Politics
Archer’s budget cleared without question
(CNS): The finance minister was given a free pass by his legislative colleagues on Friday when he was told by the opposition benches that they would not be asking any questions on his appropriations in the budget. The committee members all agreed that they were prepared to trust Marco Archer because, despite being in the job for just over a year, he seems to have engendered considerable support and backing across the political divide. He was described by his colleagues in the Legislative Assembly as “fair, honest, open and transparent” and it was said that he had been as “decent as possible” when it came to allowing questions on appropriations. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)
Arden McLean, the independent member for East End, said Archer had earned the respect because when people see "hard work and straight forwardness", as was displayed by the minister, they could have faith in his ability to get the job done. “Hard work is always rewarded,” McLean said, as he and other members thanked Archer for his stewardship.
McKeeva Bush, the opposition leader, said that Archer had handled the committee without any political bias, as he also offered his support for a job well done.
The finance minister was clearly surprised and touched by his colleagues' trust in his ability as more accolades came from the government benchesas well. He said that he was not often speechless but "didn't know what to say" and was clearly appreciative that his ministry would be cleared unscathed as he put all of the appropriations to the vote.
Following the committee’s proceedings, Ezzard Miller, the independent member for North Side, told CNS that he believed Archer had done a great job and had given the opposition benches considerable leeway to probe ministers and their staff and hold them accountable for the money they will be spending this coming financial year and what they achieved in the last.
Miller contrasted Archer’s stewardship with that of his predecessor.
“All in all, the chairman handled Finance Committee well and the ministers were also tolerant of our questioning as we looked for answers,” he said as he thanked them all for their tolerance.
“It wasn’t that way under the UDP as the then finance minister was limiting us to two or three questions … This time government allowed the process to be much more open and the public got a much better picture of what going on,” Miller added.
Report quality challenged
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CNS) Updated: Officials from the education ministry have said that they were right to challenge the quality of a report about the standards of teaching in Cayman’s schools and the issues with student behaviour. The existence of a secret but damning report from 2012, which cost the ministry around US$40k, was revealed in Finance Committee Monday when members of the opposition benches asked education bosses about its worrying contents. However, the chief officer has said the original report was called into question as there was a lack of evidence to support the findings and it was altered by a senior evaluator who had been involved in the original inspection.
The inspection and report was commissioned by the education ministry to review the provision for students at risk and those with behavioural challenges.
Education Ministry Chief Officer Mary Rodrigues explained in a release why there were two versions of the 2012 Behaviour Report. She said that there were serious concerns about the quality of the first draft, which were addressed “in a clear and frank manner with the consultant”, who is understood to have been educational expert Dr David Moore.
The government official said that the final version of the report, by a senior evaluator in the ministry who is a 22 year veteran of the education system, ensured that the report met the quality standards set out for all reports.
“She was the deputylead inspector on the 2012 review and the only other person to have the complete overview besides the consultant. Therefore, it was appropriate in her role to have contributed to finalising the report,” Rodrigues claimed.
“The ministry’s intention in undertaking reviews of this nature is to gather information and identify weaknesses and strengths, based on actual evidence, in order to put in place corrective measures, and not to withhold information from the general public. In this instance the aim was to review the organization and effectiveness of educational and specialist provision for students at risk-including those with behavioural challenges,” she added.
Recognising that there have been a number of problems in schools regarding behaviour and issues with teachers, Rodriues defended the teachers, stating that most “are committed and professional”, and many were commended during the recent graduations.
“Based on the academic achievements our students displayed at the recent graduation ceremonies, this indicates that academic environments are being created that are conducive to effective teaching and learning,” she said.
She did, however, admit that with the behaviour problems in the schools with some students, not all teachers “respond well to negative behaviours” and added, “There are a few who let us down.”
Rodrigues stated that she expected educators to be held to the highest professional standards.
