Politics
New cop becomes Caymanian
(CNS): Young people who have grown up in the Cayman Islands and call it home but have no rights as citizens may in the future be provided with a way to gain those rights. During the final stage in the granting of Caymanian Status by Cabinet to 23-year-old Kishna Burke – the ratification by the Legislative Assembly – Premier Alden McLaughlin noted that there were many others who, like her, had lived in Cayman almost all their lives but would not, as a young person, be likely to gain permanent residency, and said government would consider a route for them other than a Cabinet status grant. Burke, a successful candidate in the recent recruitment drive by the RCIPS, made her application in March 2011.
A maximum of four people per year can become Caymanians through Cabinet, a provision made by the previous PPM government in the wake of the mass status grants of 2003 under the UDP administration.
Under the current process, people can apply to the Caymanian Status and Permanent Residency Board, which makes recommendations to Cabinet. If the members of Cabinet agree with the recommendations, the status grant must then be put to the Legislative Assembly for approval.
In September 2012 businessmen Harry Chandi and William Maines were the first to become Caymanian this way after a majority vote in favour and only North Side MLA Ezzard Miller voting against the grant. “No one should be granted Caymanians status just because they are rich,” Miller said at the time, adding that he wanted to see these special grants given to really deserving people for exceptional reasons.
With the opposition bench empty as Burke’s status grant passed through the House last Friday afternoon, there was no debate and only the premier spoke.
He explained that she has lived in this country since the age of five and does not know the place of her birth, Jamaica, or have any family there. Although her father, a Jamaican national, obtained status through the normal immigration process, Burke’s family did not apply to have that status extended to her. So, when she turned 18 she found that she did not qualify for Caymanian status and faced the prospect of being sent back to Jamaica.
In March 2011, with little chance of gaining permanent residency, she was advised to apply to Cabinet for the right to be Caymanian, McLaughlin said. He noted that Burke, now a trainee officer in the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service, has proved an outstanding member of the community and deserved the right to be Caymanian.
Premier McLaughlin said that other young people in a similar situation might not know they can apply for Cabinet status, and even if they did, four status grants per year would not be enough. Without going into details, he suggested that government would consider other ways to provide for such cases without a grant of Cabinet status.
Archer aims at ‘clean’ reports
(CNS): The PPM administration is taking steps to eliminate some of the roadblocks to getting “clean” reports for its consolidated financial statements from the auditor general, Finance Minister Marco Archer told the Legislative Assembly last week. In July 2013, a report on the valuation of the government’s fixed assets was completed, which had not been done since 2001, and will mean that government’s assets are now on the books at their current values. In addition, the valuation of post-retirement healthcare benefits is underway, and the government is improving its financial management systems to ensure accurate and timely financial information. These steps will eliminate the disclaimers by the auditor in future audits, he said.
Getting through the backlog of financial statements that were not tabled by the previous UDP government, as required by law, Archer presented the statements for the financial year ended 30 June 2011, and said the consolidated financial statements for the financial years that ended 30 June 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2013 are currently with the auditor general and would be tabled as soon as the audits were finalized.
However, for the report tabled last week, he said that the auditor general was unable to obtain the audit evidence necessary on which to base an audit opinion, and he said government had “significant work to do to improve the quality of its financial information”.
The minister said that government had not carried out a revaluation of its lands, buildings, infrastructure and leasehold improvements since 2001. As at 30 June 2011, the net book value of assets subject to revaluation amounted to approximately CI$625 million, which represented just 36% of the total assets reported.
“As a result, the auditor general was unable to evaluate the reasonableness of the carrying amount of land and buildings, and any associated depreciation or impairment entries recorded within the financial statements as at 30 June 2011 as reasonable,” he said.
Under the Public Service Management Law, the government is obligated to provide post-retirement health benefits to qualified employees, spouses and dependent children , but the audit office was not provided with an evaluation of the extent of those obligations, Archer said, which is one of the issues now being rectified.
The total revenues recorded during this period amounted to CI$732 million with related receivables of CI$38 million, but, Archer told the House, the auditor general “was unable to obtain sufficient appropriate audit evidence to determine the reasonableness of the reported revenues. Evidence of expenses was similarly lacking, he said.
