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TURKS & CAICOS SUN
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DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010 DECEMBER 10TH - DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
TURKS & CAICOS SUN
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DECEMBER 10TH - DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
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DECEMBER 10TH - DECEMBER 17TH, 2010 DECEMBER 10TH - DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
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Election date in Turks and Caicos still uncertain
LOCAL NEWS
Continued from Page 1
The milestones, that have been jointly assesses by the Foreign and Commonwealth (FCO) and the Department for International Development (DFID) and which the TCI must meet, are as follows: • implementation of a new Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution Order, in support of recommendations of the Commission of Inquiry, which underpins good governance and sound public financial management; • introduction of a number of new Ordinances, including those making provision for: (i) the electoral process and regulation of political parties; (ii) integrity and accountability in public life; (iii) public financial management; • establishment of robust and transparent public financial management processes to provide a stable economic environment and a strengthening of the Turks and Caicos Islands Government’s capacity to manage its public finances; • implementation of budget measures to put the Turks and Caicos Islands Government on track to achieve a fiscal surplus in the financial year ending March 2013; • implementation of a transparent and fair process for acquisition of Belongership; • significant progress with the civil and criminal processes recommended by the Commission of Inquiry, and implementation of measures to enable these to continue unimpeded; • implementation of a new Crown Land policy; • substantial progress in the reform of the Public Service. After outlining the milestones, the MPs stressed later in their statement: “Achieving these milestones will be a great challenge. As we now see things, the UK Government will only be able to set a date for the elections when the milestones have been reached. We hope that this will happen in time for elections to take place in 2012.” This particular paragraph and the overall tone of the statement have caused some analysts to
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
conclude that there is still no overwhelming degree of certainty about elections being held in 2012. In their statement, the two British MPs said it has become clear to the coalition UK Government since it assumed office that there is a serious and deteriorating problem in the Turks and Caicos Islands. It was noted that on July1, 2010, as an urgent initial response to the unfolding financial plight of the Turks and Caicos Islands Government, the Secretary of State for International Development stated that his department was having to step in to design and put in place a package of financial support with commercial lenders, as well as providing an immediate short term loan to help meet unavoidable commitments including staff salaries for the Islands’ police, health and education services. The statement noted: “It has become clear to UK Ministers that the fiscal picture in Turks and Caicos Islands represents an unacceptable collapse in the fiscal governance of the Territory, which needs urgently to be addressed. Whilst funding the immediate unavoidable costs of the Turks and Caicos Islands Government, the Department for International Development has provided a Chief Financial Officer to the Turks and Caicos Islands Government, to meet the urgent task of addressing its structural deficit and putting it on a course towards a sustainable fiscal surplus in the financial year 2012/13. In addition, the Department is reaching the final stages of putting in place a medium term financial package.” Bellingham noted that in September 2010, he announced in the Turks and Caicos Islands that the UK Government did not want to postpone elections any longer than necessary, but that they could not be held in 2011. “ We intend to submit to the 15 December meeting of the Privy Council an Order in Council continuing in force the Turks and Caicos Islands Constitution (Interim Amendment) Order 2009 beyond 14 August 2011,” he stated.
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
The statement noted that reaching these milestones will require time, care and hard work by the UK and the Turks and Caicos Islands Government, and particularly by the Turks and Caicos Islands Public Sector. “It will need the encouragement of the community. There will be public consultation on a number of issues across Turks and Caicos Islands and, we hope, the engagement of the Islands’ political parties,” the statement added. “The milestones we have identified do not include everything that will have to be done before elections take place. In general the UK Government will have to be satisfied that the necessary reforms have been put in place to address the issues raised by the Commission of Inquiry, to prevent such maladministration being repeated, and to engender the confidence of the international community. It is our considered view at this stage, that the milestones listed above are the minimum preconditions before the Turks and Caicos Islands can return to elected government.” The statement said the UK Government has helped protect the Turks and Caicos Islands Government finances from complete collapse and intends to provide continuing financial support. It was noted however, that it is important that the Islands make good use of this period of UK financial support to address the deep crisis in public finance and to achieve a fiscal surplus. “The UK Government currently intends to retain sufficient control over public finances following elections in order to ensure that the Turks and Caicos Islands Government emerges from its financial crisis as soon as possible, and that the temporary package of UK support is no longer needed. We hope achievement of these milestones will also help any future Turks and Caicos Islands Government to continue to embed good governance, with full respect for the rule of law and human rights, and zero tolerance of corruption,” the statement stressed.
TCI Jews celebrate Hanukkah
FOR THE FIRST time in the TCI, the Jewish Community hosted a Hanukkah celebration- the Jewish Festival of Light - held at the conference room at the Regent Village, Grace Bay, Providenciales, on Wednesday night, December 8. Head of the event was Visiting Chabad to the TCI, Rabbi Sholom Bluming. To mark the celebration Rabbi Bluming reminded the attendees that Hanukkah was about treating fellow humankind with dignity and respect and spreading the light of inclusiveness. According to him, each year Jewish people around the world celebrate the Hanukkah holiday. He said Hanukkah commemorates the liberation of Rabbi Sholom Bluming (in suit) is joined by other attendees to the first Hanukkah celebration in the TCI as they perform a dance to commemorate the event (Hanukkah dance) ancient Israelite people from persecution and tyranny over 2,000 years ago, saying that it is a festival which symbolizes the victory of spiritually strong Jewish people, commemorating freedom, liberty light over darkness and goodwill to who defeated a ruthless enemy that had overrun ancient Israel and and the rights of the individual all people. He said the history of Hanukkah sought to impose restrictions on the versus tyranny. He noted that on Hanukkah Jewish people light a recalls the victory more than 2,100 Jewish people’s way of life, prohibit candelabra called the menorah, years ago of a militarily feeble but religious freedom and force the
Jewish people to accept a foreign religion. He said During the occupation of Jerusalem and the Temple, the Syrian Greeks desecrated and defiled the oils prepared for the lighting of the Menorah, which was part of the daily service in the temple. Upon recapturing the Temple from the Syrian Greeks, the Jewish people found only one jar of undefiled oil, enough to burn only one day, but it lasted miraculously for eight days until new, pure olive oil was produced. “In commemoration of this event, the Jewish people celebrate Hanukkah for eight days by lighting an eight-branched candelabra known as a Menorah. During the celebrations the Menorah is placed in highly-visible area to publicize the miracle, with its message of hope and religious freedom, to all. During the event prayer was said following which persons danced and enjoyed the foods prepared.
British MP says UK Government is failing the Turks and Caicos Islands
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
ONE OF THE MOST powerful MPs in the British Parliament has said that there are failures in the Turks and Caicos Islands that are not the fault of the interim Government but of the “completely insufficient support that they (TCI) have been afforded by Her Majesty's Government and, moreover, the previous Labour Government, in particular, who grossly underresourced the Administration and expected the impossible”. Andrew Rosindell, the MP who visited the TCI in August, made these strong comments in the House of Commons last Friday. He said that on his visit, he met hundreds of local people, businessmen, politicians, Government officials, community workers and church leaders, all of whom were “desperate to have their voice heard, frustrated by the lack of action and deeply concerned about what the future might hold for them”. Rosindell stated: “The islands are truly in crisis. On one afternoon during my stay at the governor's residence, "Waterloo", on Grand Turk, there was an armed robbery only a stone's throw from the property. Violent crime has completely spiraled out of control; guns and illicit substances are being smuggled over on sloops from Haiti, and there is no way to enforce the borders or
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
territorial waters. There is, however, a $2.5 million radar system that would significantly alleviate the problem, but for more than 18 months it has sat in a crate deteriorating, while sheer bureaucracy prevents its installation. Already, the storage fees exceed $50,000, and that is a disgrace. Meanwhile, the once-sound infrastructure of the islands is crumbling, education is declining and illiteracy is rampant. Schools and teachers have their limited resources stretched to capacity, and there is no meaningful approach to vocational training, with only 2% of students going on to college.” He said that the prison on Grand Turk is “desperately overcrowded”, with minors and adults sharing cells, and it was called little more than a "training college to harden criminals" by some of the community leaders he met. “That problem is compounded by a severe backlog in the justice Department, with courtrooms in meltdown and the local magistrates simply unable to deal with the backlog. I believe that many problems can be attributed to the civil service of Turks and Caicos, which needs to be completely rebuilt. There have been no audited financial records since 2006, and there is an untenable 2,300 people on the payroll. A large
proportion of the civil service has been compromised by corruption, yet there is little attempt at reformation,” he noted. “It currently takes about six months to process a driving licence and 11 months for a work permit. The level of "pay to play" bureaucracy is utterly unbelievable. At the same time, the islands are, as one resident put it, "being micro-managed into oblivion". Layer upon layer of legislation is bottlenecking the last vestiges of enterprise. Until the civil service is reformed, the work of the interim Administration will continue to be undermined. That must be a priority.” He noted however, that even with all those problems, the islands are primed for investors. “I have it on good authority that there are businesses and individuals waiting in the wings to plough investment back into TCI. Turks and Caicos desperately needs to bring that business back. Business built the islands and it has been their lifeblood over the past three decades. To put it simply, if the Government continues to allow an unfavourable climate for private enterprise, the islands will not recover. The people of Turks and Caicos have not given up; they will do everything possible to put their islands back on track and we have a duty to
Government denies rumours that 200 Civil Servants will be laid off
THE INTERIM GOVERNMENT has categorically denied widespread rumours that it intends to lay-off 200 Civil Servants. The rumour spread like wild-fire last week, causing severe panic not just among Civil Servants, but also throughout the wider community. However, last Friday the Government issued a press release which said: “Government does not usually respond to the many rumours that circulate in the TCI: rumours that almost always only serve to cause unease in our community. However, a rumour was perpetuated that approximately 200 public servants had been issued with letters terminating their employment. There is absolutely no truth in this rumour.” The release continued: “The Turks and Caicos Islanders will draw their own conclusions as to the motives behind those who create and spread such irresponsible stories, and the anguish these can cause. The Government is grateful to those members of the media who thoroughly check the credibility and motives of their sources before giving prominence to unfounded and upsetting gossip.” Reports of job cuts have been circulating in the Turks and Caicos Islands for quite some time, but they’ve been constantly denied by Government officials. This latest rumour came on the heels of 11 employees from the Turks and Caicos Islands Tourist Board being sent home as part of a restructuring and cost-cutting exercise in that organisation. It also followed closely after a press release from the Advisory Council last Monday said the United Kingdom’s government has indicated to the TCI that in order for this country to receive financial support, certain measures will have to be implemented. The release did not specify or elaborate on what those measures would be, but it stressed that they will be “tough”. “Credible plans to bring the budget into balance by 2012/13 were necessary to meet the UK Government’s conditions for a package of financial support. These would require some tough decisions in the weeks ahead,” the release stated. It was reported that with the exception of Accommodation Tax, major sources of revenue in the TCI were well below budget and a deficit of $60million was forecast.
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LOCAL NEWS
Andrew Rosindell, British MP
help them. The overwhelming majority of people want to create a climate of genuine partnership. The interim Administration and the Governor's office can depend on assistance from the private sector in almost every aspect of restructuring. Those in the private sector have offered office accommodation, professional services and even their own money to assist, but they are continually met with barrier after barrier. Their frustration is completely understandable. They appreciate that finances and resources are tight, and that we live in a climate of austerity. They are looking not for handouts or bailouts, but for stability and economic security. Her Majesty's Government has a duty to provide that,” Rosindell stated.
Turks and Caicos Sun Suite # 5, Airport Plaza Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands Tel: (649) 946-8542/ (649) 241-1510 Fax: (649) 941-3281 Email: sun@suntci.com Read us online at www.suntci.com
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The Turks and Caicos SUN is a subsidiary of The SUN Media Group Ltd.
We are committed to excellence in journalism, educating and informing our readers, serving and satisfying our advertisers and assisting in the overall development of the Turks and Caicos Islands.
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Grand Turk hospital not closing
LOCAL NEWS
THE COCKBURN TOWN Hospital in Grand Turk is not closing. In fact, according to Dr. Roger Cheesman, CEO of InterHealth Canada (TCI Ltd), plans are afoot to expand and increase the amount of work that will be done at that hospital in the new year. The rumour about the hospital closure made the rounds last week. Dr. Cheesman told the SUN that he was not aware of how this rumour may have started or what its intent was but he was extremely surprised that it was publicised without first checking the veracity of the story with the Company. He said, "Nobody within InterHealth Canada had been approached for any sort of comment by anybody and the first we heard of this matter was when some of the staff of the hospital heard it on Monday and reported it to me immediately." He added that the story was completely without foundation and, in fact, there are developments being discussed internally to increase the clinical work conducted at the centre.
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
YOUNG MAN DIES AT PROVIDENCIALES HOSPITAL
A YOUNG MAN from Providenciales died at the Cheshire Hall hospital on Wednesday, December 8th. Up to press time, police nor hospital officials did not disclose his name, but InterHealth Canada spokesman, Dr. Robyn Barnes, said in a release: “I can confirm that a 27-year-old local male was brought by relatives to the emergency department shortly before 5.30am on Wednesday December 8. The man was reported to be not breathing and unresponsive. He was known to be suffering a long-term chronic illness. Following extensive attempts to resuscitate the patient, he was pronounced dead at 7.12am.” Dr. Barnes said that as is the normal practice in these situations, the police and coroner have been informed.
Dr. Roger Cheesman, CEO of InterHealth Canada (TCI Ltd)
“InterHealth Canada (TCI) Ltd can confirm that this is absolutely a rumour and that, contrary to this false report, plans exist to step up the workload at that Centre in 2011. InterHealth Canada has not been approached for a comment by any party prior to the publication of this rumour on local radio. This is therefore an unfounded fabrication being promulgated for reasons unknown to InterHealth."
PPC LIMITED
STAFF VACANCY –
ELECTRICAL SUPERINTENDENT
Applications are invited from interested and suitably qualified persons to fill the position Electrical Superintendent in our Production and Engineering Department on Providenciales.
Description Responsible for detailed supervision of subordinate employees and contractors, who perform electrical installation and maintenance work at PPC’s generating facilities. Under the direction of the Manger Plant Operations, provide expert decision making assistance in the installation and maintenance of high voltage equipment and electrical control systems in the Plant and in the Substations in a sound technical manner, to ensure the reliable operation and functionality of these equipment, as per design specifications. As a member of the management team, the Plant Control Superintendent must understand and commit to the corporate vision, and successfully gain the support of subordinate employees for and implement of that vision Main Duties • Assist in hiring and supervise a knowledgeable and motivated electrical plant work force • Assist the Manager in identifying training requirements and annual training plans and responsible for training and mentoring of the electrical work force. • The use of progressive discipline company approved methods when called for. • Prepare weekly, monthly and annual work plans and associated reports as directed by Manager Plant Operations. • Ensure a high degree of familiarity and profound knowledge of specifications, fundamental operating concepts and operating and maintenance manuals and procedures for all plant assets and equipment. • Prepare work instructions for and supervise the day to day work of the electrical plant technicians with particular regard to safety, efficiency and functionality of the plant. • Prepare layout diagrams and work orders for larger projects as may be assigned and directed. • Prepare cost estimates and material lists for various projects as assigned. • Assist in the preparation of capital and maintenance budgets by the preparation of cost estimates for the electrical section as assigned and directed. • Conduct testing and trouble - shooting of plant equipment in area of responsibility and in the longer term train others to perform these functions. • Be familiar with and adhere to all Company policies and procedures (including those established by past practice) relating to the position and to observe and enforce compliance of subordinate employees to these policies and procedures. • Plan and conduct work in a manner consistent with the company’s commitment to the environment and ensure that subordinate employees are likewise in compliance. • Be familiar with and adhere to the safety and operating procedures of the company (particularly those established by EUSA) and ensure that all personnel in the department follow
these procedures. • Maintain and ensure the accuracy of statistical records of plant operations and electrical maintenance activities as required by the company. • Provide calm and competent leadership in response to plant emergencies in a manner that inspires others to do likewise. • Be professional in dress and demeanor as befits the position of management personnel and ensure that a good public image of PPC is maintained at all times. • Perform other duties as may be assigned and/or required by Plant Operations contingencies from time to time.
Duties • Prepare weekly, monthly and annual work plans and accomplishment reports on the electrical section. • Submit job reports and detailed engineering equipment failure analysis reports • Execute preventative and corrective maintenance to ensure high equipment availability. • Any other related duty as assigned from time to time
Minimum Requirements • Diploma in Electrical Technology- Power option (3 year program), or an accredited equivalent. • 20 to 25 years’ experience with rotating machinery and high voltage switchgear, preferably in power systems application. • Minimum of 5 years’ experience at mid management level • Proficiency in production and interpretation of electrical drawings is required. • O.A.C.E.T.T. membership is required (or equivalent). • Above average analytical skills in math and electrical theories • Excellence in interpretation of engineering drawings and manuals • Familiarity with PLC trouble shooting and programming is required, as is the ability to train others • Professional competency in written and oral communication skills in English • Experience in working under utility emergency response condition • Experience in high voltage installation, maintenance, and repairs • Ability to function effectively under emergency situations and thinks clearly and effective and deliver within deadlines and to work under pressure • Self-motivated, solution oriented and positive in outlook • Team player Compensation
• Salary Grade 14: $67,830.00 - $84,790.00 based on qualifications and ability.
