Archive for March 14th, 2013
Forum to quiz candidates on crime, jobs, education
(CNS): PPM candidate Kenneth Bryan, former UDP incumbent member Mark Scotland, Coalition for Cayman candidates Winston Connolly and Tara Rivers, along with Stefan Baraud, who is running on his own platform, will be making up the panel on the UCCI’s second political forum next Wednesday. Although they were invited, no one from the current UDP party is taking part in the discussion, which will focus on youth, education, employment and crime. Ben Meade, Cayman 27’s News Director, will moderate the event again, which will include submitted questions from the public.
“UCCI is a unique educational institution,” said Roy Bodden, President of UCCI. “We have people as young as fifteen on our campus, as well as mature learners who themselves have fifteen year-old children or grandchildren. It is therefore fitting for us to host a forum that focuses specifically on these topics as they are certainly interlinked.”
Those who attend the forum will have a chance to ask the candidates questions directly or to submit questions in writing throughout the event. UCCI has already started soliciting questions from its students and the community at large via email and Facebook, which will be available throughout the forum so that those watching and listening can interact with the candidates as well.
The two part series, called “The People’s Forum – A Dialogue with Voters", kicked off last month with newcomers Jacqueline Haynes and Roy McTaggart with C4C, Wayne Panton and Marco Archer with the PPM, and former UDP member Rolston Anglin. They talked about corruption, transparency, good governance and accountability,which the UCCI said generated a “tremendous buzz” regarding the targeted questions about the Nation Building Fund and “vote buying” tactics used by candidates.
“Thus far we have received very positive responses about the first forum,” said Director of Student Services, Mitch Ebanks. “We have been taking the suggestions, both from those who attended and those who tuned in from home, and we will be making some small adjustments that will hopefully only serve to improve the quality of the event,” he added.
The UCCI sent invitations to all candidates that had made their intention to run clear before the forums started. The United Democratic Party (UDP) remains the only group not to have made an appearance after Ellio Solomon cancelled his appearance at the first forum.
The final forum will be held on Wednesday, 20 March, at 6:30pm at the Sir Vassel Johnson Hall at UCCI. The first hour will be televised on Cayman 27 and the entire two hours will be broadcast on Radio Cayman 89.9FM from 7pm to ensure that all voters, including those in the outer districts and the Sister Islands, have access to the information that will be provided at the event.
Questions can be sent via email to: forum@ucci.edu.ky or placed directly on Facebook: www.facebook.com/officialUCCI
For more information log on to www.ucci.edu.ky click the forum banner or email forum@ucci.edu.ky.
New building boosts old school by over 10,000 sqft
(CNS): The new school building at Sir John A. Cumber Primary School (SJACPS) in West Bay which was officially opened last month adds 10,710 square feet of learning space to the country’s largest primary school. It consists of 8 new 780 square foot classrooms, each with their own restroom and storeroom, interactive whiteboards and 26 linear feet of cabinets to maximize storage space of teaching materials. With an eye on security the building has an intercom and a fully functioning intruder alarm system. It also has a wheelchair elevator for students with special needs and has been constructed to withstand up to a category 3 hurricane.
A fully covered walkway has been built to connect the building with the existing school and a playground has been reinstated where the temporary modular classrooms were that have now been removed. The Education minister officially opened the building and thanked everyone involved in the project and the school staff for their patient. “This building cost approximately $2.7 million to complete but is invaluable in terms of the better learning environment it has created at SJACPS due to the much needed added space and technological improvements with the interactive whiteboards and by allowing Reception classes to now be accommodated at the school,” said Rolston Anglin.
SJACPS is also the first government school in Cayman and the entire Caribbean to be authorized to teach the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme (PYP and a new sign at the front of the school has been unveiled displaying the designation.
Joseph Wallace, Principal of SJACPS said the school had worked extremely hard to achieve the prestigious authorization. He said the IB was all about being a holistic person well versed, not only in academia, but in other subject areas such as sports and the arts. He also thanked the ministry for the new building which he said was desperately neededbecause of the large student body. “The building houses our Year 2 and 3 students and everyone has adjusted well to their new environment,” he said.
