Archive for November, 2014
Courier cleared in gold theft
(CNS): A former Fedex courier was acquitted by a jury, Thursday, of charges relating to the theft of more than $30,000 of gold from packages destined for US refineries which had been sent by the local pawn shop Cash Wiz. Although Evon Robinson had at first confessed to managers at Cash-Wiz that he had taken the gold he later claimed he was coerced into the admission in an effort to save his job. During the trial Robinson’s defence attorney raised enough doubt that his client had not taken the items of gold jewellery entrusted to him in Fedex boxes when he showed othershad access to the packages and could have been responsible for the missing pieces.
James Stenning, of Stenning and Associates argued that along with a number of other potential suspects, including other couriers and the packers, his client did not sign all of the relevant weigh-bills and paperwork, that the weights in the packages were not always exactly recorded and the confession itself, which was supposedly recorded on a mobile phone, was edited and was wholly unreliable.
Fedex had also revealed that many of the packages coming and going from Grand Cayman were frequently light or had items missing.
The jury spent more than a day deliberating before they returned the verdicts of not guilty to three charges – one count of theft between 2011 and 2012 and two counts of transferring criminal property, as the crown had claimed that Robinson stole the money from the Cash Wiz packages and then pawned it to another local pawn shop – Cash for Gold.
However, Robinson, when he took the stand said that he had sold his own gold and that of a friend to that pawn shop and he had not taken anything from Cash Wiz when he worked as the courier dealing with the store's Fedex account. During the alleged confession he said that he had told the Cash Wiz managers that he would make up the missing gold in exchange for them not saying anything to his managers. As a result he said he collected as much of his own gold and that of his friends' as he could, to try and keep his job.
As the fore-woman of the jury delivered the verdict, Robinson literally leapt for joy, hugging his defence team and court staff the former courier was clearly emotional and delighted over his acquittal.
Justice Malcolm Swift thanked the jury for their close attention and careful consideration and pointed out that aside from the defendant who was really grateful for their sacrifice the courts and the community were grateful to them as well.
Over 100 government cars smashed up annually
(CNS): Figures released following a freedom of information request by a CNS reader have shown that on average around 104 government vehicles are involved in road collisions every year in Cayman and almost 20% of those are police cars. Although the information was limited, the RCIPS said that on average it has over 18 vehicles involved in car collisions every year, while other government agencies collectively have an average crash rate of about 86 cars smashed each year. The FOI confirmed that the worst year for the police was 2012, when they had 20 cars involved in accidents. Meanwhile, across the rest of government 2011 was the worst year, when 90 cars were crashed.
More reviews for education
(CNS): With no school inspections for almost six years and plans by the minister to overhaul the governance model for education, the Education Ministry has committed to spending around $300,000 on both a base line inspection of all government schools and a review of the system by KPMG. Minister Tara Rivers announced thatthe information from the independent inspection and review would reveal the quality of teaching and learning, evaluate the system and identify what works and what doesn’t. The consultant review will also examine alternative models for managing the education system and may see some schools put under private management, copying charter or academy type schools in the UK.
Rivers joins a long line of education ministers all of whom have come into office promising a new era for education and the subsequent changes to legislation or policy in a battle to improve standards. Now, when Caymanian high school graduates are performing in terms of exam results, better than at any time since records were kept, Rivers is promising more radical changes.
During a ministry press briefing on Wednesday morning she revealed that Mary Bowerman, a former member of the now defunct schools inspectorate, which suffered as a result of staff losses and the failure to replace them, will lead a team of six independent inspectors, most of whom are understood to have come from the UK. They will visit every government primary and secondary school throughout this academic year to undertake a focused inspection, looking at standards in maths and English, student achievement and the quality of teaching and the school’s management.
The aim is to assess exactly what the situation is “on the ground” and to assess the gaps and problems as well as focus on what is working already. It is expected to cost government in excess of $230,000. Reports will be produced on each school, which the minister promised would be made public on the ministry website, while a full report on the entire government school situation will be tabled in the Legislative Assembly by the end of this academic year.