Acknowledging a number of systemic weaknesses in producing these financial statements, Archer said the Statement of Financial Position, as at 30 June 2011, showed that the entire public sector (EPS) ended the financial year with CI$1.739 billion in total assets, CI$1.241 billion in total non-current liabilities and CI$498.238 million in net assets.
The Statement of Financial Performance for the period shows that during the year the entire public sector earned CI$732.56 million in operating revenue and incurred CI$709.114 million in operating expenses, resulting in an operating surplus of CI$23.446 million.
The Statement of Cash Flows shows that the net cash flows received from operating and financing activities totalled CI$65.533 million and CI$131.076 million. The net cash used for investing activities totalled CI$94.224 million. The cash and cash equivalents for the EPS totalled CI$259.098 million.
The Statement of Changes in Net Worth shows the total net worth of the government at CI$495.236 million.
While the government was in compliance with the surplus, net worth, cash reserves and financial risk ratios, it was not in compliance with the borrowing and net debt ratios as the debt servicing ratio was at 10.5% (which should not be more than 10%) and the net debt was at 98.1% of core government revenue (which should not be more than 80%).
The Statement of Public Debt shows that the net public debt for the EPS is CI$522.341 million.
The minister said government was “making great strides to improve the quality of its financial information and in turn improve the auditor general’s opinions on the government’s financial statements.”
In the Office of the Auditor General’s progress report, “Financial and Performance Reporting Status Update as at 30th September 2013”, he noted, 39% of the underlying government agencies’ financial statements, which were audited for the financial year ended 30 June 2012, received unqualified or “clean” audit opinions.
Thirty-one percent of the financial statements, which were audited for the year ended 30th June 2012, received qualified audit opinions. The audits of the remaining 30% of financial statements were not finalized and no audit opinions had been issued at the date of the audit report.
However, the financial statements represent the government’s financial position from two financial years ago, Archer noted.
"Government entities are focussing on improving their internal controls to ensure that revenue and expenses are properly recorded, supported and reported," he said. "In addition, the Treasury Department is currently in the process of procuring software that will improve the Government’s efficiency of producing and reporting accurate and timely financial information."
Laying the latest audited report in the House, he told members, “It is hoped that over the upcoming years, as further improvements are made, that the Government’s financial information will become more credible and reliable.”
Premier to ring NASDAQ bell
(CNS): The premier will be taking a short overseas trip this week in order to appear on the podium at the NSDAQ Stock Exchange on Wall Street, where he will be ringing the opening bell alongside the Chief Executive of an offshore re-insurance firm. Alden McLaughlin will be ringing the bell on Tuesday – United States Tax Day – at 9:30am along with Jay Madhu, the head of Oxbridge Re, an exempted Cayman Islands company. McLaughlin said the insurance sector was one his government expects to grow in Cayman this year, but revelations on CNS Business show that Cayman’s regulator could be neglecting the industry as the head of the division has been on sick leave for over six months.
The Cayman Islands Government has been proactively seeking reinsurance companies to domicile in the country. Significant revisions to the Insurance Law restructured Class B companies into four categories, including a new class of Insurer for Reinsurance companies and Insurance Linked Securities.
“Global reinsurance markets have reacted positively to Cayman’s new Insurance Law and several reinsurance entities are considering establishing a reinsurance presence in the Cayman Islands. We expect this trend to gain momentum during this year,” said McLaughlin, in a release announcing his trip to Wall Street.
However, CNS Business has learned that Gordon Rowellm who heads up the offshore insurance regulatory sector at CIMA, has been absebt for some six months, leaving the important division in what was described as “disarray” by concerned industry stakeholders. (See full story on CNS Business)
Despite the issues surrounding the regulator, the premier said that ringing the bell next week would provide another welcome platform to promote Cayman’s offshore story.
“This is another excellent opportunity for the Cayman Islands to tell its positive story of providing sound financial services based on modern and stringent laws and regulations in a politically stable environment,” McLaughlin added.
One of the perks of being a public company is ringing the bell on the NASDAQ and the premier said he was happy to be joining Madhu and his Oxbridge Re team on what would be an historic occasion.
The firm is an exempted company organised one year ago in April 2013 to provide reinsurance business to property and casualty insurers in the Gulf Coast region of the United States. Through Oxbridge’s licensed reinsurance subsidiary, Oxbridge Reinsurance Limited, it writes fully collateralised policies to cover property losses from specified catastrophes.