PPC offers a competitive compensation package for more information contact Human Resources Director Deadline for submission of application is December 17th, 2010. Please submit to:Director, Human Resources PPC Limited P. O. Box 132, Providenciales Email address: jmissick@ppcltd.tc or by fax 941-4304 Website: www.ppcltd.tc
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Botched arson attempt at Labour Tribunal office
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
PRESIDENT OF THE Turks and Caicos Islands Labour Tribunal, Arthur Forbes, has been forced to make personal security changes after a failed arson attack on his office and the smashing of his car window by unknown assailants. On Friday morning, December 6, the Labour Tribunal President turned up at his office to find the pane of glass at the lower section of the staff bathroom window shattered and a container with flammable substance and used match sticks left immediately under that window at the back of the building. The scene was discovered by the office cleaner, while in the middle of her daily routine work. “At approximately 8:15 this morning (Friday), when the Tribunal office cleaner went to the bathroom, she discovered that the bottom pane was broken and glass was scattered on the floor. She then notified the staff; we then called the police, as it appeared that someonemight have broken into the office. “We then went to the back of the building where we saw a white container with paraffin oil in it and
LOCAL NEWS
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
The window of the staff bathroom was shattered and a container with flammable substance and used matchesfound at the scene
some match sticks that appeared to have started to light, and they (arsonist didn’t succeed,” Forbes said. It appeared that the attempted arsonist fled the scene at the approach of someone before he could carry out his evil deed. The police, after examining the scene, took away the items for further
investigation. The Labour Tribunal President believed that the attacks may have stemmed from decisions made against certain individuals in recent times, who believed that hurting him physically or destroying his properties and place of work would be a perfect form of retaliation.
“The Tribunal is rather concerned, as we, during the past few weeks, had made a decision, and shortly within the same day in the evening, one of the applicants’ had her car set on fire, and the following day, the Tribunal President’s (Forbes) personal vehicle’s (parked on property) rear window was smashed,” Forbes explaining, saying that he believes the two incidents were connected. “My personal security is of concern to me and my family. I will have to make adjustments to my work schedule, maybe leave the office earlier and, ensuring that the proprietors for the building provide more security. We do not know the motive behind that (attacks), but we do know that persons are not happy with some of the Tribunal’s decisions. We never had those situations before. “We can only be vigilant and make sure that we do whatever we can with the proprietors of the building, to ensure that it is safe, and that our staff members are protected during normal working hours, and inform the police about any suspicious incidents that we see,” Forbes said.
Streets with same name causing confusion
DESPITE 911 PROGRAMME Managers’ best efforts to explain that it is a bad idea and will cause confusion to first responders, some members of the public have been insisting that there ought to be duplicate in street names. At the outset of its street-naming exercise, the 911 Programme Managers outlined that one of the guidelines during the implementation of the initiative was that there would be no duplication in street names, since it would cause confusion amongst the first responders such as the police, fire department and medical personnel. However, the entity said one of the problems that it has been facing is that some residents have been saying they could not fathom why there could
not be duplicated street names, even after it was explained by 911 that the idea was predicated on preventing any form of bungling. “Some residents have been less than understanding even when we explain that we are trying to ensure that we keep it as simple as possible to prevent mistakes from an officer going to the wrong address. We have had persons argue that because the islands are small it won’t happen but from my experience, it is possible; it could happen in that someone may be familiar with one street with a particular name in one community but not with the same name being in another, and automatically head to the one with which they are familiar,” explained Juliette Gooden, Programme Manager for the 911 System.
HAB Group wishes to recruit a
PRE CONTRACT QUANTITY SURVEYOR/ESTIMATOR
The successful candidate will be required to demonstrate considerable experience in the preparation of all precontract construction documentation including but not limited to; detailed take offs, bills of quantities, specification production, material scheduling. The candidate will also need to be experience in the coordination and control of various design consultants employed in the pre contract design process wit relevant input to the design process. The candidate will be required to demonstrate a familiarity with relevant industry standard compute software such as Autodesk, AutoCAD, Autodesk Design Review and Collaborative Project management software as well as standard Microsoft Office products. Applicants for this position will possess relevant industry recognized qualifications in addition to 12 years or more practical experience. The salary range for this position is $65,000 $80,000.00 per annum, commensurate with experience, training and education. Interested applicants should contact Veronica Rigby via email by December 27, 2010 at ronnie@habgroup.com or by fax 649 9465191. Suitable applicants will be contacted by email or telephone to schedule an interview.
Gooding told The SUN that one of the main reasons some were advocating for duplication was primarily because names that they wanted for their streets had already been given to streets in other communities on the same islands. She said the only concession that could be considered was to have duplication of streets on separate islands, even though she was not fan of that idea either, since that could also cause confusion. “The rule is that one could be on Provo and one could be on Grand Turk. We tried to discourage that for the same reason because when someone makes a 911 call, if that person doesn’t get to tell you which island they are on that could cause confusion; but have two streets with the same name on one island is definitely out,” Gooding asserted.
Banking Hours during tHe CHristmas Holiday FirstCaribbean international Bank, international Banking group, royal Bank of Canada and scotiabank will be observing the following business hours during the Christmas period.
december 23, 2010 9:00 a.m. to 4.30 p.m. december 24, 2010 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. december 27, 2010 Closed december 28, 2010 Closed december 29, 2010 normal Business Hours december 30, 2010 9:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. december 31, 2010 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. January 3rd, 2011 Closed
merry Christmas to all!
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Alfred “Mac” Smith loses case in High Court LOCAL NEWS
DIRECTOR OF THE Engineering and Maintenance Services Department (EMS), Alfred “Mac” Smith, lost his application for judicial review when the matter came up before Chief Justice His Lordship Gordon Ward on December 3rd, 2010. Smith was the EMS Director since 2003. According to court documents, it appears that sometime in 2007, Smith sought permission from the Public Service Commission (PSC) to operate a private business selling potable bottled water and also a private engineering consultancy. On 19 February 2008 the Permanent Secretary of the PSC advised Mr Smith that permission had not been granted. He explained: "The objection to your request is supported by concerns that arise on the nature of the private work conflicting with your substantive role as Director of Engineering. The request also contravenes G.O.3.3.5 and 3.3.6.". (2) On 21st of June 2008 by a letter, the Governor wrote to the applicant in the following terms: "Dear Mr Smith Operation/Management of EMS and allegations against you of acts in breach of General Orders Acting in accordance with the advice of the Public Service Commission (PSC), I write in respect of the above captioned subject. A memo dated 19 February 2008 addressed to you by the Executive Permanent Secretary informed you that the Public Service Commission did not approve your request to engage in a private venture of the sale of water as it
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
conflicts with your substantive role as Director of the Engineering and Maintenance Service Department and that it contravenes General Orders 3.3.5 and3.3.6. A copy of that correspondence is attached for ease of reference. Having deliberated on information with regard to the operation/management of the Engineering and Maintenance Service (EMS), as well as allegations of your management of a water business at your place of residence in Palm Grove, Grand Turk, the PSC is of the consensus view that a thorough investigation should be conducted into the following: 1. The affairs of EMS 2. The allegations that you, directly or indirectly, are operating a water business which not only conflicts with your official duties but is in defiance of the PSC directive (dated 19 February 2008) not to do so. 3. To what extent all of your actions have brought the TCIG and the Public Service into disrepute. The investigation will be with a view to making such appropriate recommendations, including any disciplinary actions that may be warranted The PSC has also advised me that while the investigations are in progress and pending the determination of any disciplinary proceedings that such investigation may warrant, (a) Public interest requires that you should cease to perform the functions of your office as the Director of EMS. You will proceed on administrative
AIR TURKS & CAICOS IS SEEKING APPLICATION FOR:
PILOTS
To be a commander of the EMB 120-ATC. Must have a valid Airline Transport Pilots license, First class medical and 3,000 hours flight time aero planes, 1,600 pilot command including 500 hours experience on multi crew turbine propeller airplanes and 100 hours on type (jet prop). Position require the following: Excellent command of the English language – reading, writing and speaking. Good communication skills and team player Detail oriented & organized individual Ability to work shifts, early mornings, late nights, weekends and Holidays. Clean police record Able to work under pressure
RAMP SUPERVISOR
1. Over 5 years experience in Ramp Supervising. 2. Over 5 years experience in maneuvering heavy duty equipment e.g. (pushing and towing aircraft). 3. Experience in general handling of General Aviation. Narrow body and wide body aircraft. 4. British Airways, JAR OPS, Supervisor Aircraft loading qualified. 5. US Airways fleet service door opening trainer. 6. Awareness Certification of acceptance/refusal of hazardous material as per IATA regulations. 7. Comprehensive knowledge in the operation of all Ground Service Equipment (GSE). MUST HAVE: Excellent leadership skills Excellent customer service skills Strong work ethics and team player Track record in successful time Management of schedule ground service projects Excellent supervisory, organizational and management skills Excellent computer knowledge
BELONGERS NEED ONLY APPLY.
Interested person should apply to HR@flyairtc.com or via fax to HR Department 649-946-4040. No phone calls please. Qualified candidates will be contacted for an interview.
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
leave immediately with full pay until further notice. (b) While on administrative leave, you are requested to submit to the PSC any written representation you may wish to make and in particular as to why you should not be suspended on half monthly salary pending any further investigations and/or disciplinary, proceedings that may ensue. Your written representation, if any, should reach the Office of the Public Service Management through your Permanent Secretary, by close of business on 2 July 2010. (c) On receipt of the findings of the investigations, and if so warranted, you will be given the opportunity to respond to the findings." In his ruling, the Chief Justice noted that as has been pointed out in so many cases, judicial review is not concerned with the decision but with the decision making process. He stated: “The question for the Court is whether the Governor was entitled to make the decision he did and whether, in so acting, he followed the correct procedure. Even if the answer to that is in the affirmative; the court must also consider whether the way in which it was done was fair. I consider the answer to the first part of that can be found in the wording of regulation 34. The pre-requisite of interdiction is that it should be ordered "where disciplinary proceedings or criminal proceedings have been or are about to be instituted against an officer,.." In the present case, it is clear that allegations had been made in respect of the three issues listed in the Governor's letter.
Chief Justice His Lordship Gordon Ward
Those allegations were sufficiently serious to require investigation into the likelihood that disciplinary proceedings would result if the investigation suggested there was sufficient substance in the allegations.” He added: “Because the order to go on leave in such circumstances is made before the decision can be made to institute disciplinary, proceedings and, indeed, if the investigation clears the officer concerned, no such proceedings will be instituted, it is sensible to use the power under G0 8.1.11 as was done in this case. The public interest may arise from many aspects of the situation and does not -necessarily suggest any malpractice by the officer sent on leave. To suggest, as the applicant does, that there can be no such power does not accord with good practice or, indeed, common sense.”
SEE PAGES 12 and 13 for the full text of the Chief Justice’s Ruling
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Radar station by February 2011
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
THE MUCH TOUTED Government Coastal Radar Station designed to protect the borders of the Turks and Caicos Islands from illicit activities has taken a giant step towards realization when Governor Gordon Wetherell signed two contracts on Monday, December 6, paving the way for fasttracking the project. Both contracts were signed between the Government and local businessman Sherlock Walkin – one is to acquire access land to the site and the other to undertake civil works to the site between the two parties. The radar station, which is sited in Five Cays, Providenciales, could come on stream as early as February of 2011 or March the latest. It is slated to comprise a 40 metre or 131foot lattice tower, an equipment cabin containing all the electronics and operating systems for the site. On top of the tower will be an 8.8 metre or 18 foot tower reflecting rotating antenna. It will be geared to sweep 22 nautical miles from its location. The Coastal Radar Station was conceptualized by Canadian national Fred Skovberg, during the previous administration. The contract to initiate the project was signed by then Home Affairs Minister, Galmo Williams, on November 2, 2007. In his remarks, Governor Wetherell underscored the importance of the radar station in relation to security and safety, and the management of sea traffic to and from the Turks and Caicos Islands. The Governor also noted that he was happy that all the hurdles were cleared for the project, which had been dogged by stoppages, to proceed.
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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
Governor Gordon Wetherell (right) and local businessman Sherlock Walkin sign the agreement for access to the radar site.
“We are delighted now to reach an agreement with Mr. Walkin, on the acquisition of a bit of land, and the agreement to provide access to the site. It is a vital step now in the implementation of the project and the delivery of the radar tracking capability for the TCI. It has a pivotal role to play not only in the combating illegal trafficking of people, but also goods of variety, including guns, drugs or any other contraband material. “That would help the safety of these islands, and also have an important role in the context of the work that we are doing collaboratively with the Bahamas and the United States, in the OPBAT framework, to secure our collective security,” Governor Wetherell said. In the meantime, Skovberg, who is
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volunteering his expertise to the station, said the idea behind the project was to stem the infiltration of illicit activities, including the transporting illegal migrants, weapons and drugs. He said authorities also realized that in order to effectively protect the TCI borders, it would require the kind of technology that could scan the entire coast line. “…To stop illegal boats coming in and out…not just illegal Haitians, we are attacking drugs and guns that can be brought in by illegal boats at any time, if we are not looking. That fosters a criminal environment here, it is as simple as that,” Skovberg said. Skovberg also noted that in addition to fighting crime, the radar station would be used to monitor general boat traffic in TCI waters, saying also that it could assist in search
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and rescue operations. Skovberg said even though the radar site should generate a great deal of radiation, it would not pose any danger to residents, since its 360 degrees scanning capabilities would be curtailed to 180. He explained that it would be switched off as it sweeps land, but would resume its scanning mechanism as soon as it rotates towards sea. “We actually scan the shoreline at 180 degrees, and we turn off the unit as it comes around and turn it back on (as it sweeps towards the sea). So nobody needs to be worried about raising children in the future,” Skovberg said. He said that particular plot of land was selected, since it has been earmarked for a future marine police base, and that it is a good location for sweeping south and north. He said any vessel that enters the Turks and Caicos Islands, would likely pass that particular location, pointing to the fact that almost all foreign vessels end up at South Dock. Skovberg pointed out that based on the radar station’s wide sweeping range, which covers from beyond Chalk Sound to Long Bay, it would be virtually impossible for anything to pass undetected. Clara Gardiner, Permanent Secretary in the Ministry of Border Control and Labour, said Government would also construct a motoring cabin and staff quarters since the facility would be manned on a twenty-four basis. She said the hiring and training of staff would commence soon. Gardiner especially expressed gratitude to members of the Royal Turks and Caicos Islands Police Force, particularly members of the Marine Branch, on their outstanding work.
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Page 12
Alfred “Mac” Smith loses case against Public Service Commission
LOCAL NEWS
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF TURKS AND CAICOS ISLANDS CIVIL JURISDICTION IN THE MATTER OF AN APPLICATION FOR JUDICIAL REVIEW BETWEEN THE QUEEN AND THE GOVERNOR AND THE PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION Ex parte ALFRED SMITH Ariel Misick QC for the applicant Patrick Patterson for the respondents Hearing: 15 and 19 November 2010 Judgment: 3 December 2010 Judgment
[1] Alfred Smith is the Director of the Engineering and Maintenance Services Department (EMS) of the Ministry of Works and. has held that position since 2003. It appears that, sometime in 2007, Mr Smith sought permission from the Public Service Commission (PSC) to operate a private business selling potable bottled water and also a private engineering consultancy. The latter request has no relevance to this hearing. On 19 February 2008 the Permanent Secretary of the PSC advised Mr Smith that permission had not been granted. He explained: "The objection to your request is supported by concerns that arise on the nature of the private work conflicting with your substantive role as Director of Engineering. The request also contravenes G.O.3.3.5 and 3.3.6.". (2) On 21st of June 2008 by a letter (incorrectly dated 2008), the Governor wrote to the applicant in the following terms: "Dear Mr Smith Operation/Management of EMS and allegations against you of acts in breach of General Orders
Acting in accordance with the advice of the Public Service Commission (PSC), I write in respect of the above captioned subject. A memo dated 19 February 2008 addressed to you by the Executive Permanent Secretary informed you that the Public Service Commission did not approve your request to engage in a private venture of the sale of water as it conflicts with your substantive role as Director of the Engineering and Maintenance Service Department and that it contravenes General Orders 3.3.5 and3.3.6. A copy of that correspondence is attached for ease of reference. Having deliberated on information with regard to the operation/management of the Engineering and Maintenance Service (EMS), as well as allegations of your management of a water business at your place of residence in Palm Grove, Grand Turk, the PSC is of the consensus view that a thorough investigation should be conducted into the following: 1. The affairs of EMS 2. The allegations that you, directly or indirectly, are operating a water business which not only conflicts with your official duties but is in defiance of the PSC directive (dated 19 February 2008) not to do so. 3. To what extent all of your actions have brought the TCIG and the Public Service into disrepute. The investigation will be with a view to making such appropriate recommendations, including any disciplinary actions that may be warranted The PSC has also advised me that while the investigations are in progress and pending the determination of any disciplinary proceedings that such investigation may warrant, (a) Public interest requires that you should cease to perform the functions of your office as the Director of EMS. You will proceed on administrative leave immediately with full pay until further notice. (b) While on administrative leave, you are requested to submit to the PSC any written representation you may wish to make and in particular as to why you should not be suspended on half monthly salary pending any further investigations and/or disciplinary, proceedings that may ensue. Your written representation, if any, should reach the Office
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
of the Public Service Management through your Permanent Secretary, by close of business on 2 July 2010. (c) On receipt of the findings of the investigations, and if so warranted, you will be given the opportunity to respond to the findings." [3] On 23rd June 2010, Mr Misick wrote to the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Works on behalf of Mr Smith asking for an indication under which provision of the Public Service Regulations and/or the General Orders the action had been taken. Having failed to receive that information, he wrote to the Chairman of the Public Service Commission on 29 June 2010 stating that Mr Smith intended to appeal against the decision of the Governor "to interdict him from his duties as Director of EMS pending investigations/disciplinary hearings/disciplinary proceedings".
