Politics

(CNS): As it will be up to the RCIPS Anti-corruption Unit to enforce the elections law regarding ‘treating’ and the issue of refreshments at public meetings, elections officials have revealed a softening towards the provision of water, soda, sandwiches and finger foods. However, they said lavish catering, booze and excessive treating will not be tolerated and the police will be patrolling public meetings over the next six weeks of the campaign. With a clampdown on any kind of vote buying or inducement, the Elections Office is urging people to call the corruption hotline on 928-1747 to report infractions of the elections law and the anti-corruption law.

(CNS): Opponents of the plan to relocate Grand Cayman’s landfill to Bodden Town have described the environmental statement which was released to the public yesterday as a whitewash. The length of the document, at 1887 pages, makes it impossible for the public to digest and ensures controversies are “well camouflaged”, one of the leaders of the Coalition to Keep Bodden Town Dump free said in a release. Alain Beiner believes, however, that there was no hiding the fact that the proposal is nothing more than a clone of the George Town landfill and a long way from a promised modern eco-waste-management site.

(CNS): The two East End McLeans, Arden and John Jr, launched the Chamber of Commerce political forums on Monday night with a head-to-head debate that demonstrated some significant differences between the two candidates on topical issues, such as the ForCayman Investment Alliance, how to tackle Caymans growing immigration dilemmas and the country’s voting system. The younger of the two McLeans seemed to be on the wrong side of the argument over one man, one vote in the district, while his opponent seemed to have the support of the district when he revealed his intention to abolish the work-permit boards and create a separate labour agency if he was a member of government after the election.

(CNS): The removal of the former premier from office has not put an end to the controversial donations from the public purse to local churches. According to several members of the congregation from the Church of God Holiness in Red Bay, George Town, the new premier, Juliana O'Connor-Connolly, recently announced during a prayer meeting that the government was giving the church $100,000 from the Nation Building Fund, which was established by former premier McKeeva Bush. CNS attempted to confirm the details of the donation to the church, where O'Connor-Connolly sometimes attends when she is on Grand Cayman, but officials refused to comment on the issue.

(CNS): As expected, the Coalition for Cayman has now formally endorsed the two West Bay candidates that are running on the advocacy group’s ticket. In a press statement, the C4C said that Mervin Smith and Tara Rivers, who were two of the speakers on the platform at the movement’s political launch last year, had been given the backing for their bid to be elected to the Legislative Assembly in May. Smith and Rivers launched their co-campaign last month and have already appeared on the national platform with the five other C4C candidates running in George Town. “Mervin Smith and Tara Rivers are honest leaders who will always do what is right for the Cayman Islands,” said C4C. 

(CNS): The candidate forums hosted by the Cayman Chamber of Commerce kick off this evening in East end when the incumbent candidate for the district Arden McLean will go head to head with his sole opponent John McLean Jr. The Former PPM candidate who is now running on the independent ticket beat out McLean junior at the last election with almost 60% of the vote as a PPM candidate. Although the young challenger is running on an independent ticket he was endorsed publicly by the UDP leader McKeeva Bush, in a public meeting in the district last year. The then premier promised to give the would-be candidate money from the public coffers which had been given by the Dart group to undertake local projects, by passing the incumbent member.

(CNS): Ezzard Miller, the independent incumbent member for North Side, said he was expecting lies and mudslinging from his opponent, Joey Ebanks, in the district’s head-to-head fight between them. Launching his campaign on Thursday night at a meeting of some 300 people, the populist member said his opponent was “sowing seeds of hatred and division and all manner of evil" to detract from his own difficulties. Ebanks is expected to answer police bail Tuesday in connection with his arrest in March regarding financial irregularities at the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA). But he has claimed he is the victim of a conspiracy and has entered the North Side fight threatening to expose corruption.

