CS jobs must be transferred
(CNS): If government goes ahead with the privatization plan recommended by Ernst and Young hundreds of civil service posts will be lost. Unless those workers are transitioned to the private sector the country will face a surge in the already high unemployment figures and government will be footing the bill for the social fallout. In its review of the controversial report the Chamber of Commerce, a vocal supporter of reducing government, said the private sector must take on the local workers. However, MLA Ezzard Miller, who has raised concerns about the report, warned that if the private sector takes over government services it will be looking to cut headcounts and recruit cheap labour, not looking out for government workers.
A long statement released this week by the Chamber, spelling out its support for the EY report and fire sale of government assets, said that transitioning public sector workers had to be a top priority. Stating that no Caymanian should be left behind, it said the private sector must be an active participant in the transitional process.
Chamber President Johann Moxam emphasised the need for the transition of civil servants into the private sector, otherwise, he said, the rationalization would not succeed. He said that any reduction in the number of civil servants must be achieved through a transfer of jobs to the private sector, not through absolute job losses
“The Chamber is prepared to work with the elected government and public sector to help identify the skills, competencies and attributes of civil servants in departments or units under consideration for rationalization and then facilitate their recruitment into the private sector. Developing an effective transition plan can be done — we should not avoid it because it is new or difficult,” he said.
Moxam said that permits should not be given to employers involved in taking on government services if those jobs can be filled by government workers whose departments are being cut.
“The success of this type of initiative will require the immigration department to work closely with the NWDA and all related agencies to ensure that work permits are not granted forjobs that could objectively be filled by the suitably qualified transitioning civil servants who may be impacted by the rationalization project, and this must apply across the board to labourers, administrative staff and professionals,” he stated. “Transitioning those persons into the private sector is crucial to the overall success of any rationalization initiative."
However, the government has proved significantly inadequate when it comes to policing the labour laws in the private sector or enforcing immigration laws relating to the granting of government workers. Over the last few months CNS has highlighted numerous infractions relating to the manipulation of the recruitment process by employers to maintain work permit holders and the transition of civil servants into the private sector is very unlikely to be a smooth one.
The independent member for North Side, Ezzard Miller, pointed out that the private sector has been extremely vocal about the stereotypical image of the civil service and he said employers will not be rushing to embrace hundreds of civil servants caught up on the government sell-off.
“We know that the private sector seems to believe that every single civil servant is lazy or incompetent. I do not believe that they will be willing to take on more than a few civil servants. Employers will try to fill the posts with cheap labour and permit holders,” he warned, adding that government would see a painful increase in local unemployment and find its annual social service bill growing from $65 million to $165 million.
With cost-cutting the goal of the rationalization plan, Miller pointed to the idiocy of creating so much more unemployment among local workers. The North Side memebr said he believes efficiency and how government spends cash is where officials need to look to cut spending not the proposed fire sale.
(See more on CNS tomorrow.)
Category: Politics
So basically what the CIG wants it for the public sector to take over thier loses and dead wieght, they aren't going to bite..
"Cayman jobs must be transferred". You cannot dictate who the private sector choose to employ, that is not how capitalism works. We choose who we feel is the best person for a job and who can add value to our business, not government. If the government feels so strongly about full employment for Caymanians, then hire them yourself. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with deciding as a nation that working for the government is important for social cohesion. This already happens in some places in USA e.g. Alaska.
Well Caymanians time to join the Lodge to keep your lickle Jobs! for those who don't get the nod and voted for the PPM yes the same PPM who added over 600 new civil servants to influence both the government and the vote What time is it Peoples??? PPM Time aaah boy what a mess?
The Chamber has long over-stepped its mark because they elected a politically ambitious head. The notion that the private sector, which the Chamber presumably represents, must hire any Caymanians cut, certainly doesn't represents it's memberships best interest or its views. I have no intention of continuing my membership. The E&Y report is designed to save government from a bloated CS that has provided social services to Cayman in the sense that some of its workers are unemployable (which makes it hard for the really good CSs). The idea that many businesses which are already on the brink and very heavily taxed in expenses must hire those cut is unrealistic and is political speak. Businesses cannot be put in the same position that the E&Y report is now trying to address with Government. Business are intended to be run efficiently and even more so now with the high expenses of running a business and the unpredictable global economic market. This letter from the COC does not represent the views or best interest of COC members. Moxam has his fans and that's fine but this is not the place for his political ambitions.
