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Vendredi 14 Octobre 2022 – 12h24

Depuis hier (jeudi 13 octobre), les lignes de bus du réseau SudLib sont fortement perturbées en raison d’un mouvement social. 

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Black Immigrant Daily News

Several critical matters of national importance concerning crime, irregular migration, policing and border control were tabled at the most recent National Security Council (NSC) meeting on Tuesday, 4 October 2022.

Commissioner of Police Mr. Derek Byrne briefed the Council on the current status of criminal and drug related activities, including recent firearm incidents on Grand Cayman and drug abuse in Cayman Brac. He ended with a progress report on how these issues are being handled and future plans to tackle law breaking throughout all three islands. Cayman Islands Coast Guard Commander Robert Scotland, on behalf of Deputy Commissioner of Police Mr Kurt Walton also presented on policing and security, as well as the procurement of new equipment that will aid officers at vehicular checkpoints.

The Council also heard a number of border control matters, including a presentation by Cdr Robert Scotland on maritime domain awareness and coastal surveillance. Mr Bruce Smith, Senior Deputy Director of Customs and Border Control also briefed the Council on the management of irregular migrants to the Cayman Islands and the asylum process.Port Authority Director Mr Paul Hurlston and the Acting Manager of Cruise Ops and Security Mr Roylee Moore spoke to the results of the July International Ship and Port Facility Code Inspection and the Authority’s action plan to address areas that require further enhancement.

His Excellency the Governor Mr Martyn Roper, who also serves as Chair for the NSC, stated he was pleased with the meeting outcomes. “The NSC’s role, which it performs well, is to assess and update the high level security risks facing this jurisdiction. I am grateful for its collaborative approach”, he ended.

(Source: CI GOVT)

More about the National Security Council

The National Security Council is established under section 58 of the Cayman Islands Constitution Order (as amended).

National Security Council members are as follows: His Excellency the Governor Mr. Martyn Roper, OBE (Chair); Hon. G. Wayne Panton, Premier; Hon. Franz Manderson, Deputy Governor; Hon. Sabrina Turner, Minister; Hon. Andre Ebanks, Minister; Hon. Samuel Bulgin QC, Attorney General; Hon. Roy McTaggart, Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Derek Byrne, Commissioner of Police; Mr. Ian Pairaudeau,, civil society representative; and Mr. Christopher Philips,civil society representative.

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Black Immigrant Daily News

BRISBANE, Australia (AP) — West Indies are the only team to win the Twenty20 World Cup twice, and 2014 champion Sri Lanka are the only three-time finalist in the championship for international cricket’s shortest format.

Even with those credentials, two of the game’s traditional entertainers are having to go through a preliminary stage with the lower-ranked teams to earn a spot in the T20 World Cup’s main round.

The tournament before the tournament starts Sunday, with Sri Lanka, coming off victory in the Asia Cup, opening Group A against Namibia at Kardinia Park in Geelong, west of Melbourne.

Nicholas Pooran will lead his West Indies lineup out against Scotland at Hobart in Group B on Monday, about the same time defending champion Australia have a scheduled practice match against India, the inaugural T20 champions in 2007.

“As a group we’re doing well, putting our ego aside, trying to move toward a team plan,” Pooran said after his team lost a two-game warmup series against Australia last week in Queensland state. “By the time of the World Cup … we’ll be ready.”

Provided the West Indies and Sri Lanka finish in the top two in their four-team groups next week, they’ll join the top eight-ranked teams in the Super 12 stage. That kicks off Oct. 22 with a 2021 final rematch between Australia and New Zealand in Sydney and features another intense derby the following day in Melbourne between India and Pakistan.

Jos Buttler’s England squad starts its bid to become dual white-ball world champions — they want to add the T20 trophy to their 50-over World Cup title in 2019 — against Afghanistan on Oct. 22. South Africa, aiming for their first global limited-overs cricket title of any kind, and Bangladesh are the other two teams already qualified.

The Australians have had less than a year to savor their first T20 world title, overcoming a group-stage loss to England and hot-and-cold form in the preparation phase to beat Pakistan in the semifinals and New Zealand in the final last November.

The 2022 final is scheduled for Nov. 13, two years after Australia were originally scheduled to host the tournament before it was postponed because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

ROUND ONE

The first phase includes eight teams seeded into two groups, with the top two advancing to the Super 12s and maintaining a shot at the title.

A Sri Lanka lineup led by Dasun Shanaka and featuring leg-spinner allrounder Wanindu Hasaranga should dominate Group A, which contains Netherlands and United Arab Emirates as well as Namibia. Group B is likely to be a tougher contest, with Ireland and Zimbabwe joining West Indies and Scotland.

It’s been 10 years since the West Indies won their first T20 championship and Pooran is determined to make it back to the playoffs after a disappointing group-stage exit last year at the tournament played in United Arab Emirates and Oman but officially hosted by India.

Johnson Charles was a young batter in that winning squad in 2012, was also involved in the 2016 title and now he’s back as a veteran.

“Ten years later it’s about trying to make it happen again for the people of the West Indies,” he said. “It feels good to be back and be part of the team as we look to make it three in 10 years. No other team has won it twice, so we have a rich legacy.”