National touch champs start with a bang
(CRFU): Hold on to your hats folks because the world of rugby lit the blue “touch” paper last Saturday with the start of the KRyS Global National Touch Rugby Championships 2013. This season there are seven teams competing for the top prize in a round robin tournament spanning the next two months. All the great and the good of Cayman touch rugby will be on show and judging by the first round results there are some strong contenders to challenge last year’s winners Heineken Brew Crew. Heineken Brew Crew Captain/Manager Caroline Deegan is like the Alex Ferguson of touch rugby as she seamlessly manages to build a dynasty of touch rugby teams with the classic mix of old dogs and new tricks.
Fielding a fresh crop of youngsters harvested from the successful Cayman National Rugby Under 20’s team to play alongside some valuable new female recruits and venerable oldies that make up the full squad, Deegan seems to have the Midas touch when putting a team together. My Mum told me to respect my elders and betters and the Brew Crew are a potent mix of both. Teams in thisyear’s competition would do well to heed the old girl’s advice.
Their opponents, KPMG, were a team filled with new players to touch rugby and it was a tall order to play their first match against the reigning Champions. They won’t have thanked the fixtures coordinator for that one. And so their baptism of fire began and, like Bambi on ice, they struggled to get a foothold in the opening exchanges lacking a degree of balance and co-ordination to their play
Within minutes big Phill Thompson broke the line and stretched his legs for the opening score. The crowd could see the writing on the wall. Except no-one told KPMG because up stepped Captain Andrew Mackay who scored a great try in the corner. It was 1-1. Game on. Sadly, the next ten scores all went to the Brew Crew with Steve Henshaw, Jodie McTaggart, Sinead Wagner, Biancca Johnson, Iain Currie, Keswick Wright and Eddie Westin running in tries from all over the field. Biannca Johnson was starting to dictate play with a series of neat off loads and dummies that had KPMG running in circles. A bravura performance of control and skill to be much admired.
It was a difficult first day at the office for KPMG and they will surely have better ones. They never gave up and to their credit and even though the match was lost they came back with a couple of consolation scores at the end for Andrew Edwards and Captain Mackay to make the final score 13-3 to Heineken Brew Crew. The Most Valuable Player (MVP) award goes to Jodie McTaggart for her three excellent tries and fantastic running support lines.
A quick view of the team sheets for the second match showed it to be a real David versus Goliath affair with DART taking the role of the diminutive sheep-herder against the colossus of SteppingStones. DART were ravaged by injury and absentees which rendered their squad threadbare at best. But in adversity Man (and/or Woman) is capable of dreaming the impossible and touching glory.
Could they slay these giants of touch rugby? Could they strike a blow for underdogs everywhere? Could they defy all odds and bloody the nose of their gargantuan enemy? Nope, not on this day.
It wasn’t for a lack of effort and every single one of the DART team can hold their head high for the effort put in. They just happened upon a team ruthless in spirit, showing all the brutal efficiency and deadly force of a Panzer tank division. Reaping blitzkrieg havoc on the DART forces were Rudolf Weder, Scott McCarty, James Waters, Simon Raftopolous and new boy Morgan Shelver who had heads spinning with his movement and pace. He rightly takes the MVP award. Scott Murray scored a fine individual try for DART just before half-time but it was a meagre feast of crumbs from their opponents table. A final score of 12-1 was a bit of a whomping but DART will take solace from the fact that it doesn’t get much more difficult than this.
The final game of the day saw the Cayman touch rugby equivalent of the Harlem Globetrotters take on one of Cayman’s longest standing touch teams. SideBar NWNT have set their sights on nothing less than world domination and put together a roster that boasts speed, trickery, panache and oozles of self-confidence. Their first victim, I mean opponent, was Walkers, who have a good deal of touch rugby experience and play a solid game but lack a real firecracker to ignite the scoreboard.