[4] On 1 July 2010, an application was filed for leave to apply for judicial review. The relief sought was: A declaration that the Governor had no power to interdict Alfred Smith during the investigation stage of a disciplinary matter. 2. A declaration that the PSC had no power to recommend that Alfred Smith be interdicted during the investigation stage of a disciplinary matter. 3. A declaration that the interdiction of Alfred Smith is a breach of the Public Service Regulations. 4. A declaration that the Interdiction of Alfred Smith is unfair. 5. An order of certiorari quashing the decisions made by the Public Service Commission and the Governor. 6. A declaration that. Regulation 41 of the Public Service Regulation is ultra virus (sic). 7. Damages . 8. An order prohibiting the Governor and/or the Public Service Commission from making a reduction in Mr Smith's salary during the investigation. 9. An order that the Respondents pay the Applicant's costs. [5] I granted leave on 5 July 2010. [6] The Chairman of the PSC has filed an affidavit and deposed that the PSC received information alleging mismanagement of the EMS and that Mr Smith directly or indirectly operated a water business in conflict with his official duties and in defiance of the PSC directive of 19 February 2008 prohibiting him from doing so. He continues: "That in accordance with its constitutional mandate, the PSC deliberated on information received and advised HE The Governor, Gordon Wetherell, that there is an immediate need for thorough investigations to be conducted into these allegations and that in the meantime; Mr Smith should proceed on administrative leave with full pay. That at no time at all did the PSC advise Mr Smith should be interdicted. The PSC rather requested that whilst on administrative leave, Mr. Alfred Smith should make representations on these allegations and show cause why the PSC should not advise that he be interdicted on half monthly pay. The PSC considered that it was in his interest and that of the public that he should proceed on administrative leave while investigations are conducted on these allegations. He was to have opportunity to also respond to the report of the investigations, if any. On the 29th,day of June, 2010 my office received correspondence by fax from Misick and Stanbrook, Attorneys for Mr Smith, indicating among other things that they were giving notice of appeal to the PSC's advice to the Governor as contained in the Governor's letter to Mr Smith dated 21st June 2010. The PSC was about to reply to this letter but was unable to do so as an Order dated 5th July granting leave for Judicial Review was received by fax on the 9th day of July, 2010 That by letter dated 21st of June, 2010 in accordance with the advice from the PSC, HE Governor Gordon Wetherell directed Mr Alfred Smith to proceed on Administrative Leave immediately with full pay." [7] On 17 November 2010, shortly before the hearing of this application for review, the Chief Executive of the Public Service filed an affidavit stating: • "That on 2nd November 2010, I was acting for the Governor and in that capacity I wrote to the Applicant acting in accordance with the advice of the Public Service Commission and informed him that I having considered the serious allegations against him and being of the opinion that the public interest
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
required him to be interdicted, I was interdicting him with immediate effect."
[8] The letter of 2 November states: "Acting in accordance with the advice of the Public Service Commission (PSC), I write to inform you that at its 34th meeting held on the 14 October 2010, the PSC deliberated on the following allegations made against you, namely: 1. You operating (directly or indirectly) a water business which would have conflicted with your official duties as Director of Engineering and Maintenance Services (EMS), a Department charged, amongst other things with the responsibility of ensuring public water supply in the Islands. 2. That you are operating the said water business in defiance of the decision of the PSC refusing your request to do so. 3. That your actions in this regard and in the management of EMS generally may, have brought the TCIG and the Public Service into disrepute. Having considered the seriousness of the case against you and the advice of the PSC, I am of the opinion that public interest requires that you be interdicted immediately from performing the functions of your office. (a) you are interdicted immediately from performing the functions of your office (b) That during this period of interdiction, you will receive half salary (c) In accordance with PSC (regulations 36 (2) (c-g) a Disciplinary Proceeding will be instituted against you and you will be informed in due course of the outcome of such proceedings." [9] The basic contention of the applicant is that, although it is described as administrative leave, the manner in which it was ordered means that it was really interdiction by another name . [10] The provision under which this order was made is clearly General Order 8.1.11 which, with subsequent amendment, provides: "An officer may be required by the Governor acting on the advice of the PSC to take leave which is due to him or her and an Officer may be required in the public interest at the discretion of the Governor acting on the advice of the PSC to remain on leave after the expiry of the leave granted or required of him or her." [11] Discipline, as Mr Misick points out, is dealt with in General Orders specifically and, he suggests, completely in Chapter 4. GO 8.1.11, which appears in Chapter 8, deals with leave and -makes no mention of disciplinary proceedings.
(12] Interdiction is not mentioned in Chapter 4. It is covered by regulation 34 of the Public Service Regulations, sub-regulation (1) of which, as amended, provides: "(1) Where disciplinary proceedings or criminal proceedings have been or are about to be instituted against an Officer and where the Governor acting on the advice of the PSC is of the opinion that the public interest requires that the Officer should immediately cease to perform the functions of his office the Governor acting on the advice of the PSC may interdict the Officer." (13] Mr Misick emphasises the similarity in the wording of GO 8.1.11 and regulation 34- (1). Whilst the Governor's letter referred to the public interest making the action necessary, that requirement is common to an order under either provision. The additional reference in the letter to the fact that the public interest required the officer to cease to perform the functions of his office, counsel suggests, links it more clearly to interdiction under regulation 34(1) than it does to a direction to go and remain on leave under GO 8.1.11,
[14] Mr Smith's case is that the Regulations and General Orders provide a complete code of conduct for the public service and the Governor and PSC may not act outside those provisions. In neither is there a power to require an officer to proceed on administrative leave in respect of a disciplinary proceeding. Further he submits that even in the investigative phase, the authorities acted unfairly by failing to allow the applicant to make representations regarding the investigation. Continued on NEXT PAGE
Page 13
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
LOCAL NEWS
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
ALFRED “MAC” SMITH LOSES CASE AGAINST PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION ... CONT’D Continued from Previous Page
[15] The respondents' case is that the power to order an officer on leave is clearly given by GO 8.1.11 and that power was used precisely because no disciplinary proceeding had been or was about to be instituted. Until it was properly investigated, it could not be known whether there would be any such proceeding. Mr Patterson asks the Court to find that this was clearly not interdiction and so the repeated reference to interdiction in the relief sought means that the application itself is misconceived. Mr Misick holds to his original contention that this was, in fact, interdiction although described as administrative leave — a phrase which is not used in the Regulations or General Orders. [16] The difficulty Mr Misick faces is that his argument is contradictory. He points out that interdiction may only be ordered if disciplinary proceedings have been or are about to be instituted and so there is no power to interdict during the investigative phase yet he does not accept that the undisputed lack of disciplinary proceedings at the time of the Governor's letter gives support to the respondent's argument that the order to take administrative leave was not interdiction. [17} I am satisfied that the Governor and the PSC had the right, indeed the duty, to act on allegations they had received. The nature of those allegations were such that, if proved, they could constitute a disciplinary offence or offences but, until there was an investigation into the matter, the authorities had no reason to interdict the officer. However, they were concerned enough to consider it might be detrimental to the department and possibly to the public service as a whole if they did not take steps to avoid any possible continuation or repetition of the questioned conduct whilst those investigations were being conducted.
[18] Frequently such investigation will require them to seek the officer's explanation of the events under investigation but I cannot accept that is a right of the officer at this stage. Many cases may be shown to have sufficient substance to merit the institution of disciplinary proceedings without needing to consider the officer's representations. If the investigation indicates sufficient substance to require disciplinary proceedings, the officer has a right then to be told of the allegations and invited to make representations. This case has now reached that stage and, despite the wording of the last sentence in paragraph (c) of the letter-of 2 November 2010, the officer should now be given adequate information of the charges he faces and proper and adequate opportunity to present his case. [19] The applicant's case is that it was unfair to order him to take administrative leave without telling him the details of the matters that were to be investigated. Mr Misick suggests that, as the matters to be investigated took place some years before, there was no valid reason for failing to tell him the allegations which were to be investigated. That does not fully describe the position. The allegation that he had operated a water business had been known to the respondents for some time and must also have been clear to the applicant. On the other hand, the references to the conduct of EMS and the suggestion that the applicant's actions had brought the department into disrepute were matters on which he may have hoped for further information. However, the applicant's suggestion that it is necessarily unfair if such information is not supplied during Investigation phase is not supported by authority.
[20] In the case of Rees v Crane [1994] 2AC 173; 1 All ER 853,844 Lord Slynn explained: "It is clear from the English and Commonwealth decisions which have been cited that there are many situations in which natural justice does not require the person must be told of the complaints made against him and given a chance to answer them at the particular stage in question. Essential features leading the courts to this conclusion have included the fact that the investigation is purely preliminary, that there will be a full chance adequately to deal with the complaints later, that the making of the enquiry without observing the audi alteram partem maxim is justified by urgency. or administrative necessity, that no penalty or serious damage to reputation is inflicted by proceeding to the next stage without such
preliminary notice, that the statutory scheme properly construed excludes such a right to know and to reply at the earliest day. But in their Lordships' opinion there is no absolute rule to this effect even if there is to be, under the procedure, an opportunity to answer the charges later. As de Smith's Judicial Review ofAdministrative Action.(4th edn, 1980) p 99 puts it: `Where an actual proposal is only the first step in a sequence of measures which may culminate in a decision detrimental to a person's interests, the courts will generally decline to accede to that person's submission that he is entitled to be heard in opposition to this initial act, particularly if he is entitled to be heard at a later stage.' (Lord Slynn's emphasis) In considering whether this general practice should be followed, the courts should not be bound by rigid rules. It is necessary ... to have regard to all the circumstances of the case" [21] As has been pointed out in so many cases, judicial review is not concerned with the decision but with the decision making process. The question for the Court is whether the Governor was entitled to make the decision he did and whether, in so acting, he followed the correct procedure. Even if the answer to that is in the affirmative; the court must also consider whether the way in which it was done was fair.
[22] I consider the answer to the first part of that can be found in the wording of regulation 34. The prerequisite of interdiction is that it should be ordered "where disciplinary proceedings or criminal proceedings have been or are about to be instituted against an officer,.." In the present case, it is clear that allegations had been made in respect of the three issues listed in the Governor's letter. Those allegations were sufficiently serious to require investigation into the likelihood that disciplinary proceedings would result if the investigation suggested there was sufficient substance in the allegations. [23] Because the order to go on leave in such circumstances is made before the decision can be made to institute disciplinary, proceedings and, indeed, if the investigation clears the officer concerned, no such proceedings will be instituted, it is sensible to use the power under G0 8.1.11 as was done in this case. The public interest may arise from many aspects of the situation and does not -necessarily suggest any malpractice by the officer sent on leave. To suggest, as the applicant does, that there can be no such power does not accord with good practice or, indeed, common sense.
[24] The need for such action by way of good administration was explained in Lewis v Heffer [1978] 3 All ER 354,364,with an added reminder of the limitations of such action: "In most types of investigation there is in the early stages a point at which action of some sort must be taken and must be taken firmly in order to set the wheels of investigation in motion. Natural justice will seldom if ever at that stage demand that the investigator should act judicially in the sense of having to hear both sides. No one's livelihood or reputation at that stage is in danger. But the further the proceedings go and the nearer they get to the imposition of a penal sanction or to damaging someone's reputation or to inflicting financial loss on someone the more necessary it becomes to act judicially, and the greater the importance of observing the maxim audi alteram par tem."(Lane J's emphasis)
[25] In the present case, the officer was the Head of Department. His responsibilities were such that if the allegations were true, allowing him to continue to perform his duties could cause serious harm to the Department he headed. In those circumstances it is necessary to have the power to take him off his duties until there has been time for sufficient investigation to determine whether the allegations are true or not. To allow him to continue with his duties while the investigation is being carried out would, in a case where they were well founded, run the risk of further damage to his department. The Governor is entitled to consider that in terms of the public interest and this Court will not consider the merits of that decision. (26) The Governor's letter shows that he clearly considered the allegations were serious enough that,
if they were proved, they would be likely to lead to disciplinary proceedings being instituted. I do not read that as suggesting there had been any prejudgment of the facts. In those circumstances it was clear that disciplinary proceedings had not been instituted nor could it be said, until the investigation was complete, but they were about to be instituted. I am satisfied that the Governor had the right to take Mr Smith off his duties. He chose to do that by using his powers under GO 8.1.11. It is equally clear from his letter that he regarded such a step as being necessary in the public interest and that was the essential pre-requisite for such an action. [27] I cannot accept the applicant's submission that this was interdiction. As I have already stated the reference to possible future disciplinary proceedings is an indication of how seriously the allegations were being regarded but that did not, in any way, suggest that the decision to institute disciplinary proceedings had been reached.
[28] Mr Misick has pointed out that this step in itself acted unfairly against Mr Smith. He is a senior officer and well known in the community. Suddenly to be told to stop doing his job will be seen by many people as suggesting he has done something wrong. Many cases of this nature may result in a similar misunderstanding but that does not mean that the decision to send him on leave, if made for proper and substantial reason, was unfair. Although there was reference to his salary being reduced, it is conceded by Mr Misick that Mr Smith continued to receive his fall pay during this period of leave. (29] Clearly an order to take administrative leave may have adverse effects on the officer involved in terms, for example, of his reputation but the Governor's letter invited the applicant to make representations on interdiction before any decision to make such order was made. It is also clear that, if disciplinary proceedings were to be instituted, the procedures under the Regulations and General Orders ensure the applicant will have an opportunity to answer the allegations.
(30) The test of unfairness is an objective one; R v Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. ex p A; [1999] 2 AC 350, and in the circumstances, the order of 22 June 2010, viewed objectively was not unfair. On the contrary, although the implication, in paragraph (b) of the Governor's letter that the applicant had sufficient information at that time to be able properly or adequately to prepare his answer to interdiction was, perhaps, a trifle facile, the contents of the letter from the Governor clearly stated the nature of the investigation and the fact that it may lead to disciplinary proceedings. I do not find he should have been given the details of the matters under investigation at that stage. He will, as I have stated, have the details and the opportunity to make any submissions he wishes now that it has been decided to institute disciplinary proceedings.
[31) This was not an interdiction and so the declarations 1 — 4 and the consequential orders of certiorari and damages do not apply to the facts of this case. Substituting administrative leave for interdiction would not remedy that. Similarly the order sought in paragraph 8 prohibiting any reduction in the applicant's salary during the investigative phase must be refused as there has been no reduction although, now he has been interdicted, that has changed. [32] Paragraph 6 seeks a declaration that regulation 41(the appeal provision) is ultra vires. I have already commented briefly on the effect on the right of appeal provided by that regulation in my ruling on the respondents' application in this case to set the review proceedings aside and in the decision in Nasiya Missick v P S4 C; CL 24/10, 17 August 2010. It should be noted that the delegation by the Governor of his powers to exercise disciplinary control to the Chairman of the PSC is not extended to, inter alia, Heads of Departments. Whether that affects the right of appeal in this case and whether it is ultra vires has not been pursued sufficiently for me to rule on that question. (33] The application is refused with cost to the respondents. Gordon Ward, Chief Justice
Page 14
UK cannot impose a political system on TCI, says British MP
LOCAL NEWS
THE BRITISH GOVERNMENT needs to remember that a political system cannot and should not be imposed on an unwilling population, says British MP Andrew Rosindell. “ Such reforms must be conducted in conjunction with the people-there is no other way to go about it in a modern democracy. The next election in the Turks and Caicos islands has been announced for 2012. That deadline must be met so that democracy is restored to the people of the islands by that time at the very latest,” Rosindell said during a speech in the House of Commons last Friday. Rosindell is chairman of both the Turks and Caicos islands all-party parliamentary group and the British Overseas Territories all-party parliamentary group, as well as a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee. Stating that the perpetuation of the current situation is unthinkable, Rosindell said the Turks and Caicos Islands is in crisis and if immediate action is not taken by Her Majesty's Government, the territory will continue to deteriorate.
