Headline News
Anglin charged in 2nd killing
(CNS): Twenty-four-year-old Devon Anglin of West Bay has been charged with the killing of Carlo Webster in September 2009. Police confirmed that a man had been charged with the nightclub murder on Wednesday afternoon and was expected to appear in Summary Court in due course. This is the second charge of murder that Anglin faces as he is already on remand accused of the fatal shooting of four-year-old Jeremiah Barnes in February of last year at a West Bay gas station. Thirty-two-year-old Webster was gunned down inside the Next Level nightclub on West Bay Road when more than 150 customers were reported to be on the premises.
The police said at the time that they believed the killing was gang related and, despite CCTV cameras and so many people present when Webster was shot in the head, they struggled to find anyone willing to come forward. Officers arrested three men shortly after the killing and one was detained for 12 days in accordance with the law, but police said there was not enough evidence at the time to bring charges.
Since the murder, the night club, which is situated in the heart of the tourist district, has changed management and has been renamed Jet Nightclub.
Anglin was arrested and charged with the murder of Jeremiah shortly after the shooting in February and has been in custody ever since. Although a date has not yet been fixed for the trial, the case has been sent to Grand Court andis expected to be heard later this year.
Cayman risks losing constitutional gains
(CNS): The people of the Cayman Islands are at risk of losing the hard won democratic gains they voted for in the 2009 Constitution, Alden McLaughlin has warned. As a result of the current government’s continued use of the term “Governor in Cabinet” in all of the new legislation it is passing, the former minister says that the changes gained regarding the balance of power in favour of the Caymanian people and away from the UK’s representative are being undermined. McLaughlin says that he is taking up what he has described as a “constitutional fiction” with Attorney General Sam Bulgin and intends to ensure that it becomes a matter for wider public discussion.
During the first legislative sitting of the New Year the government brought several pieces of new legislation to the Legislative Assembly in which the term “Governor in Cabinet” continued to be used — an issue that McLaughlin says he is objecting to for far more then semantics. He believes the dangerous and unnecessary use of the term is giving back power to the governor which had been eroded during the constitutional talks.
The changes in the new Constitution regarding government, he said, were about much more than creating a premier. The long negotiations with the UK involved finding a way to give the country’s elected representatives more control and responsibility, addressing the political balance of power more in favour of those who are elected. McLaughlin said the premier’s decision to return to the old way of describing government is a way of avoiding taking responsibility for the decisions the UDP government is making. It is giving the false impression to the public that the governor is still involved in the day to day running of government.
“Cabinet is no longer an advisory body to the governor in terms of general policy,” said the MLA who was one of the main architects of the 2009 Cayman Islands Constitution. He explained that outside the governor’s areas of responsibility, such as law and order, the day to day areas of governance under the various elected government ministries are now the responsibility of those elected officials and the premier should be taking on that responsibility.
“It is regrettable that the government is continuing this constitutional fiction,” he told his legislative colleagues, and said the issue had serious implications. “If no one else is going to take this up, as a duly elected representative of the people it is my sworn duty to protect their constitutional rights.”
McLaughlin said that when the relationship between the CIG and the UK is going along well people can be fooled intothinking this sort of issue doesn’t matter. However, he warned that as soon as conflict arises, then the people will understand why this is so important.
He said he would have expected that the attorney general would have understood at this stage the legal implications of this and pretending Cabinet is still an advisory body to him is simply wrong. “Passing legislation which is using the term “Governor in Cabinet” is giving the power back to the UK,” the George Town representative warned. “The elected government needs to take on the authority and responsibility for decision making given to it in the new Constitution,” he added.
McLaughlin says he would be setting out the legal position to the attorney general in an open letter and would take the argument to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office if he has to. The MLA stated that he will do all he can to get the premier to acknowledge the change and the shift in the balance of power.
Miller:‘I’ll keep my council’
(CNS): Following the vote in the Legislative Assembly on Monday to introduce advisory district councils for MLAs that are appointed by the Cabinet, the independent member for North Side has said he will be keeping his own elected council. Ezzard Miller said he was not going to allow the premier to come to his constituency and disband a duly elected council which is functioning well in favour of an appointed body. The MLA said that he would not be offering suggestions for members of government’s advisory body and was under no obligation to meet with it or take its advice but said he planned to attend out of respect.