The Business community consistently calls for cutting a bloated CS but it sounds like you are indifferent to what happens to those caymanians losing jobs. What will happen then is that persons will go to the social services line which results in higher fees for businesses to pay for and the welfare state which continues to grow. People must be able to work unless unemployment will grow to 15% which is shocking for a country this size with 20,000 work permit holders. That is how social unrest begins.
Didn't the seafaring fore fathers leave the country to get jobs? What is the difference with these people doing that? They are no different than anyone else that have skills. That no one values. They are no different than when a private sector company leaves the island and those staff have to find work. Explain that everyone needs to re skill if they don't then they suffer. People have to take care of themselves, not the govt. Find a job in the UK/USA/Cananda. Most of the civil service have a second passport…..
Let it begin!
look no further than your noses, the Tourism sector, has large numbers of permits of all categories. Start a process between Government and Tourism Chiefs of reviewing of positions in this sector that match with skill sets or near skill sets of civil servants. Once numbers and levels of salary and overall compensation are defined, create a retooling process for civil servants to be absorbed into these jobs within a specific time frame established which provides reasonable notice to the outgoing exiting workers. The Conceivable net effect is that of government transfers of civil servants into a productive sector,with reduced salary and benefit costs within Government, tourism employers gain by not having work permit or repatriation fees, a proper living wage can be established for these transferred and existing workers and we go one giant step furtherv in caymanizing our tourism sector.
it obviously is not as simple as indicated, but certainly Could be a process that can be made to work if there is truly a desire to find solutions to at least this one dilema of civil service reduction which again would also be of benefit to the tourism sector as well.
well that's my 2 cents worth.
JH
So what if Johann has political ambitions?! For 50 years leaders and wanna be leaders have used the Chamber to complement their political ambitions e.g. Benson Ebanks, Arthur Hunter, Roy McTaggart, Joey Hew, Eddie Thompson, Berna Thompson-Murphy. ..Others, less transparently, used the position as well…XXXX.
Leaders will often find themselves unpopular.
This country has a gaping void where leadership is supposed to be.
The current Chamber President stands out because he has the courage to call a spade a spade and not get caught with his lips to some powerful person' ass looking out for themselves. When he insists on having a national conversation certain people would rather avoid, he makes them squirm. They should. Those who have something to hide or something to lose (money, power prestige or all three) don't want accountability. The system works for them. if we actually dealt with our crime, fixed our economy and rationalized the civil service those same squirming people would be less relevant, they would lose some of their prestige, power or ability to profit as much as they do from the current mess.
Damn right private sector needs to hire some of the Civil Servants if a department or two was rationalized, downsized or privatized. I say let's start small – outsource garbage collection and use that as test case.
The status quo is untenable. Civil service costs need to come down. If Chamber didn't offer to help transition some of them to the private sector, there would be another criticism.
c'mon folks, let's focus on solutions rather than discrediting ran open minded, brave Caymanian with petulant and snobbish excuse making.
Hopefully the next Chamber president and everyone after will have courage, objectivity and be equally committed to fixing the problems.
Fact check in the days of Mr. Benson Ebank's political career the Chamber of Commerce had no political clout they dealt with Commerce and there were no political interference from them the way it should be now. If they want to be one the shoulder of Goverment to whisper in their ears on behalf of business then the workers of this country need an organization to sit on the next shoulder of Government, time for a proper paying union dues organization. Cayman working class is going to loose big if they do not wake up and smell the coffee. Cayman did not take the opportunity to opt for internal self government like Bermuda when they had the opportunity to do so but 45 years later they were running to the UN to force the UK to grant it to them. Likewise today they see Union and minimum wage as unnecessary evils but give it five years when they won't be possible then all of us alive then will be crying for them when life becomes most difficult without them.
