Headline News

Machete attack on the Brac

Cayman News | 23/09/2010 | 34 Comments

(CNS): Updated – Police said on Friday afternoon that officers have now charged a 46 year old man with wounding causing GBH and assault causing ABH following a machete attack on Wednesday 22 September on Cayman Brac. A 32-year-old man was admitted to Faith Hospital after the incident that occurred at about 8.20 int the evening. The two men who were reportedly attending a family event in the Watering Place area became involved in an altercation. During the fight one of the men attacked the other with a machete, police said. The injured man suffered lacerations to his body and he is understood to still be in hospital at this time, where his condition is described as stable.

Police have not yet named the individual who has been charged and is still in custody. CNS has been unable to confirm if the man appeared before the courts on Friday.

Waste-to-energy ‘won’t work’

Cayman News | 23/09/2010 | 66 Comments

(CNS): Despite the fact that government appears committed to dealing with the country’s landfill problem by burning it, experts have revealed that not much more than a quarter of the million tonnes of rubbish at the dump can be burned. A group of local activist has said that while waste-to-energy can form part of a solution, it falls far short of addressing the country’s growing garbage problem. Aside from being environmentally unsound, expensive and long term, WTE will also encourage us to produce more waste rather than reduce it. Walling Whittaker said Cayman doesn’t produce enough rubbish to make a WTE project cost effective andthat an integrated management programme is the country’s best hope. (Photo a view from the dump Walling Whittaker)

At its first in a series of public meetings to drum up support for a more holistic approach to dealing with the George Town dump (aka Mount Trashmore) and the country’s future waste problems, WISE (Waste Initiatives and Sustainable Environments) told a small audience last night (Wednesday 22 September) that the government’s approach is unlikely to be a real solution for the country, but that officials have not yet completely closed the door on other ideas.

The group’s committee members include Pilar Bush, Berna Cummings, Rayal Bodden, Jude Scott and Theresa Broderick. They have received input from both Whittaker, who is a former director of the Environmental Health Department, and Denise Murphy, another expert in rubbish, who both pointed out some of the pitfalls that government’s current proposal for burning trash will present.

The duo explained that in order to incinerate the garbage the dump would have to be mined, which would cause considerable further environmental pollution, with leaching, pollutants thrown into the air and increased bad smells. This, they said, would continue for as long as the dump was minded for stuff that can be burned, which could be more than a decade. The experts pointed out that government’s hope of burning around 45% of existing garbage and future rubbish is also an over-estimation and a more realistic figure is less than 28%.

WTE is also an expensive option, the activists maintained, and estimated that the set up cost of the WTE facility and mining of the dump would be around $120 milllion with annual running costs of over $18 million. Whittaker said Grand Cayman residents produce less than 100,000 tonnes of rubbish per year, which is not going to be enough to make the WTE worthwhile, and that the idea of encouraging us to produce more rubbish to burn is exactly the opposite of what the country should be doing.

Whittaker said Cayman could benefit from an eco-waste-management park, where 60% of our rubbish could easily be recycled and reused through various methods, including composting and glass crushing for fill. He said some could still be incinerated and a smaller, lined and properly engineered landfill could be used to dispose of rubbish that cannot yet be reused or recycled. He said that around the world properly managed eco-parks are achieving close to 100% re-use and recycling and almost zero disposal — a goal that Cayman could strive towards.

The activists thought the best solution for the current dump would be to remediate and professionally cap the giant garbage pile. While controlling and treating the garbage mound, which is now over 80 feet high, an altogether new facility could be created elsewhere on the island that would focus on more on recycling and reusing rather than disposal and burning.

Pilar Bush told the audience that WISE was not advocating moving the dump as it would simply be impossible to do that. Facing the recent speculation that WISE is merely a “Trojan Horse” for the Dart Group, which has long made it clear it wanted to buy the current dump site, she said that Dart was one of a number of sponsors of the project that had an interested in resolving the country’s garbage problem.

The group acknowledged that a new waste management eco-park or properly engineered facility would need around 100 acres to house the different elements, such as the recycling centre for plastic, paper and cardboard, the composting heap for waste vegetation and glass crushing for fill, as well as a smaller lined landfill and an incinerator. Whittaker explained that most of the facility would be under cover and surrounded by vegetation as a buffer from the neighbouring area. He said there should be no leaching and no pollution from an eco-park.