Meanwhile, Roland Meredith, an education consultant contracted via KPMG at a cost of over $45,000, will conduct the review of governance and policy, which will be completed by January. The consultant will be looking at the possibility of taking schools from the direct management of the education department and introducing school boards and autonomy. He spoke about the need for innovation and preparing schools to prepare their students for the world as it will be when they leave school and the need for change and innovation.
He said he was looking to recommend models to fit the Cayman context and what the demands were of employers in this economy.
The minister and Winston Connolly, the education councillor, both denied that the education system would be privatized and committed to ensuring that there would no divisiveness or selection if that was the route that the government felt would work. They both promised free and equal access to education for all local children, regardless of their academic or other abilities, as they acknowledged the numbers of local kids with special educational needs. Connolly said the education ministry was not “concentrating only on the academically inclined or the rich” as government was committed to the best possible education for all local children.
But Connolly emphasised that education is not just the responsibility of government and that parents and employers need to be involved too. He spoke about the students in government schools as commodities, saying local businesses were “buying our product”, when he talked about government school graduates.
Once the results are in from both the baseline inspections and the review, Rivers said the ministry would act quickly to implement recommendations, with some changes possibly being implemented by the 2015 school year.
The minister is by no means the first to want to overhaul education and make major changes as it has been a constant theme over the last two decades. Numerous reviews, reports and consultations have taken place with policy and legislative changes having a mixed impact on the system.
However, there has been a steady increasing trend in recent years that has seen growing numbers of students leaving school with five GCSE or equivalent passes, with Cayman now measuring up well when compared to statistics in the region and in the UK. And while local students may becoming more academically inclined, the job market has become far more competitive and has seen local students struggle to find work in a labour market which is now saturated by work permit holders and overseas workers willing to work for lower and lower salaries.
See more details of the parameters of the inspections and the review in the release below.
Multi-year budgets deferred
(CNS): The finance minister has said that he does not expect to introduce the planned multi-year budget system or switch the financial year until the beginning of the 2016/17 fiscal year – the last financial year of this current administration. As government battles with public finances and the multiple problems surrounding governance, as well as proposals to downsize the civil service, Marco Archer told CNS recently that the idea to introduce government budgets exceeding the current 12 month span will not come until the end of this term. Government will be delivering is strategic policy statement outlining the budget requirements for 2015/16 next month and the minister said plans to bring in multi-year budgeting have been deferred.
The changeto the financial year dates and the multi-year budgets require a change in the Public Management and Finance Law. While the current government has been working on a number of amendments to the legislation relating in particular to the financial reporting issues, Archer said that the changes won’t be brought to the Legislative Assembly much before the end of this current 2014/15 year, which leaves little time to begin the multi-year budgets or a switch in dates.
Archer said, however, that introducing an 18 month budget in the first instance in the 2016/17 financial year would cover the problem period that exists for any new administration coming into office just one month before the end of the financial year and over the need for the interim budget.
This would then pave the way to introduce the multi-year budgets and switch the financial year in line with the calendar year in the next tem if the Progressives are re-elected, or allow any new government breathing room to develop its policies without the pressure of immediately needed to deal with a budget.
Archer said during last November’s policy statement that government had planned to move its fiscal year (which currently runs from 1 July through to 30 June) beginning on 1 January 2016 and that it would simultaneously introduce multi-year budgeting, with the first 18 month budget delivered at the end of this fiscal year followed by a two year budget on 1 January 2016.
Despite the complexities and expense of changing the fiscal year, the finance minister said it would bring numerous benefits.
However, those plans appear to have been shelved and instead Archer will be focusing on introducing the first 18 month public fiscal period in June 2016.
CIG budgets almost $3million for Ebola
(CNS): As the death toll in the world’s worst ever outbreak of the Ebola virus reaches close to 5200 the Cayman Islands government has budgeted almost $3million on equipment to prepare the country for the possibility of an infected patient arriving here. There have been no cases of Ebola in Cayman or anywhere in the Caribbean though a number of Cuban doctors working in West Africa are believed to have been infected. But as a precautionary measure medical personnel and government officials are still continuing preparations for the unlikely event of a case in Cayman. Officials said government has now spent $1.2M on an EVD-rated Odulair field hospital and another $1.7M has been earmarked for inpatient staffing, EMS premium, training for staff and supplies.