The simple solution to all this is for Government to make redundant all non essential non Caymanian staff. This happened in 1975 when there was a downturn in the economy due to the collapse of Interbank house and the country survived through that period and there was no unemployment as a result of that decision. The economy rebounded and many of the people that were laid off and returned to their home countries returned in the late 70s and early 80s when our boom resumed, the same can and will happen. Hard choices make for hard decisions but something must be done, the sooner the better. Our legislators need to step away from the man, his son and the donkey mentality before we ending up loosing the entire country for being indecsive. Take a position and stick to it, don't try to please everyone, make and take a position and stick by it. Good leaders lead and poor leaders are indecisive.
Wake up!
The government problems began in the early 1980s when the Secret Handshake people recruited every top civil service. It has continued ever since, and the same people pollute the private sector.
Nepotism+favoritism abound, but this is the one topic every turns a blind eye to.
Is it any wonder the UK requires every cop,judge+public servant to disclose puiblicly if they are members of these Secret Societies?
Think again!
If they disclose their membership to a secret society does that mean it is no longer a secret?
“Telegraph” article
By Neil Tweedie
The Duke of Kent is the current Grand Master of UGLE, and his brother, Prince Michael of Kent, is a Mason. Yet, despite royal patronage, and the presence of Freemasons in the judiciary and the higher reaches of the City (there is a Bantk of England Lodge) they deny being an underground arm of the Establishment.
You find it all there: the Illuminati, Bilderberg, the all-seeing eye on the American one-dollar bill. Bill Clinton is supposed to be a 33rd-degree Mason, there being, according to conspiracists, a stair of secret degrees ascended only by the elite.
“There’s nothing not known to the rank and file but if someone is very interested in Freemasonry, they can develop their knowledge.”
How? “They can perfect their ritual.”
What about one’s private life? “In my humble opinion it links to integrity. Infidelity would definitely be frowned upon but each case must be considered on its merits.”
Homosexuality? “Fine. The key thing is to get men of quality coming in. One rotten apple can spread to the whole basket.”
When government departments and councils issued forms asking job applicants if they belonged to secret societies, specifically Freemasonry, fought successfully to have the wording changed on grounds of discrimination. But why the culture of secrecy?
The Roman Catholic Church still regards Freemasonry as a “grave sin” and the Church of England considers aspects to be “incompatible” with Christianity. Mr Brown denies absolutely that the Craft is a secret religion.
But there is something quasi-religious about Freemasonry.
What the hell is happening to Cayman? It looks to me like everyone is gone crazy. If Politicians do not over spend like in the past they can get these places back on track. Alot of us will suffer if they are pivatized Worst yet when our Caymanians loose their jobs wh are going to pick up
the as for them, SOCIAL SERVICE? We could certainly do with Politicians like Jim Bodden a
around.
“The Chamber is prepared to work with the elected government and public sector to help identify the skills, competencies andattributes of civil servants" Now there's a challenge!
The stereotypical assumption that civil servantsa are not qualified needs to stop. Rather than make assumptions why not do your research. do a FOI request to the Portfolio of the Civil Service, ask how many cilvil servants have a degree. Becasue the degrees held are not in accounts, or law does not it make it any less. Civil servants has degrees in Bio- Chemisty, Law, economics, HR, Accounts, Psychology, Counselling, Teaching, Computer science and quite a few have multiple masters degrees and PHd.
XXXX
Additionally many of the jobs do not require traditionally academic qualifications as the service provided is vocational, therefore other skills are provided. However when a degree and experience is required for managment and senior posts, most of them are qualified. As like the private sector, some people have worked their way up the rank, earning a promotion and some people have friends in high places. that is life!
No everyone in the private sector is highly skilled and qualified!
Real citizens should be able to take responsibility for themselves and their families. Caymans recent past choice of giving out easy jobs with little responsibilities have only resulted in a large group who are now spoiled beyond help and can not function on their own two feet. They in turn have raised a new generation of kids that have not been pushed into being self relient and will also need outside help to survive. Cayman has put itself into massive debt just keeping them all (employed). The choice is now keep them happy and run the government into the ground or make them depend on themselves to live. Like most people in the modern world. Its not that hard to do. Most people working in Cayman do it. Not hard to see that CIG will not make the hard choices and not be able to keep the gravy train running for much longer. Businesses should get ready to take on the added burden comeing their way.