Whittaker also pointed out the comparative costs for this more integrated solution. The creation of the eco waste facility would run eventually to around $60 million for a fully engineered and integrated site with remediation at the current dump costing around $23 million. Annual running costs were estimated at around $4 milllion, all of which adds up to considerably less that the proposed WTE.

Noting the controversy over where this proposed site should go, however, the activists pointed out that the new and altogether different waste management facility would not be a recreation of Mount Trashmore.

WISE were also at pains to stress that their goal is not to offer a definitive solution as it will not be submitting a bid when the tender to deal with the dump is eventually opened (though Whittaker is likely to tender his alternative to WTE) but to encourage people to consider and support alternatives to the current assumptions made by government.

Bush pointed out that whatever happens Cayman has to find a sustainable solution to its waste management problems and that the WTE route could be a costly mistake which will not really address the problem of the growing landfill and cause further waste problems in the long term.

WISE will be hosting a second meeting next Wednesday and encourages everyone to come and express their views about the future of rubbish in Cayman. For more information long on to www.wise.ky.

Cop faces trial for assault

Cayman News | 23/09/2010 | 2 Comments

(CNS): RCIPS officer Rabe Welcome will face a Grand Court trial on charges of common assault and wounding in connection with an incident at the Red Bay Esso gas station last year, following a Summary Court enquiry. However, charges against his fellow officer Adrian Clark have been dismissed following a successful ‘no case’ submission by his attorney, John Meghoo. Both officers were suspended from duty following a police investigation into allegations of brutality by three off-duty officers after a man received a broken arm during an incident at the gas station in June 2009. Welcome is accused of using excessive force during the incident which caused the man’s injuries.

During a long form preliminary enquiry, which ended on Tuesday, Magistrate Grace Donalds dismissed charges against Clarke, but Welcome, who is represented by Waide DaCosta, has now been committed to Grand Court.

According to a police report from the time, an internal enquiry had been initiated by the Professional Standards Unit of the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service to assess the level of force used during the incident.

The man, who had been reportedly armed with a machete, sustained various injuries during the arrest by three off-duty police officers. The complainant, who was reportedly arrested by the off-duty officers on suspicion of threatening violence and possession of an offensive weapon, suffered a laceration to his face and a broken arm.

In the wake of the incident a spokesperson for the police said, “When officers find themselves in situations where the use of force is necessary they are required to justify that use of force, showing that it was proportionate and legal, and that there was, at the time, an absolute necessity.”

Welcome, the only officer of the three who will now face trial, had his bail extended and is expected to appear in Grand Court next month for a date to be set. It is unclear whether Clark will return to duty immediately or if internal enquiries will continue.

Clifford: Miller taking lead

Cayman News | 23/09/2010 | 54 Comments

(CNS): Former tourism minister CharlesClifford has said he believes the independent member for North Side is emerging as a more effective opposition spokesperson than the official leader of the opposition. Clifford, who recently resigned from the People’s Progressive Movement, the party in which he served as a Cabinet minister, told CNS that Ezzard Miller was increasingly taking the role that people would expect to be filled by the PPM party leader Kurt Tibbetts. He pointed out that on all the major issues, at present, the North Side MLA was the first on his feet in the Legislative Assembly to point out the problems that government’s policies may cause and to speak on behalf of the people. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)

Speaking to CNS about the current problems with Cayman’s political system and the desperate need for local politics to be about policies and not personalities or party colours, Clifford said Miller was demonstrating how much more effective an MLA could be when focused purely on the policies he believed would benefit or harm his constituents.

He said that at the last election there was a lot of talk about how independent candidates would not be able to function if they got elected to the Legislative Assembly as they would be up against the established power of the party system.

“There is an interesting dynamic going on here because Ezzard Miller is the sole independent member in the Legislative Assembly, and while this might not be the real position, it is the perceived position – Ezzard has emerged as the informal leader of the opposition. He is the person that is out there opposing the government more aggressively than anyone else on some of the policies that he does not think are in best interests of the country,” Clifford told CNS in a recent interview.

Clifford said it had been telling recently that rather than the leader of the opposition standing up first to respond to the premier stating the opposition position, Miller has been the one getting to his feet first and stating his position on a government bill or debate. It was interesting, the former minster said, that even as the single independent member, whether you support his policies or position or not he has made his mark.

“That says quite a bit, not just about Ezzard but independent candidates,” Clifford observed.

Although he said he was not advocating for the concept of independent candidates, he said Miller demonstrated how effective and powerful policy positions are in political representatives.

