Archive for October, 2013
Memorial bike race to raise cash for heart fund
(531CCC): This weekend will see the return of the most intense race on the Cayman Islands cycling calendar, The Beatman Ebanks Memorial Velo Festival. First held in 2011, the event comprises three races over two days starting this Saturday morning at 6:30am with a 10 mile Individual time trial starting at Frank Sound Junction followed by a criterium in central George Town at 4:30pm. The event culminates with a 65 mile road race at 6:30am on Sunday starting and ending at West Shore Centre. The late Phillip ‘Beatman’ Ebanks was a well-known and loved businessman and cyclist/sportsman throughout the Cayman Islands.
He assisted many of Cayman top cyclists, some of whom became Olympians. He was a unique, funny, kind gregarious and generous individual. Despite being physically fit however, he was diagnosed and eventually died of ‘Heart Disease’ on 26 October 2006. This year’s race weekend also coincides the anniversary of his death.
Heart and circulatory disease, known as cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the #1 health problem in the Cayman Islands/world which causes early deaths, long-term disabilities and widespread suffering. To help bring awareness to this disease we have once again teamed up with the Heart Health Centre, founded by Beatman’s son Phillip, to put on a cycling event in his memory, which we aim to make it an annual event.
"Seven years ago, my father died at a very young age due to heart disease, this despite being an avid cyclist and long distance walker who exercised regularly, until his first heart attack,” said Phillip. “He was not a smoker or a drinker, either. This event in his memory, which The Heart Health Centre, and our sister companies, is pleased to support is particularly fitting considering his long standing involvement in cycling over the years. I hope that more than just an event in his memory, however, that it may also be a reminder for people to be proactive about their own heart health – by eating a healthy diet, exercising daily and being screened regularly for heart disease risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes and cholesterol."
The event organizer Barry Jones added: “It is really a pleasure to put on this event because Beatman was well know to me and was instrumental in my development as a cyclist and many of Cayman’s Olympic cyclist including the likes of CICA President Craig Merren. The first staging of the event was highly successful and we are once again adding an international flare by inviting some of Jamaica’s top male and female cyclist including Marloe Rodman who finished 4th in the road race at last weekend Caribbean Championship and who is respected on the international cycling scene. We expect to have 3 males 2 females from Jamaica to be part of the event.
“As with the first event we will also have fun activities for the kids at the criterium in George Town. The criterium or ‘crit’ as it is known is fast, fun and spectator friendly so we invite the public to come out and be entertained”
You can register online at Cayman Active which closes at 6pm on Friday 25th or offline at The Heart Health Centre, West Shore Centre on Thursday 24. Net proceeds from the event will be donated to the Cayman Heart Fund.
Documentary tells story of Girls’ Brigade
(CNS): The past present and future of the local branch of the Girls’ Brigade will form the focus of a half hour documentary which will air on local television this weekend. CITN Productions and Cayman 27 teamed up to help theorganization share its story which spans almost seven decades in Cayman. The documentary charts the 67 years from the Girls’ Brigade mission when it was started by Olive Miller in 1946 through to the present day. Producers said that not only will the show raise awareness, but much needed funds for the Brigade as some sponsorship proceeds will go to the non-profit organization. The documentary will be broadcast Saturday, 26 October at 6:30pm and Sunday, 27 October at 10am.
Imports fall by 2.3% in second quarter over 2012
(CNS): With government hoping to generate a surplus of more than $100 million in this financial year, news that imports fell by several million dollars in the second quarter of 2013 compared to last year will be something of a blow to the public coffers. According to the latest statistics from the Economics and Statistics Office, the total value of all merchandise goods imported by Cayman residents amounted to CI$178.2 million, 2.3% lower compared to CI$182.4 million recorded in the second quarter of 2012. Officials said the decline related to falls in the purchase of non-petroleum goods, as oil related products increased by 1.3% due to higher oil prices but a fall in volume.
With the economy still slow and residents struggling to make ends meet, Cayman was buying less of most things but was also paying higher prices for what it did buy.
“Overall, the decline in the total value of imports was mainly due to non-petroleum products, such as miscellaneous manufactured articles, and chemicals and related products,” said Marco Archer, the finance minister.
