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CS bosses ask that experts make final cuts

(CNS): Records released by the deputy governor’s office of a civil service managers’ meeting show that the public sector bosses want outside experts to be the ones that make the major cuts in the size of government. Minutes from a chief officers’ meeting on 16 September show that while Deputy Governor Franz Manderson believes that good progress had been made in reducing the cost of the civil service, more work is needed and this must be achieved by structural changes. With civil servants doing much more work with fewer resources and some mergers of departments having already happened, the next step will require a comprehensive report, which civil servants should not be asked to do, he said.

“The deputy governor stated that it was important that a comprehensive report be prepared that will allow Ministers to determine what services provided by the government should be abolished, amalgamated or privatized. It was agreed that civil servants should not be asked to perform this work and that expertise from outside of government was necessary,” the minutes record.

Although the civil service heads said it was important for ministers to also hear the views of chief officers, the public sector leaders are clearly reluctant to carry the can for future cuts.

However, as well as the civil service's own internal reviews and reports over the last four years, the Miller-Shaw report, which was published in 2009, also pointed to areas to cut or privatize but it is believed that the document has largely been ignored. That report pointed to the possible sale of the Port Authority, the airport, Water Authority, UCCI, the Development Bank and the Cayman Islands Stock Exchange, as well as the Cayman Turtle Farm.

Speaking at the Chamber Legislative Lunch meeting last week, the premier pointed out the main problem government faces when it came to the privatization of its companies or statutory authorities:  the only ones people are interested in are the profitable ones. Answering questions after his key note speech, Alden McLaughlin said if anyone wanted to buy the Turtle Farm to let him know.

Despite another $12 million being shaved off operation costs this year, the government still needs to drive down the civil service bill further unless it can find a new revenue source.  McLaughlin pointed out, however, that government was fast reaching the point that it would need to make decisions about divestment if it was to continue to drive down costs.

He explained that already some cost cuts were not sustainable, such as putting recruitment on hold or not buying what a department really needs. The premier warned that continuing to make unsustainable cuts would leave the public sector in crisis and so divestment was the remaining solution.

“We need to shave off some services but when it comes to true privatization, the only ones people want are profitable ones … thatis the stark reality,” he said. He also warned of the dangers of creating private monopolies by selling government companies, as well as the costs of regulating private sector entities that deliver public services.

In the meantime, with the civil service wanting to hand over the tough cuts, the minutes show that the policy for voluntary separation has now been approved by Cabinet and an implementation schedule is being finalized and will commence this week. This is expected to also help cut costs and reduce headcount during the coming year. Civil servants who accept the separation package will depart from the service in January 2014.

In a step towards a more transparent public sector, the document posted below also reveals that the performance assessments deadline is today, 30 September, and public sector bosses were reminded that the assessments were a key component of driving accountability across the civil service.

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Port outlook remains poor

(CNS): Officials from the Cayman Islands Port Authority said there is not much more they can do to address the major losses other than increase cargo fees after several years of the board ignoring warnings from the management team about the serious fall in revenue. James Parsons, the financial controller at the authority, said that despite his warnings, in the last two years the directors had invited him to just one board meeting. He explained this was to present a special report from KPMG that had offered some suggestions about how the port could turn around its losses. However, he was given only 15 minutes and when he got there, they cut that to ten.

Speaking before the Public Accounts Committee (PAC) on Thursday, Parsons spelt out the dire situation at the port as the MLAs made enquiries regarding the concerns raised by the Office of the Auditor General in his report The Financial and Performance Reporting of Statutory Authorities and Government Companies for the year ending June 2011, which was published this June. Alastair Swarbrick’s team had found a catalogue of problems at the authority, not least the fact that the port was running at a significant loss.

Parsons revealed that the port’s income from cargo was down some 50% since the economic slump began to bite around 2009, and with cruise revenue also falling, the authority was no longer a viable concern. Governmentis not officially injecting cash into the port, as it does with Cayman Airways and the Turtle Farm, but because the port owes government for several years of its costly annual insurance cover, it is indirectly subsidising the authority to the tune of over $3.5 million.