The firm recently raised $26.4m from its initial successful public offering (IPO) of shares to help finance its next stage of growth. The number of share warrants sold was above expectations as Oxbridge Re had previously said it expected to sell between 1.7m and 4.25m share warrants to investors.
Political storm on OCC report
(CNS): A government backbencher issued a statement Friday, accusing the chair of the oversight committee for the Complaints Commissioner of "political posturing" on a vote in the Legislative Assembly when government failed to back a motion to adopt recommendations in a report on whistleblowing. Al Suckoo said he wasn’t at the most recent meeting and knew nothing of Ezzard Miller’s plans to call on government to adopt the report at the time it was presented and felt compelled to abstain. But the Bodden Town MLA has gone much further, implying that the PPM government is under a deliberate attack and because of his relationship with the North Side and East End members, efforts were being made to “pick me off”, he said.
“I encourage the members from East End and North Side to reject the current campaign of destabilisation perpetrated by those selfish individuals who do not want to take the same approach that I have, and who are putting selfish political agendas before what is best for the country, and ask them to join me in my efforts to give the Eastern Districts the leadership we promised,” Suckoo stated, adding that he was extending his hand to them and asking them not to muddy the waters and make the government appear ineffective. “It is all politically motivated and part of a much larger campaign designed to win back the government,” Suckoo added, implying some collusion with the two independent members, Miller and Arden McLean, and the three former UDP opposition party members.
Suckoo said the motion, which was presented on Wednesday, was not discussed with him and he was completely taken by surprise when it was put forward, despite being a member of the committee, though he said he was fully supportive of the efforts of the commissioner.
“I am aware that the government is now working at an advanced stage on whistleblower legislation and I intend to contribute to and support this effort and to encourage the government to complete this process in the shortest timeframe possible.”
Suckoo criticized Miller for bringing the motion at the time the report was laid as he said it would have been “more productive” for the report to be taken to caucus first to ask for government support rather than bringing it with no warning and expect the government to accept the report’s recommendations with no discussions.
At the time the report on whistleblowing by Complaints Commissioner Nicola Williams was presented to the LA on Wednesday morning, Miller moved a motion, which he said was supported by the oversight committee and had been suggested by committee member Roy McTaggart, who in the end voted against it.
He had pointed out that the recommendations in it had been made over and over in various past reports and government had still done nothing. The point of the motion, he explained, was to commit the authorities to a timetable of implementation.
Responding to Suckoo’s allegations, he said, “My only regret about following the Oversight Committee’s instruction in laying the report, "Let the Whistle Blow", on Wednesday April 9 was the alarming absence of whistles blowing,” pointing to the limited debate on the motion when he presented it.
“Words fail to adequately express by most profound disappointment that members of the Legislative Assembly did not take advantage of the opportunity presented to them by the committee to debate the report and clearly inform their constituents, Caymanians and residents at large what their positions are on each of the ten recommendations. This was also the only opportunity they will have to clearly articulate for the public, in public and on record in the Hansard of the LA, which of the ten recommendations they are not accepting and their rational for doing so.
“Unfortunately the public we all represent doesn’t know how many of the ten recommendations made by the complaints commissioner have been rejected by the government. Is it only the recommendation calling for whistle blowing legislation that has been accepted by the government,” Miller told CNS, adding that he supported the implementation of all ten recommendations.
“I have every confidence that when the minutes of the meetings are made public as part of the committee’s annual report at the next sitting of the Legislative Assembly, I will be absolved from any wrongdoing or breaching any of the standing orders,” he said.
CNS spoke to Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, who said government had rejected Miller's motion because there had been limited discussion beforehand between the elected and official arms of government. However, he said there was just one specific recommendation that may cause an issue, which referred to a "minister for the civil service", and the constitutional issues that such a proposal posed for the Cayman Islands Government.
See Suckoo's statement in full below and related CNS story: Whistleblower-motion-fails
Rivers lobbying colleagues for troubled kids
(CNS): The education minister is lobbying her own political colleagues in Cabinet to do something about the current gap in the system when it comes to troubled kids. Speaking about violence and behaviour problems at local schools Tara Rivers told the Legislative Assembly Thursday that there were discussions, committees, strategies, programmes, activities, wraparound policies, partnerships and action plans in place but pointed out that inthe end there are a number of students with behaviour and mental health issues that are beyond the scope of her ministry. Calling for urgent action she said secure therapeutic accommodation was desperately needed.