As the game started it was clear the SideBar NWNT tactics were for quick pick-ups, burst through a retreating defensive line then offload to supporting runners to score. Central to this was MVP Chris “Meadowlark” Palmer. Using his “now you see it, now you don’t” bag of ball-tricks he would hoodwink an opponent into grasping at thin air. He put the pace into space with offloads to Jyoti Choi, Simon Crompton and Riley Mullen to burst through the defence. It was great to watch from the side-lines as try after try went in. Racing to a quick 4-0 lead, Walkers had an uphill battle but two excellent tries from Paul Smith and Nick Dunne got them back in the game. However, that was as good as it got and they didn’t manage another score. More tries from Palmer, Choi, Crompton, Jo Ziegler, Chandra Friesen and Adam Huckle sealed an emphatic 12-2 win.
On this evidence three teams have put their hats in the ring and have a realistic chance of winning the title and next week Genesis Trust, who had a week off, get their chance to impress. It promises to be a great season and whoever becomes the KRyS Global National Touch Rugby Champs 2013 will have had to pull out some big performances to get the crown.
Hague hits back at Ewing in UK-TCI war of words
(CNS): As relations between the Cayman Islands and the UK appear to have improved a little, the mood between the Turks and Caicos Islands and the mother country seems to have deteriorated further. In a letter leaving the new TCI premier in no doubt who is in charge of the territory, the British Foreign Secretary has told Rufus Ewing that Britain expects its territories to meet the same high standards of good governance and public financial management as the UK. Reminding the TCI premier of the corruption scandal surrounding his party, the PNP, William Hague emphasised his support for the governor and the UK’s expectations of the TCI government if it wants to remain a territory.
In a letter responding to Ewing’s open correspondence to Hague last month and the speech that the TCI leader gave to CARCIOM heads of government, he accused the TCI premier of substantially misrepresenting the situation between the TCI and the UK.
Ewing wrote to William Hague complaining about the territory’s governor, Ric Todd, accusing him and other British officials “of atrocities of wrongful acts” and complained that they were obstacles to prosperity. At a recent CARICOM meeting he also accused the British of undermining local democracy with the imposition of VAT.
Hague reminded Ewing of the support that Britain has extended to the territory, both financially and technically, and pointed out that Britain has a broad responsibility for good governance. Referring to the commission of enquiry by Sir Robert Auld in 2009, he said the UK lord had found a high probability of systemic corruption among ministers, members of the legislature and public officials in the TCI government at the time.
“He documented in detail information on corruption, dishonesty and abuse of public office by former Premier Michael Misick and other ministers in the previous People’s National party PNP government and recommended criminal investigation,” Hague wrote about Auld’s enquiry. “The previous PNP government left behind a chaotic situation including, through incompetence, abuse of powerand corruption, rapidly deteriorating public finances. As a result TCI was in effect bankrupt.”
The FCO boss went on to say that the UK interim government had implemented a platform of reform to deal with the situation and prevent a repeat. It had established a framework for good governance and the UK was not prepared to allow this to be rolled back. Hague said the UK had accepted Ewing’s proposal not to introduce VAT but instead cut public spending.
“We are now awaiting your specific proposals on what additional expenditure cuts or alternative revenue measures you will put in place to ensure your adherence to the public finance framework,” he wrote.
The framework referred to by Hague is similar to the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility that the Cayman government also signed with the UK, which is now part of local legislation, tying the hands of legislators when it comes to major capital projects and borrowing.
The foreign secretary made it clear to Ewing that if the TCI wanted to remain British then it would follow the UK’s rules.
“We expect the elected government of TCI and other terrirtories that wish to remain British to abide by the same standard as the UK government in maintaining the rule of law, respecting human rights and integrity in public life, delivering efficient public services upholding the judiciary and building strong and successful communities,” he wrote.
Hague added that if the TCI government didn’t like it and if the people of the country expressed a clear wish for independence, the UK government will meet its obligation to help the territory achieve that end.
See Hague’s full letter below.
Sea ice loss behind path of Hurricane Sandy
(CNS): The severe loss of summertime Arctic sea ice, attributed to greenhouse warming, appears to have an impact on weather systems in the Northern Hemisphere and could increase the frequency with which storms such as Hurricane Sandy could get steered towards densely populated areas. Research from Cornell and Rutgers universities published in this month’s Oceanography found that record-breaking sea ice loss from summer 2012, combined with the unusual atmospheric phenomena observed in late October are linked to global warming.