As a result of the labour intensive nature of the port and the need for expensive security, Parsons said the management had cut staff down to its bare minimum, but any more would risk the safety and efficiency of operations.

“There is not a whole lot more we can do,” he said. With warnings going unheeded and what Parsons said was something in the region of a million dollars spent by the board on consultant and legal fees over the last few years, things were bad.

Attempts to increase fees to the tender operators was rejected by the board just weeks after the increase was passed into the regulations. Parsons  explained that when the tender owners tried to push the increase on to the cruise lines, the FCCA complained because it had an agreement with the Cayman government not to put fees up as part of its contribution to the construction of the Royal Watler pier. Parsons said the only place left was an increase in cargo operation fees.

Pressed by the committee about what the board had done about the warnings, Parsons implied that no one had listened or heeded his warnings that action needed to be taken. However, Parsons and Port Director Paul Hurlston said that they had begun discussions with the new board about a gradual phasing of fee increases for cargo operations because, both men told the committee, based on the recommendations by KPMG there was little else to be done.

Several other issues were discussed by the committee, including the revelations in the report that former premier McKeeva Bush had directed the hiring of two men to oversee and report on issues relating to the Sandbar, which had caused considerable controversy because politicians should not be involved in hiring staff.

However, Hurlston said that over the years he had served at the port, he was aware of politicians directing certain people be hired at the port on many occasions. As director, he had been told several times to hire certain people for certain things who didn’t necessarily answer to him.

Forced to discuss this issue with McKeeva Bush sitting on PAC, even though it was Bush in his role the tourism minister who had made the directive, Hurston was reluctant to elaborate and the PAC government members were also reticent about the issue. It was established, however, that the two men never reported to either the director or the board.

Bush defended the hiring and told PAC that had the auditor general asked around, he would have learned that the men were reporting to the ministry every month. He said he didn’t hire them but the ministry did, and what was more, they had addressed the problems at the Sandbar of boats not following the rules and things had improved.

Making a point about the newly elected members of the Legislative Assembly, Bush said, “If people weren’t paying attention to this country until recently,” they would not be aware of the headaches at the Sandbar. “We spent every month dealing with trouble at Sandbar and we asked for something to be done but no one could get anything done,” the former premier and current opposition leader said.

Although a member of the committee, Bush became a witnesses as he was the centre of the issues in the report —  a problem that had been pointed out by the former PAC chair, Ezzard Miller, who had said that the committee risked being dysfunctional, given how frequently the former finance minister would be implicated in the work of the committee.

Regardless of the unusual situation, Bush took the opportunity to explain himself and the action taken in his role as tourism minister in the previous UDP administration 2001-2005. He said a decision was made to hire people to address the Sandbar problems following complaints from the cruise industry about what was happening at the attraction, from damaged boats and overcrowding to other boats damaging the Sandbar itself.

“At one point we had some boats capsize as they were overloaded with people,” he said, adding that nothing he could do seemed to prevail. “So we came up with idea to have trustworthy people keep an eye on it.” He said that had helped and further plans were developed to control the area before Hurricane Ivan in September 2004 derailed them.

The two men were let go during 2005-09 “for political reasons”, Bush stated . However,the trouble started again, so when he returned to the tourism ministry in 2009, the ministry directed that the men were re-hired. “We had monthly reports and the board had agreed to the decision,” he said. “Today the situation is much better … systems were put in place where boats anchor away off from the Sandbar.”

He justified the $1,000 paid per month to each of the men, saying, “You think you get stuff done for nothing? We expect people to come work for us for nothing but government charges people for what they do.” 

He said the men, who were experienced trustworthy people, were not overpaid and the situation improved.

“They call it interference, but it was good interference; it was something done by me; it was agreed, and by the looks of it, you should all be hiring a whole lot more people as Caymanians are out of work,” he added directly to the government PAC members.

It was established, however, that no one on the board or the management at the port had seen the reports or knew what the two men were doing, even though the money, which amounted to over $90,000, was being paid from the cash-strapped government company.

