Politics

CNS): The Cayman Islands premier and the UK’s overseas territories minister came face to face on Monday for the first time since the two men were engaged in a very public disagreement over the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility and the negotiations with China Harbour Engineering Company. Having met briefly in September, McKeeva Bush and Mark Simmonds met for the second time at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) ahead of the Joint Ministerial Council meeting in London, when they engaged in a head to head meeting. The smiles hide what is still a tense relationship between Cayman and the FCO.

(CNS): The Cayman Islands premier is to receive an honorary doctorate degree in public service from the University College of the Caribbean, officials said in a release Monday. McKeeva Bush will receive the special qualification at the university’s commencement ceremony next week in Kingston, when he is expected to speak on the subject of Integrity. Announcing the award, the UCC pointed to his years of public service and efforts to improve the lives of Jamaicans in Cayman, in particular, the “politically risky but principled decisions which Bush made to improve the standing of many expatriates” with the granting of Caymanians status in 2003 to almost 3,000 long term residents in Cayman, of which a considerable number were Jamaican.

(CNS): The Cayman Islands governor has indicated that the FCO views the ForCayman Investment Alliance (FCIA) differently from the development of the cruise berthing facilities at the George Town Port and the expansion of Owen Roberts International Airport. Duncan Taylor said that the proposed agreement between the Dart Group and government is not a traditional procurement as it involves swaps of crown assets to further what is largely a private sector development. However, the governor said that during recent meetings with Dart he had indicated that the project should be looked at by the Richard Holmwood, the UK’s economic advisor.

(CNS): The new overseas territories director has admitted that the nature of the relationship between the UK and its territories can be tense as a result of the UK’s obligations and responsibilities. Dr Peter Hayes said, however, that it was important that the differences did not become personal and the parties retained a cool professional attitude so they could work together to face the current challenges common to countries all over the world. He denied that the UK had taken control of Cayman’s purse strings but rather that the Framework for Financial Responsibility was an agreement placing boundaries on finances, leaving the local government free to make decisions within those boundaries.

(CNS): Two people have been officially granted the right to be Caymanians by the Legislative Assembly under a provision in the law passed in 2005, which has not previously been used. Harry Chandi and William Maines were given status without having to jump through the usual hoops or pass through the timelines of residency in Cayman normally required. Although Chandi, an Indian-American who owns Magnum Jewellers and introduced the government to Devi Shetty, has not been here long enough to qualify for permanent residency, he was given status following a recommendation by the Caymanian Status & Permanent Residency Board, which was accepted by Cabinet and approved by the Legislature.

(CNS): Despite the continuing international economic turmoil, Cayman’s own economic woes and the government’s cash flow crunch, the government’s strategic policy statement (SPS) submitted to the Legislative Assembly by the premier this week takes a very optimistic position. According to the forecast on which the government’s next three budgets will be based, Cayman could not only be rich beyond its wildest dreams by 2016, with a huge surplus, but cash in the bank, dwindling debt, a slimmed down public sector and be free from UK supervision of its public finances. The SPS does not say how Cayman will get so rich, however, other than through the commencement of the long promised infrastructure projects.

(CNS): Premier McKeeva Bush has admitted that the developer and former owner of the Ritz Carlton-Grand Cayman had input into a statement he had made on the government’s new television channel last week about the resort, the duty debt and the recent sale. Following the revelations on CNS this week about the electronically stamped properties of the document released by the premier’s office, which indicated the statement made by Bush had been ’authored’ by Michael Ryan on a computer at the offices of Stingray Construction, the premier said Wednesday that it was merely sent to Ryan for details on the valuation. Bush said Ryan then returned the Word document with the information and the statement was “crafted using the same document".

