(CNS): The minute record of the weekly meetings between the deputy governor and the civil service ministry heads are increasingly shorter and reveal less and less about what goes on at the high level meetings. Although Franz Manderson was blazing a trail of transparency when he first began voluntarily releasing the record of what goes on behind the close doors of high-level public sector meetings, the scant information on the minutes being released is offering less insight into the workings of government rather than more.

(CNS): Election officials reassured voters Tuesday that electors who do not have a voter ID card can still vote on General Election Day. The cards are meant to speed up the process but all registered voters can attend the polls with any form of picture identification, even if it has expired. Even voters who have no photo ID of any kind can still vote as presiding officers can administer oaths to confirm an elector’s identity. If voters bring picture ID to the polls, however, and if they know their registered voter number then the process of getting into a station to vote will be quicker and contribute to a smoother voting process overall on what is expected to be a busy polling day.

CNS): A number of politicians in the 2013 general election campaign have used polls to help them gauge their strengths and weaknesses among voters. Although common in most democracies, with the major pollsters becoming increasingly accurate, the election tool is relatively new in Cayman and so far, as the voter surveys and straw polls have been funded by the politicians, the results have been kept under wraps. The secrecy surrounding the results may be an indication that no party or group is happy with the outcome. If not entirely accurate, the polls can offer at least a gauge of the mood of the voting population ahead of the polling day and help target campaigning.

(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.

(CNS): The plans to build a young offender facility to ensure that the Cayman government is compliant with the bill of rights and separates its younger criminals from adults, have been scrapped. The government does not have the cash to either build the centre or run it once it is built, the minister for community affairs announced Tuesday. Dwayne Seymour stated that the Missouri Model was being dropped in favour of a Cayman model because of costs. The minister, who took over the ministry in December, pointed to concerns that had been raised by the governor regarding the cost of the project, which officials broke ground on in 2012, and which had been allocated some $8 million in this year's budget. However, Seymour said that the estimates had been as much as $11 million and government did not have the money.

(CNS): Despite being part of the UDP government that signed the NRA deal with Dart in December 2011, which the minority government then tried to improve, ministers present at the last Cabinet press briefing before the elections said they had no regrets. Following the collapse of talks between Dart and government on the so-called third amendment last week and the release Friday of all of the document relating to the agreement and the value for money report from PricewaterhouseCoopers, the PNA ministers remained firmly behind the controversial deal. Although the agreement was described as a “train wreck” by some and numerous concerns were raised by PwC in their report, the ministers insisted it still presented value for money.

(CNS): Emergency services were all on full standby at Owen Roberts International Airport (ORIA) Tuesday lunchtime when an American Airlines flight en-route to Panama from Miami requested permission to land in Grand Cayman after detecting a mechanical fault. Officials from the Cayman Islands Airports Authority (CIAA) confirmed that at 12:50 pm (14 May) the aircraft with 147 passengers on board landed safely after it diverted to Owen Roberts. All airport emergency services had been put on standby at 12:15pm in preparation for a possible emergency landing. However, he Boeing 737-800 landed without incident.

(CNS): Despite the complaints and concerns being raised about missing postal ballots, the Elections Office said Tuesday that there are still 92 postal ballot envelopes still to be collected from the registered mail counters at every post office in Grand Cayman except for North Side. Election officials are urging voters to collect them cast their vote and deliver the sealed envelopes to their local returning officers as soon as possible as it is now too late to try and post ballots in time for polling day next Wednesday. Along with the ballots sitting in post offices, the deputy supervisor of elections said that 2,500 voter ID cards also need to be collected from the Elections Office.

(CNS): Both Cline Glidden and Mark Scotland have said their position regarding the former premier has not changed and, as a result, they will not help the UDP leader form a government if they are returned to the Legislative Assembly next week. Dwayne Seymour has said that, should he be asked by McKeeva Bush to help him form a government if he were re-elected, he would have to hold a meeting with his constituents to gauge their opinion. The question was asked of the three Cabinet members present at last Thursday’s press briefing, when both Rolston Anglin and Juliana O’Connor-Connolly were absent. So far, the only other non-PPM candidates to publicly declare they would not support Bush are the two independents from the eastern districts and Charles Clifford running in Bodden Town.

(CNS): Officials from HMP Northward have confirmed that a review was instigated following the appearance of various pictures on Facebook posted by prisoners directly from their jail cells, demonstrating that many of them have access to the internet via smuggled smartphones. Although some of the FB pages of prisoners have now disappeared, a number of prisoners are still posting on the social media site. The various pictures which were first revealed on CNS last month showed both convicted and remand inmates, some jailed for very serious violent offences,  making gang signs and in at least one case smoking ganja in their jail cell. The prison has battled with cell phones use for some time and is now seeking legal changes to make the possession of phones, chips or other parts an offence.

(CNS): With no legislative power and major concerns about the levels of potential conflicts in government, the chair of the Standards in Public Life Commission has urged civil servants to develop and internalise a working definition of conflict of interest that they might apply in their duties and personal activities of conflict. In the last of a week of lunchtime presentations to public sector staff about good governance, Karin Thompson reminded them that the perception of conflict of interest could be as dangerous as the reality and pointed to the fine line between public and private lives for government employees.

(CNS): The information commissioner has warned that her office’s ability to function properly is under threat because of budget cuts. In addition, the office’s legal budget has been removed at a time when the governor’s office is challenging a decision by the commissioner in relation to her order to release information in connection with the discredited internal police investigation Operation Tempura. Writing in her quarterly report on the activities of the office, Jennifer Dilbert stated that the budget cuts were such that it was seriously interfering with the independence of her office. The introduction of FOI has changed the electorate’s relationship with government and hampering its progress via financial restrictions should be of genuine concern to voters.

(CNS): Genuine independent candidates are being squeezed out of the campaign as a result of the influence of big business, one George Town candidate has said. Dr Frank McField, who is running on his own platform in the capital, has warned that if Cayman wants to elect real independent candidates who are not influenced by, or in the pay of, big business or other self-interested groups, some other way of  funding campaigns will need to be created to ensure true independence. McField told CNS that without some kind of public fund for elections, candidates who represent the poor, the downtrodden, the marginalized and those genuinely in need will disappear from the political scene.

(CNS): Despite some disappointment over the rather pedestrian efforts of the fastest man in the world the second Cayman invitational Athletic meet was still considered a success by organisers. With a Bolt in a photo finish and Carmalite Jeter running a world leading time for the year in the women’s 100metres at 10.95 the 3,500 spectators were still treated to an exciting athletic meet. Although six-time Olympic gold medal winner Usain Bolt reportedly won his race in 10.083 seconds, just edging out his Jamaican team mate Kemar Bailey-Cole in a photo finish, the track star still took centre stage. Meet Director, Cydonie Mothersill who managed to attract the big track names said she was pleased with the event.

(CNS): In addition to the team of international observers that the government has invited to oversee the 2013 Cayman Islands General Election next week, the Elections Office has appointed a team of local observers. Supervisor of Elections Kearney Gomez confirmed that the Cayman observers are independent and separate from the international mission but they are available to work in conjunction with the international team if they wish. The primary focus of the local observers is to focus on the operations and to provide an extra layer of scrutiny. The first domestic observers were appointed for the referendum on the constitution in 2009 and a team was also appointed to oversee the one man-one vote national poll last July.