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Archer outlines spending bill

(CNS): The Minister for Finance has asked the Legislative Assembly to approve an appropriations bill for $193.4 million, which will allow the government to function from 1 July to 31 October. Addressing the House Wednesday morning, Marco Archer said government expects to have a deficit of around $56 million during the four-month period. However, he said this “should not cause alarm”, as it covered the second half of the year where government revenues were less than operating expenditures. The minister also sought to maintain a $30 million overdraft facility, which he assured the House would be adequate and for which the government has already received verbal approval from the UK.

Bringing the motion for temporary appropriations to the House, the new finance minister, outlining the first government spending plans for this administration, said that during this four-month period the government would prepare the 2013/14 Budget and present it to the LA, and he assured the House that the full-year budget for the fiscal year ending 30 June 2014 would show a significant operating surplus.

Explaining expected spending, he said government had “sought to meet its moral obligations while keeping a tight hold on the public purse as we develop the full budget.”

This emergency spending package sought by the government, once approved, will take effect after the financial year ends on 30 June. It includes equity investments amounting to $8.9 million, which includes $2.5 million for the Cayman Turtle Farm to cover debt obligations; $2 million for the new Ministry of Home Affairs to establish a holding-area for those arrested and held in custody by the police, as well as funding to start the youth custody area at Northward Prison.

“All efforts are being made to complete this prior to November 2013, which is when the government needs to be compliant with the Bill of Rights as enshrined in the Constitutional Order 2009, with respect to the segregation of juvenile and adult prisoners,” Archer told the House.

The bill includes $1.8 million for the Ministry of Education for minor capital works and purchasing equipment and furniture; $1.7 million and $0.6 million for Cayman Airways and the National Housing Development Trust respectively to meet debt obligations.

Government is also asking for CI$173.8 million in operating expenses; $7.9 million in financing expenses to cover the interest payments on the outstanding public debt; $2.3 million for executive assets; and $0.4 million to fund loans made by the government to civil servants and to qualified persons needing assistance with expenses related to overseas medical care.

Outlining the main items on the executive assets list, Archer said the government needed $750,000 for miscellaneous road surface upgrades; $250,000 to settle on-going Gazetted land claims arising from roads development; and for Cayman Brac he asked for $350,000 for continued road development, $350,000 for further development of the Bluff playing field, and $250,000 to fund further development of the emergency shelter on the Bluff.

“All government agencies are expected to exercise fiscal constraint and prudence during the coming financial year,” the finance minister said. “While the government is upbeat and positive about the prospects for growth in the economy, there is still a long way to go before we can truly say that the economy has rebounded to a full-employment level. During the preparation of the full-year Budget for 2013/14, government agencies should be mindful that it is very likely that their budgets may be decreased below the level of appropriations in the 2012/13 financial year. In this current economic environment, government must innovate and deliver services at reduced costs.”

Archer explained how the Progressive government intends to deal with the controversial Nation Building Fund, which, when it was first introduced by then premier and finance minister, McKeeva Bush, in October 2009, was described in the LA by Alden McLaughlin, leader of the opposition at the time and now premier, as a potential “slush fund” for Bush.

The new finance minister said that “provisions for expenditures that are not supported by a proper framework have not been included in the interim budget.” However, he said that students who have been awarded scholarships to study overseas under the “Promotion of Nation Building” appropriation will not lose financial support, and he confirmed that provisions have been placed in the interim budget to continue in areas where the government was already committed.

“Government must also be grounded in reality and take a measured approach to our moral, safety and other obligations,” Archer told the legislature, explaining that items which were not adequately provided for in the 2012/13 Budget, such as the provision of medical care at overseas institutions for indigents, had to be adjusted in this year’s interim budget to ensure adequate levels of coverage.

Expected outputs from statutory authorities and government owned companies were based on the normal levels of services they provide. However, Archer stated that “this is one area that will be under enhanced scrutiny as the government develops the full-year budget.”

Archer said the forecast expenditures were meant to establish limits during the four-month period of the interim budget. “All efforts will continue to ensure that the government not only remains within those limits, but actually spends less than the amounts shown in the Schedule to the Government Motion,” he said as he asked for support for the motion.