The field hospital, which is expected to arrive in Cayman soon, has eight beds and will be established on the grounds in the existing staff parking lot it will also include a ventilator, dialysis, monitors, wheelchair, laser thermometer and 36 reusable helmets. A temporary isolation area has been identified and is in the process of being equipped and supplied to be used if a case is detected before the field unit arrives.
Hospital staff members have also been identified as front-line EVD carers and additional training took place abroad about two weeks ago for select H.S.A staff.
The Minister for Health Osbourne Bodden has urged residents of the Cayman Islands not to panic but to be aware of the virus, and to get proper advice as required. “Although the threat is very low, things could change and for that reason we should not be complacent,” he warned.
Globally, more than 14,400 people have been infected in six countries. The largest numbers have been in the West African countries of Guinea, Liberia, Sierra Leone and more recently Mali. A small number of patients were also infected Nigeria and Senegal. The virus has spread to Spain and the US in particular through health care workers.
While there have been no new reported cases in the Caribbeanor US within the last three weeks, there has been a death of a doctor flown in from Sierra Leone for treatment of Ebola increasing the death toll to two in America. The two nurses that contracted Ebola in the USA, along with the doctor in New York, are now disease free.
There are currently also travel restrictions in place for visitors or residents returning to the Cayman Islands from endemic countries.
Visitors or returning residents from the endemic countries, or persons who have travelled to, from or through Guinea, Liberia or Sierra Leone within 21 days of their planned arrival are not allowed to land in the Cayman Islands. To ensure application of this travel restriction, the Immigration Department has developed a Travel Health Questionnaire which has been distributed to all airlines. All passengers including Caymanians/Cayman Status holders, returning residents and visitors are required to complete the form.
In efforts of early detection, cruise ships also have internal mechanisms to ensure implementation at local boarders.
Medical Officer for Health Dr Kiran Kumar said Cayman’s precautionary and preventative measures were in compliance with CARICOM’s Heads of Government adopted plan of action.
“The global picture is changing every day. Hence in addition to the countries with travel ban travellers from Mali also will be subjected to health screening and quarantine measures on arrival in Cayman,” he added.
With steps ranging from public education to training and execution, the ultimate goal of the plan is to protect residents against Ebola.
The virus is transmitted through direct contact with the blood or body fluids such as blood, saliva, mucus, vomit, urine or faeces of an Ebola Virus Disease infected person (alive or dead). For example, touching an infected person’s eyes, nose or mouth or an open cut, wound or abrasion can transmit the virus to the person touching. However, any person thus exposed to the virus but without symptoms cannot transmit the virus. The public is asked to avoid such exposures and maintain personal hygiene through sanitisation and hand washing.
For further information, visit:
www.who.org
www.cdc.gov
carpha.org/
Developers claim $60M raised for road
(CNS): Investors behind the proposed development of an 18 hole golf course, mixed use town and resort in Frank Sound claim that they have raised the $60M financing required for the public-private-partnership on the East-West arterial extension, with the Cayman government. The road project is required, the developers say, to make the North Side project a reality. Ironwood developers also revealed, this week, that they have appointed GLF Construction as the contractor to build the road, despite that firm’s previous experiences here and the dispute with the UDP administration over the cruise birthing project. Officials from the Ironwood proposed development said they are now waiting on the government go ahead and agreement to begin the road works.
Speaking on behalf of the developers, Denise Gower said, “Ironwood Development Group shares the optimism the Premier has recently “Ironwood Development Group shares the optimism the Premier has recently expressed that this public-private-partnership will be completed before the end of the year and looks forward to the completion of this infrastructure project that will literally pave the way for the future of the Cayman Islands.”
Joe Beaird, Chief Operating Officer of GLF visited Grand Cayman this week to finalize construction contracts which, Ironwood said could see the start of the road construction as early as December. Beaird, together with the Ironwood developers, met with government officials and visited the road site.