Clifford admitted playing a part in the style of party politics that had emerged, which he has previously criticised, and said is not about policies and ideologies as it should be but about personalities. He said that not only did this not suit the Cayman Islands but it was also stifling the best ideas. While he acknowledged that, as a UK overseas territory, we are obligated to practise the Westminster system of parliamentary politics, which was inherently adversarial, the country could find a new way that rejected the current ideology of "us and them” or attitudes of “you are for us or against us”, which has discounted positive ideas that were not from within the parties. Clifford said no one party had a monopoly on good ideas.

Avoiding the specifics about his own future plans, he did admit to talking with a number of people and working towards the formation of solid policy ideas about how Cayman could adopt a political system that could embrace creativity rather than stifle it. He said he was not against political parties and perceived a future for them, but ones shaped on political positions and ideology and not personalities. He said good people were being put off from entering the political arena because of the way the system worked. But Clifford said the country needed people to step up to the plate and offer policies that can move the country forward and he was in the process of recruiting people to his potential alliance or coalition to find a way to do that.

“What is more important than a name is what are the policies that this group will represent and present to the people as solutions … The name will naturally emerge from the ideologies but it’s less important that the ideologies.”

He said he understood the value of having structure and discipline in an organisation and said he was not opposed to politically parties at all, but to the way they had emerged and the negative issues associated with them. Clifford said using colours to identify parties may seem a minor point but it was divisive. “Even very young people who have no understanding of the key political issues yet are rallying around the colours, he added.

“Until we reach a level of political maturity where we can have an honest discussion about this party issue and what needs to be done, we are going to continue doing what we have always been doing and expecting different results,” he said, adding that voters needed to ask themselves questions before they cast their votes. “The electorate needs to begin looking at who it is that is being elected to the Legislative Assembly. Are they proposing the right policies? Do they have the wherewithal? Are they competent enough? Those are the real questions that the population needs to ask,” Clifford said.

The former cabinet minster, who lost his seat in the last election, says that he is not done with politics yet and has not ruled out running for election again. However, he said that regardless of whether he is directly or indirectly involved, he wants to pull together a political group of some kind that will be focused on ideology and policy positions that will lead Cayman in a specific direction and ensure the country changes course before its too late.

One man arrested for nightclub murder

Cayman News | 22/09/2010 | 0 Comments

(CNS): More than a year after the shooting, police have announced that a 24-year-old man has been arrested in connection to the death of Carlo Webster. The 24-year-old man, who is from the West Bay area, was arrested earlier this morning (Wednesday 22 September) on suspicion of murder, police revealed. Webster was gunned down in the Next Level Nightclub, on the West Bay Road, on 10 September in a shooting which police have said they believed was connected with a tit for tat escalation of gang violence throughout 2009. Webster was shot in the head in front of over one hundred people who were in the club that night. Police have not named the man and have not indicated if he was already in custody or not. However, a spokesperson said that enquiries into the shooting continue.

On the night of the incident the 911 Emergency Communications Centre received a call froma member of the public reporting that a shooting had occurred inside Next Level. Police responded to the scene and found a man in his thirties inside the club who had received fatal gunshot wound. Another man was then found at the rear of the club suffering from a gun shot wound to his abdomen.

Mac vows 3 months to success

Cayman News | 22/09/2010 | 100 Comments

(CNS): During a television address last week the country’s premier said he was putting forward “specific measures” to address the country’s declining economic fortunes. McKeeva Bush told the public that he was confident that within 90 days of the TV broadcast (16 September) Cayman would be back on the path to success. Bush listed a number of proposals that were being considered to improve the economy, and after a period of consultation he said he would deliver anotherpublic speech revealing which proposals government intended to implement. The premier did not reveal the exact details of the measures he had spoken about but said government would encourage new business to invest here.

"I am confident that within 90 days of today, Cayman will be back on the path which created its success. It will not be complete, no, but we will be moving forward," the premier stressed.

He spoke about strengthening incentives, changing immigration policies — including a contracted rollover period — assisting small businesses and speeding up the offshore licensing process as part of the solution to the current economic difficulties. He also announced the formation of some more committees to examine the situation.

Bush said that government had contracted Jude Scott to oversee the implementation of various projects and initiatives it was considering, and heads of departments across government were being asked to deliver “statistics and information” to the Ministry of Finance to assist in the monitoring of economic activity.