Debate in the House on the interim budget is expected to continue until late this evening. However, with a strong government majority, it will undoubtedly be approved.

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Activists claim dump victory

(CNS): Following a two and half year campaign to prevent government from relocating Grand Cayman’s landfill to Bodden Town on land owned by the Dart Group, local activists claimed victory Monday following the comments made by the minister for environmental health last week. Speaking at a press briefing, Osbourne Bodden, the district representative and new minister with responsibility for the landfill, confirmed that it was not moving. Celebrating the hard fought victory, the Coalition to Keep Bodden Town Dump Free said the victory showed that the people can stand up and fight to protect their interests against unpopular government decisions. 

“In October 2010, when we launched the Coalition, we were told that this was a ‘done deal,” said Charles Clifford, Bodden’s former political colleague who was defeated at the polls in the district last month. “Many claimed that trying to fight government and Dart was hopeless. But we’ve proven that the people can organize and defeat senseless and unjust decisions … We’ve shown that we can stand up against questionable deals negotiated behind the people’s back and against their interests.” 

Coalition leader and Midland Acres resident, Arlene Whittaker, commended Bodden for what she said was “having the backbone to stand up to Dart” and thanked the Coalition’s many supporters that helped them win the fight.

Gregg Anderson, who was also defeated at the recent national ballot, said the fictitious figures of $100 million in capital costs and $25 million in annual operating costs to deal with the dump on site was mere scaremongering. 

“Local engineers and waste management entrepreneurs operating on Grand Cayman have outlined possible options to the Coalition which could eliminate Mount Trashmore in less than eight years, using small, modular, affordable air burners for waste-to-energy, like those currently used on Aruba, together with recycling, recuperation and resale of what’s valuable at the George Town dump,” he said.

“Structures for sorting and recycling are already in place, although still never used, and there’s neighbouring crown land for expansion. Estimated capital costs put forward are around $10 million – or as much as we continue to sink into the Turtle Farm every year – with some even claiming that a GT waste management facility could pay for itself,” Anderson added.

Coalition leaders are counting on the new government to explore all options openly and with public consultation. Clifford said government could identify the best affordable solution for the people of Grand Cayman by following due process and transparency.

Alan Beiner, the group's chair and the owner of the award winning Turtle Nest Inn, one of the islands’ most popular tourist spots outside of Seven Mile Beach, said moving the landfill and contaminating another site was never a real solution to the problem.

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Wooden spoons bring in $6K

(CNS): With some 52 candidates in the 2013 May election race and only 18 seats, 34 candidates were always going to be disappointed. Some candidates came very close and missed a seat by a just a few votes, while others were way off the mark. All candidates have to put up a deposit of $1,000 when they enter the political race in order to encourage only serious contenders because those who do not poll 10% of their vote lose that cash, which is retained by government. Matthew Leslie won the overall wooden spoon after polling the lowest number of votes as well as the lowest percentage of the vote, but another five candidates missed the mark. And with the Elections Office strapped for cash, the $6,000 will be very useful.

The office is facing a budget overrun for this year’s national poll and will be grateful for the money it collected from the six candidates who fell short. Winning the George Town and national wooden spoon, Leslie polled just 1.56% of the vote in the capital with just 91 people voting for the independent candidate, who used mostly social media to promote his campaign. 

Meanwhile, Dr Frank McField,who also ran in the capital, lost his deposit after polling just 3.6% or 211 votes, fulfilling his own prophecy that the parties and C4C candidates were financially crowding out underfunded independents. McField polled less in 2013, however, than he did in 2009, when he still lost his deposit but had 4.72% of the vote. Despite the increase of around 3,000 voters since then in the capital, the former minister’s votes fell by five.

In Bodden Town Vincent Frederick, Gregg Anderson and Arnold Berry, all of whom ran low profile campaigns, also lost their deposits. Frederick came in last in the race for the district, with just 3.79% of the vote and 136 votes. Although this was two votes more than at the last election in 2009, his percentage of the vote fell from over 4% because of the increase in the electorate. Anderson pulled in just 5.34%, while Arnold Berry polled just a few more votes toget 5.73%.

