Archive for December, 2013
No bombs found after threats
(CNS): Police have confirmed that there were bomb threats at both the Ritz Carlton, Grand Cayman and Caribbean Club this afternoon. Both resorts were searched but nothing suspicious was discovered, the RCIPS reported Saturday evening. At 4:15pm police, fire and other emergency personnel responded to the bomb threats at both locations. Traffic diversions and other precautionary measures were put in place and the two resorts were searched. It is not clear if the incident has yet been officially declared a hoax, like all previous bomb threats on Grand Cayman. Section 206 of the penal Code (2010 Revision) states that a “Bomb Hoax” is an offence, and on conviction a person can be sentenced up to ten years imprisonment and a fine of ten thousand dollars.
Man hurt in robbery attempt
(CNS): A victim of a street mugging in George Town was wounded on the leg on Friday evening when he was struck by a machete-wielding would-be robber. According to the police report, the incident happened at around 5:30pm yesterday, Friday 13 December. As the victim was leaving a bar on Martin Drive, he was accosted from behind by a man armed with a machete. The man demanded cash and used the machete to inflict injury to one of the man's legs. The assailant ran off on foot behind the Globe Bar. Police said that no description of the suspect could be provided and no money was stolen during the altercation.
Panton makes history
(CNS) Full report: After more than three hours of wrangling and wrestling at the committee stage and around 35 amendments, Wayne Panton made history on Friday evening when he finally steered the National Conservation Law through the Legislative Assembly with full support from across the floor. With more than a decade of conversation on the law, the PPM's environment minister was finally the man that managed to pass the law that will, for the first time, give legal protection to Cayman's unique and diverse land-based and marine-based natural resources.The debate had been acrimonious at times, with the opposition leader describing it as unintelligible and the independent members calling it a land grab.
Legislators spent three days on the debate, and despite their attack on the bill during that time, all members of the opposition benches, including the two independent members, gave it their resounding backing when it went to the final vote.
This was a result of some amendments, such as the word "purchase" replacing the word "acquire" in clauses relating to land that could become protected. In addition, the clause banning the use of spear guns was changed following a government back bench rebellion. The requirement for those caught in a marine park with conch or lobster to demonstrate that it was not taken from that protected area was also removed.
However, most of what was seen by many as a controversial law survived and despite the acrimony between Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush and Premier Alden McLaughlin, especially at the end of Friday’s debate, all of the legislators in the House voted a resounding 'yes' to the bill.
Ministers Moses Kirkconnell and Osbourne Bodden, who had both offered their full backing to the bill during the debate last week, were absent. They were therefore the only two MLAs not to record their support and join what would have been a unanimous vote.
The premier had pressed the importance of the bill in his contribution and said it was “one of most important pieces of legislation to come to assembly in many years”, as it was about protecting everything that is dear to the Caymanian people. In the face of last minute opposition and attacks on the bill, McLaughlin said that the government had spent a considerable amount of time and effort and had thought “long and hard” about the legislation. He pointed to the five lawyers in the administration who had also made contributions and noted there would be committee stage amendments.
McLaughlin said there had been many mistakes in the past in Cayman regarding development, which he said was understandable given the circumstances. However, going forward this legislation would prevent future mistakes and see that care and consideration would be taken when it came to future development and the environment.
He highlighted the fact that the opposition leader, who has often promoted the efforts he claims to have made regarding conservation, voted against the marine park laws, for which he was rebuked by Bush when he finally got up to make his contribution.
Bush, the UDP leader, said that he had been waiting to see what the amendments would be and he had not planned to speak on the bill but was goaded into doing so because the premier “could not get up in the House unless he has something derogatory to say about this leader of the opposition".
He accused the premier of having a “happy knack of trying to chastise” him. Regardless of McLaughlin’s claims to have a mandate, Bush reminded the premier that he did not win the election outright.
“He had to be palsy-walsy with those he said he would never be palsy-walsy with,” Bush stated, adding, much to the amusement of the members, that he “didn’t just dance with 'em” but that he “must’ve taken some of them home” in order to form the government.
Insisting that he was not against conservation, Bush said he believed that Cayman had to accept that to get where it is today it had to give up something. He pointed to the loss of habitat and asked where the country would be if it had not “given up something”. He said there was already too much red tape for developers and investors and that while the UK wanted more bureaucracy in Cayman, it was cutting out 1,000 pages from its own planning rules.
Bush maintained that enforcing the conservation legislation was going to be very costly, despite denials of this by government, and the country would lose opportunities because of it.