Acknowledging the struggle, and the challenges his government was up against, the premier spoke about the increasing global competition the country now faced in the financial services sector. He said Cayman had to compete, not just with financial centres in the Caribbean, but centres that have been established in the G20 countries. “The failure to recognise the competition … and to adjust our internal policies to remain competitive is one of the main causes of the severe economic conditions which we now face,” Bush said.

“In the past, we were able … to encourage businesses, foreign investment, and retired persons to come to our Island …. We were at least in the top 10 places in the world which were being considered when companies, businesses or persons were considering doing business … Recent independent studies have indicated we are no longer even on the radar by very important internationally recognized organizations,” he revealed. “We have failed to implement our immigration policies in a manner which allows the continuation of growth in our major industry.”

The premier pointed out that while the registration of mutual funds, banks, insurance companies, financial institutions generate tremendous income for government, the more important benefits came from these institutions doing business in Cayman and creating local economic activity.

Recent immigration policy had encouraged people to leave Cayman, the premier suggested in his TV address He said this was based on a mistaken belief that the jobs would still remain in Cayman. “Young Caymanians unfortunately were encouraged to believe that our country could do without foreigners and that money would continue to flow. This has proven to be a very serious and costly mistake. It has caused severe suffering among our people and our businesses.”

Bush pointed to the same mistakes made by neighbouring states in the past, where poor immigration decisions made over 30 years ago were still negatively impacting those countries. “Wise persons learn from the mistakes of others by having in the forefront of their minds and their decision process the history which created those mistakes. Our Government has no intention of carrying these mistakes forward,” Bush added.

He said government was turning its attention to newpolicies to stimulate growth and jobs and it would be holding a series of meetings over the next couple of weeks to “obtain input and solutions” from the people and to implement solutions “to grow our economy and enhance the lives of our people.”

Bush also spoke about the importance of encouraging people and businesses to relocate to Cayman and to conduct their business on the ground here.

Health insurance in recovery

Cayman News | 21/09/2010 | 28 Comments

(CNS): Insurance firms will no longer be able to cherry pick who they insure as a result of amendments to the Health Insurance Law passed in the Legislative Assembly recently. The road to recovery for the country’s health insurance regime is likely to be a long one but the health minister has made a number of amendments to provide for increases in fines, improve the administration of the law, as well as bring wider and more comprehensive coverage for all. The first step in what Mark Scotland said would be a comprehensive overhaul of the system and improvements to the basic health package, the changes will hopefully address the myriad complaints received about the sector. Scotland said that in the last year alone the Health Insurance Commission received over 1400 complaints.

Eventually, the minster will be introducing a standard health insurance policy that will provide more adequate coverage and meet the actual costs of care as part of the regulations that will go with the law. The minister explained that a final figure on the value and premium of the basic package had not yet been confirmed but the goal will be to balance an affordable premium with adequate cover.

The amendments are a first step on the health insurance regime’s road to recovery and provide for increases in fines to both employers and insurance providers who break the law and hold violators more accountable. Importantly, the changes will also close some of the loopholes which had allowed insurance companies to refuse coverage to people for one reason or another.

“Government has been working diligently to improve the delivery of health care,” Scotland told the Legislative Assembly as he presented the amendments. He said the amendments would improve access to health care in particular, for those in lower income brackets and those at higher risk.

One of the many problems surrounding the current outdated law, the minister said, was that it allowed for too many people to fall through the cracks and be under or uninsured. This in turn had led to higher incidences of chronic diseases.

Scotland said that, aside from improving access to health care coverage for a greater number of people, it would reduce the burden on government, which has been picking up the slack for failures in the private sector. He revealed that government spent just under $20 million on health care for under and uninsured people locally and overseas over the last twelve months, a level of expenditure which, he said, was unsustainable.

“The number of uninsured persons will decrease and level of under-insurance will improve significantly … as a result of the amendments,” Scotland added. He stated that amending the legislation had not been an easy process and acknowledged that work on the amendments started back in 2007 but what he believed were objections from the industry had delayed their implementation.

“There are numerous loopholes in the law that allow insurers to cherry pick and deny insurance to various individuals. These amendments propose to eliminate these,” he said.

He warned, however, that when the new and improved basic coverage was set it would mean monthly premiums would increase but in return policy holders would have far better health benefits and the country could move toward a healthier population.

Scotland admitted to the LA that the amendments won’t make the law perfect but would go a long way to improvie the current situation. Scotland pointed out that getting health insurance laws and coverage right was not a simple process, as demonstrated by the continuous battles over the subject in the United States.

The amendment bill received wide and welcome support from both sides of the Legislative Assembly and the amendments past unopposed.