Andrea Christian was the only candidate in West Bay to lose her deposit but she polled the most out of the ‘wooden spooners’ as she got 262 votes or 7.82% of the vote. Another independent candidate in West Bay, Dwene Ebanks, saved his deposit with 370 votes and just over 11% of the poll.

In Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, despite polling a small amount of votes, Maxine Moore, who has lost her deposit several times before in her failed attempts for office, managed to hold on to her $1,000 this time when her 91 votes equated to 11.14% of the vote.

Despite polling just 139 votes in his head-to-head run against Ezzard Miller, Joey Ebanks not only retained his deposit but managed to get almost 30% of the vote because of the small number of candidates in the district. Not surprisingly, given the popularity of the incumbent member and the legal difficulties Ebanks currently faces, the result was not as good for him this time around compared to his attempt in 2009. Although scandal still dogged the candidate at the last election, when he ran on the PPM ticket, regarding an unexplained loan from the Turtle Farm, among others issues, he was still able to attract over 37% or 185 votes.  

All of the other candidates managed to stay well out of the danger zone but for some the disappointment was more about how close they got to the prize. In George Town, the UDP’s Mike Adam missed out on a seat by just 51 votes, a mere 0.8%. His party colleague Theresa Pitcairn also came very close in Bodden Town with 37.63% of the vote, just 41 votes behind PPM candidate Al Suckoo, who pipped her at the post with a lead of just 1.1% of the vote.

With the vote split every which way this year, the independent candidates had a hard time of it but Bo Miller put up a great fight in George Town and increased his share of the vote compared to his 2009 run. Miller got 1,590 or 27.28% of the vote, a significant improvement on the last national poll when he drew in just over 17% with just 808 votes, and turned out to be the best performing truly independent candidate in George Town and second in the entire race. 

Charles Clifford, who was fighting as an independent this time around to win back the Bodden Town seat he lost in 2009 as a PPM candidate, did the best of the independents. Clifford got 1,220 votes, which equalled almost 34% of the vote, compared to his first losing run in 2009 when he got a lot less votes with 932, which at the time equated to 33.11% of the voters.

The record breaker for this election, however, was Moses Kirkconnell, who drew in 75% of the vote in Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, surpassing even McKeeva Bush’s 2009 result when he managed to get around 71.6% of the vote in West Bay. This time around Bush’s share of the vote plummeted to 47.27%. Although more than enough to return him as first elected member in the district of West Bay, he lost some  569 votes on his 2009 result.

Ezzard Miller increased his share of the North Side vote by around 20% when he got more than 70% of the vote in his constituency, while Arden McLean’s share of the vote in East End was cut by around 2%.

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Mac: I believe I can win

(CNS): The UDP were the hands down winners on Tuesday in the West Bay battle of the meetings when McKeeva Bush demonstrated that, despite the 11 criminal charges laid against him, his popularity in his home district is as strong as ever. While Bush’s former political colleagues in the PNA struggled to attract even a hundred supporters and the Progressives had to be content with a pedestrian crowd of less than 200, Bush and his West Bay team attracted more than 500 enthusiastic, cheering, supporters to his meeting at the Four Way Stop. “I believe I can win … there are more for me as against me,” Bush told the crowd but warned his people not to be complacent.

Appearing on the hustings Tuesday night with his three district running mates, Velma Powery, Bernie Bush and Capt Eugene Ebanks, as well as Jonathan Piercy from his George Town team, the former premier demonstrated why he has been returned to office seven times. Bush delivered a similar speech to the one he has made repeatedly over the last four years when he spoke about the need to attract investors and criticized the PPM for what he called the “borrow and spend” policies during their administration.

Bush absolved himself of any responsibility for the increased unemployment in the district levels but said it was the blindness of those people who had opposed him. He criticised what he described as the “sentimentality” of those that wanted to preserve the West Bay Road and defended the Dart Deal with the NRA and government.

