Headline News

Healthcare takes centre stage

Cayman News | 28/09/2010 | 10 Comments

(CNS): Government says it is planning a major national health care conference in November as part of its goal to improve the country’s health care system and see the industry play a part in developing the local economy. The Ministry of Health said the 11-13 November gathering will include insurance companies, patients, healthcare professionals, regulators and the Chamber of Commerce. Health minster Mark Scotland said the industry would be a future driver of growth. “It affects everyone, and our goal is to create a forum where we can bring together the divergent views, interests and collective intellect of all stakeholders with the benefit of international experts to develop a cohesive approach that will ensure a modern and sustainable healthcare system in the Cayman Islands” he added.

“A Participative Approach in Setting the Agenda for Health” will cover topics such as Medical tourism and its impact on economic and social development; Chronic disease and implications for the islands’ future; Health insurance: affordability, coverage, portability; The impact of technology on healthcare delivery; Healthcare careers for Caymanians; The potential for public/private-sector partnerships in sustainable healthcare delivery and questions of the sustainability of current expenditure on healthcare.

Scotland said healthcare impacts almost every area of life and it was important for all groups interested in healthcare, particularly the private sector and the Chamber of Commerce, to be at the conference, the minister stated. “Healthcare is critical to economic growth and the involvement of the private sector is essential to our goals in making healthcare a major growth pillar of the Cayman economy,” he revealed.

The country’s premier said Cabinet had given its full support to the conference as government was committed to making healthcare a driver of economic development in the Cayman Islands.

“This conference will provide the opportunityfor everyone to bring our collective minds together to identify areas for the Cayman Islands to continue to modernize our healthcare delivery whilst taking advantage of global opportunities for growing our economy,” said McKeeva Bush.

Scotland explained that with technological innovation the way healthcare is delivered is changing and with easier access to healthcare information came a more knowledgeable patient. “Our challenge is to maintain a high quality cost effective service,” the minster said. “Hence the timeliness of this national conference, which will help to ensure that we are ahead of the curve in making sound, decisions to guarantee the sustainability of our healthcare-delivery system well beyond the next 20 years.”

Government said that a number of local and international organizations have already agreed to sponsor the event: LIME; Cerner Corporation, a leading US-based provider of healthcare information technology; Deloitte; Joh Alli Medical; Baptist Health; Dallas-based Tenet Healthcare, which owns and operates acute care hospitals and related businesses; and The UK-based Medical Protection Society, a provider of comprehensive professional indemnity and expert advice to health professionals.

Miller: Cut fees not rollover

Cayman News | 28/09/2010 | 125 Comments

(CNS): The government’s increase in fees is far more of a problem for the country’s commercial community than the length of rollover, says the independent member for North Side. In the wake of announcements by the premier that the rollover could be reduced to as little as thirty days, Ezzard Miller said that he doubted very much that would constitute a genuine break in stay and, more importantly, immigration policy is not the cause of Cayman’s declining economic fortunes. Miller said that government should be reducing the cost of doing business not risky reductions to the break in stay that could result in Caymanians losing political control of their country.

“I remain to be convinced that the problems we are facing with the economy are solely down to immigration,” Miller told CNS. “I believe it has more to do with the cost of doing business in the Cayman Islands right now.”

He said that the increases in duty, in particular that on gasoline, have had an inflationary impact and the increase in building fees have also shut down the construction industry.

“When bank manager tells me now that before he makes a dime he has to lay out close $¾ million before he does anything, I know something is wrong with the fee structure,” he said. “What I think government needs to do now is find out what other jurisdictions competing with Cayman are doing that’s better than us and start doing it better and cheaper and take back what we have lost in the financial services sector. We can given someone a Cayman stamp in their passport but if it takes forever to get business done people still won’t come.”

He pointed out that reducing rollover to as little as a month was a risky approach as he said it was very unlikely that was sufficient to represent a genuine break in stay. Miller recalled that the islands’ legal minds in 2003 all said the minimum period of time for a genuine break in domicile had to be two years and couldn’t be any less. “Cutting fees would be a far more sensible approach to getting the economy on track rather than reducing rollover to the point where it cold be challenged,” he added.

The UK government had said before the status grants were given out that a six month break that some people had taken prior to the assessment was not a sufficient period, Miller recalled, pointing out the current legal advice coming from Lord Panik relates to sovereign states.

“Any attorney will give you the answer you might want but it depends on the question you asked and I would be curious to know what the question was in this case,” the North Side MLA said.

