Archive for March, 2014
Public officials to tackle hazardous waste threats
(CNS): Thirty-six government workers will be taking part in a 40-hour Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response (HAZWOPER) Certification training programme this coming week. The training will culminate in a simulation emergency exercise at the Fire Service’s training ground. The focus is on cooperation between different agencies responding to emergencies involving hazardous materials. A HAZMAT incident is not necessarily a single event. Hazardous materials can be contributing factors in aircraft or port incidents, fires, hurricanes, earthquakes, terrorist activity or other disastrous conditions.
The course will prepare government workers to protect their own safety and that of the general public in daily operations, as well as providing the capacity to respond to emergency spills of hazardous chemicals despite being uncommon. The training will also address the need to minimise the environmental and health impacts of improper management of hazardous substances.
By increasing the cadre of trained individuals in the respective agencies across Government, the Cayman Islands will be better poised to effectively cope with such situations and to mitigate their effects.
The training which is sponsored by the Ministry of Health, Sports, Youth and Culture (HYS&C) and coordinated by the Department of Environmental Health (DEH), is based on the Incident Command System (ICS) which is used by emergency services around the world and provides a standardised, on-scene, all-hazards approach to incident management. The ICS allows responders to adopt an integrated organisational structure which identifies the steps that lead to improved coordination in response to incidents.
Many Cayman Islands government departments and authorities have taken part in this training before and a number of these individuals will be updating their knowledge by taking part in the refresher course and completing three half-day modules of classroom and field instruction. For those being certified for the first time, the course takes the format of a 40-hour workshop, which includes nine classroom and field instruction modules.
The course, which will take place at the Public Works Training Room from 24 – 28 March, will culminate with all participants taking on roles in an Emergency Simulation Exercise, and completing a written exam. In total, 36 persons are registered for the training. They range from the Department of Environmental Health, the Postal Service, the Fire Service, Water Authority-Cayman, Public Works Department, the Petroleum Inspectorate, and Hazard Management Cayman Islands.
Additionally, two individuals from Cayman Brac are registered; one from DEH and one from the Fire Service. This will increase the number of HAZWOPER trained persons in Cayman Brac to three.
This hands-on training course is provided by David Jensen and Roy Coons, experienced trainers in the areas of Spill Control, Safety and Emergency Response. Now semi-retired Jensen is a former Director of Texas A & M University’s National Spill Control School while Coons is the Director of the Environmental, Health & Safety Department of Texas A & M (Corpus Christi). Both men have conducted similar courses in the Cayman Islands before, as well assisting with the clean-up in the aftermath of Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
DEH would like to thank the Public Works Department and the Cayman Islands Fire Service for their assistance in hosting this important training workshop. It also acknowledges the support of the Ministry of HSY&C for its support of this endeavour.
Bodden Town FC plan tostay on attack
(CIFA): Bodden Town FC plans to stick with its attacking inclinations, when it opens Group 1 play in the first round of the 2014 Caribbean Football Union Club Championship on Friday at the Estadio Juan Ramon Loubriel in Bayamon, Puerto Rico. There’s no reason to change now, especially since the club is the current king of Cayman Islands football, claiming every senior crown on offer over the past two years. Those achievements, after all, have been predicated on an offensive style of play. “Bodden Town has an attacking mindset and we will keep that,” head coach Elbert Mclean told CONCACAF.com.
“We don’t know much about our opponents and vice versa, so we will try to usethe element of surprise to our advantage. Our players are motivated to compete at the highest level,” he added.
Key to Mclean’s offensive plan is the speed of marksman Theron Wood, who has scored nine goals in all competitions this season, including the winner in the President’s Cup Final earlier this month.
“Theron is very important to our team,” said Mclean, whose side is unbeaten in all local competitions dating back to 2012. “He can’t do it alone and will need help from Rico Brown, Charlo Mclean and Thomas Bush in the midfield.”
Wood realizes that the President’s Cup triumph, which joins Premier League, FA Cup and Charity Shield titles on Bodden Town’s burgeoning list of recent honors, could point the way to more success in the Caribbean competition. “I strongly believe we will get a good result,” Mclean concluded. “Victory would be a good fillip not just to our club but to the entire Cayman Islands Football family.”
Log on to www.caymanfootball.com for results and updates as well as all the information of all CIFA leagues, latest news and team videos
Fixtures for 2014 Caribbean Football Union Club Championship are as follows:
Group 1 – Bodden Town Sports Club Fixtures
March 21, 2014 8:00 pm – Bodden Town FC vs. Bayamon FC
March 23, 2014 5:30 pm – Unite Saint Rosienne vs. Bodden Town FC
March 25, 2014 4:00 pm – Bodden Town vs. Centro Dominguito
Tax dodging strip club owner keeps Cayman condo
(CNS): The owner of two strip clubs in Wisconsin who tried to hide $240,000 from the IRS to buy a property in the Cayman Islands has evaded jail and got to keep his condo because, a court heard, of his efforts to pay back to the IRS the money he tried to hide here. Dale Trostorff, 60, of Milwaukee pleaded guilty to "structuring", which is breaking up bank deposits to avoid transaction reports to the Internal Revenue Service, and sentenced Friday to two years of probation, with six months on home lock-down and fined$10,000.
