempt certain documents in contravention of the law. The PSPB also missed deadlines among other issues leading to another long and protracted FOI battle for the applicant. In her 27the decision under the Freedom of Information Law issued on Monday, Jennifer Dilbert confirmed the decision of the board to withhold records from legal professionals to their clients but she ordered the disclosure of others.
The request was originally made one year and two months ago and the commissioner pointed to several factors which contributed to this matter taking an inordinately long time to come to hearing. She said that throughout the investigation stage, more records were fully or partially released to the Applicant which often took longer than promised by the PSPB.
Redactions were also revised to release further information and confusion reigned over what was and wasn’t disclosed a dispute, which had to be resolved by the ICO. In addition, Dilbert pointed to the growing workload of her understaffed office. However, she also stated that it should not be contingent upon the ICO to compel public authorities to meet their obligations under the Law.
One of the concerns raised by the commissioner in this latest decision was that the PSPB failed to provide any reasons for the use of the exemptions at any stage during the request and appeal.
“I can find no reference in any of the material before me, neither in the various responses given to the Applicant on request or at internal review, nor in the submissions prepared by the PSPB in preparation for this Hearing, to reasons for the application of the exemptions claimed,” Dilbert writes in her decision.
As this is the third hearing in which the PSPB has been involved, Dilbert pointed out that the public authority should be well aware of the requirements of dealing with an appeal including the hearing stage, and that the burden of proof is on the public authority to demonstrate that they have correctly applied the exemptions.
Dilbert pointed out as a result of that failure she was the one who had to ensure she protected the disclosure of information that is clearly exempt under the FOI Law such as legal professional privilege and personal information of a third party that it would be unreasonable to disclose.
See the full decision 27-00912 c on the ICO website at www.INFOCOMM.ky
Local dengue transmission continues in West Bay
(CNS): One more locally transmitted case of dengue fever has been confirmed in West Bay following the receipt by public health authorities of further results this week from the Caribbean Public Health Agency (CARPHA) previously known as the Caribbean Epidemiology Centre (CAREC). With 2012 recording the highest number of dengue cases in Cayman for more than thirty years the disease now appears to be here to stay and the jurisdiction can no longer consider itself free of the disease which is endemic across many countries in the region. The total number of cases investigated for suspected dengue in 2012 was 94 and a further 8 cases have been reported so far this year.
There are currently twelve cases awaiting results while 36 cases proved positive since the start of 2012 50 supected cases have proved to be negative and four have been inconclusive.
Only twelve people who have contracted dengue did so overseas the remaining 24 patients are believed to have been infected here in the Cayman Islands and 20 of those in the district of West Bay. Two cases were resident in Bodden Town and two lived in George Town. Last year 25 people were admitted and treated in hospital for the disease but so far there have been no new hospital admission in 2013.
Court space problems see lawyers evicted
(CNS): Local attorneys appearing in the Grand Court at the main courthouse this week will be looking for somewhere to dress in their courtroom garb as their robing room has been annexed by the court for use by jurors. With space increasingly tight in the courthouse and no money to begin the long shelved new court building project, things are likely to get worse over the coming months as the case load for the courts grows. So far, the chief justice’s pleas for the project to start appear to have fallen on deaf government ears and the potential site of naked lawyers adorning themselves in the public corridors may be the least of the local criminal justice system’s woes.
As noted by Chief Justice Anthony Smellie last week at the opening of the Grand Court, with the implementation of the Bill of Rights, “justice delayed is justice denied”. With more than a 300 day average wait for trial, defendants, especially those in custody, are increasingly likely to argue that the time-line does indeed constitute a breach of their human rights.
The current courthouse was built in the 1970s at a time when criminal cases were few and far between and the offshore sector was a long way from generating the kind of work it now desperately depends upon the court system for.
The plans for a new courthouse were shelved more than four years ago in the face of the financial crisis and the collapse of government revenue. Since then, year after year the case loads in the financial, civil, family, drug and criminal courts have all increased and space, especially for trials requiring secure facilities, has become a premium.
Local Rotarians head to Guatemala on key project
(CNS): Four Rotarians from the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman will be traveling to Guatemala in February to join with the Cooperative for Education (CoEd) and Rotarians from the USA and Canada to deliver books to secondary schools and open computer centers. Joey Hew, Trevor Neckles, Alan Roffey and Derek Haines will assist on the 10 day trip during which they will cover several hundred miles over bumpy roads in mountainous terrain. This is the 4th trip for the past president Hew who said it brings vital textbooks to secondary schools in Guatemala.