Excellent post and something I have been saying for years.
As it appears, the entitlement card, when played, will get you on the road to nothing.
18 months time, there will be nothing worth having and entitled to even less.
I heard yesterday that a friend is pulling his business out and relocating to Toronto. This is the second business in I have heard of in two days that will be gone next year. The other business is going to Western Australia.
Will this mean more jobs open locally? Nope. Does this mean that jobs have been lost permanently? Yes.
Another friend, despite being qualified to an international standard has been told that after 5 years of doing this role, the Cayman Islands now requires the employee to sit a test. This is a test made up locally in the Cayman islands. Place this extra burden on business and you will reap what you sow.
Meanwhile, any PR applications made will be "gotten round to in a year" maybe more. I guess if you keep the delay, the inefficiency and insecurity flowing, they will leave. A bit of a reverse field of dreams scenario.
Hard choices are coming that should have been made at least four years ago.
The gravy train is drying up, the hogs will soon turn on each other at the trough.
I think the expression is "da wha ya get", I am not sure. I will be too busy closing the aircraft door gently and making sure it doesn't bang me on the ass before the next venture in the world.
There is still a lot of it out there outside Cayman.
I think we can all agree that the curtain is slowly closing on Cayman. Meanwhile, let's create another committee to have a meeting about it.
I am taking my company to the states sooner than later this place is imploding and i cant be here anymore.
The stealing, the texting, the gunja, the sitting around it all adds up and i cant operate this way
What really puts the nail in the coffin is that you people think its ok to be that way.
Whats even worse is that you peole think you are above other people.
You are right 21:07 and social service should only give grant to real citizens, CS i.e. the right to be Caymanian and Permanent Residency should only be given to those that have the means to live here and are of independent means and don't have to take jobs from real citizens.
Did the EY report say anything about the London Office, with its poisonous atmosphere, massively expensive real estate location costing us all an arm and a leg every year and NOTHING ever coming out of it? It is the biggest waste of government funds ever but no one wants to admit it and just close it down. It's like the Church-untouchable- but we know, although we worship it, it does not give us much in return. And by the way, politicians like Ezzard commenting on the EY report should declare a conflict of interest by stating his son is a civil servant and works at the London Office.
I don't understand. Why is it more important to find jobs for civil servants than for unemployed Caymanians?
I saw in the newspaper where one government worker Is being paid between $180K and $204k. This is unbelievable when teachers, for example, are so poorly paid.
I probably wouldn't hire a government employee. Look at the post office, the licensing department, immigration department and most other government departments! Most Government employees have no customer service skills and no concept of professionalism. They enjoy this idea that their job is secure forever, so, why lift a finger or say "hello".
I'm from Chicago and never thought I would favor unions, but since our children cannot even get a job when they get an overseas university degree and good career experience (I'm married to a Caymanian) the only way to protect them is by a union.
Sorry private sector, you have spoken. You refuse to hire good qualified Caymanians that WANT to work, have great references, and are struggling. Private sector you have ignored training or succession planning, and dear private sector (and Chamber) we cannot TRUST that you will not kick us to the curb and hire from a 3rd world and get all your work permits approved.
Noted Btw next time you need your house cleaned I will tell you who will do it ..
Regards,
CIG
The problem is your definition of good and qualified. Anyone who has started a business anywhere in the world is the only qualified person to pick out who is qualified to work for them. I am interested in what your definition of honorable is?
Too Funny!
The private sector is doing such a fine job of employing caymanians as it is. what are you saying to me?I must be the only one who hears the daily complaint of how the private sector is doing everything possible to not hire caymanians.
Why are you all stressing ourselves out over the EY report.. Some of them are salivating over which government entity they will buy, jack up the cost to the consumer, get richer and laugh all the way to the bank. It cannot happen, Government needs to look carefully at this, streamline the business and throw that report in the round file. Please do not waste time worrying about it, it cannot happen like the are suggesting. I thought they were smart people.
