Changes are cutting bureaucracy, claims CIG
Commerce Minister Joey Hew and Acting Governor Franz Manderson cut the red tape in government
(CNS): Officials from the elected and administrative arm of the Government of National Unity have claimed that a number of measures being introduced to the public sector are cutting red-tape, improving efficiency and helping implement the 5-Year Strategic Plan. They include the Department of Immigration extending its hours and the elimination of a customs declaration forms for those with nothing to declare. A dozen of the new measures deal exclusively with speeding up and simplifying the civil service’s transactions with the general public, officials stated in a release.
These measures follow several recent changes to the Trade and Business Licensing Law that also cut red tape.
Acting Deputy Governor Gloria McField-Nixon welcomed the reforms. As part of the initiative, the Office of the Deputy Governor has eliminated the need for people applying for British Overseas Territories citizen naturalisation to produce a police clearance certification and travel logs from immigration, which are now processed internally. This will not only save applicants money but will cut out two visits to two different departments.
“By cutting unnecessary red tape we are demonstrating, in a very real and tangible way, that the civil service is serious about improving customer service and the experience of all those who interact with us,” she said. “These measures and others to come will move us further towards our overall goal of creating a world-class civil service.”
“These measures show that the Unity government is serious about providing the public with more streamlined processes and reduced waiting times in their interactions with the civil service,” said Premier Alden McLaughlin. “All the initiatives clearly show that we are continuing to make good on our election pledges with the able assistance of the civil service.”
Some of the initiatives are:
- the immigration department enabling customers into the Immigration Hall at 7.30am (an hour earlier than before) to facilitate earlier processing of customers and provide a more comfortable waiting environment;
- the Department of Agriculture enabling the public to anonymously submit complaints about animal welfare matters;
- the Passport Office removing the requirement for US waiver applicants to appear in person to apply for and collect their documents;
- the Ministry of Community Affairs extending signing authority for ex-gratia benefit letters to personnel other than the chief officer and the deputy chief officer;
- the Customs Department eliminating customs declarations for air passengers, except for those with items to declare and those who have been referred for secondary screening.
See full list of cutting red tape measures in the CNS Library
Category: Government Administration, Politics
Buzz word, buzz word,cayman speech pattern, buzz word…pat on the back, pat on the back, buzz word, buzz word, cayman speech pattern…and in the end a big pat on the back for accomplising something that should have taken months, even though it took years.
Quality government spewing quality phrases to collect their unearned quality check.
So can any of the MLA’s or Civil Servants in the attached video explain why the Lands & Survey takes 6 to 8 weeks to get new parcel numbers out, after all Govt. Fees have been paid?
So why is the Speaker of the House complaining on Cayman 27 website about the red tape . . . ie the Charities Law? Please set me straight about this issue -did the Speaker vote for or against this Law? If he is having to shut down his own foundation because of all the bureaucracy I can only imagine what some of the churches and other organizations must be going through.
Also some in the current government created much more bureaucracy by implementing the Builders Bill and the Builders Board – am sure that the small companies and tradesmen appreciate having to the extra paperwork and justify what they have done – that is progress? Don’t see any provisions in the regulations that help protect contractors and tradesman from bad pay clients (ie. should be able to put a construction lien on property).
Anyhow I suspect the usual “this current government can do no wrong” persons will reply and tear my factual/truthful thoughts to pieces.
Signed
Moses Trump
They got rid of Dan Dougay, the good work he started lives on, the got rid of Governor Choudhury, the good work he started lives on.
Why is it when good people do good work they are fired?
Leaving us the trash!
11:42 try and give a little credit. I am happy the DG kept repeating that statement.
Probably means he believes it. I know I look forward to getting my car licensed from home.
Nah, sounds like a canned PR phrase. No one looks forward to doing anything with the government anywhere!
Come on negative posters…this is great news and the exercise has just started. Thank you Premier DG and team. At least you are trying.
Many of the processes in the Civil Service which affect the public as “red-tape” are created simply to add revenue to Government coffers. Many of these processes require double-payments which should be unnecessary and only “steal” money from the public. For example, the Public Transport Unit requires two parallel applications and two fees from the same company for the same drivers who drive tour buses and luxury SUVs/Sedans. Why? Because PTU has these services listed in two different categories. OK, but why collect twice for the same drivers??