“If the premier appoints one and they ask me to meet with them then I will go and listen to what they have to say. I shall be honest and forthright as usual and tell them what I think of anything they raise,” Miller revealed to CNS on Tuesday. “If they say anything sensible then I will run that by the members of my duly elected district council and if those elected constituency members consider the issues relevant and important then I will take them to the Legislative Assembly.” He also said he would take the minutes of the government’s council quarterly meetings to his own monthly sessions with his “duly elected” advisory council.
The advisory district councils, which are expected to be appointed shortly, will be made up of ten people who live in the district, two of them can be recommended by the leader of the opposition or the non-government party of the day. In the case of single member constituency such as Miller’s the non-government party may recommend three. However, as an independent representative and not a member of a political party, he fails to see how the law allows him to put forward anyone. “If the premier writes to me and asks I will decline to make recommendations,” Miller stated.
Miller warned that this was not just an argument about principle but said there was a genuine potential to undermine the real constituency representative by manipulating an appointed body. He explained that he believed it would be very hard for the government of the day not to appoint the candidate which had represented the ruling party in the district in the election and lost as chair. With the ear of government and access to taxpayer’s money through that advisory body, the chair could very easily get to work in the district campaigning for four years against the incumbent.
“At the same time the government can vote to deny me funding for projects I suggest based on the wants of my elected council and constituents who voted me in at the polls,” Miller observed, illustrating the kind of issues and challenges that he and Arden McLean, another MLA from a single member constituency, are likely to face.
“What could easily happen is that the duly elected member will struggle to deliver public projects in the district while the government’s rejected candidate will have the means to deliver what he wants.”
Miller said any district council should be there to support and help an MLA not campaign against him but he said that is almost certainly what will happen if it is appointed by government. He also said he believed that these bodies would be used to give credibility to government’s support of the plan cargo dock in East End. He said it will be very easy for the premier to say an advisory council is in favour of something that the constituency representative is against to attempt to undermine that position, even if the council is not representative of the feelings in the district.
With well over 50% of the constituency vote in the election, however, and wide support in his district, Miller said he was confident that he would be able to “temper any skulduggery” that may arise from potential political candidates on the advisory council.
MLA to face Grand Court
(CNS): The United Democratic Party representative for Bodden Town, Dwayne Seymour, who is charged with perverting the course of justice and assault, has opted to take the case to the Grand Court. The Member of the Legislative Assembly pleaded not guilty to both charges in the country’s Summary Court on Tuesday morning (11 January) before his attorney, Steve McField, revealed to the magistrate that his client would like to be heard in the higher court. Seymour will now join a long list of new indictments that will be heard when the new session of the Grand Court officially opens on Wednesday afternoon. Seymour’s co-accused, Joseph Hartwell Minzett, has pleaded not guilty to common assault but his trial will continue in Summary Court.
The charges relate to an incident which occurred at the Grand Cayman Beach Suites in the heart of Seven Mile Beach in May of last year. Seymour and Minzett are both accused of assaulting Florida-based personal trainer Garrone Yap. All three men were arrested at the time and Seymour is accused of perverting the course of justice as a result of what happened when the police arrived at the scene.
The Bodden Town representative has vowed to clear his name and described the charges, which were brought by the police in October, as “baseless”.
The leader of the UDP and premier of the country, McKeeva Bush, offered his public support to his backbencher following the announcement that Seymour was being charged. "On behalf of the elected government, we wish to express publicly, our moral support for our backbench colleague Mr Dwayne Seymour during this difficult time,” Bush said in an official statement. Implying the charges related to struggles in Seymour’s marriage, the premier said the government understood the many challenges faced to keep a family together.
“As Caymanians we understand and empathize with the pain that is endured when someone, against God and against all social and ethical obligations, interferes with that sacrosanct relationship.”
Moving his case to the Grand Court will enable Seymour to elect a trial by jury or judge alone.