Get rid of the dead weight & that alone will save a fortune. Too many people in CS don't have a clue what or how to do the job they are actually employed to do but just turn up & get paid!!!! Quite sad really when the rest of us have to work our butts off to pay bills & feed our families.
Looks like rain callin in (after your clock in time) don't want to catch a sinus… Mean while the expat landscaper is out in your yard weed wackn…
Give an example? Like every other employer teh Civil Service has good and bad. the reality is if it was as bad as people would like to portray there would be little to no services.
Yes the bad apples need to be weeded out, but bad apples are also in the private sector. I work with a few
Civil servants transitioning to the private sector? Fat chance! Then they'ed have to actually do some honest-to-gosh WORK – a four letter word to the vast majority of Government employees!
When the U K went through the process of downsizing and privatizing some services, many of the professional and skilled workers simply walked from one job environment to the other.
And I don't believe that civil servants are a different breed of people. I have seen some of the best in government and some of the worst in the private sector. I have worked in both environments and my work output, dedication and attitude were absolutely the same.
I firmly believe that Civil servants who must transition will adapt to the new environments just fine.
However, this transitioning process has to be conducted in a carefully timetabled and methodical way. And there should be no rush and no wholesale jettisoning of departments and agencies. Easy and slowly does it. And all available resources must be applied to ensure people are supported through the process — even in some cases to the extent of underwriting retraining, for example.
Obviously this is time intensive so lots of planning over an extended period, concentrating on one agency at a time. Otherwise, we will end up in mass chaos.
I know the Compass and its cohorts are salivating at the bit — but just let us not get carried away. We are talking about the lives of people here, who have children to be fed and schooled, and mortgages to pay.
All Civil Servants are not lazy and incompetent.
I and many other CS show up day after day on time and work efficiently and consistently.
Many of us have never taken a day sick leave and have integrity, so please stop tarnishing all CS with the same brush.
There are lazy incompent workers in every organisation not only CIG.
Easy stone to cast … My "tax" dollars pay your wage..
And my tax dollars pays for your free infrastructure.
User!
70% of public sector workers would not make it in the private sector.
They would be fired within 3 months.
Well I expected Alden to screw us on labor just not so soon.
3 months? 3 days more like!
You clearly have absolutely no idea what you are talking about.
Ever worked for Shell, Sears, Wallmart ? Huge organisations with the same bureaucracy as any government.
Most civil servant want to show initiatives, but are not allowed to do so for political reasons. The problem is management.
If you mean governmental managers, then I would agree.
Everyone is already paying for garbage collection. The fee was dropped and the import duty was raised to compensate. When will everyone understand this?
In my opinion, that should have been done 20 years ago when it was obvious that a large percentage of persons did not pay the fee.
The competent have nothing to fear, the majority however….
Unfortunately, competence will have little to do with it.
This is all well and fine but private sector can only take on those it has a need for. Private sector is not magically empowered to grant sinecures to those who enjoyed the same whilst formerly employed in public sector.
That is why Governments should never be privatized. It is a bad idea. Short term happiness, long term sadness. WATCH!
Dear Jesus, what is happening to me? I agree with Ezzard.
You're coming to your senses.
What, I agree with Ezzard? Did I have a stroke?
He is only a big-headed a$$ 75% of the time. If it weren't for his ego he would have been a great leader.
I agree with Miller, cutting civil service without have a transition plan would cause more expenditure on the CI government due to the unemployed seeking social benefits.
Government should keep on the path of cutting cost, not only for themselves, but for large and small businesses alike. Make it more attractive to do business in the Cayman Islands, by dropping the business license fees, the work permit fees, the tenure of the rollover policy. We all know if Foster’s has milk for $5 and Kirks has the same milk for $5.75, we buying it from Foster’s unless we trying to save gas.
This is how businesses think today, if the price of doing business is too high and they can’t get the necessary resources to run and grow their business – Hear Wha! They going somewhere else. Simple!
If more business are established here in Cayman, the civil servants, unemployed, and others would then have the opportunity to apply for more jobs, hopefully with 2 Caymanian to1 expat ratio influx.
Cost of living should in theory go down as demand and supply would level out.