According to court records, U.S. District Judge Lynn Adelman said that, "Cheating on taxes is extremely serious. It's stealing from the public," adding that Trostorff could have gone to prison were it not because of his "extraordinary" effort to pay the government in order to prevent them from seizing his Grand Cayman condo. He also agreed to re-file taxes for three years .
Trostorff made 30 deposits from his strip club takings into a half-dozen accounts in 2009, all below the $10,000 threshold that triggers a currency transaction report. He opened an account at a bank in Grand Cayman and used the cash for a condo.
Local artist to show-off big talent in big apple
(CNS): One of Cayman’s best known home grown artists will be exhibiting in New York next month at the Artexpo 2014, showcasing not just his own work but Cayman as well. Gordon Solomon said the exhibition, which will get significant media coverage in the USA and abroad, offers an excellent exhibition space for emerging artist. Individual artists also have a chance to show in their SOLO event, a juried exhibition of emerging and mid-career independent artists. Solomon said he continues to strive to be one of the artistic ambassador’s for the Cayman Islands to expose “home-grown Caymanian talent” to an international audience.
“I feel in an artist’s life we need opportunities like the artexpo not only as a way to make a living but also to enhance my skills, to be challenged, to see and learn new things. Opportunities like this can be life changing and encouraging,” he said.
Taking place 2-6 April at the New York Pier 94 711 12th Ave, a recognizable event space in New York City used for high-end shows and large scale events, the Artexpo 2014 follows the Armory Show, completing the convention centre’s month long, critically acclaimed prominent art fairs in New York City.
Cayman gears up for Chili Cook-Off
More Cubans on run from detention centre
(CNS): Police and immigration officials are on the lookout for three more Cubans who made a bid for freedom Wednesday evening. This is the second time in just a week that migrants being held at the detention centre in Fairbanks, George Town, escaped. The three men broke out of the centre sometime in the evening and official say they were last seen at 5pm on 19 March. Lazaro Jarol Gato (30) Yasmany Gonzalez Rodriguez (25) And Ronny Perez Bocalla (29) are all part of a group of 30 migrants being held by local officials awaiting their return to Cuba, having landed in Cayman recently due to difficulties with vessels.
Anyone with information about the refugees is asked to contact Garfield Wong @ 526-0480; Joey Scott @ 526-0433 or Jeremy Scott @526-7937
Premier called to UK for Islamic finance meeting
(CNS Business): Cayman Premier Alden McLaughlin and the leader of Bermuda, Craig Cannonie, have been appointed by the FCO to a new international group dealing with Global Islamic Finance and Investment, along with a number of international bankers and finance experts. Cayman is a popular jurisdiction for Islamic Finance, which is growing 50 percent faster than traditional banking. McLaughlin will be heading to London at the weekend with a delegation to attend the group’s first meeting, as well as meetings with the OT minister and, officials said, with Lord Blencathra, who, despite changes in the UK House of Lords rules, still appears to work for CIG. Read more on CNS Business
Corruption fuels multiple global challenges
(CNS): Corruption is a significant contributing factor to world crisis of all kinds from inequity to war, the chair of transparency international told the UCCI conference audience on Wednesday. Delivering the keynote address at the opening of the ethics conference, broadcast around the world on-line, chair Dr Huguette Labelle, said the event would provide a forum to take stock of the underlying reasons why no country is immune from corruption and why leaders, managers and those who deliver public service need to work on a strong set of ethical values to beat it. She said corruption takes a toll on all societies and is behind many challenges from extreme poverty to maintaining stability.
Labelle noted there was no difference for the victims of corruption from countries and corporations that lose billions of dollars to those who have to pay small bribes to get access to essential services. There was nothing petty she said, for someone earning $600 per annum in the developing world to pay 40% of that in bribes for basic services.
Even for wealthier countries corruption undermines business and more and more corporations are reporting their avoidance of, and departure from, countries where corruption is commonplace. Labelle also noted that corruption often fuels the illicit trade in drugs and guns that come back to bite the source countries in the form of violent crime.
Keenly, aware of her audience Labelle seemed to hesitate when she spoke about global tax evasion but she pointed to the trend in automatic exchange as a step in the right direction when she cited the tax justice network statistics that some $3trillion dollars has been lost in tax evasion and avoidance hidden offshore. With the development of technology she said it was easier and easier for people to move, hide and make money disappear. She also warned that the increasing sophistication of the corrupt and the wealth accumulated allows them to become more powerful than governments and infiltrate state institutions from the judiciary to parliaments.