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
He referred to a letter dated 4 February 2010 from the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to a resident on Grand Turk stated: "Whilst UK Ministers are keenly aware that the TCI Government has severe difficulties in meeting the liabilities it has inherited from the previous administration and that significant challenges remain, they are of the view that it would be inappropriate for UK taxpayers money to be used to fill a deficit created by the financial mismanagement of the previous administration." According to Rosindell, that is an “appalling and inexcusable stance”. He added: “The people of the Turks and Caicos are British, too, and they deserve our support. The previous Government should be ashamed of how they handled the situation there, and of the relationship that they fostered with the overseas territories in general. I can assure the House with certainty that the bill to the UK taxpayer will be far greater in the long run if urgent action is not taken now.” He added: “I have every faith that our new Conservative-led government
TURKS AND CAICOS WATER COMPANY LTD
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DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
will do everything in their power to ensure that the current wrongs are righted and that the failings of the past are corrected. We need to deploy more civil servants from the UK to reform the TCI civil service and more police to crack down on crime, and we need to draw a line under prosecutions to ensure that the full weight of the law is brought down on those who were deceitful. We also need to ensure that more funds are made available to the TCI, and not simply to tide the islands over for a few more months. It must be enough to stimulate the economy back into action radically. I speak frankly when I say that there is no use in a package of support that is aimed merely at maintaining the status quo. I recognise that in the current climate of austerity no decision on finance is taken lightly, but I put it to the Government that they have committed to giving millions of pounds in aid to foreign countries, and yet let poverty and despair be fostered on our very own soil. Her Majesty's Government now have an ideal opportunity to change that in the Turks and Caicos, and with the right attitude and
approach we can show our citizens overseas that they are not on the periphery of government and that no matter where one is in the world, British is British is British.” Rosindell said the UK Government needs to show the global community that just because someone happens to live in a different time zone from London, it does not make them any less British. “With that in mind, the people of the Turks and Caicos should be afforded the full support of the Government to ensure that they realise a secure and prosperous future. They will not be impressed by more rhetoric. At this point, I wish to commend Her Majesty's Government in Canada, who, despite having no responsibility for the Turks and Caicos, are sending over members of the Royal Canadian mounted police to help us rescue the situation. Should that not be our responsibility? It is, after all, a British territory, not a Canadian territory. The people of the Turks and Caicos islands want to see fast and radical action from Her Majesty's Government here in London to restore to their homeland the governance that one would expect for a British overseas territory, a territory of the Crown.”
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Page 15
UK support for TCI can’t be based on unconditional handouts, says British MP
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
THE UK'S SUPPORT for the Turks and Caicos Islands cannot take the form of unconditional handouts of UK public money, says James Duddridge, Government Whip, House of Commons. Speaking in the House last Friday, he said the Conservative Government's approach to the overseas territories is very different from that of its Labour predecessors. “We are proud of our shared history and value the territories as part of the wider British family. We want our relationship to be mutually beneficial and successful. We know there are many challenges, but our relationship is strong enough to tackle them as they arise. Our support for the islands is a good example of our new approach,” he said. “We are committed to the principle that the overseas territories should have the first call on the UK's aid budget. However, that cannot be in the form of unconditional handouts of UK taxpayers' money. We are providing support in the Turks and Caicos Islands where it will have the most lasting benefit by, for example, funding advisers to develop the wide-ranging reforms that are needed, giving temporary financial support to help protect the islands from financial collapse, and funding the deployment of UK police officers. We are doing what we can to support the territory despite the financial crisis here in the UK. In exchange, we want the territory to manage its affairs as successfully and effectively as possible. In today's world, that means sound public finances, with high-quality and accountable government and public services.” Noting that the Department for International Development has approved a financial package for the TCI, he stressed that this support is conditional on the Government
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
LOCAL NEWS
NOTICE TO NONREGULATED FINANCIAL BUSINESSES
Pursuant to provisions of the Proceeds of Crime Ordinance 2007 – The Anti-Money Laundering and Prevention of Terrorist Financing Regulations 2010, the Turks and Caicos Islands Financial Services Commission makes known its intention to commence enforcement of Regulations 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 of the Regulations beginning January 1, 2011. Designated Non-Regulated Financial Businesses include Legal Professionals, Accountants, Real Estate Agents and Jewelers: The relevant provisions of the regulations are:
Register of non-regulated financial businesses Application to register:
24. (1) The NRFB Supervisor must establish and keep a register of non-regulated financial businesses. (2) The NRFB Register shall contain the following information in respect of each non-regulated financial business that has been registered in accordance with regulation 26— James Duddridge, Government Whip, House of Commons.
strengthening their capacity and systems to manage their public finances and balance their budget within the next three years, which is a very tough challenge, as we know from the ones that we face on the mainland. He added: “The DFID-funded chief financial officer is heading this difficult work, and to address the immediate shortfall, the Department has provided short-term loans to the islands. That will help. Our aim remains to restore and firmly embed the principles of sound financial management, sustainable development and good governance, which will help to rebuild confidence in the Turks and Caicos Islands and their ability to manage their own affairs. A public sector reform adviser has been funded by DFID, but they only arrived in the Turks and Caicos Islands this week. I am sure that they will have a big impact. Also an immigration adviser has been seconded from the UK Border Agency, and is already making an impact. That secondment was funded by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. The UKBA adviser has been there since September and is doing well.
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(a) the name, address in the Islands and contact details of the non-regulated financial business; (b) the relevant business for which the non-regulated financial business is registered;
(c) the date of registration and, if applicable, deregistration of the non-regulated financial business; (d) such other information as the NRFB Supervisor considers appropriate.
(3) The NRFB Register and the information contained in any document filed with the NRFB Supervisor may be kept in such manner as the NRFB Supervisor considers appropriate, including either wholly or partly, by means of a device or facility that— (a) records or stores information magnetically, electronically or by other means; and (b) permits the information recorded or stored to be inspected and reproduced in legible and usable form. Application to register:
25. (1) A person may apply to the NRFB Supervisor to be registered as a non-regulated financial business in the NRFB Register. (2) The application must—
(a) be in writing and in the form specified by the NRFB Supervisor;
(b) be signed by the applicant or by a person acting on the applicant’s behalf;
(c) be accompanied by such documents or information as may be specified on the application form or by the NRFB Supervisor. (3) The NRFB Supervisor may require an applicant to—
(a) provide it with such documents and information, in addition to those specified in sub-regulation (2), as it reasonably requires to determine the application and any such information shall be in such form as the NRFB Supervisor may require; and
(b) verify any document and information provided in support of an application in such manner as the NRFB Supervisor may specify. (4) If, before the determination by the NRFB Supervisor of an application— (a) there is a material change in any information or documentation provided by or on behalf of the applicant to the NRFB Supervisor in connection with the application; or
(b) the applicant discovers that any such information or documentation is incomplete, inaccurate or misleading;
the applicant shall give the NRFB Supervisor as soon as possible written particulars of the change or of the incomplete, inaccurate or misleading information or documentation. Registration:
26. (1) Following the receipt of an application under regulation 25 and any additional documents or information that it has required under regulation 25(3), the NRFB Supervisor must either— (a) register the applicant as a non-regulated financial business in the NRFB Register; or
(b) refuse the application under regulation 27. (2) If the NRFB Supervisor registers the applicant, it must provide it with written notice of its registration.
Please refer to the Financial Services Commission’s website for further information.
Applications for Registration of Non-Regulated Financial Businesses are available at the Commission’s offices in the Harry Francis Building in Grand Turk, at Caribbean Place, Providenciales or downloaded from the Commission’s Website at www.tcifsc.tc
Completed applications should be submitted to the NRFB Supervisor, Harry Francis Building, Grand Turk, Turks and Caicos Islands.
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LOCAL NEWS
PPC bleeds from power theft
PROVO POWER COMPANY (PPC) is suffering from a severe loss in revenue due to rampant theft of its electricity by unscrupulous householders and business owners across Providenciales. Allan Robinson, Vice President in charge of Customer and Corporate Service for the power company, marched a band of reporters into a section of the Blue Hills community on Wednesday, December 8, where he pointed to webs of electrical wires which he said were connected illegally from PPC power sources to dwellings in the neighbourhood. He also showed media practitioners panel boxes which he said were breached by power thieves, creating the avenue for the illegal bypassing its metering system. In addition to apartment complexes and residential homes, Robinson said the practice was also being perpetrated by operators of bars, salons and restaurants. Robinson said over the past two weeks, since PPC has stepped up its drive to locate illegal power connections, it has uncovered more than 40 such breaches – the culprits being residential and businesses. The practice, Robinson explained, were dealing heavy blows to PPC’s finances, and while he could not give a specific scale, said it was in the high numbers. Robinson said company technicians arrived at the conclusion that the thefts were not carried out my amateurs, but by persons who are knowledgeable in commercial electrical
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
Allan Robinson, Vice President in Charge of Customer and Corporate Services points to junction box which he said facilitated a breach of the company’s power
work. However, said the connections posed imminent dangers to the residents, especially when it rained, since there were a number of lowhanging naked wires that were evident in some of the areas. He said some landlords explained to PPC that they had no knowledge that such practices were taking place, while in other instances, he suspected that there could be collusions between landlords and tenants, even though the company was yet to identify any culpable individuals. Robinson said the company discovered in recent times that its meters in certain residential areas and at
certain businesses were recording drops in consumption, while its generation outputs to those locations were registering increased usages. “We realized that the consumption for our meters have increased, but as to our sales – there has been a reduction in that area – so that prompted us to go out and look at suspicious accounts, particularly those at large business places, residential and apartment units,” Robinson said. He pointed out that the practice has been one of duplications across the island, including the communities of Five Cays, Glass Shack and Stammers Run. The PPC Vice President said as a
result of the theft, the power company formulated a task force that would visit every community on that island, to carry-out examinations on its metering systems. He said anyone found in breach will be prosecuted. According to Robinson, in its quest to stem the decline in revenue in that area, PPC was also forced to step-up on the security mechanism of its meters, affixing them with virtual tamper-proof locking devices, that he described as rigid and strong, and which would also pose acrimonious to the power-thieving fiends, to break into. “We are putting in seals, to avoid persons from breaking into those meter cans. The taskforce will be going to all areas, and will be touching base with all customers. We are changing seals, and identifying areas where we see things looking suspicious, and report it to the police and take action,” Robinson asserted. He said power has been disconnected from premises found to be in breach, and information turned over to the police, to bring prosecution against the guilty parties, while pursuing avenues to recover what was lost. Going forward, he said there would be more vigilant monitoring of all its meters on a monthly basis, stressing that mechanisms aimed at studying the history of its meters and their monthly consumption cycles would be put into force.
HAB MANAGEMENT LTD.
HAB MANAGEMENT LTD IS SEEKING APPLICANTS FOR THE FOLLOWING POSITIONS:
RESERVATION ATTENDANTS (2) Job Description The successful candidates will be required to welcome and serve guests in a courteous, efficient and friendly manner, both face-to-face and on the phone. The candidates will also be required to take reservations via the telephone, email and walk-in requests. Candidates will also be responsible for promoting the resort at all times. Requirements Candidates should have seven years or more experience as a Reservation Attendant. Candidates should also have an extensive knowledge of Visual One Property Management System. Candidates must be proficient in Microsoft Office. Candidates will be required to check guests in and out; perform certain accounting procedures, such as preparing bills for guests, performing audit duties, balancing work and preparing paperwork for the following day; present a friendly, outgoing, energetic and guest service demeanor. Candidates will also be required to work cohesively with coworkers as part of a team. Must be able to speak, read and write in English and understand verbal and written instructions. Salary is $14,400 per annum.
BARTENDER (1) Job Description This is an enhanced position and requires a bubbly personality as well as some guest services experience. The successful candidates should be well versed in bar service and drink preparation. Requirements Candidates should have six years or more experience as a Bartender. Candidates will be required to solicit guests drink orders from around the pool and on the beach area and deliver drinks to guests when needed. Plan and maintain bar inventory. Maintain cleanliness of all workplace areas that apply to the bar. Candidates will be required to be able to multi-task and assist at front desk when necessary. The candidates will also be required to work cohesively with co-workers as part of a team. Must be able to speak, read and write in English and understand verbal and written instructions. Good presentation and a pleasant, friendly personality required. Salary is $12,000 per annum. HOUSEKEEPERS (9) Job Description Candidates will be required to clean guest rooms as assigned, ensuring the hotel’s established standards of cleanliness. Requirements Candidates should have six years or more experience as a Housekeeper. Candidates must have knowledge of proper cleaning techniques. Maintain positive guest relations
at all times. Candidates will also be required to work cohesively with co-workers as part of a team. Must be able to speak, read and write in English and understand verbal and written instructions. Good presentation and a pleasant, friendly personality required. Salary is $12,000 per annum. LAUNDRY ATTENDANT (1) Job Description Process soiled linen and distribute clean linen in accordance with standard operating procedures in a safe, accident-free manner, as assigned by management. Requirements Candidate should have seven years or more experience as a Laundry Attendant. Candidate will be required to receive and sort soiled linen; process sorted linen utilizing the washers, dryers and ironers ensuring finished product meets the quality standards of the resort. Notify supervisor of malfunctioning equipment, supplies needed, damaged linens, to ensure laundry operation is running at maximum efficiency level. Maintain assigned work area in a clean and safe condition. Must be able to speak, read and write in English and understand verbal and written instructions. Must be well presented and physically fit. The candidate will also be required to work cohesively with co-workers as part of a team. Salary is $12,000 per annum.
SECURITY OFFICERS (2) Job Description The successful candidates will be responsible for the safeguarding of the owners property, hotel property, assets, guests, visitors and employees. The Security Officers will also be responsible for insuring a safe environment; patrolling; documenting; reporting; and following-up on safety and security hazards or infractions. Requirements Candidates should have eight years or more experience as a Security Officer. Candidates will be required to work flexible hours. Record problems encountered in the area during the course of duty. Check effectiveness and safety and availability of security and safety equipments. Respond immediately to emergency or crisis situations. Candidates will be required to maintain positive guest relations at all times. The candidates will also be required to work cohesively with co-workers as part of a team. Must be able to speak, read and write in English and understand verbal and written instructions. Good presentation and a pleasant, friendly personality required. Salary is $14,400 per annum.
Interested applicants should contact Veronica Rigby via email by December 27, 2010 at ronnie@habgroup.com or by fax 649-946-5191. Only persons selected for an interview will be contacted by email or telephone to schedule an interview. BELONGERS PREFERRED.
Magic Cuts Beauty/Barber Salon in breach of labour laws
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
Magic Cuts Barber and Beauty Salon was ordered by the Labour Tribunal to fork out approximately $30,000 as compensatory awards for two of its former employees after it was found to be in breach of the Turks and Caicos Islands Labour laws. The decision which was handed down recently required that the business entity compensate Nyoka Daley $18,628.00 and Mark Andrew Newman $11,870.00. Daley, who claimed unfair dismissal, said she was fired from that entity after employer Patsy Jennings refused to appeal the denial of her work permit by the Immigration Board. In Newman’s case, the barber told the Tribunal that he was made to endure the indignity of being locked up at the Detention Centre for four days after his employer refused to pay his work permit fee, and after severing ties with that enterprise, endured severe harassment from immigration officers, which the Tribunal found to be her doing. Both also claimed compensation
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
monies paid over to Jennings to offset costs for their work permit documents. They also claimed overtime and vacation remunerations. The two told the court that from their time of employment in 2005 to 2009, they paid for their own work permits, since their boss reportedly told them that expatriates were responsible to shoulder that cost. They said they then paid her the money which she carried to the treasury on their behalf. Both said after sometime, they saw an article in one of the newspapers indicating that bosses were supposed to pay for their employees work permits, but said Jennings told them in a meeting that the stipulation was only applied to Chinese and Philippino workers. Both also said they were never given a contract. But Jennings told the court that she was the one who paid for their legal documents with the company’s money. Jennings said Daley’s work permit was turned down by the Immigration Board in July of 2009, after a female
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RAMP AGENT
1. Over 5 years experience in Ramp Supervising. 2. Over 5 years experience in maneuvering heavy duty equipment e.g. (pushing and towing aircraft). 3. Experience in general handling of General Aviation. Narrow body and wide body aircraft. 4. British Airways, JAR OPS, Supervisor Aircraft loading qualified. 5. US Airways fleet service door opening trainer. 6. Awareness Certification of acceptance/refusal of hazardous material as per IATA regulations. 7. Comprehensive knowledge in the operation of all Ground Service Equipment (GSE). BAGGAGE HANDLER 1. Over 5 years experience in Baggage Handling. 2. Over 5 years experience in maneuvering heavy duty equipment. 3. Experience in general handling of General Aviation. 4. British Airways, JAR OPS, Aircraft loading qualified. 5. Comprehensive knowledge in the operation of Ground Service Equipment (GSE).
All positions require the following: • Excellent command of the English language – reading, writing and speaking. •Good communication skills and team player •Detail oriented & organized individual •Ability to work shifts, early mornings, late nights, weekends and Holidays. •Clean police record •Able to work under pressure Belongers need only apply. Interested person should apply to HR@flyairtc.com or via fax to HR Department 649-946-4040. No phone call please. Qualified candidates will be contacted for interview.
police officer wrote to the Immigration Department complaining that the cosmetologist had voodooed her. Jennings told the court that she was harassed by the female police officer because they both shared the same father for their children. Her employment was terminated in August of that same year. Daley said Jennings did not make any efforts to appeal the Immigration Board’s decision before axing her. Asked by the Labour Tribunal as to why she did not appeal the decision to the Governor’s Office, Jennings said Daley stole her products for four years while reporting to work late on numerous occasions. She said she spoke to Daley about her behaviour but never gave a written warning, and that she was also threatened by the police woman’s family. In the meantime, Newman said in July of 2009, he was arrested by Immigration officials and taken to the detention centre where he was detained because he was working on an expired work permit. He said he was only released after Daley collected
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LOCAL NEWS
money from his friends and gave it to Jennings to pay for the work permit on his behalf. In her defense, Jennings said at the time of Newman’s arrest, she was out of the country, but before then she had submitted his immigration documents. However, the Labour Tribunal found that Daley was unfairly dismissed and was also owed work permit and vacation monies, and so, made the decision in her favour. Jennings was also asked to reimburse Newman for vacation for the period he was employed and also work permit fees, in addition to compensatory awards.
laBour and Cleaner for
Provo Stevedoring Ltd.