(CNS): A second candidate for the 2013 poll has hit the dust after the Elections Office confirmed speculation that Lyndon Martin had also been disqualified. In this instance, the former United Democratic Party MLA for the Sister Islands, who was running as an independent in Cayman Brac and Little Cayman, was disqualified as a result of a past criminal conviction. Although he did not receive a custodial sentence, the conviction was for a dishonesty offence and therefore the Bracker is barred from the election fight. Following the announcement, Martin told CNS, "I completely disagree with the ruling but will have to accept it. My police record is completely clean." 

(CNS): Following accusations made by the former MD of the Electricity Regulatory Authority (ERA) about the bidding process for power generation, local officials have announced an independent investigation. Joey Ebanks, a political hopeful for North Side, has alleged that the ERA attempted to fix the bid for DECCO, which was awarded the contract sometime in February to produce some 36MW to meet future power demand and to replace CUC generators due to be decommissioned. Since the former regulatory boss was suspended from the ERAand then arrested on suspicion of drug related offences, fraud and theft, he has taken to the pages of Facebook alleging skulduggery and conspiracies by a catalogue of people, from the governor to members of the local press.

(CNS): Although he believes that he still has a case on which to base a challenge to his disqualification by the Elections Office, Richard Christian has thrown in the towel on his election bid for 2013. The Bodden Town hopeful, who had planned to run alongside the incumbent minority government on the new People’s National Alliance ticket, said he was advised that a challenge would be “both lengthy and costly” and, as he was not in a financial position to meet a hefty legal bill, he had  no other option but to withdraw his candidacy. His colleagues in the PNA said Thursday that they were disappointed but had to respect the decision by the Elections Office. Christian said he, too, respected the official decision to disqualify him but he did not agree with it.

(CNS): Members of the current Cabinet, most of whom were members of the previous UDP government, have admitted that, while they knew talks with CHEC had moved toward a framework agreement, they had no idea their leader had signed that deal without any legal advice. The ministers stated Thursday that they could not be sure that other things that they were unaware of would not turn up that may cause concern or raise liability issues for government. The framework agreement, which was signed by McKeeva Bush without consulting his then Cabinet colleagues, including the attorney general, was discovered by the minority government only last week.

(CNS): The interim government has confirmed that a pre-election budget report, currently being completed by civil servants, will be published before 24 April. In accordance with the law, ensuring that everyone who is running for office is aware of the state of the country’s public finances ahead of the national poll, the report cannot be released less than 42 days before the election. As a result, Cabinet members said Thursday that they were unable to reveal how close government is to meeting the whopping $87 million surplus predicted in the 2012/13 budget. However, Deputy Premier Rolston Anglin said they believed government could expect a “healthy” surplus.

(CNS): The Elections Office and the Anti-Corruption Commission are warning not just the candidates but the electorate as well not to vote for a prison sentence by selling their votes during the 2013 election campaign. Having joined forces with the ant-corruption cops, election officials said that buying or selling votes is a crime and could result in hefty fines and time in prison if people are caught. Despite the persistent rumours of significant corruption surrounding votes at election time in the past, the police commissioner said that no complaints about vote buying and selling had ever been made to the police and no one has ever been charged.

(CNS): Efforts by the Cayman Islands Airports Authority to persuade the Central Tenders Committee (CTC) via a business case that its proposed redevelopment could be offered to a sole bidder have failed and government will have to go back to the drawing board on this project. Tourism Minister Cline Glidden said that a new independent business case assessment would now need to be carried out before the project could move towards a request for proposal on an open competitive tender. Meanwhile, Cayman Airways has been given the go-ahead to present its case to the FCO for the purchase of the 737s, which are approaching the end of their lease.

(CNS): Dwayne Seymour made a startling admission Thursday that he had never supported the idea of relocating the country’s landfill to Bodden Town and that he and his UDP colleagues at the time were “thrown under the bus” by then premier McKeeva Bush over the issue. He said that he did not reveal his true feelings when the plans were revealed because he believed the situation was not unlike a “family squabble” and did not need to be aired publicly, but he was not in favour of the proposal and would not be campaigning in support of a landfill in his district. The community affairs minister said he wanted people to know he was not scared to accept responsibility but he would not support any decision on a new landfill before the best site for it had been determined.