A strong atmospheric, high-pressure blocking pattern over Greenland and the northwest Atlantic prevented Hurricane Sandy from steering northeast and out to sea like most October hurricanes and tropical storms from the Caribbean.
Authors Charles H. Greene, Cornell professor of earth and atmospheric sciences and director of Cornell's Ocean Resources and Ecosystems program; Jennifer A. Francis of Rutgers University's Institute of Marine and Coastal Sciences; and Bruce C. Monger, Cornell senior research associate, earth and atmospheric sciences warned that global warming was to blame for Sandy and its subsequent path.
Sandy traveled up the Atlantic coast and turned left "toward the most populated area along the eastern seaboard" and converged with an extratropical cyclone; this, in turn, fed the weakening Hurricane Sandy and transformedit into a monster tempest. Superstorm Sandy's extremely low atmospheric pressure and the strong high-pressure block to the north created violent east winds that pushed storm surge against the eastern seaboard.
"To literally top it off, the storm surge combined with full-moon high tides and huge ocean waves to produce record high water levels that exceeded the worst-case predictions for parts of New York City," write the researchers. "If one accepts this evidence and . . . takes into account the record loss of Arctic sea ice this past September, then perhaps the likelihood of greenhouse warming playing a significant role in Sandy's evolution as an extratropical superstorm is at least as plausible as the idea that this storm was simply a freak of nature."
Cayman to host major Commonwealth meeting
CNS): Dignitaries and leaders from around the Commonwealth will meet in Cayman next week to discuss a new Commonwealth Charter during an Executive Committee of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association (CPA), meeting. The pan-Commonwealth parliamentary debate on the Charter of Commonwealth values, which was signed by the British monarch who is head of the commonwealth, will consider ways to strengthen parliamentary democracy. The CPA meeting is set from 18 to 21 March and will be hosted by the Cayman Islands Legislative Assembly.
Mary Lawrence, the Legislative Assembly’s speaker said membership of the CPA had brought numerous benefits to Cayman including training opportunities for legislators at both the regional and global level, “exposure to new thoughts and ideas, and participation in formulating policy and change which emphasises the further development of democratic principles and good governance” she said.
Juliana O’Connor Connolly, the current premier stated that as the Caribbean and Americas representative of the CPA Executive Committee (ExCo) she was delighted to have the mid-year meet in the Cayman Islands. “I look forward to productive meetings,” she said. “As premier, I welcome all of the delegation and I also take this opportunity to showcase our beautiful islands.”
Chairperson of the CPA Executive Committee, Sir Alan Haselhurst, MP from the United Kingdom said the meeting will provide an important opportunity for Commonwealth Parliamentarians to contribute directly to the “implementation of the new Commonwealth Charter and to ensure that their governments adhere to the values that now officially bind them together.”
The Charter commits all Commonwealth governments to uphold the principles of democracy, good governance and respect for human rights and the rule of law, among others.
The meeting in the Cayman Islands will also set the agenda for the 59th Commonwealth Parliamentary Conference, to be hosted by the Parliament of South Africa in late August in Johannesburg. The Committee will consider whether to hold a pan-Commonwealth debate on the Charter at the Conference, which is to be held a few months before the next Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.
CPA Secretary-General Dr William F. Shija said the Committee, composed of MPs representing close to 185 Commonwealth Parliaments and Legislatures, will also consider new proposals for other CPA services for MPs. A seminar with theInternational Monetary Fund on parliamentary oversight of financial and economic policy is to be considered, as is a possible workshop on women’s leadership in enterprise linked to the Commonwealth Women’s Affairs Ministers Meeting in June in Bangladesh. Also on the agenda is a proposed briefing session for MPs on cyber security issues to be held in Cameroon with the Commonwealth Telecommunications Organization and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
These events would be added to the Association’s extensive agenda of meetings and electronic and paper publications to share good governance practices among the assemblies of the 54-nation Commonwealth as part of the international organization’s democratic commitment.
The CPA leaders applauded the Cayman Islands for enabling the 35-Member Committee to meet in its capital, George Town, as guests of its Legislative Assembly and government.