He pointed out that Cayman was not only an overseas territory but, as a UK dependency, it was also a signature to the European Convention on Human Rights, which would mean that a short gap would very easily be challenged. Miller said he had voted against government’s introduction of a caregiver certificate earlier this month as he doesn’t believe the UK government is going to allow Cayman to keep people for seventeen years with no rights.

He explained that he did not see the rollover policy as having anything to do with protecting jobs for Caymanians and therefore the reduction in the length was irrelevant from that perspective. He said Caymanians were not getting work because the immigration law was not be adhered to and arbitrary decisions were still being made about granting permits.

Miller said rollover was all about managing the numbers of people who would be eligible for permanent residency and the subsequent right to Caymanian status for those who passed the criteria. He said the evidence pointed away from a shorter rollover period being enough and said Cayman faced losing further control especially at a time when there were over 22,000 work permit holders in the country.

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“Someone will test it in the European Courts and we will then be in a position where we face having to do another status clean-up, then we could see the electoral list double by the 2018 elections,” he added.

HRC falls short of standard

Cayman News | 28/09/2010 | 29 Comments

(CNS): The composition of the Cayman Islands Human Rights Commission does not meet the Paris Principles, as adopted by the United Nations, when it comes to human rights institutions,, experts have said. Along with a number of other problems Cayman faces ahead of the implementation of its Bill of Rights in 2012, Desia Colgaon and Serlina Goulbourne, who visited Cayman last week, said the key elements of any human rights national institution are independence and pluralism. The experts who were here to offer free training to members of both the public and private sector said Cayman lacked a human rights culture, which would take some time to develop.

The two women came to the islands as part of the Commonwealth Foundation and its project partners (the Commonwealth Legal Education Association, the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative and the UK’s Department for International Development) to help raise awareness and offer assistance to the community at large about what human rights mean to a community.

“While there is some technical understanding of what human rights are there is considerably less understanding of what the Bill of Rights will mean to society,” Goulbourne told CNS. “I think there is a will to embrace the concept but there needs to be support from civil society to ensure that the Cayman Islands will adopt a culture of human rights.”

She also pointed out that some civil servants had voiced real anxieties about coping with the implementation of the Bill of Rights as they said they did not really know where to start when it came to ensuring the policies in their departments were compliant. “There appears to be a sense of panic among some public sector workers but every department will need to review policies.”

Colgaon pointed out that with three lawyers, including a former attorney general, on the commission and only two lay people, one of whom is a church representative, the local HRC does not meet the Paris Principles, which were defined at the first International Workshop on National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights held in Paris in 1991. The guidelines were adopted by the UNCHR as comprehensive recommendations on the role, composition, status and functions of national human rights organisations. The principles say that the body must incorporate a cross section of people from the community or a plural membership.

She also pointed out that training and education, which is one of the roles of the HRC needs to stretch beyond government and into the wider community so that the people understand what rights they will have under the bill once it is implemented.

During the week long workshop around 100 people attended the various different seminars and Reshma Sharma, one of the organisers from the Attorney General’s Office, said there was definitely a mixed response from those who attended about how HR will take affect in Cayman. She said there was a very strong response to the training and that it was clear a lot of people want to know a lot more about how the Bill of Rights will affect them.’

The trainers will be publishing a report with recommendations for the way forward for Cayman based on their brief time here, which will be available to the public.

Exam results up

Cayman News | 26/09/2010 | 31 Comments

(CNS): Cayman Brac High School has had a banner year for exam results with 65% of the graduating Year 12 class obtaining five or more high level passes and 38% obtaining seven or more, parents were told at a PTA meeting last week. At a recent presentation to teachers on Cayman Brac, Education Ministry Senior Policy Advisor Clive Baker said that results for John Gray High School improved slightly over the previous year, with 38% of Year 12 students getting 5 or more high level passes, up from 36% on 2009. Historically, the average at CBHS has been just under 50% and about 24% at JGHS.

High level passes are described as Grades 1 to 3 in CXC or CSEC exams, and A* to C in GCSE exams, which are Level 2 on the new National Qualification Framework. The NQF is a chart showing the academic levels of achievement for the various external examinations that are taken by Cayman Islands students, which allows students, parents and potential employers to assess results on a nationally recognized scale (see NQF chart below). For example, a vocational BTEC Introductory course is the academic equivalent on the NQF as a CXC grade 4-6, while a BTEC First diploma is the equivalent of CXC grades 1-3.

While CXC/GCSE exam results improved in the Cayman Islands, in Britain GCSE pass rates continued to rise for 23rd year in a row. Though the equivalent results statistics are not available, the UK media reported that overall, 69.1% of all GCSE entries were awarded at least a C grade, up two percentage points on 2009, and 22.6% of entries achieved an A* or an A, up one percentage point on last year.