He also took aim at his former colleagues, ironically, given the stack of charges he faces himself, criticising Rolston Anglin's recent drunk driving conviction. Bush told the crowd not to be fooled by the C4C. However, he saved his worst condemnation for the PPM, which he said did not deserve to get one single seat in the LA.

Despite the show of force, he warned that the UDP had not won yet, as he urged supporters to spread the word to vote for the United Democratic Party and implored them to vote straight. “Do not split your vote,” he said. “It is a dangerous thing.” Displaying a sample ballot sheet on a large screen he told the crowd how to vote.

Meanwhile, in the Turtle Farm parking lot just a mile or so away, Bush’s former running mates Rolston Anglin and Cline Glidden of the PNA were still hopeful that they could cut into the solid support he commands in the district.

Speaking to an eager but far smaller crowd of around 75 people, Glidden said they made a mistake running with Bush in the past and were now going to correct that. Distancing themselves from the spectre of corruption which has dogged the last four years of the government of which they were a part, Glidden tried hard to break the dependency culture that he and Anglin have helped to perpetuate and on which the UDP has built support.

Glidden said that the district did not need to elect the UDP to get their veterans' benefits, pensions, scholarships, jobs or other support which comes from government. Glidden said the money came from tax-payers, not Mckeeva Bush,and the district was not beholden to him or dependent on him for its financial well-being.

At the Ed Bush stadium in the heart of the district, the PPM had a small crowd of around 175 people who were considerably more restrained than those that came out to support Bush. Ray Farringinton, Dalkieth Bothwell, Woody Da Costa and Capt Bryan Ebanks did their best to highlight the shortcomings of the representation in the district over the last dozen years.

The opposition team, which is still facing an uphill struggle in the district even though the UDP also faces a split vote, warned people not to vote because of favours or for those who trumpeted their Christian values while behaving dishonourably. The candidates spoke a great deal about the PPM manifesto and their plans for office and were joined by their George Town team mates Joey Hew and Marco Archer.

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Former party official urges people to vote on merit

(CNS): Independent candidate Stefan Baraud is urging people in the capital to vote on merit and not party lines. The former UDP official, who has turned his back on party politics and elected to run on his own platform in George Town, said he was frustrated with the path political parties have led the country down. He urged his supporters to  consider "all candidates on their individual merits and make an informed decision based on their qualifications, experience, policies and suggested ideas for moving our country forward,” when itcomes to their other five votes on 22 May. Baraud, like many others running alone has not said which group or party he would prefer to support into government but that he would work with any LA member.

“My support will be based on issues and policies and what is in the best interest of our country and my George Town constituents,” he told CNS this week.

Convinced that the way out of the country’s economic woes is through education and training, he said that the country could reduce the number of work permits until the local workforce could fill those jobs. 

“This is why education, training and retraining of Caymanians is high on my agenda,”Baraud stated.  “We need to put in place a long term plan that matches our human capital to the needs of the economy, improves the quantity of Caymanians graduating from high school, and puts in place a first class technical and vocational program for students wishing to pursue technical careers,” he added.

Wanting to see Caymanians achieve a higher average level of education with a clear path to pursue technical and vocational careers if they want, in a recent press release he endorsed the programme run by Superior Autos, where six students have passed through the twelve month mechanic apprentice programme and have gone on to careers in the local  automotive industry. 

As a young Caymanian entrepreneur, Baraud told CNS he wanted to see the development of local talent and warned there needed to be clarity regarding the types of investments government encourages so that they will have the most positive impact on local economy and the creation of jobs, while having the least impact on our environment.

The would-be independent MLA said every country needed inward investment for its economy to thrive but that investment must benefit local businesses and generate employment for Caymanians as much as possible.

Talking about the ForCayman Investment Alliance, Baraud said the closure of West Bay Road was a fait accompli but there was still an opportunity to review the remaining aspects of the FCIA agreement, such as the George Town landfill.

A leading figure in the early cruise port negotiations as the former chair of the Port Authority Board, Baraud said he would use his first private members motion to get the project on track if it was not underway. 

“I strongly support the creation of a new port with cruise berthing facilities but the selection of the developer follows strict procurement standards. These facilities will greatly add to our tourism product and have a positive impact on the economy,” he said.