Mon-Sat 8aM -5PM SaLary $6 Per hour our contact nuMber iS 9418890
Winky’s Catering is seeking a full time Chef and or Caterer who can cook Jamaican food and cater Jamaican style. Must be over 30 years old and possess the necessary qualifications such as a certificate. Salary commiserates with experience. Please contact 345-1247
Impressions Beauty Salon
is seeking one CoSMetologISt to work full time. Salary $250 per week Contact Kilsys 341 1021
Page 18
Turks and Caicos Islanders- Stand up and take responsibility; this is our country
LOCAL NEWS
MY PEOPLE, WILL we let them, the “British Government”, shut our country down? I say “no”. The British Government plans to add new taxes that will kill our economy and shut this country down. If this country is going to be shut down, I say we should be the ones to do it. We say that we are a Godly people, so then let us follow Christ in Bible in the book of John 10:17-19. Jesus said no man takes my life I lay down my life--only to take it up again ... I have the authority. Take note, our Lord Jesus was in control of his situation. We need to be true followers of Jesus and take control of our situation. I say, let no man from outside seal our fate. They will only have that authority to do this if we give it to them. People of the Turks and Caicos Islands, look with me over the past years up to 2009. We were in control. Check it, we went to the polls and voted for a government. We the people called for a Commission of Inquiry. Pastors prayed to God, and asked Britain to remove our government, dissolve our House of Assembly and suspend our Constitution.
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
Turks and Caicos Islanders, after we did all of this to ourselves and our country, in some parts being misled by outsiders, we are now saying we have no say or no control. Pastors, that was not God’s will, we are asking you to pray for government. I say to us, the time has come for us as a people to stand up, take responsibility. No one put this on us. No, we all played our role and we have to accept this. We did this to ourselves. When we accept this fact, then we will be able to understand it’s up to us as a people to do something about it. People, look with me to the Bible in the book of Genesis. Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent. With all the blame to go around today, we still have sin. Only when we accept and repent, we can be saved. I show us this so that we can understand that we can no longer blame our previous leaders for everything (that is the hope of the British). Not only because we would be untrue to ourselves, but because it would work against us. But today we have an obligation to stop the British Government’s machinery that is in
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
place to sink us as a people. Let it be known that the British Government is not here to help Turks and Caicos Islanders. Look at what Kate Sullivan said is her terms of reference: (a) consider whether to axe the automatic right to a jury trial (Advisory Council and Consultative Forum members out of hatred and ungodliness has imposed it) (b) required to look at the franchise enlargement (it was said that two years prior to beginning her work in the territory, Ms Sullivan undertook a similar role in the Solomon Islands.) Ms. Kate Sullivan was a part of a 26 member team made up of people from within and around that region. I would like to ask Ms. Sullivan if she knew of a body called IDEA and what that body stands for and against. (People don’t let Kate Sullivan the FCO and the British Parliament carry out their hidden agenda. I believe it is to bring British citizens out of Hong Kong and unemployed British citizens to this country. Just look, after more than a year, the British Parliament, the FCO, Governor Gordon Wetherell, the Advisory Council, and those that the British brought in still can’t tell this
country or the world what are their plans. But pay attention to this, our God has a plan for us. Jeremiah, 29- 11 – “For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the LORD, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” How do we get this plan to work, clean up and unite, stop causing strife among our people, stop the hatefulness, stop the lying tongue, remove the evil plans from our hearts and the plots for mischief? I say to us, God will not work on our terms, we know what the bible say we are made in God’s image, so then, if we are seeking God’s mercy, we must show mercy (Matthew 5 - the Beatitudes the key one is verse 7 ). "How blessed are those who are merciful, because it is they who will receive mercy.” Stand up and take responsibility. This is our country. I need you and you need me. No one can fix this for us. We live here. This is home. They will leave, but can we live, and can our children live with what they will be leaving us? A servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, Phillip Robinson
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Hike taxes or increase the population – Gordon Kerr
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
IF THE TURKS AND Caicos Islands economy is to be jolted back to buoyancy, it has to follow one of two paths - hike taxes on the already burdened peopled or increase the population with a view to broaden the tax base. The measure was advocated by noted attorney and member of the Financial Services Commission, Gordon Kerr, who was speaking as a member of the National Conversations panel at the Gustarvus Lightbourne Complex in Providenciales, on Tuesday, December 7. “The budget deficit in terms of how its stands right now can only be addressed in two ways – either cut expenditure or you raise revenue. There is a limit to how far you can cut expenditure, and I am sure there is not much more that can be cut. And if you do cut it, you put people out of work; and if you put people out of work, that becomes a drain in another way. “So one way or another there is going to become a point where cuts have to stop; there is just not anymore to be made. Then by making up the gap is by raising revenue; there is only two ways you can do that – you can either increase taxes on the people who are here or you can increase the population and broaden the tax base,” Kerr emphasized. Kerr, who practices at Misick and Stanbrook, insisted that collectively Belongers, investors and expatriate residents will have to soon decide what their take on the resuscitation of these islands would be before the country sinks further into the economic abyss.
Chairman Drexwell Seymour introduces the panel for the Providenciales leg of the National Conversations discussion. From left are: Floyd Seymour, Simon Wood, Royal Robinson and Gordon Kerr. Rev. Dr. Conrad Howell, who is seated at far right gave the opening prayer.
“I think, as a people, we have to make a clear decision in our own minds which of the two it’s going to be. And if we are going to attract people here to broaden the tax base, and therefore, not increase the burden on each of us to an unacceptable level, then we have to get rid of these uncertainties. “We have to open the doors somehow in an agreed upon way for new business and new people coming in; we won’t do it in any other way. Those of us who live here, do business here, and invested our lives in these
HOLIDAY VILLAGE Is seeking a Domestic Worker Weekly salary $215.00 working six days per week Contact 946-5500
LOCAL NEWS
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
ROYAL FOOTWEAR SEEKS
1 RETAIL CLERK Must be hardworking and reliable Salary $5.00 per hour Contact 232-0833
BETTY BEAUTY SALON SEEKS
1 COSMETOLOgIST Must have 3 years experience Salary $6.00 per hour Contact 946-5266 Rolyan Almonte Seeks 1 Domestic Worker Must have 2 years experience Must have a clean police record 5 days per week Salary $5.00 per hour Contact 243-5589
islands; we have to grasp these thorny issues set out in front of us. We need to settle on a plan and we have to make some tough decisions,” he warned. Speaking directly to the state of the financial services industry – the topic on which he joined the panel to speak, Kerr noted that there were no level playing field between smaller jurisdictions and the industrialized world, since countries like the TCI could not make certain demands on those nations especially with respects to the turning over of certain documentations on particular individuals. Kerr also sought to clear up what he referred to as the misconceptions among members of the populace that the financial services industry provides primarily for expatriate investments. “There is a belief around that the financial services industry caters almost solely to offshore wealthy clientele – basically foreigners – and this is simply not the case. The financial services industry covers a wide gambit of purchases which each of you in your daily activities will come into contact with. “Every time you open a bank account, buy insurance – anything like that, you are dealing with the financial services industry – and it is important that you understand the breadth of the industry, when you start to consider its contribution to the Turks and Caicos economy,” Kerr noted. He pointed out however, that the
VANDERLENE gARDINER Is looking for
ONE fARMER to work in North Caicos. Applicant must be able to write and understand English fax resume to 946-4040 or email Claudette@flyairtc.com Belongers need only apply
direct contribution from the financial service industry to the Turks and Caicos economy has been quite insignificant, saying that the gross revenues collected by that sector in relation to licensing fees and other collection on an annual basis averaged over the last four years to about $6 million a year. He said after deductions of administration expenses of the Financial Services Commission (FSC) and statutory retention of funds, the actual revenue received by government from all the licensing activities was about $2 million a year. The Providenciales National Conversations panel also included former deputy premier Royal Robinson, who spoke on the role of TC Invest; former People’s Democratic Movement (PDM) leader, Floyd Seymour, who spoke on public finances; while architect Simon Wood spoke on balanced development. The initiative is the brainchild of attorney and social and political advocate Sharlene CartwrightRobinson. In addition to holding panel discussions across the country, the National Conversations also includes radio interviews of people of national prominence, including former heads of local government, political commentators and ministers of religion. The Provo event was hosted by Country Manager for LIME TCI, and Member of the Consultative Forum, Drexwell Seymour.
Chelsea’s Beauty Salon
Is looking for a professional
2 NAIL TEChNICIANS Essential Requirements • Airbrush • gel and acrylic extension 2 hair Stylists Salary $6.00 per hour Contact 245-7777
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Grade 5 and 6 students of the Doris Robinson Primary School perform at the school’s Christmas concert
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
Students perform a piece at the concert to the delight of the audience.
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TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
A grade 5 student shows off his gift
Students from K1 and K2 examine their gifts while Head of Marketing Ava-Dayne Kerr and marketing representative Trina Adams looks on.
DIGICEL BROUGHT SMILES to the faces of the students of the Doris Robinson Primary School in Middle Caicos on Thursday, December 9, when staff members arrived with presents and goodies just in time for the school’s annual Christmas concert.
Head of Marketing, Ava-Dayne Kerr said, “Christmas is a special time of the year. Our children especially look forward to Christmas and the joy it brings in the form of gift giving and other festivities. As we reflect on the year and the season, Digicel wants to ensure that Christmas is always bright for the students of our adopted school, Doris Robinson Primary. ” Principal Keisha Mills exclaimed her appreciation to Digicel noting the telecommunication company’s continued involvement in the development of the school and its educational programme, “Digicel has always been there for Doris Robinson and this year we want to let them know that we really appreciate their efforts and the Christmas cheer they have brought to our children” she stated. Doris Robinson Primary currently has enrolled 27 students and eight staff members. After over nine years of operation, Digicel Group Limited has 11 million customers across its 32 markets in the Caribbean, Central America and the Pacific. The company is renowned for delivering best value, best service and best network. Digicel is the lead sponsor of Caribbean, Central American and Pacific sports teams, including the Special Olympics teams throughout these regions. Digicel sponsors the West Indies cricket team and is also the title sponsor of the Digicel Caribbean Championships and the Copa de Naciones Digicel. In the Pacific, Digicel is the proud sponsor of several national rugby teams and also sponsors the Vanuatu cricket team. Digicel also runs a host of community-based initiatives across its markets and has set up Digicel Foundations in Jamaica, Haiti and Papua New Guinea which focus on educational, cultural and social development programmes.
Students of Grades 5 and six show off their gifts
Students of the school were eager for the photo op to display their gifts.
One of the teachers from Doris Robinson Primary receives his gift from AvaDayne Kerr
Ava-Dayne Kerr and Trina Adams poses with the students with their gifts.
Principal of the School Keisha Mills happily receives her gift from AvaDaye Kerr
The Principal and teachers of the school were as excited as the kids at receiving their gifts from Digicel.
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LIFESTYLE
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The time (Dirty bit) Chorus: I've had the time of my life And I've never felt this way before And I swear this is true And I owe it all to you! Oh, I have the time of my life And I've never felt this way before And I swear this is true And I owe it all to you! Dirty bit! Dirty bit! I came up in here to rock Light a fire, make it hot I don't wanna take no pictures I just wanna take some shots! So come on, let's go! Let's lose control! Let's do it all night! Until we can do it no more! The time (Dirty bit) Black Eyed Peas
Black Eyed Peas
Keep on rocking to the sound Turn it up and watch it pound We gon' rock it to the top, Until the roof come burnin' down Get hot in here The temperature Has got these ladies Getting freakier I got freaky, freaky, baby I was chilling with my ladies I didn't come to get boogie I came here to get crazy! I was born to get wild! That's my style! If you didn't know that, Well, baby, now you know now Cause I'm Havin'! A good time! With you! I'm tellin' you! Chorus: (x1) Dirty bit! Dirty bit!
agger All these girls they like my sw ger They call me Mick Jag I've been rolling like a stoned Jet-setter, jet-lagger ggots We ain't messin' with no ma t des Messing with the bad Chicks in the club, Honey, what's up? Mirror, mirror on the wall Who's the baddest of them all? It's gotta be the apl I'm the mack daddy, y'all Haters better step back! Ladies don't load your act I'm the party application, Rock it just like that!
This is international Big mega radio smasher! Cause I'm Havin'! ing you! A good time with you, I'm tell Chorus: (x4) Dirty bit!
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Wesley Snipes heads to prison on tax conviction
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
Actor Wesley Snipes heads to a Pennsylvania prison Thursday to begin a three-year sentence for failing to file tax returns. The 48-year-old actor has until noon to report to McKean Federal Correctional Institution in Lewis Run, officials said. Snipes' attorney said he is appealing his client's misdemeanor convictions for not filing tax returns in 1999, 2000 and 2001. Snipes was acquitted of felony charges. He is nervous, he said, but hopeful that his prayers will be answered. "We still have prayers out there. We still believe in miracles. So don't send me up the river yet," Snipes said in an interview on CNN's "Larry King Live" Tuesday night. The actor conceded he was uneasy about losing his freedom if his appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court fails. "I think any man would be nervous if his liberty is at stake," Snipes said. "I'm disappointed that the system seems not to be working for me in this situation." Prosecutors said Snipes earned $40 million since 1999 but had filed no returns and had been involved in a tax resisters group. Snipes disputed such involvement and said that the failure to file was his advisers' fault. "This is another thing that has been misreported: It has been framed
ENTERTAINMENT
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Actor Wesley Snipes
that I was a conspirator and that I was an architect in a scheme by an organization that has been characterized as tax protesters," Snipes said. "The press hasn't reported that I was a client of people who I trusted [who] had knowledge and expertise in the areas of tax law that would protect my interests." Snipes is best known for his roles in the "Blade" action films, the comedy film "White Men Can't Jump" and the drama "Jungle Fever." In February, a jury convicted Snipes on the misdemeanor charges, but he was acquitted of more serious felony charges of tax fraud and conspiracy. Jurors accepted his
CELINE DION DEBUTS 6-WEEK-OLD TWINS EDDY& NELSON
argument that he was innocently duped by errant tax advisers. Defense attorneys in court documents suggested that to sentence Snipes harshly would be to disregard the jury's verdict. But prosecutors, in their sentencing recommendation, said the jurors' decision "has been portrayed in the mainstream media as a 'victory' for Snipes. The troubling implication of such coverage for the millions of average citizens who are aware of this case is that the rich and famous Wesley Snipes has 'gotten away with it.' In the end the criminal conduct of Snipes must not be seen in such a light." Snipes suggested he was unfairly singled out by prosecutors. "It does seem to be rather unusual and rather bizarre when you had a prosecutor come into the sentencing and say that this is the biggest tax trial in the history of the IRS," Snipes said. "I think there is a certain amount of selectivity going on here." Snipes indicated he was disturbed by some public comments that he was receiving "just punishment." "It's been presented as though I'm worthy of this punishment," Snipes said. "I've been a law-abiding citizen ever since I grew up in the Bronx, New York." One juror, Frank Tuttle, gave "Larry King Live" a written statement that three other jurors had made up their mind that Snipes was guilty before the
trial began. The jury's verdict was a compromise between those jurors who thought Snipes was guilty and those who didn't, Tuttle said in the statement. "That's when a deal was made to find him guilty on the failure to file taxes and not guilty on the federal tax evasion charges," Tuttle said in the statement. "We did not think he would go to jail." Snipes' attorney, Daniel R. Meachum, said neither he nor Snipes had any involvement in preparing that juror's statement to "Larry King Live," saying the show's producers obtained it on their own. "We on the defense team never suggested that the media reach out to any of the jurors," Meachum said. Snipes contended that some media accounts of his trial have distorted public perceptions. "There have been some egregious and very malicious efforts to report the facts of this case," Snipes said. "I was never charged with tax evasion. I've never been a tax protester." Snipes said he has paid his taxes. "They claimed that there was a certain number that was owed and that number has been all over that place. The press has escalated it and changed it a number of times. But we think we are fully compliant with what was owed," Snipes said. "Not did I pay but my position is that I always paid."
BILLBOARD: `TIK TOK' TOPS IN 2010
LOS ANGELES, Calif. -- Meet Celine Dion and Rene Angelil's twins, Eddy & Nelson! The singer debuted her new bundles of joy in the pages of People and Hello! Canada on Wednesday, November ."The love and what I feel inside, what we have accomplished - I don't know how to put it into words," Celine told People, referring to her difficult journey to conceive. "It's bigger than life itself." The singer has discovered her new twins, who were born on October 23, aren't allowing her to get much sleep. "I don't know how women do it," Celine told Hello! Canada from her home in Jupiter Island, Fla. "Every day Rene asks, 'Did you sleep well?' I'm like, 'You must be kidding! There is no sleep!'" The demands of her new twins have also kept the 42-year-old from her usual pop star attire. "I nurse both babies at the same time," she told Hello!. "I'm in my pajamas until lunchtime and there's no time to shower." According to People, the singing sensation is slated to return to her Las Vegas show on March
Winfrey has heard the rumors, but denies she's gay NEW YORK – Oprah Winfrey says she's not a lesbian, not even a little bit. Her long personal and professional connection with Gayle King has sparked rumors that they are gay, but Winfrey denies it in an upcoming interview with ABC's Barbara Walters. "I'm not even kind of a lesbian," Winfrey says. Persistent gossip to the contrary annoys her, she says, explaining that, if it
were true, "Why would you want to hide it? That is not the way I run my life." Asked to describe her relationship with King, Winfrey calls her "the mother I never had, the sister everybody would want. She is the friend that everybody deserves." Winfrey's eyes moisten and her voice chokes as she adds, "I don't know a better person." Winfrey will end her daytime talk show next spring and, on Jan. 1, is
launching a cable channel, the Oprah Winfrey Network. That new venture has given her moments of panic. "I would wake up in the middle of the night literally like clutching my chest, like, 'What have I done?'" she tells Walters. "A Barbara Walters Special: Oprah, The Next Chapter" will air Thursday at 9 p.m. Eastern.