The Education Mnistry has not released results for the current Year 12 students on Grand Cayman (the first year group to take external exams at the end of Year 11) sayingthat these will be available next year when students have completed all their exams. However, these students now have a range of options available.

Baker said that around 20 Year 12 students at have chosen the Advanced Placement course, for which they must have at least 5 high-grade passes, including English and Maths, at A*-B/I-II grades. “This is a straightforwardly academic stream, aimed at the highest achieving students in the school,” he said.

AP better prepares students for university than the CXC/GCSEs, which are not designed to be pre-college courses. It also provides college credits for most US universities and in some cases could give students enough credit to skip the first year of a US bachelor’s degree, Baker said. Furthermore, as an accepted A-level equivalent, AP also offers a pathway to UK universities.

Advanced Placement courses are created by the College Board and are more rigorous than courses offered at US high schools. APs are individual subjects and college credit is usually given for a grade of 3 or above (5 being the highest).

According to the ministry, in future students must have passed exams at Level 3 on the NQF to qualify for a government scholarships for a bachelor’s degree. This includes the AP programme, but students can also take A-levels, which are offered at several local private schools, or an associate’s degree, which is offered at UCCI and ICCI.

There is around $2 million in this year’s budget for the Ministry of Education to construct a new building on Cayman Brac to house the restructured Year 12 group when it is introduced on that island, Baker revealed. While the restructuring of the high schools on Grand Cayman took place this year, and last year’s Year 11 have now started their new Year 12 options, the first year group on the Brac that will have the same opportunities is the current Year 9, who will choose their exam options at the end of this school year, at the same time as the Year 10 students.

However, CBHS Principal Adrian Jones told parents at a PTA meeting that BTEC courses in engineering, hospitality and music have already been introduced this year. These courses can lead to a Level 2 qualification on the NQF, he said.

To find out more about changes to the education system, go to the ministry’s blog, where there are PowerPoint presentations on what’s happening.

New Miss Cayman crowned

Cayman News | 26/09/2010 | 41 Comments

(CNS): After a year’s absence the country now has a new Miss Cayman Islands. Tipped as a hot favourite to win, six foot, 23-year-old Cristin Alexander walked away with the pageant crown on Saturday night. Cristin is a recent graduate of the University of Western Ontario, where she earned a degree in psychology. Originally from Bodden Town, Cristin will now travel to China to represent Cayman in the Miss World pageant later this year. Shari Walton was First Runner-up for the title and Mysti Bush was Second Runner-up. Cristin also took the Best Legs title and Shari won Best Gown and Best Smile, Miss Photogenic went to Mysti and Miss Personality was awarded to Trudyann Duncan. (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)

Bush tells UN to include CI

Cayman News | 25/09/2010 | 34 Comments

(CNS): The Cayman Islands premier has told the United Nations to include Associate Members such as the Cayman Islands in regional assistance programmes and recommended making islands more competitive as the focus of the next stage of the Mauritius Strategy. Bush was speaking at the roundtable for the High-level Review Meeting on Implementation of the Mauritius Strategy in New York on Friday afternoon when hesaid islands such as Cayman were being left out of assistance programmes because of political or constitutional reasons. “The Mauritius Strategy for the Caribbean cannot be fully implemented if some islands are excluded on political or constitutional grounds. We are just as vulnerable to hurricanes, earthquakes and sea level rise as our neighbours,” Bush said.

The Mauritius Strategy is a programme of action for the sustainable development of small island developing states (SIDS). The meeting was opened by Ban Ki-moon on Friday morning when he spoke about the vulnerabilities small island developing states face unique as a result of their small size, isolation, narrow resource base, limitations on economies of scale, and high exposure to global environmental threats.

Bush was asked to speak at the invitation of the co-chair of the roundtable the Prime Minister of St Vincent and the Grenadines Ralph Gonsalves, according to a release from the office of the premier’s press secretary.

The CI premier told delegates that the Cayman Islands Government is committed to sustainable development and supports the implementation of the Mauritius Strategy for the Caribbean. But he said additional factors that must be taken into account included the point that much of the Caribbean is still recovering from recession and Associate Member Countries of the UN, which includes the Cayman Islands have not been eligible for most of the regional assistance programmes.

While he said it is important to address the issue of vulnerability in small islands Bush criticised the historical basis for some of the relationships ofmembers. “We need to move away from relationships based on post-colonial guilt, and trade preferences that has the unintended effect of discouraging diversification and prolonging dependency. We need a new relationship between partners, based on mutual interests and shared benefits,” he added.