Everyone wins in this scenario:
1) Businesses operate cheaper
2) Hired expertise are cheaper
3) Business make more revenue
4) More job openings
5) More apartments being rented
6) More real estate being purchase
7) CUC get their wish (infinite returns) still not happy about this one
8) Supermarkets can sell more groceries
9) Restaurants have more people to serve
10) Better wages for all
11) Bla Bla Blathe list could infinite like CUC rates!
12) Government would have collected more in business licenses fees, work permit fees, stamp duties, import duties
13) Social service funding would be reduced.
Ah the day, when I could go the Bakery and buy a soda and pattie, step outside and don’t see 20 hard back men sitting all day, drinking 345, begging for change to buy %#&@ because at least 15 of them would have something to do.
Oh so you have noticed that some of the newly listed "unemployed" have had to return to the workforce beacause they no longer have the income from their rental apartments.
I hate going to the bakery now becuz of them! I went there 5:45 am thinking it’s Saturday I can get fresh baked bread, buns and my rolls and no lazy idiots begging low and behold as the sun started to rise good they started showing up one asked me if I was going to buy cigarettes I said no but I want one lol he said well give me the money i’ll go inside to get them for you (now this wasn’t going to be for nothing of course he would of bummed one from me plus ask for change) I said go ahead then he said I don’t have any $$$$.$$ I said really me either. Proceeded to purchase my fresh baked goodies and cigs a soda and left. Mr burgman really needs to do something about them I’m 39 and I grew up seeing all of them there every morning on my way to school and after I went on to start working. Smh
10:26 Are you crazy? Doing away with the rollover will finish destroy us. Most of those that received status in the mass grant is costing tax payers millions of dollars right now. Without the rollover policy everyone will become Caymanian. You are likely to be an expat. Are you going to cover those people living expenses after they become Caymanians and have nothing to fall back on for their survival?????? I doubt that you would even if you had the financial means to do so. So please shut your mouth. Furthermore, all of those expats in these Islands that are here for the all mighty dollar will disappear overnight if Cayman falls flat on its face. It will be like it was in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Ivan. The expats in particular headed to the airport, left their vehicles parked where ever they could find space and left on the first available flight out of Grand Cayman, including some police officers.
A pipe dream by the Chamber.
Chamber should focusfirst on helping solve the existing unemployment situation within their membership. What are they doing about that?
When that is solved then they will have cause to focus on Government.
They are running their businesses. It's not up to private business to solve unemployment problems caused by Government policy (or lack thereof)
Government policy should be to replace work permits with locals until full employment returns, and implement a decent minimum wage so that Caymanians can be employed.
However, when they're trying to create unemployment by asking for Government to sell them the profit-potential services so that they can squeeze profit out of them through cutting staff numbers and pay …
Political posturing by the Chamber President.
Laying off massive amounts of Civil Service will cause the line item in the Budget to move from Salaries to Social Services.
What the Chamber is not accounting for is the existing multiplier effect on the economy. The Civil Service accounts for a significant amount of spending in the local economy when compared to the staff that some of their membership employs at less than mainimum wage.
So if CS staff are displaced less money will be circulating in the local economy and Chamber businesses will suffer.
This is elementary economics but it seems that not even this is understood. As the writer above stated, the Chamber needs to focus on helping the unemployed Caymanians to return to work which will boost the economy.What are they doing except criticising ?
Mr Miller, the difference between most private sector businesses and govt departments is simply that poor-performance is not rewarded with security of tenure…it doesn't matter where you were born, what matters is that you can do the job and profit targets are met….sometimes for sure, private companies get it wrong, downsize to their own detriment, and end up re-hiring…..this is life, get over it.
However, having said that….the rush (well, the prolonged crawl) to cut the CS workforce needs to heed Millars concerns…..in this particular environment they are not without merit
perhaps a much better option – despite it's short term faults – is to initiate a generational clear-out/reduction of the CS……essentially, cleary identifying where the departments are not just over-employed but also over-paid, and as persons reach retirement, simply not replacing them…and/or hiring replacments where necessary at lower wages and/or less-glamourous benefits.
to simply slash and burn would cause chaos in the workforce/labor market with significant fall-out trickling down thru the economy……..it is what it is, and with our country being so small, to risk relatively major forced unemployment (whether immediate, or in short term as 'private' enterprises do the dirty work of actually removing the excess employees) is a short term fix with major consequences clear as day.