In her statement, which comes in the wake of various reports of serious violence and discipline problems in the government high schools, Rivers said a small number of students were having a particularly negative impact. Listing the various action plans and programmes that she said the ministry and the education department were involved in with the goal of keeping schools safe, Rivers admitted, that in some cases the problem couldn’t be addressed in the school or by ministry strategies.
“It must be stated that some of the challenges faced by our school communities from those students who are struggling with severe, complex and significant behavioural or mental health issues go beyond the scope of my Ministry alone,” she said. “These young people pose a risk to both their school environments and their community, and they require intensive and specific interventions to address their needs. Unfortunately, there is a gap in suitable secure therapeutic accommodation for these young people.”
She said that the government, of which she is a part had to act with some urgency and she said she would “continue to lobby” for a “proper mental health facility suitable to address the mental health and wellness needs of a growing population of students,” as the minister added “schools alone are not equipped to deal with such cases.”
Rivers spoke about taking school safety very seriously and said she was being “proactive in addressing the challenges faced by government schools” with a mantra that had been communicated to all staff of ‘no excuses, just solutions’.
Taking about “extensive discussions” and visits to schools to “listen to the concerns raised about school discipline and student behaviour,” she said it was clear everyone wants “schools that are safe, welcoming, supportive and inclusive learning environments.”
Rivers said strengthening the provisions for special education needs was vitally important and she has asked for a “draft an action plan to identify priority areas” and a review of “processes to support the identification, assessment, monitoring and provision for students with behavioural needs.”
She said government recognised that prompt action was needed to address the concerns about behaviour and discipline. “Significant work is well underway to define key expectations and strengthen the way in which school discipline and student behaviour is managed going forward. Stake holders, including parents and students, will be consulted and asked to provide feedback about the existing school code of conduct and home-school agreement. Working groups in the high schools have started to review their school polices with the aim of having fairly apportioned rewards and sanctions according to behaviours demonstrated,” she added.
Rivers said a campaign was in the works to communicate expectations about discipline and behaviour to the community before the new school year and new policies would ensure “consistent standards across the country”.
See full statement below
Employment Ministry to track job seekers’ progress
(CNS): The Employment Ministry is developing an assessment process for job seekers who want help from an employment services officer in their search for work that will include psycho-social assessment, mental health screening, career assessment and an assessment of employability skills, Minister Tara Rivers said in a statement to the Legislative Assembly Thursday. She said that this process, which should be in place by the end of April, was in response to feedback from employers and job seekers about the discrepancy between the skills an employer wants and the level of skills present within a segment of Cayman's unemployed population.
She said the process would help to identify the level and type of support and services required to move job seekers closer to the job market. To support the intake and assessment process, the minister said, the Computer Services Department is building a professional development interface, which will record the activities that the job seeker has committed to engage in.
“This interface will track the progress of job seekers and hold them accountable to engaging in the work necessary to address their respective barriers to employment. This interface will also facilitate the opportunity for online case management of individuals who are seeking support and services from multiple government agencies,” Rivers said.
Rivers said that a review of the work of the National Workforce Development Agency (NWDA) Employment Services Unit found that a strong collaborative relationship with the Immigration Department and its boards was crucial to ensuring that Caymanians have a fair and equal opportunity in the recruitment process, and that the immigration department and its boards rely heavily upon the ESU to provide the necessary information to make informed decisions regarding the granting of work permits.
“In response, my Ministry with the support of the Computer Services Department set out to expand the NWDA database to include an Immigration Interface which will ensure that that immigration department and its boards have the information required in a timely manner to make informed decisions,” she said. “The delivery of such a system was a major campaign promise and is absolutely essential to enhance the collaboration, the efficiency and the effectiveness in the way these two agencies – the NWDA and the immigration department – interact with one another.”
On 25 February the ministry launched the NWDA-immigration database interface, which, the minister said, “is designed to facilitate significant positive change in the way Immigration and NWDA work with each other”.
She said the database is facilitating transparency in the work permit process; providing an efficient and effective way for employers to communicate efforts to hire a suitably qualified Caymanians; and providing an effective and efficient way for the NWDA to provide information to the immigration department and its boards that will allow for informed decisions to be made by them when processing work permit applications.