The Windies showed some flashes of brilliance in a warmup series against Australia earlier this month before losing both games. Wicketkeeper-batter Pooran’s form will be crucial to the success of his team, along with top-order batter Brandon King and the bowling group containing paceman and former skipper Jason Holder and left-arm spinner Akeal Hosein.

Scotland have had limited opportunities for match time since making the Super 12s for the first time at the last tournament and will likely struggle against the more experienced teams.

Zimbabwe won five consecutive games to top the World T20 qualifying tournament on home soil and returns to the global event for the first time since 2016. First-round rivals will be wary given Zimbabwe’s history of producing upset results, including a five-wicket win over Australia at the inaugural event.

Zimbabwe open Monday in Hobart against Ireland, which had some narrow losses to India and New Zealand in white-ball series before edging Afghanistan 3-2 in a T20 series at home in August.

“We’ve had some great battles against Afghanistan, but I think this one was especially significant given the format,” Ireland wicketkeeper-batter Lorcan Tucker said. “To turn the past on its head and get a series win just before a World Cup was pretty inspiring.”

RULE CHANGES

Timing is everything with the new regulations introduced since the last T20 World Cup — the biggest being the in-match penalty for slow over-rates.

The failure of the fielding team to bowl their scheduled overs on time now leads to an additional fielder being forced inside the in-field circle for the remaining overs of the innings. That can leave some wide-open spaces in the outfield just when batters are trying to slog boundaries.

Also, there’ll be no more wires crossed when it comes to which batter takes strike after a catch is completed. Under the old rules, if the batters crossed before the ball was caught, the new player to the crease could go to the non-striker’s end. Under the revision, the incoming batter must always go to the striker’s end. That nullifies one of potential tactic of getting an in-form batter on strike during partnerships with tail-enders.

In other changes, umpires will have the authority to award five penalty runs to the batting seem if a fielder is deemed to have moved unfairly or deliberately distracted a batter while the bowler is in the run-up phase; and run-out regulations have been clarified to remove the “unfair play” section — and any ambiguity — when it comes to bowlers running-out batters who are out of their ground at the non-striker’s end.

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Three days after Governor John Rankin released his first quarterly review on the implementation of the Commission of Inquiry recommendations, Premier Dr. Natalio “Sowande” Wheatley said the document included criticisms based on misunderstandings that should have been clarified before the publication of the report.

He made the claim during a press conference on Friday, and a similar sentiment was also shared by his brother Benito Wheatley — who serves as the special envoy of the premier — at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly last Thursday.

In a Friday statement styled as his own quarterly review of the COI reforms, the premier agreed with the governor’s findings that the overall progress is largely on track. By the end of August, he claimed, “94 percent” of the COI recommendations were “completed or were in progress to be completed.”

He made this claim during a press conference on Friday, and a similar sentiment was also shared by his brother Benito Wheatley — who serves as the special envoy of the premier — at the 77th session of the United Nations General Assembly last Thursday.

In a Friday statement styled as his own quarterly review of the COI reforms, the premier agreed with the governor’s findings that the overall progress is largely on track. By the end of August, he claimed, “94 percent” of the COI recommendations were “completed or were in progress to be completed.”

However, Dr. Wheatley pushed back against various criticisms included in the governor’s review, insisting that he and his government have been doing all they can to meet their commitments under the reform framework agreed with the United Kingdom in June.

“We were very ambitious in our commitments and, unfortunately, deadlines have been missed,” Dr. Wheatley said. “It is important to note that deadlines have been missed on the governor’s side as well as on the side of Cabinet. In all instances, these deadlines have been missed for good reason. For instance, we have insisted that the Jury Act and the Register of Interests Act, both which fall under the Governor’s Group’s responsibilities, receive proper consultation as opposed to being rushed through the legislative process.”

The premier acknowledged that in the “modern partnership” between the Virgin Islands and the UK, there would be “disagreements and misunderstandings.”

“It is important that we deal with them maturely and in such a way that strengthens the partnership rather than eroding it,” he said.

Premier’s Office Permanent Secretary Carolyn Stoutt-Igwe, who also weighed in on the topic at the press conference, stated that some of the reform measures that have not yet launched are dependent on the completion of reviews.

“There are a number of legislations that have to come into effect next year,”she said.“Those would be things that have not yet been started. For the most part, most activities have been started or are in the process of being started.”

The governor did not join the premier on Friday as he has at previous press conferences about the COI reforms, but he has promised to meet with the press after the UK responds to his quarterly review.

Tender waivers

On Friday, Dr. Wheatley took particular issue with Mr. Rankin’s criticisms of tender waivers, Cabinet papers, and the proposed Register of Interests Act passed recently by the House of Assembly.

In his review, the governor alleged that the Cabinet has not consistently followed its framework commitment to ensure that “tender waivers are only agreed in exceptional, unavoidable cases, and which must be explained publicly.”

Instead, the waivers were still being presented to Cabinet “often with insufficient and poorly-presented justification,” Mr. Rankin claimed.