Armed men strike at Gino’s
(CNS): The second armed robbery of 2011and the first of the year involving firearms took place at around 10pm on Monday evening when police say two masked men armed with hand guns held up Gino’s Pizza Parlor on the West Bay Road. George Town detectives have now launched an investigation following the incident in which they say no shots were fired and no one was hurt. The men had threatened staff and a number of customers however, before making off with a sum of cash from the register. Thearmed robbers reportedly escaped in the direction of the Lone Star bar. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
The suspects, who had their faces covered, are described as both being around 6’ in height, wearing baseball caps, dark coloured tops and jeans. Detective Constable Karen McQuade, of George Town CID is appealing for anyone who was in the area at the relevant time last night and witnessed the robbery or the suspects fleeing the scene to come forward.
Anyone with information should call George Town police station on 949-4222 or the confidential
Crime Stoppers number 800-8477 (TIPS).
District democracy dashed
(CNS): The government passed through its Advisory District Councils Bill (2010) by eight votes to five in the Legislative Assembly on Monday afternoon, paving the way for members of these new local bodies, which will advise MLAs, to be appointed by Cabinet as opposed to winning their place through a vote. The bill was opposed by the only independent member and the entire opposition bench after government refused to reconsider making them elected councils or bodies chosen by all the constituency MLAs, dashing hopes for district democracy. Despite the premier’s decision to have the bodies appointed, McKeeva Bush said the bill would improve public participation and set in train an “evolutionary change” between the governed and those who govern.
Bush spoke about democracy owing much to Christianity (despite the fact that it originated in ancient Greece before the birth of Christ) and said that while Cayman was not a theocracy it had drawn heavily on its Christian heritage and he hoped it would continue to do so. He did not say if this meant that the Governor in Cabinet (aka government) would be appointing members of the church to each of the district councils. He did say, however, that the creation of the councils was the start of new kind of representation which would “significantly enhance” the country’s system of governance.
“This promises a different quality of involvement by the public from anything we have seen before,” Bush told his legislative colleagues.
His enthusiasm for the councils, which will consist of ten members, all appointed by the Cabinet with the opposition leader allowed to recommend just two members, was not equalled on the opposition benches. Alden McLaughlin, who spoke against the bill, first said the councils were designed to be extensions of democracy and not a rubber stamp for government.
“Its objective was not to become a creature of government, bound to carry out government’s will. That was what it was seeking not to do,” said the George Town MLA, who added that government could essentially control every member of the committee.
He warned that the country would wind up with functionaries of government sitting in a constitutional role pushing government policy, which could not be an improvement on democracy. The George Town member said it was a tragedy that the Constitution was being used to introduce something as undemocratic as what was being proposed.
His colleague Arden McLean, who has a single member constituency in East End, agreed with McLaughlin and raised what he said was a very real concern for him that the councils would be used to steamroll his opposition to the East End seaport. He said government could load the East End district council with people who supported the port, despite the fact that his constituents who had voted for him were against it. In support of the principle of district councils, he said they should be elected in a town hall style meeting or at election time, otherwise the people would not have a real voice, he said.
“You think that government is going to pick someone in East End that supports me?” he asked rhetorically. “No. Let’s get real. They are going to pick people who support the cargo dock. This is the real world and if we don’t see it we have our heads in the sand.”
McLean stated that the proposal to appoint through Cabinet was undemocratic and that the democratic process was about much more than handing someone an appointment to a board. “The councils should be about empowering people and this isn’t empowering anyone,” he said.
The independent member from North Side submitted a full amendment to the government’s bill to make the councils elected. As the only MLA who already has a district council in his constituency of North Side, Ezzard Miller offered to give everyone a copy of the Constitution under which his district council was created so that it could be used as a model.
Miller said he was particularly opposed to government’s bill and proposal to appoint the councils as a result of the use of the word 'party' because, as an independent, under this law he wasn’t entitled to recommend anyone. Moreover, the fundamental difference between the North Side district council and that proposed by government was that the government councils would be appointed and controlled by the Governor in Cabinet and his was elected.
He said his own district council was elected “by the people, of the people and for the people” as all district councils should be under the law. Miller revealed how he consulted his council before and after every sitting and was guided by those locally elected people who, he said, as volunteers had done a fantastic job.
Concerned about how the agendas would be set by whom, he pointed out that the district councils should hold their MLAs accountable to the manifesto on which they were elected to serve and not what government policy now is.