NEW YORK – This should help Ke$ha (KESH'-ah) get over that Grammy diss: Billboard has crowned her "Tik Tok" as the No. 1 song of the year. The Grammys didn't give Ke$ha any nominations last week, but she not only had the top song of the year, she was also Billboard's No. 5 artist of the year. The top act? Lady Gaga, followed by Taylor Swift, Eminem and Lady Antebellum. As far as top songs, following "Tik Tok" were "Airplanes" by B.o.B featuring Hayley Williams; Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance"; Taio (TY'-oh) Cruz's "Dynamite"; and Katy Perry's "California Gurls" with Snoop Dogg. Billboard's top album was Susan Boyle's debut, "I Dreamed a Dream," followed by Eminem's "Recovery," Lady Antebellum's "Need You Now," Lady Gaga's "The Fame" and Justin Bieber's "My World 2.0."
KFWS • MindGym
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King Features Weekly Service
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King Features WeeklyService Service King Features Weekly December 13, 2010
ARIES (March 21 to April 19) Handle a potentially awkward situation by warming up your confidence reserves and letting it radiate freely. Also, expect an old friend to contact you. TAURUS (April 20 to May 20) It’s not too early for the practical Bovine to begin planning possible changes for 2011. A recent contact can offer some interesting insights. GEMINI (May 21 to June 20) A request for an unusual favor should be carefully checked out. Also check the motives behind it. Your generosity should be respected, not exploited. CANCER (June 21 to July 22) Party time beckons, but for some Moon Children, so do some workplace challenges. Deal with the second first, then you’ll be free to enjoy the fun time. LEO (July 23 to August 22) A warm response to an earlier request might be a positive indicator of what’s ahead. Meanwhile, Cupid could pay a surprise visit to single Leos looking for love. VIRGO (August 23 to September 22) How you respond to a proposed change in a project could affect your situation. Be prepared to show how well you would be able to deal with it. LIBRA (September 23 to October 22) The revelation of a secret could cause some changes in how to deal with
THE FIRST STEP TELLS THE TALE
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Some problems that arise during the play can be easily resolved with virtually 100 percent confidence in the outcome. But there are other times when you can’t be sure just how you’ll fare, in which case the best you can do is to opt for the action that is most likely to succeed in the long run. Assume East, —17— you’re defending against four hearts, and your partner leads the nine of diamonds. Declarer plays the king from dummy, but, if you’re a careful player, you don’t
a workplace matter. It very likely also validates a position you have long held. SCORPIO (October 23 to November 21) An attempt to get too personal could upset the very private Scorpio. Make it clear that there’s a line no one crosses without your permission. SAGITTARIUS (November 22 to December 21) The savvy Sagittarian might be able to keep a family disagreement from spilling over by getting everyone involved to talk things out. CAPRICORN (December 22 to January 19) Be careful not to push people too hard to meet your ideas of what the holiday weekend’s preparations should be. Best to make it a cooperative, not a coerced, effort. AQUARIUS (January 20 to February 18) An unexpected request could make you rethink a position you’ve had for a long time. Meanwhile, plan a family gettogether for the weekend. PISCES (February 19 to March 20) Someone might find that it was a fluke to try to use your sympathetic nature to get you to accept a situation you’re not comfortable with. Good for you. BORN THIS WEEK: You like challenges that are both mental and physical, and you enjoy always beating your personal best.
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© 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.
automatically win the trick with the ace. Instead, you take time to survey the situation as a whole and, more particularly, your play at this point. The first order of business is to try to decipher the meaning of partner’s diamond lead. You know that the nine is not a fourth-best lead, nor can it be the top card of a sequence, since you have the eight in your hand. In theory, it could be the top of a worthless threecard suit, but it is far more likely to be a singleton or doubleton. If the nine is a singleton, it is right to take the ace and return the suit for partner to ruff. But if the nine is a doubleton, the proper play is to duck, at the same time signaling with the eight to show the ace. Percentagewise, South is far more likely to have four diamonds rather than five. You should therefore let dummy’s king hold the first trick. When declarer next leads a trump, partner wins and returns a diamond to secure the ruff that sets the contract. © 2010 King Features Synd., Inc.
Dav A Te by S (St. M Revi Ev cans Dav he w chan can fearl took and sion He listin prov and inclu Oliv ers. new man and to na Su prod His debu TV it w impl cont deci hom “The Show until
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Haiti orders recount of disputed presidential election DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
Election officials in Haiti say they will review the disputed result of last month's presidential election. There will be an immediate vote recount in the presence of the top three candidates - Mirlande Manigat, Jude Celestin and Michel Martelly - and international observers. The announcement follows violent demonstrations by supporters of Mr Martelly, the third-placed candidate. He alleges the count was rigged to deny him a second-round run-off place. The Provisional Election Council said it had "decided to immediately launch a rapid and exceptional process to verify at the counting centre the tally sheets linked to the 2010 presidential elections". More than half of the 19 candidates in the ballot on 28 November have been calling for the result to be annulled. The strongest protests have come from supporters of pop star Mr Martelly, known to his supporters as "Sweet Micky," who was widely expected to go through to the second round. The results announced on Tuesday night gave 31% to the former first lady, Ms Manigat, with the governing party candidate, Mr Celestin, in second place with 22%. Mr Martelly came third with 21%, about 6,800 votes short of Mr Celestin.
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Haitians run down a street setting fires and shouting slogans against the Government and in reaction to the results of fraud-ridden Presidential elections
Burning barricades Violence erupted almost immediately after the results were made public. Thousands of supporters of Mr Martelly took to the streets of the capital, Port-au-Prince, setting up burning barricades and clashing with UN peacekeepers. On Wednesday both the headquarters of the governing party in Port-au-Prince and the international airport were closed because of the unrest. There was also violence in several
other cities. On Wednesday Mr Martelly urged his supporters to hold only non-violent protests. He accused the election commission of "plunging the country into crisis with its incorrect results". The outgoing president Rene Preval appealed for calm and defended the result. Mr Celestin is widely seen as Mr Preval's hand-picked successor. Most observers said the first round of voting was grossly mismanaged, with widespread irregularities.
Posters of unpopular candidate Jude Celestin burn during protests last week
The US embassy said on Tuesday it was concerned the results were "inconsistent" with vote counts around the country. The run-off is due to take place on 16 January. A successful election is seen as crucial to establishing an effective government in Haiti after years of instability. Whoever becomes president will face the task of rebuilding the country after the devastating earthquake that killed around 230,000 people last January, as well as battling a cholera epidemic.
Former Barbados Low cost carrier to Cabinet minister lands top UN job start daily service to Bermuda
Former cabinet minister Elizabeth Thompson is joining the United Nations in New York as an executive coordinator for the next global conference on sustainable development. The announcement was madelast week at UN headquarters in New York by Farhan Haq, deputy spokesman for UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon, who also announced that Brice Lalond, a former Minister of the Environment for France, would also be an executive coordinator for the conference to be held in Brazil in 2012. Thompson, who served in several ministerial positions, including health, energy, housing and the environment during the Owen Arthur Administration, is to be the executive coordinator for the South for the world’s developing countries, while Lalond will serve as the coordinator for the North, the rich nations of Europe, North America, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and Australia. Thompson’s position is at the level of an assistant secretaryElizabeth Thompson general of the world body, perhaps the highest position a Barbadian and a person from the Eastern Caribbean has ever occupied. “I consider it an honour and a privilege to have been chosen by the United Nations for this position and I will certainly do my best to represent the interests of Barbados, the Caribbean and the other nations of the South in this very important position,” Thompson told the Weekend Nation. “It’s an unbelievable opportunity for someone from a small country such as Barbados.”Earlier this year, Thompson was backed by Barbados and its Caribbean neighbours, along with the other members of the Alliance of Small Island States, AOSIS, for the position of executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, but after reaching the final round of candidates, Christiana Figueres of Costa Rica was chosen for the job which, like the Executive Coordinator from the South, is also at the assistant secretary’s level. UN sources said that Thompson’s “outstanding performance” during the selection process and the round of interviews for the previous post put her on track for this newly created position which is based at UN headquarters in New York.
American low-cost carrier AirTran Airways is to launch daily services between Bermuda and Washington and Georgia next year, Transport Minister Terry Lister has announced. He said flights from Baltimore will run from April 7 to October 24 next year, and from Atlanta from May 26 to September 6 and that would make Bermuda available to 45 cities throughout AirTran’s network. “I trust that this new service will be a success and that AirTran will continue to serve Bermuda’s residents and visitors for many years to come,” Lister said. Tourism Minister Patrice Minors said AirTran is one of the top three low-cost carriers and that Atlanta, Baltimore and Washington, DC are all key target markets for the island. “By offering a new, non-stop air service this spring, AirTran will help make Bermuda a convenient and appealing international destination in the cities it services and beyond. “And with this latest addition, Bermuda’s unprecedented expansion of airline service continues to be the envy of our surrounding region,” she added.
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Threat of national strike in The Bahamas over sale of telephone company
CARIBBEAN NEWS
Work could stop at government corporations and companies across the country next week, union leaders have threatened. The threat was issued Wednesday during a rally at the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union Hall on Farrington Road, at the end of the second day of industrial action by hundreds of Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) workers. The unions representing BTC workers are objecting to the government’s plan to sell 51 percent of the company to Cable and Wireless Communications (CWC). President of the Bahamas Communications and Public Officers Union (BCPOU) Bernard Evans intimated that all of the public corporations would come together next Wednesday to publicly protest the sale of BTC. Evans said the BCPOU is scheduled to appear in court next Tuesday in relation to what the government called an illegal work
TURKS AND CAICOS SUN
stoppage. "I think the House (of Assembly) meets on the 15th. The 14th is the eve,” he said. "You think the nation will be ready for something on the 15th - you think we ready for the 15th?" Evans did a roll call of all of the unions present at the rally, pointing out the Bahamas Union of Teachers (BUT), the Bahamas Hotel Catering and Allied Workers Union (BHCAWU), the Bahamas Public Service Union (BPSU) and the National Congress of Trade Unions of The Bahamas (NCTUB). He called them all to action and to stand with BCPOU against the government's impending deal with CWC. BUT President Belinda Wilson shouted to Evans that he should tell her union when he is ready for the BUT to join any action. President of the Airport, Airline and Allied Workers Union Nelerene Harding added, “No water, no light, no flight.” It was a clear reference to
possible action being taken by the unions of the Water and Sewerage Corporation, the Bahamas Electricity Corporation and Bahamasair. The unions all had representatives at the rally, which was attended by hundreds of workers. Newly-elected President of the NCTUB Jennifer Isaacs-Dotson contended a revolution was at hand in The Bahamas. According to her, years have passed since trade unions have come together for a single cause like they did yesterday. "The people now have to rise up,” she said. “It's time to take our country back. We elected the members of Parliament to represent our interests. "We think it is in the best interest of the government to tear up that MOU (Memorandum of Understanding it signed with CWC)." It was unclear whether further action would continue today among BTC workers. Evans told them to return to work. BTC unions have had strong
Cayman Islands police issue date rape drug alert
The Royal Cayman Islands Polcie Service has issued a general public advisory about the use of a substance often called 'the date rape drug' at social gatherings. The warning came after police received a number of unconfirmed reports from people who believed their drinks had been spiked with the drug Rohypnol. The Caymanian Compass has also received a few such reports, mainly from patrons of bars located along the Seven Mile Beach area within the past few months. Rohypnol, often called 'roofies', is a powerful sedative that depresses the central nervous system and can cause a person to become unconscious. It has been used in numerous instances of 'date rape' cases in North America. Rohypnol can also cause memory loss and decreases a person’s resistance when combined with alcohol. When placed in a drink, Rohypnol dissolves quickly and takes effect within minutes. Other common symptoms are dizziness, confusion, decreased blood pressure and urine retention.
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DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
support from affiliate unions since the action started on Monday. The managers and line staff unions of the National Insurance Board have planned a sick-out today that could potentially cripple operations at all of its locations throughout New Providence, The Nassau Guardian has learned. It was unclear up to press time exactly why NIB’s unionized employees were planning industrial action, however, one manager at the company said employees wanted to show solidarity for the workers at BTC. Isaacs-Dotson said the unions would be calling on the public and the entire country to support them. “We’re making history out here today and so we’re asking everybody in the country to stand - to stand with the NCTUB, to stand with BCPOU,” she said. “A revolution will happen in the country and I think the time is now.” The unions are adamant that control of BTC should remain in the hands of Bahamians.
The police advisory asks that people remain alert in order to avoid becoming a victim, especially leading up to activities associated with Christmas and New Year celebrations. Royal Cayman Islands Police Superintendent Marlon Bodden advises that several precautionary measures can be taken: • Stay aware and alert at all times • Be wary about accepting drinks from anyone you don’t know well or long enough to trust • If you are accepting a drink, make sure it’s from an unopened container and that you open it yourself • Don’t put your drink down and leave it unattended, even to go to the restroom • Notify other persons you know about the effects of dangerous drugs particularly ‘Rohypnol’ • If you think that you have been a victim, notify the authorities and seek professional medical help immediately. To date, police said there has not been any medical evidence to support various suspicions of Rohypnol drugging, and there has not been any seizure of drug locally.
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Clashes as UK parliament debates student fees
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
LONDON – Hundreds of protesters clashed with police in front of the British parliament in central London on Thursday ahead of a vote on university tuition fees which will test the strength of the coalition government. Demonstrators threw missiles and placards at police in the square in front of parliament. Mounted police then tried to break up the crowd in increasingly chaotic scenes. Police said they had attempted to contain protesters in the square after flares, snooker balls and paint balls were thrown at them. The protesters tried to push the police back using metal barriers. Commentators said the vote was the biggest challenge faced by the coalition during its seven months in office. "The vote on tuition fees will be the first ... acid test of how the coalition holds together," said Ben Page, chief executive of pollsters Ipsos MORI. The honeymoon is over for the coalition parties, he said, but securing recovery from recession is voters' biggest worry. "Tuition fees may be a storm in a teacup ... the state of the economy is absolutely the issue," Page said. Inside parliament, the government defended the plans ahead of the vote on an issue which has divided the
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Student protests: a demonstrator kicks in windows at Millbank.
coalition and already sparked violent protests in London last month. The bill is expected to pass in a vote on Thursday evening, but some members of the Liberal Democrats, the junior partner in the Conservative-led coalition, were expected to oppose it. A handful of Conservatives may also rebel. Some protesters accused the police of being heavy handed. "The police have been antagonistic in their approach to the demo. Everyone knows that if you compress a group of people they get nervous and a lot of people are frightened," said Elizia Volkmann, 39, an artist from
London. "There are many young people here under 17." Police said they had made three arrests and that two officers had been injured, one of them with a serious neck injury after being knocked unconscious. A Reuters photographer was taken to hospital after he was hit in the face by a rock. University students and school pupils have staged a series of protests in recent weeks, with hundreds of demonstrators arrested and a building housing the Conservative Party headquarters being attacked. The government has made cutting
a record peacetime budget deficit its priority and government departments have to reduce spending by some 19 percent over the next four years. Business Secretary Vince Cable, who is a Liberal Democrat and responsible for higher education, told parliament the plan was progressive and would maintain high quality universities. However, Greg Mulholland, a fellow Liberal Democrat, told parliament he would vote against it, saying it was not the fairest and most sustainable way of funding higher education. The government plans to allow universities in England to charge students fees of up to 9,000 pounds ($14,100) per year -- almost treble the current limit, as it cuts state funding for higher education as part of an austerity program. The Liberal Democrats have angered their many young supporters and have been accused of betrayal for breaking a pre-election pledge to oppose an increase in fees. Some commentators say the student protests could be a prelude to wider unrest as austerity measures start to bite and hundreds of thousands of jobs are lost in the public sector. "I'm a public sector worker and I think it's about more than just tuition fees; it's about showing people are angry with the way the government are going about reducing the deficit," said Henry Trew, one of the protesters.
Signs of flu season upon us, CDC officials announce
The first signs that the flu season is upon us have arrived, says the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention). In some states, for example Georgia, reported cases of flu have suddenly risen so rapidly that state authorities are referring to a "regional outbreak". It seems that the virus strains identified so far closely match those used in this year's vaccinations, which is good news for those who had the jab. The CDC has announced December 5 to 11th as National Influenza Vaccination Week. The aim is to stress the importance of vaccinations and to get as many people as possible immunized. In a communiqué, the CDC wrote: "National Influenza Vaccination Week provides an opportunity for public health professionals, health care professionals, health advocates, communities, and families from across the country to work together to promote flu vaccination before the traditional winter peak in flu activity." During the 2010-2011 flu season, three influenza strains are expected to be present. Health authorities say every person aged 6 months or more should be vaccinated. Having the flu jab does not only protect you, but also those around you.