“The tool to achieve this is effective performance management,” she said. “The Ministry and DES have also worked together to create the first set of National Professional Standards for our teachers. These standards make very clear our expectations for our educators. At the same time we have set out expectations for school discipline and student behaviour. The 2012 Behaviour Review notes that most of our students behave well. However, there is a small number who create very significant challenges for our teachers.”
Since taking office, the current education minister, Tara Rivers, commissioned a review of the situation this year by Anita Cornish, senior policy advisor for special needs, who found that tools and resources are not always used effectively and consistently throughout the system in terms of controlling behaviour. Cornish has now issued recommendations, which the officials said are being “aggressively pursued by schools”.
Meanwhile, although none of these reports have yet been released to the public, the ministry stated that the costs of the original review in 2012 were as follows:
- Desk Top Review: £7,000
- On-island site visits and leading and developing a team of educators in field work and observation: £10,500
- Report writing: £3,500 pounds
- Travel expense: £1,582.82
- Subsistence: £1,155
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Ex-airport board in probe
(CNS): As the current airport board comes under fire over allegations of meddling in HR issues, it has emerged that the activities of the previous board are under investigation by the RCIPS Financial Crimes Unit. The board was chaired by Norman Bodden but when he resigned Dick Arch, an owner of one of the businesses at the airport, took over and that board was also accused of staff interference, resulting in at least one law suit, and of serious conflicts. Aside from Arch, other members of the board had business interests at the airport, and despite claims to the contrary, they didn’t always recuse themselves when those issues were discussed and may have even directed policy to benefit their bottom line.
During the Finance Committee hearing the current board, chaired by Kirkland Nixon, came under serious fire from the committee and in particular Opposition Leader McKeeva Bush, who was in possession of a number of documents that had been leaked from the airport indicating direct interference with staffing issues.
It seems that the board ordered that the IT manager, who was suspended after pornography was found on his office computer, be reinstated, despite significant evidence pointing to his culpability. It also appears that the board pushed the acting director out of his job while on vacation and as a result was forced to negotiate a hefty pay-off in order to head off a costly law suit. During their evasion of the Finance Committee probes officials from the airport were not entirely forthcoming, leading members of the opposition benches to call for some kind of enquiry.
As he questioned officials last week, Bush was incensed that there seemed to be no real consequences for the employee who was caught with the pornography or the board for wrongly removing the acting director or for the officials to mislead parliament.
While it appears that the current board, which also denied staff interference, did also meddle in HR issues, there are no allegations of conflict or corruption being made against this board.
However, it appears that the previous board, which was appointed by Bush’s former UDP administration and under his responsibility as he was also tourism minister at the time, was in the firing line of the police FCU. The board’s sacking of the financial controller, who is currently pursuing a legal case against government, as well as other interference in employee matters are understood to form part of police probe.
The Anti-corruption Unit also submitted a file to the director of pubic prosections (DPP) regarding potential conflict and abuse of office charges against the board membership, which the public prosecutor's office declined to press. Concerns were raised about the presence of board members at meetings in which their business interests were being discussed, but also accusations that policy was manipulated to assist their private commercial enterprises.
Recent revelations in the trial of the former director and deputy chair of the National Housing Development Trust board highlighted gaps in the anti-corruption law. Edlin Myles was convicted of seven deception offences directly related to his position on that government board but the crown was unable to pursue other charges against him under the anti-corruption law. It is understood that they could not define Myles as a public official because the NHDT board oversees a non-profit making government company.
The poor construct of this law for the Cayman context means that the ACU could face the same problem in any future probe of any government board members. Even if officers find evidence of corruption, they may still be powerless to prosecute as the debate on what constitutes a public official as defined in the current law roles on.
CNS Note: This article was adapted from one posted earlier today to clarify that the ongoing probe of the former board is being conducted by the Financial Crimes Unit and not the Anti-corruption Unit, which has completed its element of the enquiry.