Ironwood said that GLF Construction Corporation’s “excellent business pedigree and track record” led to it securing the managing contractor for the road. They have a proven track record of successfully undertaking large international engineering and construction projects in both the private and government sectors, together with vast experience in the port construction arena.
“Their financial stability, bond ability and international experience enables them to oversee this venture where they will be employing local contractors to carry out the construction works,” the developers said in a release.
GLF’s most recent experiences in Cayman however, were not the best aftera preliminary agreement between them and the former premier Mckeeva Bush was terminated when the then UDP leader turned his attention to Chinese partners.
Ironwood revealed that the $60million financing to pay for the road would come from CTL Capital, LLC, a New York based finance provider once the Licensing Agreement by the Cayman Islands Government has been completed.
Police issue warnings over latest scams
(CNS): The RCIPS are warning people to be on the look-out for fraudulent adverts and callers as a result of mounting scam reports. Police said that over the past few weeks the Financial Crime Unit has been receiving reports of numerous scams taking place within the Cayman Islands. One of the scams involves fraudulent advertisements being placed on local internet classifieds as well as in the local newspapers in an effort to con money out of people. Police are also warning people about con men calling phones posing as Microsoft support staff looking for credit card numbers and other key personal information.
The police noted that the ads are often for large ticket items, such as cars or boats and even pets that are being sold by a seller from overseas. The seller will usually request payment through a money service, such as MoneyGram or Western Union but may sometimes request a money transfer through a local retail bank.
“Caution is advised when buying large ticket items like these from websites. Never buy large ticket items online without first being able to verify that it is being sold locally and being able to verify the identity of the seller,” the financial crime cops warned.
They also pointed to scammers calling local residents claiming to be from Microsoft Support. These con artists usually request credit card details, so that your Microsoft Windows license can be updated. If you receive a call from someone claiming to be from Microsoft Support, do not provide them with any personal details, credit card details or any details about your computer.
Some job scams have also been reported to CNS in the classifieds of the local papers that have caught out a number of genuine job-seekers who have ended up under a mountain of spam and being the target of scammers as a result of responding to the advertisements.
If you believe you may have recently been a victim of this type of scam or fraud, please contact the Financial Crime Unit at 949-8797.
Men’s Day Message
In bringing this year’s message for International Men’s Day, I want to focus on our individual selves, because if we don’t take care of ourselves, we won’t be capable of measuring up to this year’s theme of “Working together for men and boys”. If we, as individuals, set priorities and adopt standards that we take into consideration in everything we do, I believe the Cayman Islands would be the envy of the world, not necessarily because of our financial standing, but because we would be seen as a community of values and morals that dictate our daily lives.
This year’s theme was chosen in an effort to encourage greater cooperation in addressing the issues that affect men and boys all over the world. Six areas of focus – or pillars – were identified for International Men’s Day: Working together to promote positive male role models; celebrate men’s positive contributions; focus on men’s health and well-being; highlight discrimination against males; improve gender relations and improve gender equality; and create a safer, better world.
We know there are men and boys in our community who are living decent and honest lives. I would go so far as to say that those males have clear standards and priorities in their lives.
Society is also being encouraged to celebrate men’s positive contributions to society, community, family,marriage, child care and the environment. We see it daily in the Cayman Islands when males give of themselves by volunteering, take care of their families and nourish their marriages.
I believe our health and wellbeing are our individual priorities. We must be seen to be taking care of ourselves and seek out help when we need it.
While it is a given that the Cayman Islands society has long been considered male dominated, there is evidence of discrimination here on our shores. That has to end.
It is the sixth pillar – to create a safer, better world – I believe we achieve through our individual actions. And I am not talking about selfish actions. Our individual, human actions can lift someone up or tear them
down. Through them we can be positive male role models, make good stewards to our communities and families and help end discrimination.
Fittingly, this year the Family Resource Centre is encouraging all men in the Cayman Islands to take the CayMAN Pledge, which commits them to improving themselves in all facets of their lives. That in turn strengthens our community and benefits the lives of others who live among us. It is for this reason why I have committed as the country’s Premier to uphold the principles contained in the pledge and I would encourage others to join me as we celebrate International Men’s Day this year.