Cayman Status and PR board to go to Cabinet
(CNS): The chief officer in the Home Affairs Ministry, Eric Bush, has said that the new line-up of the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residence (PR) board will go before Cabinet when it meetsTuesday and should be gazetted later next week. The board will still play a significant part in delivery of the government’s new immigration policy, which will see every work permit holder who remains in Cayman for more than eight years allowed to make an application to live here permanently. Decisions on who stays and goes will be made by immigration staff in the future, based on new stricter points criteria, but the board will still make decisions regarding some applications.
Meanwhile, concerns have been raised by PR applicants who applied before the law changed that they too will be judged under the new harsher regime. Among the criteria that applicants for PR need to satisfy is their understanding of the local history and culture and this is assessed via a multiple choice test, which has been suspended since the new immigration bill was enacted in October.
Officials have not said why the tests have been placed on hold but several applicants contacted CNS with concerns that this is an illustration that, despite applying before the changes in the law, they are going to be judged on the new stricter criteria.
Having already jumped through the key employee status hoop, anyone who applied for permanent residency before the new immigration bill was passed would be judged under the old system with a target of 100 points rather than 120, government officials have stated.
During the government’s public outreach regarding the changes to the points system, Bush said that the PR test would be tightened up and candidates would need to answer more questions to reach the maximum 20 points available from the history and culture test.
However, Chief Immigration Officer Linda Evans confirmed this week that the tests will resume shortly, in the next week or so, and those previously scheduled with an appointment will be contacted for the next available sitting.
“The test will consist of 20 questions with one correct answer earning one point, which is what it was under the prior points system. The level of difficulty hasn't changed,” she added.
Miller denies species threat
(CNS): As he raised his objections to the National Conservation Law on Wednesday, Ezzard Miller, the independent member for North Side, was skeptical about the threat to Cayman’s indigenous and endemic species, as he took aim at visiting scientists and conservationists. The first member of the Legislative Assembly to respond to the presentation of the NCL by Environment Minister Wayne Panton, he said the government was gobbling up what these scientists were telling them, even though when asked about specific species, such as Silver Thatch, they could not say how many there are on the island. Having filed some 30 amendments to the law, Miller made his objections to the bill clear.
He said the conservationists had finally found someone in the minister who they could cajole into passing this draconian bill, which he believed was unconstitutional and so broad the courts would have “some fun” with it.
Miller attacked several aspects of the legislation but his main concern was over land. Despite the fact that there is nothing in the NCL to allow government to take anyone’s land Miller said he did not believe the government.
“I know they have said that there is no intention to acquire peoples land but I don’t believe it as the law facilitates it,” Miller insisted. He pointed to the use of the word “acquire” rather than buy, which he presented as evidence that the minister was not being truthful and that the conservationist would be allowed to get control of the people’s land, regardless of what was said. Having filed committeestage amendments, he said that if government did not intend to go after private land whether people want to sell it or not, it should remove the word "acquire". The North Side representative said people would be intimidated into giving up their land and the government had manipulated the law to turn it into a land grab.
The independent member stated that because others had allowed foreign developers to buy their land and in turn extract massive profits, government now wanted to come and conserve the people’s land in North Side. He said it would be Caymanians that would have things taken from them, even though they are the ones that have done the conserving in the past. He said that because Seven Mile Beach and other areas were taken away, they want to go after what’s left in his district so they can say they have a legacy.
Making derogatory remarks about scientists, conservationists and other technical experts, he implied that the species they have identified as vulnerable or endangered were without merit and there was no evidence to suggest those species were in trouble. He accused them of making up the critically endangered status of flora and fauna, despite the very real and documented evidence that some endemic species in Cayman, such as the ghost orchid, is on the verge of extinction.
Cops arrest Catron over nation building grant
(CNS): Local activist Sandra Catron has been arrested again, this time in connection with allegations of fraud in relation to grants she received for students from the controversial Nation Building Fund. While the police refused to comment on the arrest, which took place at Catron’s home in Newlands this morning (Thursday 12 December) at 7:10am as it is part of an on-going investigation Catron confirmed the arrest. After being released on bail she said it was in connection with an ongoing contractual payment dispute, in which she alleges that the government has not fulfilled its financial obligations to her and still owes her money.
Catron said she had filed a civil suit in relation to the issue, which government has not defendedand in which she is now entitled to damages.
“These accusations, they have no merit and I intend to fully defend myself to the fullest extent and there’s no doubt I will be successful,” she said. Given Catron’s track record so far, she has reason to be confident as she has already won three courtroom cases against government defending herself, despite not being a qualified lawyer.
The arrest, Catron believes, is part of what now constitutes harassment against her, given the history between her and the RCIPS, especially following her courtroom victory over an unlawful warrant earlier this year in which there were shocking revelations about how the RCIPS officers were getting warrants.