Imports of oil grew from CI$38.6 million in the second quarter of 2012 to CI$39.1million this year because of the increase in the average price of fuel imports, as the volume of imports fell. Petroleum products accounts for almost 22% of all imports. The ESO found that food imports also grew in value because of higher prices.
Although Cayman does not export significant amounts of goods, the things it does sell overseas also fell significantly by more than 50%, with six out of ten export categories in decline.
The trade statistics produced by the Economics and Statistics Office are compiled from computerized records maintained by the Customs Department. The records are based on documents which are completed by importers, exporters or their agents, who are obliged to record the appropriate statistical code number against each commodity using the Cayman Islands Tariff Code (CITC).
The figures are used to help track trade trends and changes in import and export as the duty on imports is a very important revenue source for government.
Speaker’s salary cut as deputy premier’s boosted
(CNS): Although there was no pay increase for the elected members of Legislative Assembly returning to office at the start of this new administration, an odd alteration to salaries was noted during Finance Committee deliberations this week. As members examined line item OE2 in the annual plan and estimates for the salaries of the governor, deputy governor, premier, speaker, minsters and all elected members of the Legislative Assembly, it was revealed that the speaker’s salary had been cut and the deputy premier’s pay increased by the same amount. No details were given about the amounts involved but over $3 million was allocated in the budget for the legislators’ and the governor’s pay.
According to documents released at the beginning of the 2009 UDP administration, at the time the speaker was a top dollar post at $171,672 per annum, which included a car and maintenance allowance each month of $200. At the time the current speaker, Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who was then deputy premier, was bringing in $161,100 a year.
Questioning the deputy governor about the change to the salary for the post, the speaker did not indicated the amount of the cut, only that her post’s pay had been reduced by exactly the same as the salary increase given to Moses Kirkconnell, who is now serving as deputy premier. Although not begrudging her fellow Cayman Brac and Little Cayman representative the boost in his pay package, the speaker said she was very curious to know why her salary had been cut.
Franz Manderson revealed that the decision had been made by the former governor, Duncan Taylor, before he departed and he did not know the motivation behind it. He said that while he was the one who made recommendations regarding the salaries of the elected members, his recommendation to the governor had been to keep the status quo as a result of the austerity measures across the public sector.
The premier admitted during the exchange that he had requested more money for his back-benchers following the elevation of most of them to counsellor posts but he said his request had been refused and none of the usual increases had been given to members who had been re-elected.
The only two posts where salaries differed from the last administration were the deputy premier and the speaker, which O’Connor-Connolly said she found odd and a situation she had only discovered recently. Querying the arbitrary change, she said she had written asking for an explanation but there had been no response.
“I am not questioning the increase in the deputy premier’s salary,” O’Connor-Connolly said, pointing out that she too had served in the post and it was a difficult job and no doubt the minister deserved the increase. “Yet my job gets decreased by the same amount … I don’t think they should arbitrarily change the speaker’s salary without explanation,” she said as she noted both the seniority of the role and her own experience as a long serving legislator, a former speaker, minister, deputy premier and latterly premier.
“I don’t mind dropping my salary but I want to know why, given my experience, I should be paid less,” she added. Raising concerns about gender discrimination, O’Connor- Connolly said she wasn’t asking for a raise, just an explanation and “the courtesy of a response” to a letter she had sent to the governor’s office.
The deputy governor assured the speaker that he would find out why the post’s salary was cut and let her know.
Mac opposes immigration bill
(CNS): Taking a different position from most in his lack of support for the government’s new immigration amendment bill, the opposition leader told the Legislative Assembly Wednesday that he did not think the bill would build confidence and would be too costly. McKeeva Bush said he took the position that immigration was not the cause of Cayman’s unemployment problem as the country needed to grow its population. The issue, he said, was the economy and it was by encouraging the right people to come and invest that jobs would be created. Bush warned that it was the type of people not the quantity that mattered and said that Cayman did not need more “cantankerous people”.
Bush said he was not going to scoff at the work that had clearly gone into the bill but he did not believe it would achieve its aims and it was a bad deal for all concerned as it was focusing on the wrong problem. Bush said he still believed that the country needed to grow its population. He said that when Cayman had more people there were more jobs but he said the country had to pay much closer attention to who came in the first place.