Under the new process, after an employer registers a job with the NWDA, the agency system runs a query to identify job seeking clients who broadly meet the requirements of the post. Then an NWDA employment services officer reviews the matches for appropriateness and with authorization from job seekers, refer candidates that are a reasonable fit for the post.
NWDA job seeking clients are able to view job posts and have the option to self-refer and the employer clients receive notification of matches for those who have self-referred or who have been referred by the NWDA. The employer, who is responsible for reviewing all candidates and determining their suitability, is provided with a section on the database where they can record the outcome of each referral.
If the employer does not select a Caymanian and chooses to apply for a work permit, the immigration department and its boards will be able to pull up the referral record and view the list of people who were referred or self-referred, the rationale for the referral and the reasons the company gave to explain why no suitable applicant was found.
This process will ensure that immigration is aware of every person that was referred or self-referred and the outcome of the recruitment process, the minister explained.
“It is important to note that there is no legislation that mandates employers to register their companies with the NWDA or post available jobs with the NWDA. While this interface facilitates transparency in the work permit process, it only accomplishes this for jobs that are posted with the NWDA where persons have applied for the post through the NWDA,” Rivers said.
“What my Ministry has done is to create a valuable and critically important service and we are encouraging employers and job seekers to utilize it in the process of recruitment and job seeking. The approach right now is to create something that is useful to job seekers and employers, and we are inviting feedback as we further develop the system to ensure that it is fit for purpose.”
A district outreach programme is also underway, in which the Training and Development Unit of the NWDA has partnered with Library Services to deliver NWDA employment services at the District public library branches on a monthly basis. “Through this opportunity Caymanians can meet with a representative of the NWDA at their district library for assistance with any activity related to job seeking including registering with the NWDA, searching for jobs on the online portal, self-referring for jobs, resume writing, and interview preparation,” Rivers said.
Mac moves marina motion
(CNS): The leader of the opposition presented a private member's motion to the Legislative Assembly Wednesday calling for government to give unqualified support for the proposed marina on Cayman Brac at Saltwater Pond, adjacent to the Alexander Hotel. Several members of the Dilbert family, who own the hotel and have applied for a coastal works licence in connection with the marina, were present at the civic centre on Cayman Brac, where the LA is sitting this week, as McKeeva Bush called the project a “beacon of light” for the island. The government voted for the motion, but only after it had been amended to say that its support for the marina was contingent on the results of an environmental impact study – a position it already held, regardless of the motion.
During the debate it was revealed by Deputy Premier Moses Kirkconnell that the Dilberts have told Cabinet that if they are allowed to develop the marina, they have plans to expand the Alexander Hotel, even though they have previously stated that the hotel is on average only 25% full.
The motion also called for the Brac to have its own “environment oversight committee”, made up of Brackers, which would not, apparently, include the Department of Environment. The DoE, Bush told the House, had been running an “orchestrated effort on CNS to badmouth the developer and all kinds of evil” and making everyone “believe that they are the worst type of people in the world”.
Brackers were suffering, he said, with as many as 300 people on welfare and the island dependent on $13 to $16 million (per year) in government subsidies. Soon, he said, the islanders would have to deal with the same criminal activity as Grand Cayman if they let the people there “ground you into the ground because of their environmental likes and dislikes”.
The opposition leader said the proposal had been “attacked” by the DoE, and accused the department of deliberately giving wrong information to stop the project from moving forward. He claimed the marina, which would take one to one and a half years to build, would stimulate the Brac economy in all sorts of ways.
Bush noted that government had received a letter “signed by 21 solid Cayman Brackers – educated Brackers and with good common sense”, who had made “a unanimous decision” to ask government to relax environmental considerations and approve the project in the next two weeks.
“The Brac people is going to have the say,” he said, calling for a timeframe so that “no one from the DoE can draw it out”, and said that similar projects on the Brac should have similar treatment.
Nevertheless, the government stood firm that the project required an environmental impact study, and Premier Alden McLaughlin pointed out that Cabinet already approved the project in principle several weeks ago, contingent on the result of the EIA.