This type of situation exists in many Government departments!
Joe Who?
World Class civil service. Thank you.
7.00pm Where are you referring to?
When you apply for a police record for a waiver, shouldn’t that police record be valid for at least two to three months of use, and can be reused for another waiver application at our local
Passport Office ??
Especially so, in the case of a person having to travel to the US on a monthly basis…… for medical reasons or to assist someone who is medically unfit to travel by themselves.
A new waiver YES for each time you have to travel……….but why should you have to apply for a new police record every single time and pay another $25 CI…….. that has only been used once and is only 3 – 4 weeks old ?
I don’t buy our local passport counter explanation that the US immigration requires this to be done.
“More Power to the People – Law Abiding Citizens of the Cayman Islands”
Please Mr. DG cut the red tape on this one too !!
And to make a copy $25 again is crazy! If you pay $25 for one but want two it should only cost you $30.
And another thing. Why does the person applying for the waiver have to personally drop off and collect themselves. Anyone should be able to do this once they present the person’s Passport and the signature on the application matches.
Hey Franz, try renovating or building a house and dealing with BCU. Pure obstructionism and absolutely no common sense or discretion.
Sort out the damn DOE next. Why no boats on Sandbar and why we see no officer. Stingrays being treated bad, Starfish treated bad, turtles taken by criminals and no one care.
I see crimes everyday, we report, nothing happen. Need a change of management or a kick up ass Franz.
You see crimes every day, call 911 and report the times on here so we can check. (911 calls logged; calls to a CIG # no way to prove.) – I’ll wait.
As far as I know civil servants’ telephones are not bound up by red tape, so why can’t they answer calls from the public?.
Only one response to this – https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/a48498db-2a05-4259-86f8-effe5a38edf0
ROTFLMAO – so true!
OMG that video is terrible! Are these people for real? If Franz says “the public look forward to doing business with the civil service” one more time…. Seriously, this stuff is old school mandatory in most places already.
Thank you Governor Choudhury
ROFLOL deal with immigration or planning
Here is a good suggestion for cutting red tape, have Franz (in disguise) take his car to the Department of Vehicles and Licensing and take his car through the process of inspection and licensing himself.
After Franz has spent an entire day on that process perhaps he will see the benefits that would accrue to CIG by not having 5,000 civil servants having to go through that process each and every year.
While Franz is sitting in the chair watching TV and waiting for his number to be called, perhaps he could scan the walls and ask himself why there are more than 30 different pre-printed forms at DVL that have to be filled out before anything can start, and why other countries can manage this process without the amount of paper that is processed and discarded by the DVL for each and every customer transaction.
After Franz has spent an entire day at DVL and his car is still not licensed, he can return to the Government Admin building and see if he can restrain himself from taking his frustration out on the displays of pre-printed forms that litter the ground floor and act as a hurdle to be overcome for every customer-facing department.
It’s the paper Franz. It’s the paper!
Don’t know about that 10:43. Coming from the USA, I k ow first hand of the frustration associated with a visit to the DMV. It’s not just here in Cayman. Hell, at least the people at the counter here actually smile with you.
@at 11:35 am What are you talking about?
In the USA, you do it online, with just few clicks.
LOL! A good one!
Well said 10.43am. The difference with Franz however, like any other civil servant, nobody will have noticed he was missing for a day.
Governor Choundhury certainly wasn’t sleeping at the wheel. He saw the bureaucracy and made the right move. Indebted to him Cayman Islands.
He has unlodged a lot.
Cuz way too much lodge man dey ya
“the Customs Department eliminating customs declarations for air passengers, except for those with items to declare and those who have been referred for secondary screening.”
So if I haven’t gone over do I still need to fill out a form?
No.
People who have just flown in will disagree as they were told to go to the other line and fill out a form. So it sounds like customs doesn’t know they have a new procedure.
Customs up on here down thumbing this post ????
Landed yesterday on KX flight from Tampa. Below the limit so didn’t fill out a form. Only red channel open so when it was our turn stepped up and had nothing to give the Customs officer. We explained we were under the limit and hadn’t filled out the form. After a look at the size of bags he asked a few questions and sent us on our way. Would have been more efficient to just have the green lane open.
Weird but good to know someone there knows the new procedure!