“Studies show that the use of books in the classroom improves grades by 30% and the amount of material covered by over 70%,” Hew said in a release about the trip.
The Cooperative for Education is a Cincinnati based non-profit organization dedicated to breaking the cycle of poverty in Guatemala by providing textbooks and educational opportunities to under-privileged schoolchildren in impoverished areas. The programmes are designed to improve both traditional and technological literacy, which are the corner stones of economic development.
CoEd was founded in 1996 by brothers Joe and Jeff Berninger who will both be on the tour.
Candidate schools are matched with donors such as Rotary clubs, companies, churches, foundations, and individuals.Donated funds from the above groups are used to purchase textbooks in Guatemala in the vital areas of math, science, Spanish language, and social studies. After delivering the textbooks, CoEd trains the teachers and students in methods for effective use and care of books. This training is essential because most teachers have never instructed using a book and most students have never owned a book nor do they have books in their homes.
Finally, CoEd help the school set up a rental program whereby it rents its books to the students for a small fee. The fees are put into a revolving fund that the school uses to purchase a new set of books when the original ones wear out.
Since the end of the Civil War in1996 that killed over 200,000 people some 150,000 textbooks have been provided by the programme to more than 160 communities in Guatemala.
On what will be his fifth trip Rotarian Trevor said the project establishes computer centers within secondary schools, teaching the students Microsoft software basics and how to access the Internet. “Eighty percent of mid-level jobs in Guatemala require computer skills; CoEd Computer Centers provide training necessary to obtain those positions,” he added.
CoEd identifies candidate secondary schools, typically from its pool of successful textbook project schools.The computer center teachers are selected, directly trained and supervised by CoEd. Like the textbook projects, the computer centers are made possible by matching them with donors and striving for self-sufficiency through the schools’ revolving fund process. Also, individual, corporate or other donors can directly sponsor the computer centers themselves, or individual workstations. 30 plus computer centers have been established in Guatemala, benefiting over 13,000 students supported by 40 libraries. Scholarships have been provided for almost 250 secondary students.
All of the Cayman Rotarians, plus local resident Gordon Barlow and family, are private donors to the computer project. They have also sponsored a student for a scholarship.
Haines will also be on his fourth trip and has been very impressed with what he saw previously. “When one considers that 75% of the rural community is illiterate this programme is vital to the educational needs of the communities. I was delighted at the reception wereceived at all of the schools and the children were extremely enthusiastic and welcoming. It was obvious to all how hungry they are to learn and I have been happy to recommend that we continue to support the programme in the future,” he said.
Roffey who will be going for the second time said he really enjoyed his first trip and was excited about going again. “The enthusiasm shown by my Rotary chums is infectious and I feel the project is rewarding and most worthwhile. This is what Rotary is all about,” he added.
Besides supporting the programme financially, Rotary Grand Cayman has also provided funds for sporting equipment and the Cayman attendees provided the funds for a toilet block at one of the schools they visited in 2011.
Local artists on show at annual event
(CNS): Organisers of this year’s Art@Governors are calling on local artists who have not already signed up to join in the popular event to display their work. Meanwhile, the governor is extending an invitation to the public to Government House on Saturday, 2nd February where the exhibition is held on the lawn and across in Governor’s square. Over 100 artists are expected to contribute to the event which this year is themed, “Forging a Creative Future”. The National Gallery will feature information about creative careers and highlight several Caymanians working in the creative industries.
Visitors to Art@Governors 2013 will be treated to a diverse number of visual art forms from paintings, ceramics, sculpture and leatherwork to thatch work, body paintings, jewellery, quilts, photography and handicrafts,” gallery officials said. There will be a chance to meet artists one on one, to query their art processes, and to participate in creating a work of art themselves. The event also provides the opportunity to view the differences and similarities between the traditional heritage craft and the contemporary arts of the islands, and the ways in which one has inspired the other.
Both seasoned and emerging artists will be exhibiting their work either on the non-commercial Governor’s House, or across the road at Governors Square which will be hosting sales once again.
Art demonstrations, displays and activities can be enjoyed on both sites. All the favourites are back – The NGCI’s Arts Creation Station, the Walkers Art Club Tent, the popular Schools displays, The Governor’s Cup, Catboat rides, face painting, storytelling, the Cayman Airways ‘Cayman Brac’ tent, entertainment by OneWorld Entertainment and the Non-Profit Corridor, and much more.
Artists interested in registering for this event can log on to our website www.nationalgallery.org.ky (events page) to download the application form, call or email Ivanna at 945-8111 or assistant@nationalgallery.org.ky before Friday 25th January.