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Locals make grade but no job
(CNS): The opposition benches were querying why almost 70 Caymanians cleared as experienced, qualified, work-ready candidates by the National Work Force Development Agency looking for jobs in the tourism sector weren’t placed in last year’s job drive. During Monday’s Finance Committee proceedings MLAs Arden Mclean and Ezzard Miller queried why only 13 locals were placed during an initiative involving the tourism sector and the government’s job agency when over 80 candidates were cleared ready for work in the sector and there are thousands of work permit holders across the tourism industry that these locals could replace.
The question of why these job-ready candidates couldn’t be placed in any of the posts currently held by permit holders was not directly addressed but ministry officials pointed the finger at the immigration department and the decisions to grant permits by the boards.
Probing Dr Tasha Garcia-Ebanks, the deputy chief officer in the education and employment ministry, during the Finance Committee’s scrutiny of the appropriations for the ministry held by Tara Rivers, Arden McLean, the member for East End, asked what had happened during the much heralded job-drive organized by Cayman Islands Tourism Association and the NWDA.
Garcia-Ebanks described the initiative as a win when it came to developing partnerships but the figures she revealed made it clear it was far from a win for the majority of job-seekers. Although some 200 jobs were identified and over 180 Caymanian clients of the NWDA were contacted to come to the assessments, in the end just 13 people were placed in work. 144 people contacted by NWDA attended their appointments in the districts with CITA and the agency, where they were interviewed by a panel
From those, Garcia-Ebanks said, 82 cleared as suitable for employment without training while 40 required some training and 21 a considerable amount of assistance was needed before they could be put forward for jobs. From the more than 120 who were eventually referred for jobs over 50 people didn’t follow up or go to interviews. More than 40 did attend interviews however and 13 people were eventually hired. Garcia-Ebanks stated that the type of work candidates were looking for and the jobs available in the drive didn’t match,which was why so few people were placed.
McLean said that it "seemed bad that only 13 people wound up with jobs” from more than 180 candidates and asked what was being done since to help the applicants.
The deputy chief said that as all the candidates are NWDA clients they were still being assisted with expanded training and the agency was working hard to remove the barriers to employment. With a more comprehensive intake assessment, she said, the NWDA had a better understanding of what was needed to get the unemployed back to work.
She also talked about the interface between the NWDA and the immigration boards, which she said now ensures members are aware of the local candidates available when considering permits and they can weigh that against the employers responses for not hiring them.
However, the idea of removing existing permit holders to make way for these experienced and qualified local workers appeared not to be on the cards.
When the North Side member, Ezzard Miller, pointed out that, in accordance with the immigration law, if a Caymanian is suitably qualified and available for any post they should get it, regardless of whether or not it is currently filled by a permit holder. He queried how almost 70 Caymanians could be seeking work in the tourism sector, cleared by not just the NWDA but the tourism association as well as being suitable, when there were so many permits in that industry.
Garcia-Ebanks told the committee that the job drive only included jobs that were vacant at the time of the initiative and not jobs held by existing permit holders.
Asked if government had taken any action to cancel permits in favour of the available candidates, the employment minster spoke about the process of supplying information to the boards at the time of work permit applications but skirted the issue of the permits already granted to overseas workers being cancelled
Rivers indicated that with the new process the information will get through to the boards and as each permit comes up the boards will be in a position to enforce the immigration law. She said it was not, however, the mandate of the NWDA to cancel permits and work permit decisions, she said, are made by immigration
“It it is not for us to say to an employer you can’t apply,” she said, adding that the agency was trying its best to show employers and immigration the potential Caymanians available for jobs but in the end it was down to the boards. The minister said the NWDA still did not have the resources to police permits but she undertook to follow through with the candidates cleared in the job drive to ensure the boards were aware of their availability and that they were using the portal created by the NWDA, which shows available local candidates.
Secret report slams teachers
(CNS): A report based on an independent review of local schools is believed to reveal a catalogue of problems, not just with kids’ behavior but over the standard and quality of teachers in Cayman. The report, which was published in November 2012, has remained under wraps in the education ministry but its existence and some of its contents were revealed by the opposition members during Monday’s Finance Committee when Tara Rivers, the education minster, was in the hot seat. According to the limited details revealed during the proceedings, the report includes a shocking condemnation of teachers who are failing to make the grade and are themselves behaving badly.