Our country doesn't have a revenue problem, it does have an expenditure problem…but it doesnt HAVE to create for itself a massive unemployment problem when it could phase out the problem over 10.20.30 years…….it's not ideal, but it could be the best of the bad options……you know, not all private businesses are succesful either.
Miller, someone who i tead to disagree with a lot has a good point here.Cutback should be the first thing done. Something as simple as stopping all the freebies given to CS employes would save millions and having them pay for benefits like everyone else might even save lots of jobs..Start charging for services such as Garbage pickup and intruduce School taxes ops I mean fees for people with school age kids would help balance the cost of running cayman, that might also start to control the amount kids people have if they know it will cost them the more they have,.
You can't have your cake and eat it too..
Well at the very least stop funding the offspring of well off Caymanians attending foreign universities. Why is the state funding families that are perfectly capable and well off enough to fund their own children through college.
We could even name highly paid expat families whose children are given scholarships by banks and government. Yet, the lower income families are left holding their hands out begging for help for their children.
Pay attention to those who need the most and help them along in life.
Expat families are only entitled to apply for scholarships if they have been naturalised.
Wrong. And anyway, please educate yourself on the difference between being a BOTC and being a Caymanian.
So go on then and name. I bet they have status and therefore not technically expats.
Pay attention to the truth and stop spreading lies. Respect for others starts with self respect.
Bet you can't! The "expats" you refer to are those that have been naturalised and are therefore unde the law fully entitled to be treated as Caymanians.
Because its academic fundign not social funding. The principle is that anyone smart enough (and hard working enough, got to keep that GPA up) to do well in college shoudl be rewarded with help to get there. If you're also poor then you should get more help, but that doesn't mean the others shouldnt' get anything.
10:51 It is people like you with flawed thinking that got this country in the mess in the first place and will allow it to sink into 3rd world status soon. FYI most 1st world countries provide FREE EDUCATION from the cradle to the Grave. Try Sweden, Switzerland, Denmark and the list goes on that is why those and many other leaders in Europe is so prosperous, maybe we in Cayman should apply the same policy. Education is the key to sucess… when all material possessions were taken from the Jewish people they were able to start over and become the economic power house that they are today because they had the education to start over, no one can take away your education but they can your material possessions.
@09:44 – I've never understood that particular phrase…."You can't have your cake and eat it too…"
The SOLE purpose of cake is to be eaten. What's the point of having cake, if you can't eat it?
Perhaps something along the lines of "You can't have it both ways" may be more fitting.
– just sayin'
You either have it, or you eat it. You can't eat it and still have it. I think the civil service version is "you can't have your half dozen donuts and eat them too".
You know I will never think of that phrase the same why now.
The CS is not meant to be a social welfare scheme. It can't support uneccesary workers just because they are not good enough to find work in the private sector.
Unfortunately many of the people not needed by the CS are not going to be welcome in the more competitive private sector unless they increase their skills and motivation.
Instead ofbig payouts to the CS staff that are getting laid off why not put them through some training – IF that can be accomplished without it turning into the usual Cayman free for all.
Perhaps it shouldnt be but that is exactly what it is.
Thank you Johann Moxom finally with a Caymanian at the helm the chamber seems to be get it
Mr. Moxam are you syaing what needs to be said in order to get you and your crew elected but will sing a different tune if any are elected? I'm sorry, politicians are bad enough but can't trust anything you say sir.
Caymanian civil servants if you all don't wake up now and think about your future, I'm sorry but you ALL better demand those contracted workers start getting cut followed by senior civil servants who are just collecting paychecks and waiting for that magical number of retireemnt to be forced on them, or God forbid if that is increased to 65 because all Caymanian status holders will stay but as usual the native Caymanians are out day before 60th birtdhay.
But as usual, the polticians will find a way to say 'It's the fault of the British!" forgetting that it was with PPM/UDP/C4C and can-never-be fired-attorney-general that are running the show and not worried about our rights.