“I continue to remain disappointed that the RCIPS and the DPP (director of public prosecutions) is being used by certain persons with a political or personal agenda to pursue such frivolous cases. Any objective person will realize these actions collectively amount to institutional harassment,” she told CNS. “The authorities could better spend their time and resources pursuing some unsolved murder cases. The system is clearly broken.”
Catron said the police ironically arrived at her home this morning without a warrant to arrest her for suspicionof uttering a false document and obtaining property by deception.
“They are attempting to make a case where there is none. They simply do not even understand what the training is that was offered,” Catron stated about the money she had received for students attending her training company, Micro Matrix, from the controversial Nation Building Fund established by the former premier, McKeeva Bush.
Catron said she felt it was no coincidence that she was arrested today after she had called into the breakfast radio show, Crosstalk, on Rooster yesterday morning and mentioned the lawsuit and government’s failure to respond. She said she had also questioned what had happened to the investigation the she had heard was going on against her regarding the fund.
“I am not in a position to defend anyone else who received funding under the Nation Building Fund but my experience has been that the process was vigorous and transparent,” Catron stated.
However, there have been wide concerns that this was not the case. A recent statement by Premier Alden McLaughlin raised considerable questions about the scholarships given out under the fund. Allegations have also been made that the cash in the fund was allocated at the discretion of the former premier alone and considered something of a political slush fund. It is understood that other investigations are ongoing and that the auditor general will be taking a closer look at the entire fund and how it was managed.
QC accused of gutting BoR
(CNS): Fighting to demonstrate the case brought by the four West Bay ladies regarding the closure of the West Bay Road was an infringement of human rights, Anthony Akiwumi accused the QC representing the government of attempting to gut the country’s Constitution and its Bill of Rights (BoR). He said that if the arguments put forward by Richard Keen, QC, on behalf of the government, which was tasked with upholding the Constitution, were allowed to stand and the attempt to mute the Bill of Rights not dismissed, this did not bode well for the future of human rights. The local attorney said it was ironic that the attack on the BoR came on International Human Rights Day.
As he responded to the defendants' arguments put forward this week during the trial in front of the presiding judge, Alex Henderson, Akiwumi reiterated his clients’ case that the closure was not done lawfully and it had undermined the human rights of the women who brought the case, as well as the wider public.
He said Alice Mae Coe, Annie Multon, Ezmie Smith and Betty Ebanks were not out of time, as the clock in this action could not start any sooner than when government actually made the order to close the road. Prior to that point, the lawyer argued, the situation was "fluid” and there were no certainties, despite government’s claims about what it intended to do.
Akiwumi also argued emphatically that the case had been brought before the courts properly and that the new constitution elevated rights beyond those of wider public rights and so a judicial review was not the appropriate legal mechanism for the case.
Government had not demonstrated that it had given due consideration to the rights of the people in terms of the environment or justified why it had taken the action it did, other than from a commercial perspective, Akiwumi submitted. He emphasised the women’s point, which was the secrecy surrounding the process and the failure of government to properly consider the impact of the decision on the people it was supposed torepresent.
Akiwumi said government had an obligation to protect the interests of its people and their rights and to follow the rule of law, but given the process followed in the closure of the West Bay Road, it failed on all those points.
The three-day courtroom battle between Akiwumi and the two leading British QCs came to an end on Wednesday lunchtime and Justice Henderson said he would take time to consider the submissions and written evidence before delivering his judgment on an as yet undisclosed date.
Related article:
Minister plans to tackle public pension shortfalls
(CNS): Although two of the government’s three public pension funds for public sector workers are short more than $178 million, the finance minister has stated that there is no need to panic as government has time and also has a plan for making up the missing cash. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly on Wednesday morning, Marco Archer laid six reports relating to the various pension Actuarial Valuations for both 2008 and 2011 on the table of the House, making them public documents. Archer said the next evaluation would be in January, when the impact on the government’s balance sheet would be updated.
Despite the significant total shortfall across two of government's three funds of CI$178.3 million, Archer said there was no immediate cause for alarm as government has some twenty years to address the shortfall between assets and liabilities of the funds. It will gradually eliminate the shortfall by making extra payments into the funds alongside the ongoing contributions for all public sector employees, the minister told his legislative colleagues.
The largest liability is for the civil service fund, which is short more than $165 million, while the MLA’s fund is short by around $12 million and the judicial scheme is now in surplus.
Archer said CI$11 million was already paid in this year and central government had agreed to pay a further CI$23.5 million in payments over next two years. In addition, the funds were expecting to earn more returns, and with the tri-annual reviews, the government could keep a close eye on the values.
Archer explained that the funds began with a shortfall when the fund was created in 1990 and government inherited some 26 years of liability of existing civil servants who would be entitled to pensions. He explained that at first pension payments to retired civil servants were paid from general government coffers but in 2000 it started paying pensions from the actual fund.