Teachers were reportedly being negative, indifferent and dismissive towards students, using sarcasm even with primary school children and humiliating them. Teachers were described as being overly aggressive in their manner with their students and failing to understand the learning needs of their students. The report allegedly reveals significant disparities and inconsistencies in the quality of teaching throughout the local system and even, in some cases, within the same school.
The existence of the report was first raised by the opposition leader, McKeeva Bush, but during the questioning of the chief officer in the education and employment ministry, Mary Rodrigues, and other staff, it became apparent that the East End member, Arden McLean, had a copy of the report.
Confusion mounted, however, when it was revealed that there was a second report, which appeared to be a review of the original report by a member of the ministry staff who appearedto have altered the findings of the original author. Also, the original eight pages of recommendations to address the myriad shortcomings in the education system had been reduce to a page and a half. Described by Ezzard Miller as a possible “sanitized version” of the original, the members pressed for an explanation.
Although Rodrigues implied there were some concerns about the evidence to back up the findings of the original report and a review was undertaken, she was not sure of the details. The education civil service boss said that the final report she had been given was different to the two which members appeared to have brought to the committee. Admitting she was unsure as to what had happened, she said she would determine the series of events and find out about the different reports.
Meanwhile, Rivers noted that when she took up office as the minister she had asked staff to review how many of the recommendations from that original report had been implemented and where gaps continued to exist in the system. She told the committee that it was this report that had formed the basis for the new behavior strategies that would be implemented in the schools, starting in the new academic year.
McLean questioned why the report and its damning allegations had been “kicking around” since the end of December, 2012, when no one knew about it or what had been done to address it.
Rivers said the 2012 report and the review conducted this year would all be made public following Finance Committee but she said some of the matters in the 2014 review of the report were dependent on the budget and the plan was to publish all of the reports together.
The members of the committee raised their concerns about the recruitment of teachers, the policies surrounding where they were coming from and the background checks being done. They also asked what was being done about improving the quality of staff now that so many issues had been raised.
Rivers acknowledged the criticisms but she said it was being addressed with performance management and a focus on ensuring that the policies set down by the ministry were actually being followed through at the school level. Ministry staff also spoke a lot about strategies, expectations and continuums but were vague about the actual accountability over inadequate teachers.
With no fixed date for a release, CNS has submitted an FOI request and is making enquiries about getting copies of all of the reports and reviews and will publish all the documents as soon as we have them.
Airport in porn, HR scandal
(CNS): The reinstatement of a member of the airport management team after his suspension over allegations of using an official computer to view hundreds of pornographic images has fuelled concerns of another scandal at the airport that involves the board of directors and human resource issues. The opposition leader led the charge in Finance Committee when he began probing officials over an investigation into the behaviour of the IT manager, the subsequent investigations, the man’s reinstatement and the board’s involvement. However, the situation escalated when the board chair and the acting airport boss were less than forthcoming with the committee.
The issue, which has been kept under wraps by airport officials, was blown wide open by McKeeva Bush, who was in possession of what appeared to be a significant number of documents relating to yet another major human resource scandal at the authority. The airport has been plagued with staffing issues since late 2012, when the former chief executive officer, Jeremy Jackson, was suspended and then sacked in the wake of an internal investigation about airport mismanagement. This in turn led to other leaks and revelations of inappropriate board interference with the day-to-day management of the airport and glaring conflicts of interest with the board that was appointed by the UDP government.
Last week, Bush began asking the new board chair, Kirkland Nixon, and the acting head of the Cayman Islands Airports Authority, Andrew McLaughlin, who was standing in for the new CEO Albert Anderson, about the internal investigation that had resulted in the suspension of the IT manager amid allegations that he was using his office computer to visit pornographic sites on numerous occasions and had also downloaded the images.