The Premier told the UN roundtable that the Cayman Islands had developed a strong financial services sector and was placing great importance on growing the county’s small business sector and encouraging entrepreneurship. “We are committed to increasing efficiency and driving down the cost government,” he also told the UN, the release revealed.

Bush also told the roundtable that the next stage of the Mauritius Strategy should focus on making islands more competitive. “We believe this is the best way to achieve the goals of the Mauritius Strategy,” he said.

During his opening address Ban had pointed to the problems faced by SIDS and the negative impacts on the fishing and tourism industries, loss of biodiversity, saltwater intrusion and degradation of terrestrial and wetland habitats and destruction of human settlements. He said SIDS still lack sufficient access to financing for the dramatic changes they need to make, such as achieving the range of anti-poverty targets contained in the Millennium Development Goals and to deal with external shocks.

“In view of their small size and limited capacity, we need to simplify and streamline financing mechanisms especially during and after natural disasters – such as the one we saw in Haiti,” Ban said.

The review processes at national and regional levels have emphasized the need for SIDS to mainstream climate change adaptation plans into national development strategies, he added. They also need increased access to low-carbon technologies and technology transfer initiatives, and improved data collection and information systems to facilitate informed decision making.

Following his appearance on the UN stage Bush continues his latest international tour this weekend when he travels to Singapore where he leads a Cayman Islands delegation to the OECD Global Forum. The Cayman Islands sits on the OECD Steering Committee.

NRA to start Elgin Avenue road works

Cayman News | 25/09/2010 | 6 Comments

(CNS): Traffic flows in parts of the capital are set to be disrupted until February next year as major road works begin along one of George Town’s main thoroughfares this month. The Ministry of District Administration, Works, Land and Agriculture has given the go-ahead to begin the Elgin Avenue road expansion related to the new administration building. Works Minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly said the aim is to improve future traffic flow along the already busy road as well as public safety ahead of the opening of the government’s new office accommodation, situated next to the existing glass house.

“Improvements are critical if we are to facilitate doing business in central George Town. With so many government and commercial offices, as well as banking facilities in the vicinity, Elgin Avenue already experiences heavy peak hour traffic,” the Minister said.

She noted that many public servants who currently work elsewhere will be relocated to the new Elgin Avenue building when it opens.

“That means that clients who normally visit those satellite offices will next year have to attend Elgin Avenue. As a result, traffic volume in the area will doubtless increase, again multiplying existing traffic issues,” O’Connor-Connolly added.

NRA Director Brian Tomlinson said that the project involved widening Elgin Avenue from its current two, to three and four lanes in different locations. “We’ll be adding a turning lane and a mini roundabout at the intersection with Hospital Road,” he said.

He explained that additional upgrades entailed widening Humber Avenue and reconstructing sidewalks to provide a continuous walkway along Elgin Avenue between the Hospital Road and CNB roundabouts.

“Sidewalks will also be fitted with access ramps and driveways for the disabled, and a pedestrian crossing will face the new government administration building,” Tomlinson revealed.

Drainage improvements are slated, to reduce Elgin Avenue’s customary flooding during heavy rainfall.

Tomlinson explained that the roadwork activity will take place at night to minimise inconvenience to the public. Work should be completed by February 2011.

Downtown bank robbed

Cayman News | 24/09/2010 | 134 Comments

(CNS): Three masked suspects robbed the Fidelity Bank in Dr Roy’s Drive shortly before 10.00 this morning (Friday 24 September). Police said the men, who were all armed with what appeared to be firearms, entered the bank and threatened customers and staff, and witnesses said they told everyone to lie on the floor. The men then made off with a sum of cash. No shots were fired and, although no one was injured, staff and customers were left shaken by the ordeal. It is believed that the men responsible left the scene in a black coloured Jeep Compass. Police uniformed and armed officers immediately attended the scene. The RCIPS Air Operations Unit was also deployed to assist in the search for the suspects. (Photo by Dennie Warren Jr)

CID officers are still at the scene interviewing witnesses and a scene of crime examination is ongoing.

One suspect is described as having brown complexion, 6 feet in height, weighing about 180 pounds. He was wearing a white overall over his face and dark glasses. The second had a dark brown complexion, and was wearing denim pants and a white and grey coloured shirt. The third man had a dark brown complexion, and wearing a white shirt and dark pants. All three had their faces covered and were carrying what appeared to be firearms.