The deputy premier, who is the first elected member for the Sister Islands, shared a conversation he had had with Cleveland Dilbert, the patriarch of the family. “One of the things I said was that we had to do an EIA because my legacy was not going to be that I destroyed the West End of Cayman Brac,” said Kirkconnell. Cleveland, he recalled, had said that he did not want it to be his legacy either, “so I am very confident that he meant that he wanted to ensure that it is done in the right way,” he said.
He said they were all saying the same thing – making sure that the project was done right – and he maintained that he wanted this project to go forward.
Long road to dump solution
(CNS): There will be no quick fixes or immediate solutions to the pressing issue of the George Town landfill, despite the recent fact finding mission by the minister responsible and the premier last week. Osbourne Bodden told his parliamentary colleagues Wednesday that the strategic outline case will be going before cabinet shortly. That would be followed in around four to six weeks by an RFP for consultants to deliver a national waste management strategy. The next stage will be an Outline Business Case. After that the project can finally move towards a procurement process. Setting out the long road ahead, Bodden said that Cayman doesn’t have a waste-management policy and until it does it can’t offer a solution to the dump.
Speaking in the Legislative Assembly, the minister said that the technical Steering Committee has been working on the strategic outline case, which he said would be made public once it reviewed and approved by Cabinet. That will form the basis for the first RFP for consultants to deliver services in two stages, he added. Bodden explained the first would be the delivery of the national waste management strategy to identify project options for assessment, and the second stage will be the delivery of the Outline Business Case that will look at the best option for the project itself which in turn will form the basis for the procurement and implementation.
He admitted that the process was going to take time but not, he said an unwarranted delay, as has been suggested
“The process takes time, but I believe it is time well-spent that will help us to ensure we have a project that not only meets our needs, but has identified and considered potential issues, obstacles, and project impediments, and identified ways to address these prior to project implementation,” he said, adding that this would mean, “fewer delays, cost over-runs, and unintended consequences” once the project starts. “It is effectively ‘front loading’ some of the time, but I am confident that we will see the benefits down the road,” the minister added.
In the meantime, the department of environmental health was making improvements to the George Town Landfill, he said, and examining some short-term improvements for the Cayman Brac landfill as well.
“The Department will continue to make every effort to ensure that the service they provide, and the management of their landfill sites on all three islands, are optimised. Obviously we need to make sure that any measures we take in the short-term will not negatively impact our ability to implement the long-term solution once it is identified, so we are carefully assessing the improvements as we go to ensure they meet our short-term objectives without unintended long-term consequences,” Bodden said.
On their recent trip to Tampa both Bodden and the premier, Alden McLaughlin visited four waste-to-energy facilities, two landfills, and one recycling processing centre and saw the waste-to-energy process in action and the different governance structures that he said the government may want to explore as part of the procurement processes. Dismissing comments that the trip was a waste of time he said he was able to see first-hand what a waste-to-energy facility looks like and experience the conditions in its vicinity.
“It was an incredibly informative trip,” he said. “It has given me an enhanced understanding of waste-to-energy technology, and its possible role in the integrated solid waste management solution for the Cayman Islands.”
Excited about waste-to energy, Bodden said he was not necessarily committed to that technology alone as he said it was up to the steering committee to research and advice on the best solution for the country.
“The process which they are undertaking is a requirement under our finance law, and it requires careful assessment and consideration of the various components of a project, including financial, environmental, and legal implications and requirements. The process takes time, but I believe that the approach is well-founded and will result in a better project, with an increased chance of success, for the country,” he added.
The premier justified his reasons for joining the fact finding trip stating that it had given hima much better understanding of the complex issue of solid waste management.
“While I know that some have questioned the utility of the trip and wondered why I went along, I can state without reservation that the trip was very informative and very worthwhile,” he said. “It reinforced my belief in the importance of having an overarching strategy when looking at solid waste management. It is a complex issue with many moving parts, so it is important to take a strategic and rational approach when looking for a solution. We simply cannot afford to take a piece-meal approach to this problem – we need to look no further than the current situation to know that approach will not lead to a sustainable solution.”
He spoke about the need not to repeat past mistakes and said the procurement process for major projects such as the landfill is outlined in the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility. McLaughlin said the processes now in place were in large part because “of the disastrous consequences of the last tendering exercise” as he pointed to the UDP’s efforts at finding a waste management solution. This time around, he said the procurement process would be transparent and accountable.