The investigation and suspension of the IT manager was ordered by the acting director at the time, Kerith McCoy, but after McCoy departed correspondence and other documentary evidence appeared to indicate that the board had directed the conclusion of the investigation and the reinstatement of the manager.
The airport security boss, Shane Bothwell, undertook a second look at the case under what appears to be the direction of the board, despite the board chair's denial they had anything to do with the case. Bothwell told the committee that he had not been able to prove the allegations and suggested that he could not verify the chain of custody regarding the computer.
However, the opposition leader pointed out that the IT manager was one of only two people with access to the computer and the second person was on leave at the time the sites were allegedly viewed. Bothwell hinted that he believed the IT manager could have been set up, as he said the manner of the viewing was not conducive with the usual patterns of behaviour in such cases. However, he could not explain how anyone else other than the manager could have had access to the computer.
While no one was able to explain the reinstatement of the IT manager in the face of what the opposition members considered to be overwhelming evidence against him, the situation escalated when the opposition leader also asked about a letter from the authority’s lawyers relating to that matter and the issue of McCoy’s disputed departure following his extended leave. Knowledge of the letter was denied by the CEO but it eventually appeared in part after the chair eventually admitted its existence.
Bush pressed on over the question of the board's interference, as despite the denials by both McLaughlin and Nixon that the board was involved in HR issues at all, the letter, which was not released in public, was alleged to contain evidence of that interference. This led the opposition members to call for a public probe of the board and other witnesses and left the government benches embarrassed, while the government minister with responsibility for the airport remained silent throughout the entire affair.
“This letter tells us there was interference,” Bush insisted, as he became increasingly irate over what he saw as public officials deliberately misleading the committee. He said it was evident that the board was party “to gross interference” and added that the committee has not been told the truth. "I am not going to countenance being told half of what happened,” he said.
The opposition leader and the independent members implied that it was all too common for government management teams to come to Finance Committee and tell members whatever they thought they wanted to hear when often it was just not true.
Ezzard Miller also emphasised his concerns about the lack of action taken against all individuals who mislead parliament. “Every time we try to get to the bottom of something, somebody intervenes with a legal opinion to cover it all up,” he said.
Amid discussions involving the Finance Committee chair, the attorney general and the premier, the matter almost reached a select committee enquiry, which could have seen all of the witnesses placed in contempt of parliament, an offence that could lead to jail.
Following several closed door meetings on Thursday evening and then again Friday afternoon, the committee eventually agreed that such an enquiry would escalate matters too far. The premier said government regarded it as “a very serious matter”, and that it would conduct further investigations into the issues surrounding the allegations.
While Bush agreed that there were time constraints on Finance Committee and other issues, including the cost of fielding an army of lawyers on all sides, a select committee enquiry was a step too far. However, the opposition leader demanded that the current airport board be fired and another one appointed.
The issue over whether or not the IT manager, who is back in his job, had or had not been viewing porn over 450 times in a two week period was left hanging as the matter of board interference and dishonesty before the committee took precedence.
In the end,however, the MLAs spent almost seven hours across Thursday and Friday arguing over the potential scandal of the IT manager’s reinstatement after the discovery of the porn, the removal of McCoy, the current board’s interference with HR matters and, most of all, the allegations that the airport officials had not been truthful with Finance Committee.
Miller attacks National Trust
(CNS): The charity which helps in the fight to preserve and protect Cayman’s dwindling natural environment and its significant cultural and historic sites came under attack from the independent member for North Side Wednesday. Ezzard Miller probed the environment minister and hurled allegations against the National Trust as he accused it of land banking, "harassing" land owners, pushing down values and breaking its own by-laws. He complained that the Trust owned as much as 30% of the arable or usable land in his district and made a direct plea to his constituents not to sell land to the charity for anything less than $100k an acre.
In a very direct attack on the charity which manages land in Trust to protect it from development and ensure that Cayman retains at least some of its original landscape as well as its heritage and culture, Miller implied that the law did not allow the National Trust to solicit land. He said that one of his constituents, whom he described as being harassed by the NGO, had been approached again to sell his land for just $200 per acre.