“We need to check who is coming here not how many and not bring any more cantankerous people. We have enough troublesome people here already,” he said, adding that he did not think that government would be able to enforce the law it was trying to pass as it would be far too costly. He said hardly anyone had ever been prosecuted since the laws were first passed and the government had to focus on attracting investment.
Bush said people were wrong when they still saw work permit holders keeping Caymanians out of work. “Jobs need to be created for our people and that won’t be done by driving people away,” he said.
The opposition leader said that it was wishful thinking that locals would get the posts held by Term Limit Exemption Permit holders, as it would be impossible to carry out the enforcement needed to prevent people from notgetting new work permits.
“I am not going to support this bill for various reasons, but not because of the clamour but because I am thinking long term. I don’t think it will build any real confidence and the process is going to be costly. We need to build the country and it’s not immigration that is causing unemployment … It will hurt more than help. I hope that won’t be the case but I can’t see it working the way they say it will.”
Bush said nothing had been said recently to make him change his mind that the population base was too small to support the businesses that were here and if people didn’t start to recognize this issue the country would carry on tinkering at immigration piecemeal. He warned that the legislation would kill more businesses and stop more employment opportunities rather than create jobs for local people.
The change that was required, the UDP leader said, was to reduce the break in stay, as he pointed to legal opinion from the attorney general and Lord Panick that he had sought when premier. The lawyers had both said that the break in stay (the time expatriates spend off island so it does not count as continuous residency on the Cayman Islands) could be as short as the Cayman government wanted it to be. He said reducing the break in stay would eliminate the problem.
Bush said the two issues were unemployment and Caymanians being worried about being outnumbered and reducing the break in stay would eliminate the second problem.
But he lamented government’s efforts as he said there wasn’t any money in the budget for enforcement and he did not think it would be able to get the fees and fines as “no one gets caught”.
He said, “Immigration will be a problem for every government until we recognize where the problem really is. We can’t do it on our own; we need foreigners and their investment.”
Regardless of his indication that he would not support the bill and his concerns that it would not tackle the real problems, the opposition leader ended his contribution to the debate on an upbeat note. He said that, regardless of the law, he believed the future was still bright, despite what he called the “wrangling and jangling”, as the country was well placed to enjoy future economic recovery as a leading tourist destination and financial jurisdiction.
See related story on CNS: Immigration-bill-passes
Efficiency key in crime budget
(CNS): With the passage of the government’s 2013/14 budget in the Legislative Assembly, Wednesday, questions about value for money over the $32 million allocated to the police remain. With the eastern district MLAs demanding greater coverage and all political representatives wanting more high profile visible policing, the commissioner has blamed a reduced budget and the high demand for services in George Town and West Bay for his limited ability to deploy more police. Cayman’s new governor, who has considerable experience managing police budgets, said the RCIPS expenditure allocation cannot be constantly increased and there is a need to review how efficient the police are and whether money could be spent more wisely to free-up existing resources for front line crime fighting.
Governor Helen Kilpatrick said she agreed with the premier, whose ministry now carries the can for the financing of the RCIPS, that pouring money into the RCIPS is not a sustainable solution.
“These are difficult economic times and, like all public sector expenditure, we cannot keep increasing the police budget,” the governor told CNS Thursday.
Over the years there has been significant investment in the RCIPS, especially in technology and key equipment, such as the helicopter, CCTV and automatic number plate recognition, she noted. That investment was now beginning to pay dividends following the recent arrests and convictions where the helicopter and CCTV were instrumental.
But Kilpatrick pointed to the need for deeper and greater efficiencies in the RCIPS that would see the money given to finance policing better utilized. Although she felt it was not easy to make a comparison with other police services because the RCIPS had a border control remit among other issues, she said the service was nevertheless substantially funded. As a result, she said, there would be opportunities to improve the efficiency with the use of technology, better allocation of staff and e-government.
Now that the governor’s office shares responsibility for the police with the elected arm of government, Kilpatrick said that she and Premier Alden McLaughlin were committed to reviewing how money was spent.
Obvious solutions, she said, were to examine the broad remit of the RCIPS and ensure qualified and specialist police officers were not filling in forms or undertaking administrative tasks that could be done by civilian staff. Kilpatrick also pointed to fixed penalties for all road offences and digitalizing other services, such as criminal records work and licensing of various entities.