Baraud also stated that he did not support increasing taxes to pay for Cayman’s ever-burgeoning government but pointed to what he described as “smart spending cuts”, many of which were set out in the Miller Shaw Report. 

“We can implement the changes proposed by the Civil Service Reviews,” he said. “Privatization of organization such as the Cayman Turtle Farm, Cayman Airways and the Water Authority is another area for potential savings for the government,” Baraud added.

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PPM will end ‘vicious cycle’

(CNS): The Progressives finally released their full manifesto on Thursday night, just three weeks ahead of the election, setting out its policies and plans if it is elected to government later this month. Although the issue of restoring trust in government is a key theme in the PPM’s bid to return to office, the main thrust behind the party’s plans for office is reducing what it described as the “vicious cycle” of tax increases on the man in the street, which is undermining the country’s recovery. The party is promising to roll back as much of the estimated $200 million tax package, which was imposed by the UDP, as quickly as possible by reducing government expenses. (Photo by Mark Lewis)

Although the party has not said which services it will cut, it is pointing to better run and better managed government with less waste, not least excessive travel, badly managed funds, like the unchecked Nation Building Fund, and the haemorrhaging of public funds via statutory authorities, such as the Turtle Farm, in order to reduce fees and taxes. The PPM will start with the duty on fuel, which is seen as the issue impacting the most people and, in turn, the whole economy.

The manifesto was handed out at the end of the Progressive’s public meeting in George Town on Thursday evening, which, despite the rain, attracted hundreds of supporters. During his relatively short address, the party leader, Alden McLaughlin, said that once in office the Progressives would begin the rollback of “life sucking taxes” to drive down the cost of living.

Answering the common allegation that the previous PPM government overspent and left a deficit, McLaughlin pointed out that there was good reason for the spending and no one could have foreseen or prepared for the impact of the global economic crisis. If the PPM government had been at fault, then so were the governments of the world’s leading nations.

“We were criticised for spending too much on education and schools and leaving a deficit but the infrastructure was badly needed,” he said, pointing to years of neglect. “The schools will be there long after all of us have passed on," he said, "Regardless of what they say about us you can see where the money went.”

He also noted that, despite claims by others, the environment in which children are taught is very important in helping them become the best they can all be.

McLaughlin pointed out that the deficit was not caused by the money spent on infrastructure but by the fall in predicted government revenue, an issue that has continued throughout this administration.

Given the controversy surrounding the last UDP government and the mismanagement of public cash, McLaughlin said good governance was not just the right thing to do but was about politicians understanding that the government’s resources don’t belong to elected officials and their friends but they belong to people.

“Everyone knows we are the party of integrity as they saw how we behaved in office,” the PPM leader stated, adding that the cost of greed over the last four years had been devastating.

Talking about the PPM plans and the manifesto, he described it as a people-centred action plan to get country back on track.

Among many issuesset out in the manifesto the PPM details its plans for immigration, which includes enforcing the law, removing the key employing status and the seven year rollover policy to allow all workers who stay for more than eight years to apply for residency and then control the population at that point. It also sets out plans to remove some of the boards so permits are granted administratively based on transparent criteria.

Talking about Dart, the party said it was committed to renegotiating the ForCayman Investment Alliance and to ensure that the major corporation does not continue to squeeze out local businesses, as well as finding a way to retain a through route along the West Bay Road. The party is also committed to keeping the landfill in George Town and dealing with it on site via recycling and waste-to-energy.

From e-government to the implementation of single member constituencies and one man, one vote, the party also promises to revive the mortgage assistance programme and implement the long-awaited national conservation law.

The Progressive manifesto is available from the HQ on Crewe Road and will be posted on the website later today.

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Chuckie throws his hat in ring for Bodden Town fight

(CNS): Former PPM cabinet minister Charles Clifford has finally declared his intention to run for office for the third time in Bodden Town. Clifford was elected in the district in 2009 with the PPM, when he polled 53.47% of the vote and served in the 2005-2009 Cabinet. However, he was one of the party’s casualties when he lost his seat in 2009, coming in fifth with just 33.11% of the vote behind his then party colleague Osbourne Bodden. Clifford has said he would be running as an independent candidate, hoping to be part of a government with other independents, but the former tourism minister did not state which candidates he was hoping to join forces with. Clifford told CNS that he has not yet decided if he will be seeking C4C endorsement.