“I can’t support this bill as is, so, as is my usual modus operandi, I shall offer my amendments to the bill,” Miller told his legislative colleagues, before he read out his proposed changes to turn the government’s intention to appoint the councils into an elected system. After making his case, Miller said he believed the country’s electorate was becoming more sophisticated. “We need to enable them and to show greater respect for the people’s participation,” he added.
The premier was not persuaded by anyone on the opposition benches, however, and said government had a right to put people on the local councils. Despite the fact that the North Side district council was elected, he criticized it as he said it was Miller’s supporters.
Bush insisted that the bill was a good law and saw nothing wrong in the appointment of the councils being dominated by Cabinet. Becoming quite angry with the opposition for suggesting that the government would be loading the councils with its supporters regarding the port in East End, he denied that government would be manipulating the membership. He said that he had always supported the idea of advisory district councils and pushed for it during his whole political career.
“They will say anything to try and sound credible,” Bush yelled at the opposite side of the house. “I know their shenanigans,” and he accused McLaughlin, who he said was “some kind of lawyer”, of twisting the language of the bill.
The premier said he did not believe the people wanted the councils to be elected as they were advisory bodies and not local government. He also indicated that this would enable other “good people” who may not be on the electoral list to offer advice to MLAs.
First PPM nomination made
(CNS): Alden McLaughlin has become the first person to be nominated in the People’s Progressive Movement leadership race. The George Town MLA was officially nominated last week at a district meeting after he received three nominations, party officials have confirmed. The former education minister is the first MLA to be officially declared as a candidate to fill Kurt Tibbetts’ shoes as leader of the opposition. The election is expected to take place in February, when all signed up members of the party will be able to vote for their choice of leader. The leader of the PPM must be a serving MLA, and so far from the five PPM members of the LA only Arden McLean of East End has also expressed a desire to take on the job. (Photo Dennie WarrenJr)
McLean is expected to be nominated by his local party branch before the end of this month, leading to what is likely to be just a two horse race.
Anthony Eden, who is the second elected member from Bodden Town, and Moses Kirkconnell, the first elected for the Sister Islands, have not publicly expressed any interest in contesting the party leadership, but in the CNS poll Kirkconnell pulled in the exact number of votes as his GeorgeTown parliamentary colleague.
The announcement that the top PPM job would be vacant in 2011 came in November, when Tibbetts, who has served as party leader since its creation, announced his decision to step down from the leadership. Although he will not be resigning his post as an MLA, Tibbetts said that following the party’s defeat in the national poll in May 2009 he had to take responsibility for that and step down.
Tibbetts, the former leader of government business, who has served in the Legislative Assembly since 1992, said that once the new leader, along with a deputy leader and a party general secretary, was elected he would be there to offer support but would allow what he called the new blood of the party to take the PPM forward and would not impose on them.
“I have always been a firm believer in succession planning and now the PPM needs new blood at the top, new people to lead the movement and carry out its mission. From time to time every organization needs a change of leadership to foster growth and allow for continuity and the PPM is no exception,” he said.
District councils on agenda
(CNS): A number of controversial laws will be up for debate when the Legislative Assembly resumes Monday, including the law to create district councils. Although the establishment of these local bodies is broadly supported, the fact that they will not be elected has stirred up controversy. Ezzard Miller, the independent representative for North Side who has already established a district council in his constituency for which the members have been elected by the local people, is proposing a number of amendments to the government’s bill. Although he is unlikely to receive much support for his changes from the government bench, it will at least provide an opportunity for all members of the House to question why these bodies will be undemocratic.
Miller has said he wishes the district councils across the island to be created through a democratic process that involves all of the people and will not support the proposed legislation without changes. It is unclear what will happen to Miller’s own council once the law is enacted and government is in a position to appoint three of the people on the council and whether three of Miller’s elected councillors will be forced to step down
The bill was first published in November and revealed that the councils would not be elected but would be appointed by Cabinet. Of the maximum ten councillors only two have to be recommended by the opposition in each district, unless there is no government member in the constituency when Cabinet will only be able to appoint three members. The members will have to live in the district and, according to the proposed legislation, will have “special qualifications, training, experience or knowledge of the district” suitable to the role.
The idea to create district councils was part of the 2009 Cayman Islands Constitution and the law will provide for a district council in each of the six electoral districts or constituencies where they people on the council will advise their MLAs on the issue that are particular to the district they represent and raise concerns that need to be taken to the main legislature.