The governor said that the promotion of e-government was going to be major theme during her time here, as it meant a reduction in cost for the public purse and a reduction in wasted time for customers. The police, she said, would be part of the move to online services too. As more administrative police work went online, more cash could be directed at the crime fight, she noted.
Committed to improving how the $32 million given to the police is spent without touching operations or the independence of the commissioner, Kilpatrick also spoke about more transparency and the need for the police to be much more open about what they do. She said the public has a right to know how funds are spent and Kilpatrick said she believed that the police could reveal considerably more about their work without compromising operations.
She pointed to the impact that pictures recently published from the police helicopter can have in terms of reassuring the community.
“The public is reassured by seeing the police in action,” she said, adding that showing officers working hard on the frontline of crime and that money invested in equipment was paying dividends was part of the RCIPS' remit of policing by consent and it was important for the public to see what they consent to.
Acknowledging the much wider social problems impacting crime and policing, as well as the backlogged courts system and the pressing need for a new courthouse, Kilpatrick said there was still a lot to do to tackle crime outside of the RCIPS. She pointed to a need for a wider more collaborative long tern approach. The governor said there had to be more coordination in the community with the police, the courts, rehabilitation of prisoners and buy-in from the private sector to help ex-offenders find work in order to make future cost savings by addressing the causes of crime.
Nevertheless, in the short to medium term, she said, there would be efficiencies made in the existing budget allocation that would help the commissioner redirect the money to where it is needed most on the front line crime fight.
TCI premier challenges attorney general in court
(CNS): Dr Rufus Ewing, the premier of the Turks and Caicos Islands is challenging the TCI attorney general’s authority to make decisions without consulting Cabinet. Ewing and the UK appointed Huw Shepheard have been in engaged in an increasingly stormy relationship, and the local press is reporting that an originating summons has been filed in the TCI Supreme Court regarding the AG’s claimed right to commence and defend civil proceedings by or against the government or anyone else as he sees fit, without seeking the prior approval of Cabinet. The TCI government wants this tested and believes that it is in the public interest that the proper interpretation of the constitution be resolved by the Court.
According to SunTCI, Ewing is seeking the determination of the court whether Section 41 of the Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution Order 2011 or any other provision of the Constitution, authorizes the attorney general to prosecute anyone without informing the Cabinet of his intention to institute proceedings and prosecute such proceedings.
Ewing believes that the AG must obtain the approval and instructions from Cabinet before instituting proceedings, defending claims, or any litigation even if it is against government.
Apart from financial considerations, there may also be public interests and public policy reasons why a particular claim should or should not be brought or should or should not be defended, he said.
“These are all matters which Cabinet must and should consider before instituting or defending civil proceedings,” Ewing said. “I do not believe that the proper construction of section 41 of the Constitution is one which enables the Attorney General to make these important decisions on behalf of the Government with the elected members of Cabinet being kept in the dark. The Attorney General's position and his manifest behaviour raise an important constitutional principle which should be determined by this court.”
Open letter to Tara Rivers
It is not your fault that we put you on a pedestal and pinned all our hopes on you, this ‘girl from West Bay’, but it is your fault that you embraced that pedestal, climbed on top of it and reveled in the attention. I have no problem with you enjoying the view from up there and would be happy for you to continue to do so IF you actually did something worthwhile to prove you were worth it. To date, I have to say you have been an absolute,utter and total disappointment.
You have achieved nothing with your new found power except increase your personal wealth at the expense of the public you were hired to serve.
I am appalled that you pulled a ‘sickie’ instead of attending the session on the immigration bill last night and suspect that it was less to do with your being sick and more to do with your wishing to abstain from the vote without having to publicly acknowledge that you were abstaining. How much simpler just to be absent instead of having to have an opinion which might put you in the firing line!
Well, Tara, I have news for you. This is precisely why we hired you in the first place, so that you would stand in the firing line and stand up for your people – have a voice and make it heard. You are not hired to win friends but you are hired to influence people and to stand up for what you believe in. But as of right now, I’m not sure I know what it is you believe in. I do know what our premier and much of the Cabinet believes in and I do know what the opposition leader believes in and I even know what all the backbenchers believe in – all of them have voices and to date have not been afraid to use them.