In a press statement released on Sunday night, just a few days ahead of Nomination Day, Clifford, who was recently called to the Cayman Bar and started his own law firm, said he hoped to be elected with a group of like-minded candidates.

“I will be endorsing and associating with other candidates in the upcoming campaign and I hope to be elected along with enough of them to form the next government,” he said in a press release announcing his candidacy. Clifford said that he planned to meet with the Coalition for Cayman this week but he intended to work with various independents and he would talk more about that in the coming days.

He dismissed the party rhetoric that independents cannot form a government, noting that political parties only came into being in a real way in 2001 and for the 40 plus years before that there were loose affiliations and independents that formed every government.

Clifford was part of the PPM after he resigned from his post as permanent secretary in the tourism ministry when McKeeva Bush was at the helm. A controversial figure, Clifford was the subject of an enquiry by Sir Richard Tucker after he was accused of taking government papers without authority when he left the civil service. The documents in question raised questions over the then UDP administration’s handling of the financing and management issues surrounding of the Royal Watler Port, Cayman Airways, Turtle Farm and the Boggy Sands road project.

The enquiry focused on the removal of the papers rather than the questions they raised about the government at the time, which he said sent the wrong message about whistle-blowing. Clifford was one of the first public figures to speak directly about what he called “institutionalized corruption” in government and he will also be campaigning on a platform of cleaning house.

Although running as an independent, Clifford said he was proud of the work that had been accomplished when he was a member of the PPM administration, which has helped to address issues of good governance.

“I was proud to be a member of the Cabinet which delivered the Freedom of Information Law, the Anti-Corruption Law and the Standards in Public Life Commission to our country. The unfortunate era of political corruption is being brought to an end and it is time for us to move on united as a people and free from the divisiveness of party politics to address the multitude of very serious challenges facing our beloved Cayman Islands,” he said.

Clifford left the Peoples Progressive Movement in 2010 following a fallout with the leadership over what he claimed was their failure to support him on a protest march against the UDP government’s plans to sell the Government Administration Building and changes to the immigration policy.

As with a number of proposals that were floated by the former premier, the idea was dropped.

Since then, local political experts were expecting Clifford to form a new political party. However, the former minister appears to be going it alone and hoping to join forces with others. At this point there are only two other independent candidates running in Bodden Town. The UDP is fielding two candidates in the district and the former UDP incumbents are also running with a team of three, while the PPM is running a full slate of four candidates.

Clifford acknowledged that he was part of the system but now believes the country made a fundamental mistake by adopted party politics.

“I know that there are some very good people in the political parties but it is the system and political culture that comes with it that is the problem,” he said. “If we don’t rid ourselves of this model of party politics then our beloved Cayman Islands will forever be ruined and each of us had better be prepared to look our children and grandchildren in their eyes and accept responsibility for being the generation that failed our country.”

As one of the leaders of the Coalition to Keep Bodden Town Dump Free, along with Gregg Anderson, who is also running in the district and still hoping for C4C endorsement, Clifford opposes the relocation of the landfill to Bodden Town.

““I know that the people of George Town need relief from the problem but I also know from my service in Cabinet that the problem can be remedied right where it is in order to provide that relief to the people of George Town without placing the burden on the Bodden Town community,” he said.

Outlining some of the policies he would support if elected, Clifford has not said who else he wants his supporters to vote for in the district of Bodden Town or which candidates he would work with if he is elected to deliver on hiscampaign promises. He is predicting a coalition government with a Cabinet that offers the best talent from the independent representatives and the political parties.

“This is the only hope we have of our elected representatives working together in a real way and demonstrating that this is a much better way to govern a country than the current party system which we have in Cayman. We must begin to dismantle this model of party politics through the ballot box in May 2013,” he added as he asked the people to vote for him.

See full press release below.

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