Read new amendments here

Lisa becomes season’s twelfth tropical storm

Cayman News | 21/09/2010 | 3 Comments

(CNS): As Igor began to lose its tropical characteristics this morning, back across the Atlantic a tropical depression blew into the season’s twelfth named stormed. Tropical Storm Lisa is 530 miles west north west of the Cape Verde Islands and looks to be heading out into the mid Atlantic. Maximum sustained winds are currently 40 mph as Lisa slowly heads towards the north at near 5mph. Forecasters from the NHC said the current general motion is expected to continue during the next 24 hours before a turn toward the north-northwest with a slight decrease in forward speed on Wednesday. Additional strengthening is forecast during the next couple of days and tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 40 miles from the centre.

Tropical storm Julia has now also dissipated but closer to home showers and thunderstorms over much of the Windward Islands and the southeastern Caribbean Sea associated with a tropical wave are being given a slight 20 percent chance of cyclone formation by the NHC. The storm professionals said the environmental conditions appear conducive for some gradual development during the next couple of days as the disturbance moves westward at 10 to 15 mph.

Violators to lose T&B licence

Cayman News | 21/09/2010 | 42 Comments

(CNS): The employment minister has said that the Pensions Law needs to be enforced in such a way that the money owed to employees gets into their pension funds rather then trying to prosecute offenders through the courts. A report by Complaints Commissioner Nicola Williams revealed a catalogue of problems with private sector pensions, including the theft of employee contributions from employers, and recommended a complete overhaul of the legislation. Rolston Anglin has said that his ministry has been focused for several months now on creating a new system in which employers will be held accountable for the pension contributions they owe through administrative fines and the removal of trade and business licences.

Speaking at a town hall meeting hosted by the premier last week, when asked to comment on the OCC report, Anglin said the problem was a long standing one and not a new issue. However, he said his ministry had been working on a lengthy review of all the laws relating to all employment and, with the help of lawyer Theresa Lewis-Pitcairn, were working on drafting legislation that would change the entire system and ensure all employers violating any employment law would face immediate consequences.

“We are going to ensure that we put in place a regime where pension violators can be dealt with administratively and immediately,” he said. “If we don’t have a law that’s enforceable and that ensures swift action can be taken, we will continue to fight a losing battle.”

The minster added that government needed to look very carefully at the entire matter of the enforcement of workplace laws and he wanted to see a legal regime where employers who were breaking laws could be swiftly held to account and at the same time protect the rights of workers more effectively.

With less than 20 cases out of more than 600 prepared and passed to the legal department, Anglin told CNS that there were clearly major problems with the way that pension violators have been dealt with over the years. Trying to prosecute employers did not help anyone, least of all those employees who were missing money from their pensions, he said.

“The aim of my ministry is to bring violators to account and then get the money back into the pension funds,” Anglin said.

Demonstrating that an employer had violated the pension law was not difficult, he suggested, and once that was established the goal was to get the employer to pay. He said government intended to do that through the threat of fines and sanctions, such as the loss of a trade and business licence, which in turn would prevent employers from obtaining work permits.

He said that giving powers of enforcement directly to inspectors who would in future be dealing with all types of employment law violations would be far more effective than trying to put together legal cases for the courts. Anglin said the employment inspectors would be able to levy fines or instruct the licensing board to withhold businesses licenses unless employers come up with a payment plan to meet their pension obligations.

The OCC report, entitled Penny Pinching Pensions, was made a public document following its tabling in the Legislative Assembly on 10 September. The complaints commissioner told CNS that she was disappointed that the members had not chosen to debate the document in the House but was pleased to hear that government was considering an overhaul of the legislation, as recommended in the report.

Williams said the office was very pleased with the quality and accuracy of the report and, most importantly, it was now a public document which everyone could access and understand the current situation. She said she looked forward to seeing the root and branch change that she recommended in the report as quickly as possible. “I would want to see the entire private pension regime better regulated and properly administered,” she said, adding that even if the government chooses not to follow her recommendations, if the new law worked she would be very happy.

The method, she said, was less important than achieving the goal of preventing employers from stealing their employee’s contributions and ensuring that people’s pensions were saved before it was too late. Despite what happens next, in terms of legislative change, Williams said her office would continue to monitor the situation for compliance with her recommendations.

This was Williams’ first own motion report, which, she said, had been a long process as she and her team were keen to ensure that all reports to come out of the OCC were not just relevant and comprehensive but accurate and well researched.