The three flu strains that will be circulating during the current/coming flu season, according to the CDCs' Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices, are: • An A/H3N2 strain • A B strain • The H1N1 (2009) pandemic strain, which for a while was informally termed "swine flu" The current vaccine protects against these three strains. The CDC says 160 vaccines have been distributed throughout the USA. Dr. Anne Schuchat, Assistant Surgeon General of the U.S. Public Health Service and CDC's Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said: "The new vaccination recommendation shows the importance of preventing the flu in everyone. People who do not get vaccinated are taking two risks: first, they are placing themselves at risk for the flu, including a potentially long and serious illness, and second, if they get sick, they are also placing their close contacts at risk for influenza." Howard K. Koh, M.D., M.P.H.,Assistant Secretary for Health, said: "The bottom line is, anyone - even healthy people - can get sick from the flu. Lead the way to better health for all by getting your flu shot."
Diondra Reynolds, 6, gets a flu shot in Detroit
The CDC says that the National Influenza Vaccination Week must engage at-risk audiences - people who have not yet been immunized, individuals who are hesitant or unsure whether having the jab is good for them.
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Obama grants first pardons
WORLD NEWS
Eleven months into his 2nd year in office, Barack Obama granted his first presidential pardons. They went to 9 individuals for offenses ranging from conspiracy to distribute cocaine to mutilation of coins. His first acts of Executive Clemency were announced in a press release from the Justice Department, home to the Office of the Pardon Attorney which processes and assesses requests for pardons - and then makes recommendations to the president. The announcement contained no statement or explanation from Mr. Obama as to why he pardoned the 9 men and women selected, but White House spokesman Reid Cherlin was ready with an explanation: “The president was moved by the strength of the applicants' postconviction efforts at atonement, as well as their superior citizenship and individual achievements in the years since their convictions.” The convictions of those pardoned date as far back as 1960 when Russell James Dixon of Clayton, Georgia was sentenced to two years probation for conviction of moonshining: felony liquor law violation. The pardon clears his record and restores any rights and privileges denied him upon his conviction. Four of the convictions are for cocaine-related crimes including
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“wrongful use” and “conspiracy to distribute.” Other pardons were granted to individuals convicted of: • Illegal possession of government property • Conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Government • Mutilation of coins • Passing counterfeit obligations or securities. In granting pardons, Mr. Obama is acting under the authority granted him by Article 2, Section 2 of the Constitution which assigns him “Power to Grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment.” It's the same part of the Constitution that also designates the president as commander-in-chief. Pardons are absolute, except that a president may rescind one, as Mr. Bush did in 2008 when he concluded he granted a pardon in error. Mr. Obama had come under some criticism in recent weeks for not yet having granted pardons to anyone before today but the National Thanksgiving Turkeys. Former U.S. Pardon Attorney Margaret Colgate Love went public with criticism that in failing to have granted any clemency to date, Mr. Obama was overlooking “thousands of ordinary people living productive
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and law-abiding lives... disqualified from opportunities and benefits because of a conviction record that may be decades old.” Love said such people had "earned the second chance that a pardon represents." In addition to the 9 pardons granted today, government records show Mr. Obama has also denied 131 pardon requests of 551 received since he took office. Among his post-war predecessors, the fewest pardons were granted by President George H.W. Bush, 74, and the most by Harry Truman, 1,913. Here is the complete list of the pardons granted today by Mr. Obama: • James Bernard Banks - Liberty, Utah: Offense: Illegal possession of government property; 18 U.S.C. ? 641. Sentence: Oct. 31, 1972; District of Utah; two years of probation. • Russell James Dixon - Clayton, Ga. Offense: Felony liquor law violation; Sentence: June 23, 1960; Northern District of Georgia; two years of probation. • Laurens Dorsey - Syracuse, N.Y. Offense: Conspiracy to defraud the United States by making false statements to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration: five years of probation and $71,000 restitution. • Ronald Lee Foster - Beaver Falls,
Penn. Offense: Mutilation of coins Sentence: Oct. 4, 1963; one year of probation and $20 fine. • Timothy James Gallagher Navasota, Texas Offense: Conspiracy to distribute and possess with intent to distribute cocaine Sentence: Oct. 18, 1982; three years of probation. • Roxane Kay Hettinger - Powder Springs, Ga. Offense: Conspiracy to distribute cocaine; Sentence: March 31, 1986; 30 days in jail followed by three years of probation. • Edgar Leopold Kranz Jr. - Minot, N.D. Offense: Wrongful use of cocaine, adultery and writing three insufficient fund checks; Sentence: Sept. 14, 1994, as approved Nov. 4, 1994; General court-martial convened at Hickam Air Force Base, Hawaii; bad conduct discharge (suspended), 24 months of confinement and reduction to pay grade E-1. • Floretta Leavy - Rockford, Ill. Offense: Distribution of cocaine, conspiracy to distribute cocaine, possession of marijuana with intent to distribute, and possession of cocaine with intent to distribute; 21 U.S. C. ?? 841(a)(1), (a)(2) and 846, 18 U.S.C. ? 2. Sentence: Oct. 19, 1984; District of Kansas; one year and one day in prison and three years of special parole. • Scoey Lathaniel Morris - Crosby, Texas Offense: Passing counterfeit obligations or securities; 18 U.S.C. ?? 472 and 2. Sentence: May 21, 1999; Western District of Texas; three years of probation and $1,200 restitution, jointly and severally.
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Democrats defy Obama, tell him to rethink taxes
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Democrats in the House of Representatives defied President Barack Obama on Thursday, rejecting a tax deal he struck with Republicans and complicating efforts to extend tax breaks that run out in three weeks. House Democrats voted at a meeting in Congress against his proposal and called for changes to provisions that they say are too generous for the wealthiest 2 percent of Americans. Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who has been a key ally of the White House, joined the rebellion against the tax plan, vowing to prevent the House from voting on it. But there was still strong support in Congress for the proposal and time for lawmakers to negotiate a compromise.
WORLD NEWS
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Obama wants to extend all individual income tax cuts for two years, in addition to extending jobless benefits, enacting a payroll tax cut and other measures. Economists say the deal could boost the sluggish economy at a time when Congress has no further appetite for spending-based stimulus efforts. But Democrats say the deal is too generous to wealthier Americans and bond markets have also balked, concerned that more tax cuts will dig a deeper hole in the $1.3 trillion budget deficit. Prices for U.S. Treasury bonds rose early on Thursday after a two-day selloff fueled by fears that the tax deal would worsen the federal government's fiscal prospects. But Treasuries prices later erased gains.
CONTRABAND CELLPHONES PREVALENT IN PRISON Even Charles Manson had one
Contraband cellphones are becoming so prevalent in California prisons that guards can't keep them out of the hands of the most notorious and violent inmates: Even Charles Manson, orchestrator of one of the most notorious killing rampages in U.S. history, was caught with an LG flip phone under his prison mattress. Manson made calls and sent text messages to people in California, New Jersey, Florida and British Columbia before officers discovered the phone, said Terry Thornton, a spokeswoman for the California Department of Charles Manson Corrections. Asked whether Manson had used the device to direct anyone to commit a crime or to leave a threatening message, Thornton said, "I don't know, but it's troubling that he had a cellphone since he's a person who got other people to murder on his behalf." Although officials say inmates use smuggled cellphones for all manner of criminal activity, including running drug rings from behind bars, intimidating witnesses and planning escapes, it is not a crime to possess one in a California prison. In August, President Obama signed a bill banning cellphones from federal prisons and making it a crime, punishable by up to a year in jail, to smuggle one in. That law does not apply to state institutions. The proliferation of cellphones in California prisons has been exponential in recent years, authorities say. Guards found 1,400 in 2007, when the department began to keep records of confiscations. The number jumped to 6,995 in 2009 and stands at 8,675 so far this year. The phones show up in minimum security work camps as well as in the most heavily guarded administrative segregation units — whose residents include gang leaders confined to their cells around the clock except for brief stints when they're allowed to pace around metal cages in the prison yards. Prisoners and supplies coming into those units are searched, but inmates sometimes hide devices in their body cavities, officials said. There have also been state-documented cases of guards bringing phones into prisons. An inspector general's report last year noted that the phones fetch up to $1,000 each and highlighted the case of a corrections officer who made $150,000 in a single year by supplying the devices to inmates. He was fired, the report said. Criminal charges were not an option.
DEMOCRATS UPSET The House Democrats are particularly upset at an extension of tax breaks for wealthier Americans and a generous estate tax. "The Democratic caucus resolves that in its current form the tax package should not come to the floor of the House for consideration," read a resolution approved by the Democrats. Obama has tacked to the center and compromised with the Republicans after his party lost heavily at congressional elections in November. "If the idea is that this is a take-itor-leave-it deal, I think the president's going to realize there are going to be a lot of Democrats who are going to be voting no," Democratic Representative Anthony Weiner earlier told ABC. But fellow Democrats in the
Senate were drafting legislative language behind closed doors, and could begin debating it later in the day, moving the tax bill forward. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid said the chamber may hold a vote on Saturday on the legislation. The tax plan could boost growth from a half to a whole percentage point next year, create millions of jobs and lessen demand for the Federal Reserve to boost its bond-purchasing stimulus program, according to various analyses. It also would worsen budget deficits at a time when voters are increasingly worried about record levels of U.S. debt. The plan would cost $700 billion for two years, according to a Senate Republican aide, although other estimates have put the total cost as high as $1 trillion.
Half of Americans facing diabetes by 2020
NEW YORK – More than half of Americans will have diabetes or be prediabetic by 2020 at a cost to the U.S. health care system of $3.35 trillion if current trends go on unabated, according to analysis of a new report released on Tuesday by health insurer UnitedHealth Group Inc. Diabetes and prediabetes will account for an estimated 10 percent of total health care spending by the end of the Diabetes and prediabetes will account for an estimated 10 percent of total health care spending decade at an annual cost of almost $500 billion -- up The 52-page UnitedHealth report also from an estimated $194 billion this year, focuses on the growing obesity epidemic as according to the report titled "The United that condition is a leading cause of diabetes. States of Diabetes: Challenges and The authors of the report contend the Opportunities in the Decade Ahead." skyrocketing cost forecasts are not The average annual health care costs in inevitable, however, if the crisis is tackled 2009 for a person with known diabetes were aggressively, including early intervention to about $11,700 compared with about $4,400 prevent prediabetes from becoming for the non-diabetic public, according to diabetes. new data in the report drawn from 10 million "Because diabetes follows a progressive UnitedHealthcare members. course, often starting with obesity and then The average annual cost nearly doubles moving to prediabetes, there are multiple to $20,700 for a person with complications opportunities to intervene early on and related to diabetes, the report said. prevent this devastating disease before it's Complications related to diabetes can too late," Deneen Vojta, senior vice include heart and kidney disease, nerve president of the UnitedHealth Center for damage, blindness and circulatory problems Health Reform & Modernization, said in a that can lead to wounds that will not heal statement. and limb amputations. "What is now needed is concerted, Diabetes, which is reaching epidemic national, multi-stakeholder action," Simon proportions and is one of the fastest-growing Stevens, chairman of the UnitedHealth diseases in the United States, currently Center for Health Reform & Modernization, affects about 26 million Americans. said in a statement. Another 67 million Americans are "Making a major impact on the estimated to have prediabetes, which may prediabetes and diabetes epidemic will not have any obvious symptoms. More than require health plans to engage consumers in 60 million Americans are unaware that they new ways, while working to scale nationally have the condition, according to some of the most promising preventive care UnitedHealth. models." Stevens added. People with prediabetes have higher If solutions for tackling the epidemic than normal blood sugar levels, but not yet offered in the report were adopted broadly high enough to be diagnosed as diabetes. and scaled nationally it could lead to cost Prediabetics often have other risk factors, savings of up to $250 billion over the next such as overweight, high blood pressure and 10 years, according to the UnitedHealth high cholesterol. analysis.
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MasterCard buys Travelex prepaid unit for $459 million WORLD NEWS
MasterCard is buying the prepaid cash-card business of foreign exchange group Travelex for 290 million pounds ($459 million), boosting its presence in a fast-growing financial services segment. The deal is MasterCard's second effort this year to expand its international and emerging market business, where it has more room to compete against arch-rival Visa Inc. Both companies are also trying to gain a foothold in the small, but highgrowth prepaid market, which offers them new business from consumers who use cash and checks to shop. Prepaid cards are especially popular with lower-income or "underbanked" consumers, many of whom cannot qualify for credit cards or use traditional bank accounts. The Travelex unit specializes in a different prepaid niche -- cards for overseas
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travelers who can use them instead of travelers' checks -- but MasterCard said it plans to expand Travelex's offerings. The deal will "be an important driver for our growth in the whole prepaid arena," especially outside of the United States, MasterCard Chief Executive Ajay Banga said during a conference call with investors and reporters on Thursday. Prepaid cards are one of the fastest growing segments of the financial services industry. MasterCard forecast prepaid volumes would reach more than $840 billion by 2017. The Travelex "cash passports" are seen as more secure and more convenient than traditional travelers' checks, MasterCard executives said. They also allow consumers to lock in good foreign exchange rates when they buy them, instead of withdrawing
MICROPHARMA TCI LTD is seeking a
SENIOR RESEARCH ANALYST
Duties and Responsibilities The Senior Research Analyst is responsible for managing ongoing research and evaluation, preparation of reports And overall strategic planning for the company. Duties will include the following: • Overseeing research projects • Writing reports (e.g. research studies, feasibility studies, cost benefit analyses) • Summarizing and explaining research findings and their implications and preparing findings for publication • Managing the collection of quantitative and qualitative data (compiling, summarizing and analyzing data) • Designing and conducting surveys • Strategic planning and operations management Qualifications • MSc or MA degree in a quantitative discipline (biostatistics, statistics, econometrics or equivalent) • 10+ years of experience with at least 5 years conducting research and analysis in biotechnology or the health sciences • Experience using statistical software such as SAS, SPSS or Stata • Experience designing and conducting surveys • Excellent presentation skills • Advanced MS Office • Degree or diploma in finance or accountancy would be an asset The position will be based in the Turks and Caicos Islands, but some international travel will be required. Please email all applications to Ryan@micropharma.net c/o Ryan Jones. Successful applicants will be notified by phone for interview.
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money once they travel and being subjected to currency fluctuations. MasterCard does not plan to expand the Travelex offerings in the United States, where it already works with dominant prepaid card marketers such as Green Dot and NetSpend. "There are a lot of strong program managers" in the United States, but "the fact that this business has such a strong cross-border global footprint means that we can really drive the opportunities outside the U.S.," MasterCard Chief Product Officer Tim Murphy told Reuters in an interview on Thursday. The Travelex deal is MasterCard's second bid this year to buy wider access to international markets. It paid $520 million in October for the British online payment services company DataCash, and like Visa, has said it plans to continue looking for acquisition targets.
The world's second-largest creditand debit-card company said the transaction would be 4 cents dilutive to its 2011 earnings per share as a result of amortization and integration costs. It added it could pay an extra 35 million pounds if the business meets certain performance targets. For Travelex, the transaction provides it with extra cash for its own expansion plans. The deal will not change the shareholding structure of Travelex, majority-owned by private equity group Apax and often touted as a potential candidate for a listing. Travelex founder Lloyd Dorfman, who set up the company in 1976, also has a significant stake in the group. Travelex reported a 3 percent dip in first-half earnings in September, saying at the time it was confident its full-year profit would be higher than in 2009.
SWANN CONSTRUCTION SEEKS 1 Laborer - $6.00 2 Domestic Worker $7.00 1 Cashier - $8.00 Interested persons should contact 244-4845
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UPS CO-ORDINATOR
Direct/Co-ordinate the UPS office Implement company procedures as it relates to Sales, Promotions, Advertising and Stock Control Producing invoices, overseeing daily operation Communication with head office in Miami, to review the performance of the business here Monitoring / reviewing all packages in and out of the office Filing / sorting company records MUST HAVE General customer service skills Account knowledge Sales Experience Good relationship with people Excellent leadership skills
Positions require the following: Excellent command of the English language – reading, writing and speaking. Good communication skills and team player Detail oriented & organized individual Ability to work shifts, early mornings, late nights, weekends and Holidays. Clean police record Able to work under pressure Belongers need only apply. Interested persons should apply to HR@flyairtc.com or via fax to HR Department 649-9464040. No phone call please. Qualified candidates will be contacted for interview.
The World is becoming more corrupt, report says
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The world is a more corrupt place now than it was three years ago, a poll suggests. Some 56% of people interviewed by Transparency International said their country had become more corrupt. In Afghanistan, Nigeria, Iraq and India more than 50% of people said they had paid a bribe in the past year - many of them paying off the police. Meanwhile, a BBC poll suggests that corruption is the world's most talked about problem. About one in five of those polled by the BBC said they had discussed issues relating to corruption with others in the last month, making it the most talked about concern ahead of climate change, poverty, unemployment and rising food and energy costs. In the Transparency International survey, political parties were regarded as the most corrupt institutions with 80% of people regarding them as corrupt. Political parties also topped the list in Transparency's 2004 barometer, with 71%.