“While there have been previous tenders, and there are quite a few studies about this subject, the fact is that the previous iterations were not subjected to the level of research, assessment, and scrutiny that the process currently requires,” the premier added.
See both statements delivered in the LA on Wednesday below
Whistleblower motion fails
(CNS): The Progressives and C4C members voted down a motion to adopt the recommendations made by the complaints commissioner to protect whistleblowers in the civil service. North Side MLA Ezzard Miller brought the motion to the Legislative Assembly Wednesday on behalf of the committee with oversight of the complaints commissioner, of which he is chair, saying members were very concerned at the handling, by both senior servants and past political leadership, of previous reports that had dealt with whistleblowing. However, one member, Roy McTaggart, voted against his own committee’s motion and in-line with the rest of the MLAs on the government bench, with the exception of Alva Suckoo, another member of the oversight committee, who abstained.
Referring to the Clifford Report and the Luck Report, both of which had made recommendations regarding whistleblowers that had “not seen light of day”, Miller said that in order to prevent Complaint Commissioner Nicola Williams’ report, “Let the Whistle Blow”, from suffering a similar fate, the committee has instructed him to move the motion that government adopt and implement the recommendations contained in the report as policy and resolve that such implementation include the passage into law of whistleblowing legislation.
West Bay MLA Bernie Bush seconded the motion, which was supported across the opposition bench.
Addressing the Legislative Assembly, which is sitting this week at the Aston Rutty Civic Centre on Cayman Brac, Miller reminded members of the findings of the report: that public servants in the Cayman Islands are extremely reluctant to report wrongdoing for fear of reprisals, and that victimization and retaliation is common, with no protection for the whistleblower.
The commissioner’s recommendations, he said, called for stand-alone legislation, a positive duty to report wrongdoing, changing the culture of the civil service so that whistleblowers were seen as reporters of wrongdoing, and that those reported of wrongdoing were punished. She also recommended the drafting of a whistleblowing policy document, a confidential hotline, and ensuring confidentiality of the whistleblowers, as well as an education programme and creating a ministry portfolio for Public Service and Integrity.
Miller congratulated the commissioner on the professionalism, sensitivity and thoroughness of the report, a sentiment echoed by Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, who said that his office had considered it, “and while we do not agree with every recommendation, we do accept that this is is matter which we need to give urgent attention to,” he noted.
Manderson said that considerable work had been done already; the attorney general was already in the process of drafting whistleblower legislation, he said, adding that hehas also set up a confidential email where staff could contact him. His office, he said, was taking the recommendations seriously and they were “progressing as quickly as we can”.
However, the motion failed when all government members except for Suckoo voted “no”.
Related article on CNS:
Premier says sacred cows will be auctioned
(CNS): Premier Alden McLaughlin hopes to count on support from the opposition benches when his government starts to put what he described as public sector "sacred cows" on the auction block. Speaking in the Legislative Assembly Wednesday, he told his parliamentary colleagues that if he kept the support of the government benches he was committed to passing the public authority law, despite the push-back expected from the semi-autonomous government companies and statutory authorities. The law will pave the way for more accountability and see some authorities amalgamated, some taken back into government and others sold off. McLaughlin said, however, that Cayman Airways wouldn’t be one of them.
During an unexpected debate in connection with a report from the local maritime authority that the member from North Side said should be rejected as a result of that authority’s failure to explain five years of losses, the premier revealed that the draft public authority law was well down the road to reaching a bill and coming before Cabinet, and soon after would be published for consideration and public consultation before debate in the parliament.
“No government has had the courage before to see this through because of the push-back from the public authorities,” he said, adding that the PPM administration of 2005-09 had tried but never got passed the discussion stage because of that push-back.
This time, however, he said that they would be pressing ahead with the law and the review of public authorities. With that came the issue of privatization and divestment but ,McLaughlin said, "No one wants to put the bell on the cat,” as he referred to the public authority “sacred cows” that could be sold.
The premier did not identify which authorities, government companies or public services that his government had in mind but he was quick to state that the national flag carrier would not be on the auction block at this stage.
With Miller calling for accountability regarding the losses at MACI and the debate that his motion had caused regarding the mismanagement of some public authorities and the significant loses at some, such as the turtle farm, requiring massive government subsidies, McLaughlin called on him and the other opposition bench members to back government and not “change course when the sacred cows are put up for auction.”