“Listen to me North Siders, if they come to you all to buy land, the minimum price should be $100k an acre as the National Trust has plenty of money,” he said.
Miller probed the environment minister, Wayne Panton, on the by-laws of the Trust and implied that the original law, passed when the opposition bencher was previously in government in the 1990s was not being followed as it was never intended to allow the Trust to solicit land. He said he had grave concerns about what “the Trust had been allowed to morph into”, as he suggested it was land banking.
He said that with so much of his constituency’s land in the Trust’s hands, his people would soon have “nowhere to grow cassava, cut a top to make a basket, chop of a branch from a mahogany tree to make furniture or even pick a mango”, as he said that no one can take anything from Trust land.
The member did not see the irony in his allegations, however, that without the Trust acquiring some land for conservation the number of silver thatch trees and other important species would have fallen to the point where the currently threatened national tree would be re-enlisted as endangered.
Pressing the minster about the Trust’s laws, Miller asked why, as set out in the law, the Trust has no district committees, which Panton said he would have to enquire about. The North Side member also asked why the Trust was allowed to solicit and harangue landowners for their property. He pressed the minster over the Trust’s refusal to allow easements across its lands for other landowners. Miller said the charity had recently refused a developer access to his tourism project of just a few feet forcing him to put in a road elsewhere that led to him going via “his elbow to get to his chin”.
The representative who seemed furious that the charity should be allowed to protect land for conservation purposes, said that he believed it was refusing easements as part of a ploy to drive down land values so it could purchase more land. The member insisted that the Trust should not be allowed to solicit for land under the law. However, the environment minister, Wayne Panton pointed out that there is no clause that states the Trust cannot buy land and so it must be able seek to buy that land.
Government allocated $620,000 to the Trust as a contribution to the organization which has a wide remit to look after the history, culture and natural landscape of the islands which included an extra payment of $120,000 compared to the 2013/14 financial year in order to assist with the visitors centre at the new Blue Iguana Wilderness reserve, at Colliers in East End. The National Trust manages that world renowned conservation programme which has brought Cayman’s iconic blue iguana back from the brink of extinction under its award winning director, Fred Burton.
Despite the Trust critical importance to preserving Cayman’s scarce resources, as in the absence of a conservation law it has so far been the only land across the Cayman Islands that is conserved. The Trust has just around 5% of the islands land under protection on which it is trying to preserve hundreds of species of endemic flora and fauna from the ghost orchid to the Pygmy Blue butterfly.
Miller was not the only member to ask questions, McLean pressed the minister about what had happened to an EU donation to the Blue Iguana Programme in East End and McKeeeva Bush the opposition leader asked how much land the Trust had acquired since the year 2000 and its value.
DG watching travel costs
(CNS): The deputy governor has said he is carefully monitoring travel and hospitality costs and has already called for an internal audit to see how, after one year, the new travel policy is working. Franz Manderson said government will be vigilant in detecting any deficiencies and pursuing appropriate consequences. Although there has been considerable outcry from the public about the past infringements that have gone unpunished, going forward the civil service boss is promising more accountability against the backdrop of much stricter financial management across the public sector.
“To help sustain real change in the institutional culture, there needs to be timely and regular monitoring of travel expenditures. On the one-year anniversary of the new Travel Policy, I have called upon Internal Audit to assess compliance now that we have recognised policies and procedures in place,” Manderson said. “I await these results to better assess the impact of the current travel policy. In the interim, chief officers and I, as facilitated by the Portfolio of the Civil Service, will next consider a policy to govern official hospitality expenditures.”
In a statement following the auditor general’s damning report revealing that as much as $10 million could have been spent on travel and hospitality by government officials between 2009 and 2012, with very little accountability and almost certainly considerable abuse, Manderson said things had already changed.