As a result and given the regular workload of the office, she said it would be several weeks before the team embarks on another own motion. Williams said there were three issues which she felt needed to be addressed and details about which one would take priority would be revealed before the end of the year.

See OCC pension report here

Chuckie defends duty waivers

Cayman News | 20/09/2010 | 42 Comments

(CNS): Following the premier’s criticisms of the previous administration for giving the developer of the Ritz Carlton concessions on his latest project, the former tourism minister has defended the decision and said the waivers were given when the country was headed into recession. Charles Clifford said the PPM administration offered Michael Ryan, the developer of Dragon Bay, various concessions in order to encourage him to go ahead with the project at a time when many other developments were being cancelled. He said the goal was to stimulate the construction sector, but he added that the former administration should have pushed Ryan to meet his obligation to build a new Port Authority marina. (Photo Dragon Bay site Dennie WarrenJr)

Clifford, who recently resigned from the opposition People’s Progressive Movement, was the tourism minster at the time Ryan was offered the duty waivers but has said the negotiations were headed by the opposition leader, Kurt Tibbetts, whom Clifford said did not force Ryan’s hand over the public marina.

“During the negotiations I felt that we should have pressed the developer to meet his obligation to build the public marina on the Port Authority land before we offered the waiver,” he said. However, although it was written into the heads of agreement as approved by Cabinet at the time, the previous government failed to make it a condition that the marina must be built first.

Clifford explained that the commitment by the developer to create the marina came as a result of a swap over Port Authority crown land that he was allowed to dredge during the construction of the Ritz. “He used the crown land as fill but has not yet met his obligation to create the marina,” Clifford added, saying the requirement remains in the current heads of agreement.

Despite his reservations regarding the developer’s failure to meet that commitment, he still defended the waivers and said the circumstances were very different in 2008 when this deal was made to the economic situation when the deferment agreement was made before the construction of the Ritz-Carlton.

The deferment payments made over the Ritz recently caused controversy when it was revealed in the Legislative Assembly that no quarterly payments had been made for eighteen months. The duty deferments were given to Condoco and Stringray during the construction of the Ritz Carlton hotel, and under the agreement the developer was supposed to make quarterly payments of more than $300,000 over a seven-year period.

Ryan has since asked for a longer period to pay back the outstanding duty of $6 million as a result of the recession. The premier said the negotiations are still ongoing and therefore all payments have been stopped.

Clifford pointed out that theses were two separate and very different issues.

“When we agree to those duty waivers on Dragon Bay we were in the midst of a global recession and development projects were being cancelled everywhere. The goal was to encourage Dragon Bay to go ahead,” Clifford stated, adding that the deferments were made in 1997 when the economic situation was very different.

Clifford also stated that the waiver was not kept a secret as implied by the premier but was revealed at a previous government press briefing.

The former tourism minster said the agreement not only included the requirement of the developer to build the new Port Authority marina and associated public facilities but also requires Ryan to provide golf membership opportunities for Cayman residents on a new course that is expected to be developed there. It also includes the clean-up and replanting of the mangrove islands adjacent to project.

The mangrove issue recently caused controversy when it was revealed that a considerable amount of healthy mangrove buffer as well as that damaged in Ivan had been removed at the site. The DoE has warned that replanting mangrove is notoriously difficult.

Although, McKeeva Bush has been extremely critical over the Dragon Bay waivers following the row over Ryan’s failure to meet his quarterly payments on the earlier deferrals, he has said that his government will honour the waiver as the Dragon Bay development is expected to be an important one for the island.

The list of incentives given to Ryan for the development include: The extension of the Safe Haven lease to 99 years; the lease of the mangrove islands adjacent to the project; dedicated space in the airport terminal for resort residents and guests; provision of a dock at the airport for use by resortowners and guests; waive import duty for alternative energy generating, recycling and other eco-friendly operations/equipment; fifty work permits for key staff necessary in creating the new development and staffing the hotel; reduction of stamp duty on all land transfers to first time Caymanian owners to 4 percent; reduce import duty on hotel, golf and related construction to 10% for 8 years from date of main agreement; waive import duties on pre-opening and opening supplies for the new hotel; reduce import duties on residential construction to 10% for 8 years from date of agreement; waive import duty on construction materials to build new schools; waive import duty for construction materials to build a church or churches; waive import duty for construction materials to build public beach facilities; waive import duty for construction materials for public roads and related elements; waive import duty for construction materials for new Port Authority marina.