I don’t always agree with everything everyone says but I appreciate the fact that they’re not afraid to say it. I have lost every shred of respect I had for you and am not only upset with you but upset with myself that I romanticized what I thought you could be – you could have been so much to so many, not least because you’re a woman and a woman from West Bay. You were so ahead of the game, Tara, and perhaps it’s unfair that we pinned so much of our hopes on you, but instead of you realizing what an advantage this was and being grateful for the support, whilst trying to maintain it by being a decent, honest and hardworking member of Cabinet, you seem to have thought that, instead, this offered you some sort of entitlement which excused you from having to do anything. WAKE UP AND START EARNING YOUR SALARY HONESTLY – please!
So many of us want so desperately to support you but as we sit in our various cubicles (those of us fortunate to have jobs) working hard to pay our bills, it’s very difficult to continue tosupport someone who pulls a sickie the day some of the most important legislation (at least since you were elected) is being debated. Today I wanted to stay at home sick but I showed up to work, despite not having to be here to debate groundbreaking legislation that will affect the lives of almost everyone in these Islands.
I have no idea what is wrong with you but I do know that even if you absolutely could not make the debate you could have voiced an opinion or just done something to show that you’re paying attention to what’s going on and that you care. Even if you were just paying lip service, we probably would have bought it – that’s how advantageous a position you previously held.
I sincerely hope you get back to work and prove that I’m wrong to be so utterly disappointed in you. I will happily sit corrected, although have to say with your current track record I doubt very much it will come to that.
Please prove me wrong.
World Polio Day 2013
Polio is a highly infectious disease which causes paralysis and is sometimes fatal. As there is no cure, the best protection is prevention. For as little as US 60 cents worth of vaccine, a child can be protected against this crippling disease for life. After an international investment of more than US$9 billion and the successful engagement of over 200 countries and 20 million volunteers, polio could be the first human disease of the 21st century to be eradicated.
The message to world leaders is clear: support the final push to achieve eradication now while the goal has never been closer, or face the potential consequences of a new polio pandemic that could disable millions of children within a decade.
Since 1985, Rotary has contributed nearly $1.2 billion and countless volunteer hours to the protection of more than two billion children in 122 countries. The disease remains endemic in three countries — Afghanistan, Nigeria, and Pakistan — although other countries remain at risk for imported cases.
The last cases identified in the Caribbean area were in Haiti/Dominican Republic in 1991. Before a Caribbean vaccination drive, estimated deaths in Latin America/Caribbean in the 1970s totalled around 15,000 cases and 1,750 deaths per annum. Here in the Cayman Islands, the last recorded cases were in 1957 and we have remained polio-free ever since thanks to a vaccination programme for all children which continues today. It is vitally important that all children receive the vaccine to prevent the re-introduction of the disease into the Islands and also to protect those children should they be exposed to the disease in another country.
In an extraordinary gesture of support, every $1 that Rotary raises between now & 2017 will become $3 thanks to being matched 2 for 1 by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
In Cayman, the four Rotary clubs & two Rotaract clubs are working to raise funds for Rotary’s ”End Polio Now” campaign, which features world celebrities, local icons and ordinary persons alike all showing that we are “This Close” to eliminating polio. This World Polio Day October 24th, please join with concerned Rotarians and help to eradicate polio in our lifetime. With global travel nowadays, it can be easily transmitted across national borders, or across the globe, as has already happened with wild outbreaks in several world areas.
Poliomyelitis, commonly known as polio or infantile paralysis, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus, which enters the human body through the mouth. The virus multiplies in the gastrointestinal tract, spreads to different parts of the body and then enters the blood stream causing flu like symptoms. A small percentage of the virus may enter mainly the brainstem and spinal cord and causes damage to the nerve cells, resulting in a condition called Paralytic polio, with early symptoms of high fever, headaches, muscle weakness and muscle pains, back and neck pains. Paralysis (loss of muscle function) may occur in chest and abdomen causing difficulties in breathing. Paralysis in one leg is common but some victims suffer from quadriplegia (all four limbs affected). Paralyses in some cases are just temporary, while in a few it is permanent. Not all persons infected by the virus will have polio.