Many of the eleven recommendations in the audit have either been implemented or are in the process of implementation, he said, adding that the audit represented an “historical snapshot, prior to the adoption of the new travel policy” and he was keen to determine whether there have now been positive changes to “the financial management processes and institutional culture” since it was adopted last summer.
“The government will be vigilant in detecting any deficiencies and pursuing appropriate consequences for the same,” the deputy governor warned. “The recent travel audit demonstrates the extent to which accountability systems failed us in years past. I’m optimistic that our focused efforts to correct this situation will yield improved results.”
Manderson noted that improving government’s financial performance and raising accountability is a continual process, as he defended public sector workers. Government, he said, had set the tone for strict financial management and civil servants have responded to the call, having helped to achieve a surplus forecasted to exceed $100 million in contrast to the significant deficits incurred in previous years.
It was in late 2012 that the deputy governor asked the Portfolio of the Civil Service to develop a travel policy to address what he had perceived as significant deficiencies in the Cayman Islands Government’s internal controls relating to travel. It was evident that there was no uniformity in the approach individual agencies pursued to manage travel expenditures, and seemingly no consequence for failure to comply where such minimal standards existed.
The policy adopted last July tackles the identified loopholes Manderson stated. It sets one policy framework which applies to all civil servants, regardless of their seniority or the particular agency where they work as well as elected officials. It restricts the use of travel advances, which were identified in Alastair Swarbrick’s report as being open to serious abuse. Instead, travelling government officials will rely on a published schedule of per diem limits which vary by jurisdiction.
The policy simplifies reporting methodologies to provide more cost effective and consistent reporting. Above all and probably one of the most important considerations to alleviate public concern about the abuse is that managers must now consider whether the travel is necessary at all or whether the business objective can be achieved as effectively through alternative means.
Government commits to tackle travel scandal
(CNS): The premier has said that the Progressives-led government will be working with the deputy governor to implement recommendations made by Auditor General Alastair Swarbrick in his recent damning report about the potential misuse of government funds for travel and hospitality by both the elected and administrative arms of government during the previous government. Alden McLaughlin has said that in addition to the introduction of a formal travel policy, the government would continue to report reasons and costs for travel and ensure accountability. Deputy Governor Franz Manderson also acknowledged the deficiencies in government raised by Swarbrick’s report but said the new travel policy was a significant step towards addressing the shortcomings.
The Office of the Auditor General's report found that at least $8.6 million, and very possibly more than $10 million, of public money was spent on travel and hospitality over a three year period during the UDP administration. However, McLaughlin said the new travel policy implemented in July 2013 sets out rules and criteria for all civil servants and his government had readily adopted the policy for politicians, who were now traveling under its guidelines.
“My government is committed to good governance practices, transparency and accountability as well as prudent financial practices in seeing that the public’s money is spent only when it is absolutely necessary,” McLaughlin stated in a short release from his office following the report’s publication. “We have made it a habit to report to the public on the achievements, outcomes and costs of all overseas travel incurred by this administration.”
In his formal response to the report, Manderson said that the new travel policy was developed after careful consideration of best practice and in consultation with senior leaders across the service, including finance and audit personnel. The policy seeks to avoid risks of travel advances being written off by severely limiting them and relying instead upon prescribed per diems.
“The policy provides uniform guidelines to minimize the range of risks identified in this report. This policy will be monitored for compliance,” he added.
Acknowledging the inherent risks associated with this sort of spending, the deputy governor said the policy tried to strike a balance by providing cost-effective controls which manage the identified risks.
He said that expenditures on Christmas functions have now been harmonised with a central budget for $25 per head. In the management response to each of the OAG's recommendations, the deputy governor indicated that government would be introducing a government-wide hospitality policy.
In light of Swarbrick's findings that staff were signing off and clearing travel and hospitality bills outside the parameters of the law, Manderson said that chief officers and chief financial officers, who are already expected to possess a sound understanding of their roles and responsibilities, will be receive further training to ensure continuing education on the “nuances of these responsibilities within the context of the evolving nature of the policies, laws and regulations”.