However, Labelle said the future could be different if people fought back as she pointed to myriad ways to combat corruption. “We can have a different future,” the Transparency international boss said. “It is possible to deal with it as the people don't want their institutions being complicity in corruption people want open free safe just countries,” she said.
Not surprisingly given her role she said transparency was one the most important tools as she spoke about the need for freedom of information. Dr Labelle said the information held by public officials is not theirs alone but it belongs to the people they are merely custodians who should not make people beg on their knees for the information.
Leadership, too she said mattered a great deal both in the public and private arenas and it was important those at the top don’t look the other way. The rule of law is critical she said in combatting corruption which meant an independent well-resourced judiciary which treated all people treated in a fair and open way.
Moving to a topical issue for Cayman at present she noted the need for politicians to disclose all of their assets and interests as well as those of their immediate family members. Labelle also called for full transparency on political funding. Addressing some more innovative ideas about combatting political corruption and real transparency she spoke about the need to disclose those who have input in and who lobby for policy and legislative change.
In the public sector she said to have trust in those who deliver services and enforce regulations on a day to day basis, promotion in the civil service had to be on merit only. She said people lose faith when codes of ethics are just on paper they need to be seen to be guiding the work of the public sector, members of which should also be disclosing their assets.
And with 50% of most government budgets going on procurement this was where the focus had to be. She pointed to a system in In Brazil where now at midnight every day the government posts on line how much it collected in revenue and how much it spent. Although she said it sounds difficult once the system was established officials there say it has been easy to keep up offering a truly transparent view of public finances. She said e- procurement was a way for people to clearly see if there was something questionable about a tender or an award.
Noting that the private sector had a part to play too she said it takes two to tango but sometimes three to bribe. While some still think bribery is the way to do business more and more commercial entities are recognizing the folly and realize that it is getting harder to hide bribes.
Educating tomorrow’s leaders today she said was critical to the goal of a corruption free world in the future. From primary to Phd she said students must be taught ethical and moral principles so they will become leaders who will turn their back on corruption.
For further information on the conference go to www.UCCIconference.ky.
Alden points to election fraud
(CNS): "Time and again we have heard stories of election fraud, of vote buying – whether its cash in an envelope, a bottle of rum, a new washer or refrigerator," Cayman Islands Premier Alden McLaughlin said at the anti-corruption conference at the UCCI. However, he was not referring to the local polls but elections "the world over". Having emphasised the clean bill of health given to the last general elections in the Cayman Islands by the independent observers, he stated, "We can’t keep ignoring election fraud if we are to truly going to stamp out corruption. Those who are guilty – both the candidate or party and the voter – must own up to it, admit it is wrong and help move their country, its people and the region forward."
Conference to help shape plan for CEDAW
(CNS): As the Cayman Islands Government takes the final steps towards meeting the requirements for the UK to extend the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to the Cayman Islands, the gender affairs minister says she is seeking input from the community towards that goal. Hosting the ministry's first conference on women’s affairs, Tara Rivers said the day-long event on 29 March will provide a forum for the public to contribute and discuss CEDAW and the social, cultural, economic and political challenges that girls and women experience in Cayman.
Following the passage of the gender discrimination law by, the former gender affairs minister, Mike Adams, during the previous UDP administration in December last year, the ministry asked the UK to extend CEDAW and the National Conference on Women is designed to help in that goal.
“Through an interactive agenda, the morning session will provide an opportunity for attendees to discuss the key areas relating to CEDAW in focus groups and for the Ministry to collect qualitative data regarding priority issues and any potential areas of concern,” officials stated.
During the afternoon session, Dr Glenda P. Simms, a CEDAW expert from Jamaica who served on the United Nations CEDAW Committee for four years, will deliver a keynote address focusing on how we can all become ‘Architects of Change’ in our personal lives and in our society.
Lady Rabia, a well-known local performer and advocate for gender equality, will also deliver a spoken word performance, and Rivers will address attendees on the government’s commitments to empowering women and promoting gender equality.
“We welcome and value the contributions of all attendees and will use these diverse perspectives to help inform the implementation plan for CEDAW and Government’s work to promote gender equality in the Cayman Islands,” Rivers said.
The gender affairs unit has planned the conference as part of honouring women month, which is observed in March each year, and participants may attend the full day or just the morning or afternoon session. There is no registration fee and complimentary continental breakfast and lunch are included, However, spaces are limited and pre-registration is essential. Registration forms are available online or from the Government Administration Building.
The conference takes place at the Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort Governor's Ballroom on Saturday, 29 March 2014. For more information, please visit www.genderequality.gov.ky or contact the Gender Affairs Unit at genderequality@gov.ky or on 244-3226.
See more details and registration form below.