Cayman joined the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association which composed of the Parliaments and Legislatures in 52 of the 54 Commonwealth nations and their overseas territories in 1964. It has a membership of close to 17,000 Members of national, state, provincial and territorial Assemblies. The only Commonwealth country not currently in the CPA is Brunei, which does not have an elected Parliament and The CPA Branch in Fiji Islands is in abeyance as the South Pacific country is currently ruled by a military government.
US track star accepts invitation to run in Cayman
CNS): Olympic gold medal winner, Carmelita Jeter, will be returning to Cayman this year to star in the Cayman Invitational. Jeter joins six time Olympic gold medalist Usain Bolt in line-up of the world’s top athletes set to appear in the Cayman Islands Invitational on 8 May at the Truman Bodden Sports Complex. The invitational is one of the biggest athletic track meets of its kind in the Caribbean, and even though it is only in its second year, it has quickly established itself as a high level track meet attracting the very best athletes.Carmelita Jeter, known as “The Jet” for her lightning speed on the track, will be making her second appearance at the event, having led the female line-up in the inaugural meet last year.
Jeter took home two gold medals in the 100m and the 4 x 100m relay and silver medal in the 200m at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, South Korea. Then last at the 2012 London Olympic Games, Jeter won gold with her US teammates in the 4 x 100m relay , setting a new world record, she also took the silver in the 100m and bronze in the 200m.
“I am very excited to return to the Cayman Invitational,” Jeter said. “I really enjoyed being part of the inaugural meet that took place last year. I was very proud of my friend and Meet Director Cydonie Mothersill-Stephens, for the great job that she and her staff did putting it together. They put on a first class competition and treated everybody in a very welcoming way.”
The Cayman Invitational, organised by Cayman’s own sprinter Cydonie Mothersill-Stephens of KyStar Athletics will consist of 12 track and two field events, featuring over eighty professional track athletes. For more information visit: http://caymaninvitational.com/v13/ contact: info@caymaninvitational.com
Coke dealer gets 8 years
(CNS): A 29-year old man who pleaded guilty to conspiracy to supply drugs was given an eight year prison sentence on Wednesday. Camilo Naranjo, was charged after being caught upin a police sting with co-defendant Osman Joel Bonilla, who was convicted last year. Naranjo, who was said to be higher up the drug dealing chain, eventually pleaded guilty to conspiring to sell 3 kilos of cocaine for $54,000 to people he believed were businessmen from the UK but who turned out to be undercover cops. Given his late guilty plea, his position in the local drugs business and faced with a maximum of ten years, the judge said he felt eight years was an appropriate sentence as he raised concerns about the ease with which Naranjo and his co-defendant were able to obtain drugs.
Justice Charles Quin, the presiding judge, commended the police on the operation and said the information they were able to unearth verified that both Naranjo and Bonillawere deeply involved in the cocaine trade in the Cayman Islands. “The ease with which they obtained and sold it to the undercover officers is very disturbing,” Justice Quin said as he delivered his sentencing judgment.
He described how Bonilla had consistently supplied the undercover officers with cocaine during the operation, which was set up to address what was believed to be the dealing of drugs in local bars and clubs. As the amounts the under cover officers were asking for grew, it was a Naranjo who was introduced to them as the direct contact for the drugs.
Although the defendant never actually handed over the 3 kilos of cocaine, as the sting operation was busted before the undercover cops were able to get the drugs, the evidence collected through covert recordings of meetings with the dealers and the officers revealed that at relatively short notice Naranjo was able to obtain large amounts of cocaine.
“The defendants were responsible for what appears to be a developed and established illegal cocaine trafficking operation and it is my view that their criminal activity in the retail and distribution of cocaine merits a sentence at the top end of the scale,” Justice Quin added.
Naranjo, who the court heard was born in Cayman, had claimed that he was not involved in a conspiracy to supply cocaine but to steal the money and he had made up the fact that he could get his hands on large amounts of drugs. However, the judge rejected that claim as he said it was apparent he had intimate knowledge of illegal drug trafficking and his claims were far more than mere bravado.
“In view of the number of cocaine transactions which took place over a relatively short space of time and the fact that Naranjo provided a sample which was 86.1% pure, I reject the assertion that he never really intended to sell the large quantity,” the judge said.