(CNS): The PPM declared Moses Kirkconnell the party's new deputy leader and the first ever official deputy leader of the opposition. Alden McLaughlin, the opposition leader, said Wednesday that the crowning of Kirkconnell was an indication of the “Progressives” advanced state of readiness ahead of the 2013 General Election and its preparations for government. McLaughlin said the announcement was the first of many that would see the party lay out its election team and the leadership that would, if the PPM is successful, form the next government. The PPM leader said he believed that he and Kirkconnell would work well together leading a new honest, competent government. (Photo Dennie Warren Jr)

(CNS): The premier, the education minister, the attorney general, the cabinet secretary, the financial secretary, as well as both the premier’s chiefs of staff and his senior political assistant are leaving for London today to attend the annual meeting between British Overseas Territories and the UK Government. At a time when tensions remain high between the Cayman Islands and the FCO, McKeeva Bush will meet directly with OT minister Mark Simmonds, various UK ministers and other territory leaders, and he will also present a session on “resilient economies” at the council meeting.

(CNS): With just over one month left to go before the register of electors closes for new voters ahead of the May 2013 General Election, Elections Supervisor Kearney Gomez said that voter registrations were, as expected, picking up. The deadline and cut-off point for people to register on the list so that they can vote in next year’s national poll is 2 January and Gomez said that, since Caymanians always seem to leave things until the last minute, the numbers of people coming into the office was growing. The latest figures show that 16,317 people -- almost a 1,000 more than the number who voted in 2009 -- are currently registered to vote in the next election. However, officials remain hopeful that more than a 1,000 more people will sign up before midnight on 2 January.

(CNS): A statement delivered by the premier via government’s new television channel last week about the Ritz Carlton and the outstanding duty owed on it may have been written or approved by the former owner of the Ritz Carlton, Michael Ryan. According to the properties on the Word document posted on CNS below, it was ‘authored’ by Ryan on a computer at Stingray Construction, one of the companies he still owns that was established during the development of the luxury resort. The details of the authorship on the copy of the statement released by the premier’s office were picked up by the opposition leader, who has called on McKeeva Bush to say if he was speaking on Ryan’s behalf or as premier of the Cayman Islands.

(CNS): The premier made no comment regarding what is normally one of government’s major political moments when he laid the Strategic Policy Statement for 2013/14 on the table of the Legislative Assembly on Monday. Although the presentation of the SPS is usually a major televised address from the country’s parliament, this year it was an exceptionally low key affair. McKeeva Bush suddenly produced the document, which came as a surprise to the opposition benches, and, as he presented what is considered a key government document, Bush limited his comments about it to the fact that it was early and complied with the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility now contained in the Public Management and Finance Law. 

(CNS): Activists campaigning against the plan to move Grand Cayman’s landfill from George Town to Bodden Town have written open letters to Dart and to Environment Minister Mark Scotland asking how the proposed ForCayman Investment Alliance (FCIA) can be made legally compliant without a public tender process. Since government transposed the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility (FFR) into law earlier this month, the group opposed to the move has stepped up its campaign against the deal on the basis that they do not believe it can be lawful given the ‘new rules’ that government must follow and the FCO’s move to stop talks on the cruise port facilities deal, which, it said, fell foul of the FFR.

(CNS): The premier said “so-called good governance” is nothing but “pure unadulterated bureaucracy” when he gave the closing remarks at the Chamber’s forum event on Friday. Speaking about the “setbacks” to the projects his administration had promised because of pressure from the UK, McKeeva Bush said that, although things were now more “onerous with the new processes”, he intended to press on, but things “won’t happen overnight”, he said. Railing against the imposition of the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility (FFR), the premier said that past governments in Cayman used to get things done without all the bureaucracy that he now had to face.

(CNS): The man leading the negotiations with China Harbour Engineering Company over the proposed George Town cruise berthing facilities admitted that government was days away from signing a secret contract with the Beijing firm before the UK insisted that the premier stop the talks. Speaking during the Chamber Forum on Friday, Alastair Patterson said that when he took over the talks some five months ago, he had deliberately kept the discussion “below the radar” because he believed that the deal should not be “negotiated in the press or on the radio”. He revealed that the deal had been completed and was about to be inked behind closed doors before the FCO put an end to the plans.