In closing, I leave you with the words of Tony Award winning actress Phylicia Rashad who said “Everything you do, every thought you have, every word you say creates a memory that you will hold in your body. It's imprinted on you and affects you in subtle ways – ways you are not always aware of. With that in mind, be very conscious and selective”.
Salvage effort lands two boats on North Sound reef
(CNS): The RCIPS Joint Marine Unit responded to a distress call Tuesday evening when a local fishing boat with six people on board, which was towing a sail boat, landed on the reef in the North Sound. Police explained that the 43ft local fishing boat had gone out to sea to help recover a boat which had been left at sea after the Canadian captain was airlifted to hospital here in Cayman by the US and Jamaican coast guards last week. The Cayman Defender responding to the fishing boat’s distress call at 6:53 last night and found it as well as the sail boat it was towing grounded on the reef near Fisherman’s Rock though no one was injured.
The incident occurred when the captain was attempting to negotiating the main channel as it towed the 25 foot unoccupied sailboat which it had recovered in open seas. It was not until early this morning, however, at high tide that both vessels were removed by the Captain who was able to maneuver the boats with the rising high tide.
The sailboat had been left at sea after the man piloting the vessel gave a distress which was responded to by Jamaican & American Coast Guards. The sailboat captain of was airlifted by by the US Coast Guard helicopter and brought to GCM last Friday 14 November but the vessel was left unattended.
Chikungunya numbers stable as dengue cases increase
(CNS): Despite expectations that cases of chikungunya would increase in the Cayman Islands as a state of emergency regarding the virus exists in neigbouring Jamaica, public health officials confirmed Wednesday that there were no new cases here over the last week. However Dr Kiran Kumar the Medical Officer of Health urged people not to be complacent as there were two further cases of dengue fever confirmed one of which was in a patient with no travel history. “With positive chikungunya and dengue cases, it emphasizes the need for the public to protect themselves from mosquito bites and take measures against mosquito breeding,” the doctor added.
“There were six suspected cases of chikungunya during the week 10-17 November 2014 based on symptoms. One had travelled to Jamaica, and five reported no travel history. It is note worthy that the reported cases are on the decline, but we should not be complacent,” he said
The total number of confirmed chikungunya cases in the Cayman Islands remains at 34 to date with 10 locally transmitted cases.
However, the problem Cayman now faces is that the numbers in Jamaica are very high where there is a virtual epidemic of the virus which was unheard of in this region until last year.
The health minister, Osbourne Bodden said that there was very little that health officials can do to prevent the virus from entering the country given the situation in Jamaica but the said the focus was on keeping down the numbers and fighting the major cause – the aedes egypti mosquito.
“We are holding our numbers fairly steady, although we have had significant increases since Jamaica became a problem area for us,” he told CNS this week. “We cannot stop the virus coming in, but we can control the spread by controlling the mosquito, and to this end MRCU efforts and all our announcements and monitoring thruthe Dept of Pub Health has paid off. Thanks to all staff and both department for their great efforts.”
Currently, the majority of people who have picked up the chikungunya virus overseas did so in Jamaica with 18 people being infected there.
Dr Kumar also said that results from five blood samples sent between 11-17 November and 19 previous samples are still awaited none of which have a travel history.
Chikungunya causes fever, severe joint pain, muscle pain, headache, nausea, fatigue and rash. Officials urge anyone who may be experiencing these symptoms to immediately see a healthcare provider. They also remind the public to use mosquito repellent with DEET on the skin, and wear long sleeve pants and shirts when outside during times that mosquitoes bite, whether in the Cayman Islands or on travels.
As of 14 November cases of chikungunya across 35 Caribbean countries had reached 16,334.
Further information can be obtained through www.hsa.ky. Regional updates can be accessed on the CARPHA website http://carpha.org/What-We-Do/Public-Health-Activities/Chikungunya. United States updates are available from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on http://www.cdc.gov/chikungunya/geo/united-states.html.