Government owed around $2.8M from permanent residents

Eric Bush, Chief Officer from the Home Affairs Ministry said at a meeting in West Bay on Tuesday 8^th October, the Cayman Islands Government is owed approx.. $2.8M by Permanent Residents (PR) who have not paid their annual fees.

Bush warned under the proposed changes included in the immigration reform permanent residents who do not pay their annual PR fees could find their residency rights revoked.

The Chief Officer also said permanent residents will in future be required to submit an annual truthful declaration in respect to their investments, employment and other factors when they pay their annual fee. If they fail to comply and/or withhold or give false information, this will be an offence leading to the loss of their PR.

The right to residency could also be taken away if the person moves to an occupation that is not authorized in his certificate, he said.

No new spears are being issued to scuba divers for culling lionfish

The Department of Environment (DoE) have announced it is not putting any new spears into circulation under the Cayman Islands’ g lionfish culling programme until it has reviewed it.

Although the programme, which involves licensed divers spearing lionfish on Cayman’s reefs, has been credited with reducing the numbers of the invasive species in Cayman’s waters, DoE said there had been some unintended consequences. These include moray eels and snappers becoming more aggressive towards divers as a result of having been fed from spears.

There are approx..400 spears on lease from DoE to lionfish cullers.

However, anyone licensed and in possession of a spear will still be able to cull lionfish. Licensed cullers without spears will be able to cull under the supervision of specified dive operators.

A spokesperson for DoE has asked cullers to report their catches and anyone who has a spear and is not using it regularly to turn it in.

Bush says good governance is one sided

It was a heated affair at the last Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearings when opposition leader, McKeeva Bush, raised objections to closed door meetings to approve payments to Auditor General, Alastair Swarbrick. He said he wanted to see evidence so he could look at exactly what Swarbrick’s office had exactly executed.

Bush was particularly incensed at the claims made by Swarbrick of inappropriate board and political interference carried out by the previous United Democratic Government (UDP) that Bush led. He questioned the right of the Auditor General’s Office (AGO) to “besmirch people who cannot defend themselves.”

Unfounded allegations were made against board members, in particular at the airport, he said, and they were not given a chance to defend themselves.

He said someone from the boards should be present when PAC addressed the Auditor’s reports on statutory authorities and government companies.

The only representatives present at the PAC meeting from a board were from Cayman Airways.

Three reports were being examined by PAC and Bush told the chairman, Roy McTaggart, that even if McTaggart took the AGO’s findings at face value he wasn’t.

Bush condemned the work done by the AGO and said they didn’t find out all the facts about the matters they investigated. He accused the office of not interviewing all the people involved and issued reports that pointed the finger and criticised.

“We have human rights in this country and this committee cannot do its work and clear the air on matters when people are not interviewed and only one side is given by the audit office,” he said. “You need to understand you can’t run ramshackle over everybody.”

He accused the AGO of besmirching people’s names and he wanted to see proof. The auditor general, he said, made assumptions and “the good governance and transparency everyone wanted was one sided. Why must I come here and agree to this?”

He shouted at McTaggart that whilst he (McTaggart) was prepared to accept everything Swarbrick said as truth he wasn’t.

And as local singer, Andy Martin says, “Take that!”

Protest march postponed

A protest scheduled for Friday (11 October) has been postponed.

Organiser Paul Rivers said on CITN/Cayman27, “It’s nothing such as the protest is being cancelled, it’s just being delayed to a later date. And we’re also asking the government to delay their sitting at least one week. So they can take into account people’s opinions and contributions to this proposed bill so they can revise it properly. It’s a very serious bill that people should have their input in.”

Mr. Rivers also said learning what he called the intricate point system for permanent residency also led him to put the brakes on the demonstration.

Man charged with stealing gold from Fed Ex packets

The RCIPS has charged a 34 year old man, who was a courier with Federal Express, with multiple counts of theft.

The man who has been named as Evon Robinson is also facing a civil suit filed by Island Elements, the owners of Cash Wiz. They have filed suit against Federal Express, claiming Robinson when he was their courier, stole approx. $66,000 of gold between November 2011 and April 2012.

The shop owners claimed that Robinson was taking pieces of the gold for himself.