MLAs face busy day
(CNS): The country’s legislators are return to the Legislative Assembly on Monday to face a packed agenda. The lawmakers are expected to be debating seven pieces of legislation as well as dealing with parliamentary questions. This will be the third meeting of the tenth sitting of the 2010/2011 session and includes some controversial bills, along with the Advisory District Councils Bill, the Health Practice (Amendment) Bill, 2010 is coming up for debate. This will facilitate medical tourism and allow doctors from anywhere in the world to be registered to practice in Cayman. The Wastewater Collection & Treatment Bill, 2010, which will facilitate the privatisation of the country’s sewerage system is also expected to be debated, among others.
The Water Production and Supply Bill, 2010, The Water Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2010, The Prisons (Amendment) Bill, 2010 and the Criminal Procedure Code (Amendment) (No. 2) Bill, 2010 are also on the table for debate.
This sitting of the legislature is the first since the House adjourned on 9 December when the country’s politicians had spent the entire day castigating reporter Brent Fuller over a news article he wrote, which was published in The Caymanian Compass, drawing attention to plans by MLAs to discuss amendments to the Freedom of Information Law behind closed doors.
Accusing the reporter and the paper’s editorial in connection with the article of insulting the Legislative Assembly and its members, the House voted in support of a motion tabled by independent MLA Ezzard Miller requesting the attorney general to investigate whether Fuller should be prosecuted, as well as to revoke his “right” to report on the Legislative Assembly.
Shortly after the session AG Samuel Bulgin said he would not be moving forward with a prosecution but it has not yet been clarified whether Fuller will be allowed back in the Assembly building.
The Caymanian Compass has, however, stated that it intends to boycott the proceedings and report on the events via other means, such as Radio Cayman’s evening broadcasts.
Cayman in new ‘news’ light
(CNS): From the Los Angeles Times to Canada’s CBC, the sinking of the former USS Kittiwake generated significant media attention for the Cayman Islands far and wide. For once the international press spotlight was on the Cayman Islands for something completely unrelated to the movement of money or taxes. Wednesday’s historic event, which came at the end of many years of planning, was filmed, photographed, watched and written about by a range of global media outlets and television channels, which have now begun producing that copy, pictures and packages for their various print, online and TV outlets. The DoT noted that the coverage was invaluable to the whole of the country’s tourism product. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
"I’m excited that the International media has taken such great interest in this historic event," Acting Director of Tourism Shomari Scott said on Friday after the scuttling of the naval vessel began hitting the headlines. "We have been working hard behind the scenes to provide major networks, publications and media outlets with images and film of the sinking."
He added that the coverage on NBC TODAY alone reached more than 6 million viewers and the story was also picked up by other major television networks such as CNN and CBS.
“Yahoo.com is featuring the Kittiwake on the home page, which is another avenue that has the potential to reach many millions of viewers,” Scott added. “This kind of global coverage is invaluable to the Cayman Islands and our dive industry and is already translating into confirmed bookings. Dive operators are reporting that calls are pouring in about the Kittiwake and they are inundated with requests from divers, both locally and overseas, who want to dive her."
With leading newspapers in the US such as the Washington Post and the Los Angeles also covering the story, the scuttling of the Kittiwake was given optimum exposure in the United States. There was also coverage on the website of the UK’s leading broadsheet the Daily Telegraph, RT, a Russian news network broadcast the sinking, Pakistan’s Daily Times, ThirdAge, a website for baby boomer women, and even the Christian Science Monitor covered the story. With one of the world’s biggest news agencies, Associated Press, picking up the story, the news of the Kittiwake sinking spread to every corner of the world this week.
Dive enthusiast were able to start discovering for themselves on Saturday afternoon what this new attraction is all about as the site opened to the public for the first time. Licensed operators were finally able to take tours out to the new marine park after the attraction’s public opening had been slightly delayed owing to a nor’wester, which prevented safety work being completed on Thursday. Officials said, however, that the Kittiwake would close on Tuesday to complete the final maintenance work.
Over the coming weeks the wreck will settle further down and the seabed and nature will begin to work its magic as fish and marine creatures begin to make the old naval vessel home creating an artificial reef.