“Some of these proposals date from contractual commitments made by the previous administration,” the review noted. “But even in these cases, the [National Unity Government] has in many cases failed to take action to launch tender processes before the expiry of the current contract, and has proposed waivers for contract extensions without evidence of value for money.”

He added that Cabinet has also fallen short in its commitment to publicly explain tender waivers.

“Although I have repeatedly reminded Cabinet of the requirement under the framework document to publish documents related to tender waiver proposals, none have to date been published,” he wrote. “This is regrettable, and a failure to provide the transparency and public accountability that publication of the documents would support.”

Dr. Wheatley, however, said he believes the governor was mistaken on these points, noting that a new procurement law passed recently was in development “way before the COI.”

“We now have in place the Public Procurement Act, which gives clear guidelines on how procurement is to be done, and this has removed the open discretion which previously existed,” the premier said. “Procurement can be done through open tendering, restricted tendering or single-source procurement for the most part…. Single-source procurement is not the equivalent of a tender waiver; it clearly defines the instances where it is not necessary to go through an open tender. For example, contracts for emergencies or national security matters do not have to go through open tendering.”

He added that if single-source procurement is done according to the Public Procurement Act, it “shouldn’t be presented as something wrong with that” or as the “same old practice as before.”

“I believe that tender waivers were being conflated with single-source procurement,” he said.“I think it’s important to have a sit-down and an understanding, especially with the Ministry of Finance, so that we can get a clear understanding of the procurement process now.”

Cabinet papers

Dr. Wheatley also took issue with the governor’s claim about Cabinet Papers.

Mr. Rankin’s review alleged that Cabinet members had frequently breached their framework committment to circulate early drafts of reform-related Cabinet papers in order to enable advance discussions.

“Instead, too often Cabinet papers are still being submitted very late, sometimes without the full relevant information,” the review stated. “This is not consistent with the good governance which the reform programme is intended to achieve.”

The premier, however, disputed this account. He noted that all Cabinet papers are jointly agreed by the governor and himself, and that the deadline to submit papers 48 hours in advance of a meeting has been “consistently met.”

“If we consider a paper with less notice than this, it is only with the agreement of the governor and premier,” Dr. Wheatley added.

Register of Interests

In his review, the governor also criticised the government’s handling of its commitment to make the Register of Interests public — a measure that was required by June 30 under the reform framework.

A version of the Register of Interests Act, 2022 introduced in the HOA in July would have published the register as promised. However, before passing the bill, HOA members went into a closed-door committee session and made changes that the governor said “severely restrict public access” to the register by requiring written applications and fees.

“They would only be allowed to view the register in the presence of the registrar and would not be permitted to take any kind of copy or even notes of the contents. In my view, these amendments are contrary to the principle of transparency,” Mr. Rankin wrote, adding that the move is also contrary to the framework’s intent to make the register public.

The premier, however, defended the amendments restricting access to the register, noting that the final version of the bill — which hasn’t been made public because it awaits the governor’s assent — is similar to an act in place in the Cayman Islands.

“If the people themselves want us to go further, I think that we have the responsibility to go further,” he added. “I don’t think it restricts the access at all.”

Accordingly, Dr. Wheatley said, he disagrees with the governor’s view on the register.

“We are open to hearing what the public has to say and can organise a special public consultation to get a gauge on public opinion,” he said. “The greatest concern on the Register of Interests is not the fact that the House of Assembly made a minor amendment, but the undemocratic way in which the legislation, which falls under the Governor’s Group, was being imposed on public officers without proper consultation.”

He added that public officers should also have “rights to privacy” and control over who has access to “personal information.”

However, the bill passed by the HOA doesn’t include public officers. A previous bill that would have included senior public officers was tabled on June 30, the deadline for passing the act. But it was withdrawn on July 14 following protests from the Virgin Islands Civil Service Association and others. The new bill, which was expedited through the HOA in one sitting on July 21, only applies to HOA members.

Threat of direct rule

During the press conference, Dr. Wheatley was asked about the chances of the UK suspending parts of the Constitution and implementing direct rule — an outcome the UK has threatened if the reform process stalls. The premier explained that his government hadn’t yet received a response from the UK regarding the governor’s review.

However, given the reform progress so far, he said he doesn’t believe that any of the recent delays will lead to a Constitutional suspension. Still, he said, everyone “should be worried” about the possibility of the Constitution being suspended at some point.

“The concept has not been completely abandoned,” he said. “We cannot be implementing reforms based on coercion or force. That’s something I reject completely.”

He added that he doesn’t agree with the UK or “any other government” suspending “another group’s constitution.”

“It’s fundamentally undemocratic. You can’t impose democracy on someone,” he said. “We still have to deal with our own affairs. When you suspend the Constitution, at some point you’ll have to implement a constitution and deal with the people. The people will still have the right to elect a government, and this government will have to make laws and amend laws.”

He also encouraged open dialogue on the topic between the people, the government, the governor, and the UK.

“When I go through this reform process, I’m being true to this process,” he added. “I want to dialogue with the people of the Virgin Islands. Going through reform is not a problem. It’s not a challenge.”

The governor had not responded to Dr. Wheatley’s com- ments as of press time yesterday afternoon.

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