Two polio stories from Cayman Brac
Mr McNeil Hurlston: I was born on the 22nd January 1929 in Spot Bay but I live now in my own house at The Rock. I contracted polio when I was about 8 months old. I had a high fever but there were no hospitals or doctors on island so my parents and the older folks did the best for me. I walked with a limp because my left leg was affected but I had many friends at school and no one tried to bully me. Of course I was big man and very strong and enjoyed boyhood days like nothing was wrong. (Pictured left with caregiver Lendell Moore Scott)
I left school when I was about 16 years old and did gardener work before going to sea. At the age of about 20 years I became an able-bodied seaman aboard the Kirkconnell Ships. I never missed a good time at every port. After many years at sea, I took-upa security guard post at the Airport in the early 1980’s and held that position for 22 years. I was never sick or absent from my duty and drove to work everyday.
Many people visit me now at home so I don’t feel neglected or alone. I was doing really well a few years ago but now my voice is weak, sight not so good but I can still smile and sing. I have my life partner to care for me and another beautiful caregiver. I am happy. My children and grandchildren are wonderful, happy and healthy. I know many people had polio, including the 32nd president of the United States Franklin D Roosevelt (FDR), who was paralyzed from the waist down and died at the age of 63. One German doctor who was aboard the ration ship, The Bristish- Man-O-War, told my father that I had infantile paralysis and I if I survive I will live for a long time, and so said so done.
Miss Ianthy Christian: I was born on October 17, 1929. I was about 2 or 3 years old when I began to experience high fever and severe pain in my legs. My first experience was on a bright summer day when my sisters and I went to the Spot Bay seaside to play. I was the smallest so they took special care of me and when I complained of pain they rushed me home. My parents and neighbours did what they knew best and with some medicines from the commissioner and dispenser, Mr Aston Rutty, I got some relief but my left leg was paralyzed. (Pictured left with Brac Rotary President Dhal Seeram)
I was not terribly affected by this disability and I moved quickly and energetically like the other girls. I loved school and had many great friends. I was petite and well dressed at all times and I still maintain these features today. One of my girl friends had polio with paralysis of the same left leg and she got married and left the island. She has many children and grandchildren but I believed she passed away sometime ago.
I had many offers also from nice gentlemen who wanted to marry me and take me abroad to get treatment but I refused because I didn’t want to leave Cayman Brac and my family. I was never married but I am happy to be single. I always have God and my family who love me and give the support I need. My bigger sister, Ms Faith, who is 95 years old, would walk over to see me sometimes.
I am well organized; I have a walker, a wheel chair and other aids to help me move around to do my daily chores. There is more pressure on the good leg so I have to rest as often as is needed to prevent any accidental falls. I eat, sleep and see well and I don’t blame anyone for giving me polio. For me this is normal and I feel I am going to live long and healthy until the Maker says I have to go.
Learn more about the End Polio programme here.
Police call for witnesses in Connor murder
(CNS): As police continue their enquiries in relation to three murders that occurred between 15 September and 11 October, officers heading up the enquiry into the fatal shooting of Anthony ‘Beenie’ Connor are making another appeal for witnesses to come forward. Connor was shot in the car park of the Mango Tree Restaurant on Friday, 11 October, at around 8:45pm, a busy time at the popular local restaurant and bar. Police say that many people have spoken with officers but they believe others who left after the shooting but before police arrived may be able to help. Although police have arrested and released suspects in the killings of Irwin Bush in West Bay, and Earl Hart in Prospect, so far no one has been arrested in connection with the gunning down of Connor.
“A significant number of people have already been spoken to as part of the investigation,” said Detective Inspector Kathy Marshall, who is leading the investigation. “However we are aware that a number of people left the area prior to the arrival of the police that night. We need to speak to those people to ascertain if they have any information which could help us in this case.
“As such I am appealing directly to those people today to come forward and speak to me, or any member of my investigative team. You may think that the information you have is insignificant or trivial, but no matter what you saw or heard please let us know. Your information may be vital to the investigation.”
Although the police have refrained from committing themselves to any connections between the three murders or drawn any significance that two of the victims have connections to a spate of gang-related gun violence in September 2011, the shootings are believed to gang related.
Anyone who has information, no matter how insignificant it may seem, is urged to call the incident room on 244-3035, the RCIPS tip-line 949-7777 or Crime Stoppers 800-8477(TIPS).