Justice Quin said that there were very few mitigating features but many aggravating ones in the case as he explained the reasoning behind the sentence that he handed down. He noted how Naranjo had left it very late in the day to enter his guilty plea so the discount on the sentence was minimal.
He noted the court’s ability to take judicial notice of the evidence in recent years that cocaine trafficking and other illegal drugs in Cayman has led to an increase in violent crime and the serious social breakdown in the lives of many young people and their families.
He said the sentence he could deliver was limited by Cayman’s maximum penalty of ten years.
“The court can only sentence within the current intentions of the legislators as expressed in the legislation of the Cayman Islands. In light of the prevalence of illegal drugs and the well documented evidence of the damage and harm caused by illegal drugs, the legislators may wish to consider whether the maximum penalty of 10 years imprisonment truly reflects the gravity of such offences,” he said.
Based on the sentence that had been handed down to Naranjo’s co-defendant, Bonilla, who had previous convictions for supplying cocaine, the judge noted that while Naranjo had less serious convictions relating to drugs, the evidence uncovered by the police officers showed that Bonilla had acted under Naranjo’s directions.
Justice Quin said Naranjo remained in the background and only “emerged from the shadows” when the cocaine to be purchased increased to much larger quantities. He had also unwittingly provided the undercover officers with his intimate and detailed knowledge trafficking contraband extra-territorially.
“I find the defendant, Naranjo, played a leading role in directing and organising the sale of cocaine and was therefore closer to the original source. The evidence discloses that he was further up the chain than Bonilla,” the judge said. He noted that, as a result, the court could not impose a lesser sentence on Naranjo than thatwhich had been imposed on Bonilla, as he told the defendant he was to serve eight years in prison with time spent in custody to be taken into consideration.
Naranjo has served more than two years in relation to this offence, having been arrested in November 2010 and remanded in custody since then.
LA plans observers debate
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CNS): The country’s legislators are expected to debate the issue of observers coming to monitor the Cayman Islands election after the former premier and MLA for West Bay, McKeeva Bush, filed a private members motion in the Legislative Assembly objecting to the request made by the UK. Bush believes it would give a negative impression of Cayman on the world stage but the motion is one of four private members bills on the agenda for Thursday and, given the slow progress legislators made yesterday, what is likely to be a heated debate may not happen today. The government had suggested this final session would last three days but unless the MLAs sit late, government will struggle to get through all of its business.
The members made relatively slow progress in the first day of the final sitting before this parliament is prorogued ahead of Nomination Day on 27 March for the 22 May General Election. Legislators managed to get through just two bills from a list of ten pieces of legislation Wednesday, after starting at 11am, taking a two hour lunch break and finishing at 5pm.
The members all made contributions to the debate and supported the new adoption law, which was finally passed through the House. The former premier reminded members that the government didn’t start in December and that the work on the bill had been done when his colleague Mike Adam was at the helm of the ministry. Members also passed amendments to the Cayman National Cultural Foundation’s governing legislation, introducing a board, which will be appointed by government as opposed to one appointed by the membership. Law makers began the debate on changes to the marine conservation law to protect stingrays in local waters but the Legislative Assembly was adjourned before the debate concluded.
With only five elected members on the government benches, Premier Juliana O'Connor-Connolly, who had wanted to work until 7pm, was out-voted because other members had commitments made well before the government announced when it wanted to meet for its final parliamentary session.
The MLAs are scheduled to return to the House this morning and begin with the private members motions. Bush reveals his opposition to the election observers at a public meeting in West Bay recently but the government has stated that it is likely to accept the UK’s request given certain caveats. Meanwhile, the opposition and independent members have also stated that they are willing to support the arrival of international observers at the poll. The opposition leader told CNS last week that the reason why it had come to this was as a direct result of the behaviour for the former premier.
Today’s session is expected to start at 11am as a result of what is reportedly an urgetn Cabinet meeting. It will be broadcast live on government’s TV channel CIG20 and Radio Cayman will continue its recorded coverage this evening.
See Bush’s motion and today’s draft order paper below.