Although there is a large deficiency, the minister said it did not pose any immediate danger to the pension funds themselves and retiring civil servants will receive their payments. Cayman, he said, was ahead of many advanced countries because the CIG discloses its deficiency and its liability for that in its financial statements. It has also structured a plan and has “the desire to deal with it", he said, stressing that there was no need for immediate concern
Archer stated that there was enough time to address the liability and government was able to pay its regular contributions. He said the 2011 reports contained recommendations for future contribution rates, all of which this current government had now accepted and it would be passing regulations to legitimize the rates.
See the six reports below.
Former crack baby becomes teen robber
(CNS): A teenager was sentenced to three and a half years in HMP Northward Wednesday, following his admission to a robbery at a Bodden Town grocery store. The 16-year-old boy, who was only 15 when he committed the crime and cannot be named because of his age, already has a long rap sheet, not least because of his upbringing. This was described in a social inquiry report as “heartbreaking” and down to the “colossal failure of his parents”. The teen was born addicted to crack cocaine and was severely neglected as he grew up, Justice Charles Quin revealed in his sentencing ruling. But despite his terrible start in life, the judge noted that he had to begin taking responsibility for his crimes.
The teen pleaded guilty earlier this year to robbery, possession of an imitation firearm and assault in relation to the daylight hold up at the Lookout grocery store in Bodden Town on 28 May. The teen stole over $900 dollars, scared the staff, owner and customers at the store and also assaulted one member of the public who tried to prevent the crime.
Although he made his escape on a bicycle, witnesses who spotted him leaving alerted the police promptly and as a result he was arrested and later charged.
As he handed down three years for therobbery, another three for the possession of the flare gun to run concurrently and then an additional six months for the assault on the customer, which the judge described as gratuitous violence, Justice Quin said the crimes were very serious.
However, he noted that the young man’s spiral into crime seemed almost inevitable given his background and described the social enquiry report submitted to the court as making “depressing reading”.
Known to the Department of Child and Family Services since he was born addicted to crack, as a child he was neglected by his mother, who has severe drug and alcohol problems, and his violent farther, who has a long criminal history with over 90 conviction and has been to jail many times. The boy was taken into care by the department when he was very young and while at Bonaventure the young boy ran away eight times. The judge said both parents blame each other forthe situation with their son and take no responsibility for their role as parents.
“It is obvious to the court from the review of the SIR that the defendant’s childhood has been devoid of any love, support or guidance,” he said, as he echoed the sentiments of the author of the report. Nevertheless, the judge noted that as the defendant grows older he must take responsibility for his actions. “The defendant must help himself and stay away from criminals and crime,” Justice Quin said.
As he handed down the sentences, the judge pointed to the fear that the teen had created with the crime, as well as the terrifying experience for the man whom the young offender assaulted in the store.
“It is the sincere hope of this court that this young defendant will be immediately enrolled in educational programmes whilst in custody so that in the less than three years ahead he will equip himself to change the course of his life and become a productive member of this society,” Justice Quin added.
Cayman students impress at martial arts grading
(Purple Dragon): Over 90 students of the Purple Dragon martial arts school were recently put through their paces and then honoured with their new grades by Professor Don Jacob, founder of the Purple Dragon martial arts programme, who visited Cayman last month especially for the examinations. The grading process took place over two days at the Purple Dragon dojo (studio) at the Mirco Centre and students from both that location and the programme’s Crewe Road studio were required to showcase their karate skills in front of Professor Jacob. As well as developing his world-famous Don Jitsu Ryu martial arts, Professor Jacob is also a Martial Arts Hall of Famer and martial arts world champion and he visited Cayman in November as part of his worldwide grading tour.
Grading is an important part of a karate student’s development programme as the grading process allows them to progress to the next level of their training, as is indicated by an exchange in their belt colour. In total 92 students were graded during the November tour, with youngsters aged 11 years and under making up the majority (71) of those graded, the remainder were pre-teens, teens and adults. New belts achieved were broken down as follows: Yellow 22, Orange 16, Green 19, Blue 6, Purple 5, Red 3 and Brown 21.
Cayman Islands Purple Dragon Martial Arts instructor, Sensei Floyd Baptiste, said he was impressed by the high levels achieved by all students.
“All students are to be commended for their hard work and perseverance duringthe grading process. In particular, we were really pleased to note that three students actually achieved a ranking higher than the recommended level. Denise Corin, Francine Bryce, Elena Garcia-McLean all moved from White to Green Belt, which is a huge achievement for all three students,” he explained.
In addition, three students achieved the hard-fought elite warrior title. Cherie Branch was graded a Brown belt elite, Francine Bryce a Green Belt elite and Tahiti Seymour a Yellow belt elite, another impressive achievement for the group.