Brett Hill, Fidelity’s President & CEO, said, “We are assisting [police] with their enquiries and we are thankful that none of our customers or members of staff were injured in this incident. The branch will be closed for the rest of the day to allow the Police to continue with their investigations.” He added that customers requiring access to Fidelity’s services today may do so at either the Fidelity Financial Centre Branch on West Bay Road of at their Money Centre Branch on Godfrey Nixon Way. The Dr. Roy’s Drive Branch will re-open for business on Monday morning.

Anyone with any information about this crime should call George Town police station on 949-4222 or the confidential Crime Stoppers number 800-8477(TIPS).

Census aims for 100% cover of households

Cayman News | 24/09/2010 | 43 Comments

(CNS): Organisers of the country’s census have said the goal is to have every single person in the Cayman Islands not only counted for an accurate population figure but for each household to answer a questionnaire as well. The national count begins on 10/10/10 Census Day when more than three hundred census workers will hit the streets and begin counting and interviewing in every home. People will be asked 67 questions, ranging from basic details about residents to chronic illnesses suffered by any members of the family. Costing around $1.1 million, officials say this count will provide Cayman with a comprehensive set of data that will be of enormous importance to both the private and public sector.

The census has the law on its side as the enumerators have the right of entry and the Statistics Law makes it clear that “every person shall to the best of his knowledge and belief answer all questions asked by him by the statistician”, but the people are also protected as the law and the method of the survey ensure the security of the information, organisers have promised. In the most recent amendment to the law government increased the penalty to $5,000 for a breach of confidentiality by any census worker.

Maria Zingapan, Director of the Economics and Statistics Offices, said that census would be safe and secure and people could be assured the information they give would be used solely for the purpose of collating data. However, she pointed out that the survey would be far more informative and useful if people gave the information freely and do not feel coerced.

With just over two weeks to go before the launch of the island wide count, officials told the press on Thursday morning that the enumerators are all in training, the census maps are complete and the questionnaires are ready and dispatched to the field offices. The ESO will also be circulating some of the questions from the census via the media over the next two weeks so that people will know what to expect when the enumerators come to their home.

The information collected will be used to get an accurate assessment of the number of people currently residing in the Cayman Islands and the current circumstances under which they live, from the type of work they do to the number of mobile phones they own. The data will be used to inform public policy, plan development and infrastructure, assist hazard management and emergency services and even help the private sector better understand the local market.

The Department of Child and Family Services is just one of the government entities that will use the census results to help target its services more accurately and understand the changing needs of the community when it comes to support. Director of the department, Deanna Lookloy, said the information wouldl be very important to the future provision of services to those in need and made a plea to everyone in Cayman to take part.

“We Caymanians are known as a friendly group of people so I am asking people to be friendly to the enumerators,” she said. Lookloy explained that there have been many changes in the community since the last census and the information collected during the 2010 will paint a far more accurate picture of the community and its needs today.

She also noted that Cayman had a paucity of statistics in a number of fields and that this census would be asking more questions about disabilities, chronic illness and access to health services.

While the statistical information that comes from the census will be an invaluable tool for local policy makers, the information will also be given to regional bodies, as Cayman is often not measured in Caribbean assessments of population data because the statistics are not available.

Officials said that a population count would be available before the end of 2010 but the actual full census is expected to be published at the end of 2011. With more than 24,000 questionnaires expected to be completed during the eight week count, it will then take the statisticians a considerable time to extract and analyse the specific data for presentation.

In order to help in the goal of achieving 100% coverage, officials are also asking householders to contact the census organisers if they will be off island during the count so enumerators can schedule visits when they are at home. Officials said they will also be giving weekly updates about areas that have been counted and people are asked to contact the office if their neighbourhood has been canvassed but they did not see an enumerator.

More information about the census is available at the website www.eso.ky or people can visit the field offices in the districts or call 949 0940 or email infostats@gov.ky

Man faces 3 murder charges

Cayman News | 24/09/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): A West Bay man was charged with murder today (Thursday 23 September) in connection with the killing of Marcos Mauricio Gauman Duran in March of this year. Twenty-seven year old Raziel Omar Jeffers (left) now faces his third murder charge in four months, following charges made against him for the shooting of Damian Ming earlier this year and Marcus Ebanks in July 2009. Jeffers is also charged with the attempted murder of Adryan Powell, who was 14 at the time, also in July 2009. All three homicides were shootings which took place in the West Bay district and which police have said were gang related. (Photo courtesy of News27)

Jeffers’ attorney confirmed on Thursday evening that his client had been charged in Summary Court with the murder that took place in Maliwinas Way, West Bay, on Thursday 11 March.

Police have already charged a 16-year-old boy with the murder. The teenager sustained a serious gunshot injury to his leg on the same night as the killing. Craig Johnson (29) has also been charged with accessory after the fact in connection with the murder.