See report below
‘ICTA-gate’ incenses MLAs
(CNS): Revelations that no disciplinary action was taken against the former MD of the Information Communication and Technology Authority in the fallout over questionable recruitment practices at the ICTA has incensed some political representatives. The minister responsible for the ICTA confirmed that David Archbold had been let go but was paid to the end of his contract and no action was taken over the scandal. Kurt Tibbetts said legal advice given by the attorney general was that, with only three months remaining on the former MD’s contract, it would be easier and less costly for government to simply pay off the public authority employee rather than risk a courtroom battle.
Tibbetts said that if the government had dismissed the ex-ICTA boss without paying out his contract it may have encountered some legal challenges that could have been more costly to the public purse. However, the minister also revealed that there was no official contract in place between Archbold and government as it had expired but he had remained in post regardless and was just three months from retirement age at the time of the revelations and subsequent enquiry.
During Monday’s Finance Committee when the Tibbetts, who is the minister with responsibility for the statutory authority, was answering questions on his appropriations, the independent members for East End and North Side both probed him on the outcome of an enquiry regarding what they described as the former ICTA MD’s supervision over unlawful recruitment of ex-pats and his alleged perjury in the parliament when it was exposed.
At last year’s Finance Committee hearing in October the MD had been questioned about how a contract had been signed by an overseas worker to come to Cayman and take up a senior post at the ICTA before the deadline for applications in the local advertisements for the same job had passed.
Archbold denied this had happened but documentation confirmed that it had and the MD had appeared to mislead the members of the Finance Committee. MLAs an all sides of the House were outraged as the issue of bending recruitment practices to tailor jobs to fit permit holders or people identified overseas and pass over qualified Caymanians had been a significant issue during the day’s proceedings.
As a result, the minister had promised to report back to the Legislative Assembly about what had happened and the subsequent actions taken. Tibbetts said last October that government would take the situation seriously and, once he had the report from the board, “there would be accountability".
However, both of the independent members were incredulous when Tibbetts revealed the outcome and the failure to apply any sanctions to anyone over what had happened. Clearly uncomfortable with the revelations, Tibbetts insisted that the government acted in the best interests of the public purse based on legal advice and said that in the end there was a successful outcome as the ICTA was now headed up by a fully qualified Caymanian.
Following the revelations in October's Finance Committee and the departure of the MD, his job and others were re-advertised and Alee Fa’moe was appointed as MD of the ICTA.
Talking about the events, Tibbetts said the ICTA board had conducted an investigation and produced a report that went to Cabinet, which then took legal advice based on the findings. It indicated that it would be best to terminate the former MD immediately but pay him up to his retirement date, which Tibbetts said was “not an expensive proposition compared to a potential legal fight”.
East End member Arden McLean pressed Tibbetts on the events, asking him to tell the people what had happened and ifthe ex-ICTA boss was sacked for disciplinary infractions but had still been paid. Although reluctant to give a straight answer, Tibbetts did not deny this had happened.
“Were I in the member's seat over there I would be asking same questions,” Tibbetts said but added that “certain situations” appeared to represent a challenge. “I understand it is the people’s money and I try my best with the custodianship I have and that it is judicious, but when it comes to certain matters involving individuals it is not so easy …” he said. “At some point in time bad judgment was exercised by way of a possible contract and advertising for a post … the whole situation went wrong. From our perspective, whether intentions were best or not they were all handled wrong and we could not say it was OK, and hence the action.”
Tibbetts said the process followed by the MD had run "counter to the terms” of those set out under the law regarding recruitment of overseas workers. Despite the wrongdoing, he said, “it was only three months … so we made a judgment call.”
As he questioned the minister North Side MLA Ezzard Miller also raised concerns about the message sent by such a decision as he suggested that rather than being held accountable for wrongdoing the former ICTA boss had been rewarded. Miller also noted the point that the former MD, in his view, had committed perjury when giving evidence to the committee and he intended to take that up with the attorney general and the director of public prosecutions when they were before the committee.
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