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Religious bodies experienced a sharp rise in people regarding them as corrupt - 28% in 2004 increased to 53% by 2010. Some 50% of people believed their government was ineffective at tackling the problem of corruption. 'Worrying' trend Transparency flagged up bribery as the major problem highlighted by the survey, with one in four of those polled saying they had paid a bribe in the past year. Some 29% of bribes went to the police, 20% to registry and permit officials, and 14% to members of the judiciary. Robin Hodess, Transparency's policy and research director, said police involvement in such transactions was "really worrying". "It's a figure that's grown in the past few years. It's nearly doubled, in fact, since 2006. Nearly one in three people who had contact with the police around the world had to pay a bribe," she said While people from Cambodia (84%) and Liberia (89%) were the most likely to have to pay a bribe, the Danish respondents reported no bribery.
By region, people in sub-Saharan Africa were the most likely to have paid a bribe (56%). Bribe-taking was least common in EU countries and North America (both 5%) - although these were the two regions seeing the biggest increase in concern about corruption. Analysts blame this rising concern on the global financial crisis for undermining people's faith in government, banks and economic institutions. The lobby group interviewed 90,000 people in 86 countries to compile its corruption barometer. The opinion poll commissioned by the BBC sampled 13,000 people in 26 nations. One question asked people to rate which issues they saw as most serious. Corruption was ranked as the second most important topic behind poverty. Respondents in Brazil, Egypt, Colombia, the Philippines and Kenya were especially likely to view corruption as a very serious issue. In Europe, Italians were the most concerned about bribe-taking.
Facebook deletes pro-WikiLeaks hackers' account
Facebook and Twitter deleted the accounts of cyber activists who targeted Visa and other Internet payment sites that sought to block the WikiLeaks website after its release of U.S. diplomatic cables. Facebook confirmed it had removed the activists' Operation Payback site on Thursday because it was promoting a distributed denial of service attack -- an illegal form of freezing websites. Twitter declined to comment. The swoop against Operation Payback's self-described campaigners for Internet freedom followed their online attacks on credit card giants like Visa and MasterCard. The campaign reappeared on Twitter later in the European afternoon using another account. Experts said the outages were unlikely to have much effect on the proWikiLeaks cyber campaign as activists were using separate chatrooms to organize. A representative of one of the groups involved in the online campaign said on Thursday that more cyber attacks in reprisal for attempts to block the WikiLeaks website were likely. On Thursday, supporters of WikiLeaks were plotting attacks on online payment service PayPal and other perceived enemies of the publisher, which has angered U.S. authorities by starting to release details of 250,000 confidential cables. Amazon was also cited as a target. "The campaign is not over from what I've seen, it's still going strong. More people are joining," a spokesman calling himself
"Coldblood" told BBC Radio 4. The speaker, who had an English accent, said he was aged 22 and was a software engineer. NEITHER "VIGILANTES" NOR "TERRORISTS" "Anonymous has targeted mainly companies which have decided for whatever reason not to deal with WikiLeaks. Some of the main targets involve Amazon, MasterCard, Visa and PayPal." The websites of credit-card giants MasterCard and Visa have already been brought down through distributed denial-of-service attacks that temporarily disable computer servers by bombarding them with requests. In a statement on Thursday, MasterCard said although there was a limited interruption of some online services, cardholders could continue using cards for transactions worldwide. Its main processing systems were not compromised, the statement said. AnonOps also claimed responsibility for bringing down Visa Inc's site, which was temporarily unavailable in the United States, but later restored.
In an online letter, Anonymous said its activists were neither vigilantes nor terrorists. It added: "The goal is simple: Win the right to keep the Internet free of any control from any entity, corporation, or government." Swedish newspaper Aftonbladet said the Swedish government's website was down for a short time overnight in the latest apparent attack. Sweden has issued an arrest warrant for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange over sex crimes and he is in jail in London, awaiting an extradition hearing. Assange, a 39-year-old Australian, has been hailed as an advocate of free speech by supporters, but now finds himself fighting serious sexual allegations made by two women in Sweden. Assange will have another court appearance next Tuesday and his supporters assert he is being victimized for his work. MORE SECRET CABLES RELEASED In the Internet Relay chat channel where activists coordinated the attacks, conversations were short and to the point. Participants asked what
the target should be and reported progress. Some bemoaned the fact that paypal.com remained up despite efforts to bring down its transactions server. "The only thing most of these CEOs understand is the bottom line. You have to hit them in the bank account, or not at all," said one participant called Cancer. WikiLeaks is continuing to dripfeed cables into the public domain despite the legal woes of its founder. Those released on Thursday showed U.S. diplomats reporting that the illicit diamond trade in Zimbabwe had led to the murder of thousands, enriched those close to President Robert Mugabe and been financed in part by the central bank. Assange's online supporters hit the corporate website of MasterCard on Wednesday in reprisal for its blocking of donations to the WikiLeaks website. "We are glad to tell you that www.mastercard.com/ is down and it's confirmed!" said an entry on the Twitter feed of a group calling itself AnonOps. "Coldblood" said a battle was under way to protect the Internet. "I see this as becoming a war, but not your conventional war. This is a war of data. We are trying to keep the Internet free and open for everyone, just the way the Internet always has been," "Coldblood" added. Assange's main London lawyer has denied that the WikiLeaks founder ordered the attacks. "It's very hard to get hold of anyone from WikiLeaks. The only (person) you could really get hold of was Julian, but unfortunately he's not available at the moment," said "Coldblood."
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More US billionaires pledge to give away wealth
BUSINESS & TECHNOLOGY NEW YORK – Another 17 U.S. billionaires, including Facebook cofounders Mark Zuckerberg and Dustin Moskovitz, have pledged to give away at least half their fortunes in a philanthropic campaign led by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. A total of 57 billionaires now have joined The Giving Pledge, which was launched by Microsoft founder Gates and investor Buffett in June. The campaign announced the new pledges in a statement late on Wednesday. Gates, his wife Melinda, and Buffett have asked U.S. billionaires to give away at least half their wealth during their lifetime or after their death, and to publicly state their intention with a letter explaining their decision. The Giving Pledge does not accept money or tell people how to donate their money but asks billionaires to make a moral commitment to give their fortunes to charity. "People wait until late in their career to give back. But why wait when there is so much to be done?" Zuckerberg, who gave $100 million in September to the beleaguered public
Facebook co-founder Mark Zuckerberg
schools of Newark, New Jersey, said in a statement. "With a generation of younger folks who have thrived on the success of their companies, there is a big opportunity for many of us to give back earlier in our lifetime and see the impact of our philanthropic efforts," he said. In addition to Zuckerberg and Moskovitz, the world's youngest billionaires, pledges were made by AOL co-founder Steve Case, financier Carl Icahn and Michael Milken, a former Wall Street executive who
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Facebook co-founder Dustin Moskovitz
went to prison in the early 1990s for securities violations. Morningstar Chief Executive Joe Mansueto, businessman Nicolas Berggruen and private investor Ted Forstmann also are among the new billionaires to take the pledges. "In just a few short months we've made good progress," said Buffett, who made his fortune with insurance and investment company Berkshire Hathaway Inc. "The Giving Pledge has reenergized people thinking about philanthropy and doing things in
philanthropy and I look forward to many more conversations with families who are truly fortunate and whose generosity can and will change lives," he said. Along with speaking to about a quarter of the wealthiest people in the United States about The Giving Pledge, Gates and Buffett hosted a dinner with Chinese billionaires in Beijing in September in a bid to promote a culture of philanthropy in China. The pair plan to visit India in March. Forbes magazine said the United States is home to more than 400 billionaires, the most of any country. Individual Americans gave more than $227 billion in 2009, according to the Giving USA report by the Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, down just 0.4 percent from the previous year despite the U.S. recession. Buffett pledged in 2006 to give away 99 percent of his wealth to the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and family charities. Bill and Melinda Gates have so far donated more than $28 billion of their fortune to their foundation.
NY trustee sues 7 international banks to recover $1 billion for Madoff investors
NEW YORK -- Seven global banking institutions enabled disgraced financier Bernard Madoff's Ponzi scheme by "creating and offering derivative investment products linked to various Madoff feeder funds," a court-appointed trustee alleged Wednesday. Trustee Irving Picard announced a lawsuit in federal bankruptcy court in Manhattan that seeks to recover more than $1 billion from Citibank, Natixis, Fortis, ABN AMRO, Banco Bilbao Vizcaya Argentaria, Merrill Lynch, and Nomura. The suit alleges the banks received transfers of money from Madoff's business "through numerous feeder funds at times when they either knew or should have known of Madoff's fraud." Picard said in a release the banks enabled the Madoff Ponzi scheme "by opening a spigot of new money into the Madoff feeder fund network, by creating and offering derivative investment products linked to various Madoff feeder funds, including the Fairfield Greenwich, Kingate and Tremont families of funds." "With the derivative products promising returns based on the performance of the feeder funds, the financial institutions hedged their exposure to the derivative investors by purchasing shares of the feeder funds," Picard said in a statement. Danielle Romero-Apsilos, director of public affairs for Citi Institutional Clients Group, said the company will defend itself against the claims and called them "without merit and entirely untrue." "Citi did not know about nor in any way assist in the Madoff fraud," she said. Telephone and e-mail messages requesting comment from a Merrill Lynch representative were not immediately returned. Since pleading guilty to fraud charges in March 2009, the 72-year-old Madoff has been serving a
150-year prison sentence. Investigators say Madoff reported to investors in November 2008 that their original investment of about $20 billion had grown to more than $65 billion when he actually had only a few hundred million dollars left. Meanwhile, earlier Wednesday Picard said his office filed papers in a London court seeking to recover at least $80 million from the international arm of Madoff's business. Picard said the lawsuit was filed in United Kingdom's High Court of Justice Commercial Court to recover funds that flowed through Madoff Securities International Limited, including money used to buy luxury goods and services enjoyed by the Madoff family such as a yacht, a home in the south of France and an Aston Martin car. Picard said defendants in the complaint include all of the former directors of Madoff's international wing, including his brother, Peter, and two sons, Mark and Andrew. Martin Flumenbaum, an attorney representing Mark and Andrew Madoff, called Picard's claims baseless, saying the sons were outside directors with insignificant ownership interests in the international business office. "They had no knowledge of their father's crimes, including any fraudulent activity related to the London entity," he added. A lawyer for Madoff's brother did not immediately return a message for comment. Picard said in a statement that the London operation was part of "Madoff's global shell game." "Funds stolen in the Ponzi scheme traveled around the world, but ultimately, ended up in the pockets of Madoff, his family, and confederates," Picard said. He called the London office "a critical piece of the facade of legitimacy" that Madoff constructed to conceal his lack of trading activity.
He said Madoff told his customers that his investment business conducted trades on the overthe-counter market and after hours and he periodically transferred tens of millions of dollars to his London office to support his fraudulent misrepresentations. The money that was transferred was never used to buy securities, Picard added. The court action in London was based on investigations by those seeking to recover assets for thousands of investors who lost billions of dollars in Madoff's massive fraud. The fraud was exposed in December 2008 when Madoff revealed to his sons and later to the FBI that he had been running a Ponzi scheme for at least two decades in which he paid early investors with proceeds from later investors. Madoff's London office, established in 1983, held a seat on the London International Financial Futures Exchange and conducted some legitimate trading activities at times, the Picard's statement said. The statement said the London court papers accuse directors of the London office of breaching their duties by signing off on false documents and misrepresenting the true nature of transactions in the records of the business, thus assisting Madoff in his overall scheme. David J. Sheehan, Picard's legal counsel, said: "All were experienced and sophisticated enough to understand what was happening. In addition, his staff included employees with accounting and trading experience, who clearly had the knowledge to see through the fraud. Yet, all complied with Madoff's schemes and deceptions." Between 1983 and December 2008, at least $600 million flowed through the London office, with more than $310 million being falsely recorded as trading commissions from London, Picard alleged.
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Warner blasted over failed England bid
England’s Prince William, left, makes a last ditch effort to secure Concacaf votes from its president Jack Warner in the race for the 2018 World Cup.
British newspaper, the Independent, launched a caustic attack on FIFA’s high-ranking Trinidadian executive member Jack Warner after football’s world governing body rejected England’s bid to host the 2018 World Cup. Sam Wallace, the newspaper’s football correspondent, accused Warner of promising England the allimportant three Concacaf votes and then failing to deliver during the secret ballot in Zurich. Warner, a government minister in Trinidad and Tobago, is a powerful FIFA vice-president and is president of Concacaf, the continental governing body for the North, Central America and Caribbean region. His vote was one of 22 on the executive committee which helped hand Russia the 2018 showpiece and surprisingly award oil-rich Qatar the 2022 event. In recent weeks, Warner had been courted by England Prime Minister David Cameron; Prince William, the second in line to the British throne and superstar David Beckham, the most recognisable football face in the country. However, England embarrassingly bowed out in the first round of voting on Thursday securing just two votes, one of which is believed to be the country’s bid chairman Geoff Thompson. “But the English bid team thought that they could tame Warner and persuade him to deliver the three Concacaf votes. By last night they were coming to terms with the scope of their political miscalculation,”
Wallace wrote. “England chased Warner all over the world, sending Fabio Capello’s England team to play Trinidad and Tobago in June 2008 in what turned into a rally for Warner the politician.” He continued, “They dispatched Beckham to hold a training camp there and the FA’s top brass consented to be lectured and harangued by Warner, a man from an island with virtually no football history, in return for him coming through for them at FIFA House yesterday. “It will long be regarded as a source of great embarrassment that English football ever took (Warner) seriously but the humiliation he visited on them will never be forgotten.” That England faltered in the first round came as a huge shock especially since their bid was recently rated as the strongest by FIFA’s technical inspection team. And while Warner had never openly pledged his support for England, his meetings with the distinguished members of the bid delegation had raised hopes he would side with them during Thursday’s vote. He was invited to lunch by Cameron late last month and it was reported that he met with Prince William and Beckham during the last week. Only recently, he described the England bid “impressive” but acknowledged that there were very strong proposals from Russia, SpainPortugal and the NetherlandsBelgium.
Michael Vick leads Pro Bowl voting
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
NFL fans seem to have forgiven Michael Vick. The Philadelphia Eagles quarterback, just a year and a half out of prison, is the leading votegetter in fan balloting for the Pro Bowl, NFL.com reports. Vick started the season as a backup to Kevin Kolb but has set the league on fire since becoming the starter. He's averaging 249 yards passing and 52 rushing per game, and he has scored 21 touchdowns. Vick, who served 18 months in federal prison and was vilified after being convicted on charges related to dogfighting, had 729,838 Pro Bowl votes as of Thursday morning. He leads the Indianapolis Colts' Peyton Manning, who's having a rough season, by more than 38,000 votes and the New England Patriots' Tom Brady by more than 100,000. "I've made three Pro Bowls before, but this one would definitely mean more than the others," Vick
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unfortunate situation in the past, and I wish could go back and change it all. I wish I could take it all back, but I can't. The only thing I can do is move forward." Fan balloting at NFL.com and on Facebook makes up a third of the Pro Bowl vote. The other two-thirds come from the coaches and players. Balloting concludes December 20. The Pro Bowl, the NFL's all-star game, will be played January 30 in Honolulu, Hawaii. Even if Vick garners the most votes, he won't play in the Pro Bowl if his Eagles reach the Super Bowl, which will be played a week later at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Last year's Super Bowl teams, the Colts and the New Orleans Saints, each had seven players Just a year and a half out of prison, Vick is the leading vote-getter in fan balloting for the Pro Bowl selected; they didn't play in the exhibition. told The Press of Atlantic City, New things around. "As much as I'd love to make the Jersey, on Wednesday. "I'm just "Spending time in prison Pro Bowl, I don't want to make the working as hard as I can to change changed my life. It was an trip," Vick quipped to The Press.
ANDY RODDICK RETURNING TO DAVIS CUP IN 2011
Andy Roddick
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WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — Andy Roddick is returning to the U.S. Davis Cup team in 2011 after skipping the event this year. In a statement released Thursday by the U.S. Tennis Association, Roddick calls winning the Davis Cup a "top priority" and says he thinks it's something players "should commit to for the entire season and not when it is convenient." The United States and new coach Jim Courier will play at Chile in the first round March 4-6. Roddick is a former No. 1-ranked player and the 2003 U.S. Open champion. He is 3111 in Davis Cup play, trailing only John McEnroe's 41 for most singles victories. Roddick helped the U.S. win the 2007 title.
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Eriksson Fails in Bid to Sign Beckham
LEICESTER, England — Leicester manager Sven-Goran Eriksson says he has failed in a bid to sign former England midfielder David Beckham from the Los Angeles Galaxy. Eriksson, whose team is in the bottom half of the English league's second tier, says he spoke to David's agent to see if there was a chance. The Galaxy have said Beckham won't be able to go on loan during the MLS offseason after he was injured during a stint at AC Milan in March. Beckham, who will be entering the final year of his Galaxy contract when the MLS season resumes in March, was captain of England when Eriksson was in charge of the team from 2001-06.
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Yankees offer Cliff Lee $140 million
DECEMBER 10TH- DECEMBER 17TH, 2010
ORLANDO, Fla. — Armed with a lucrative contract proposal from the Yankees, Cliff Lee’s agent left the winter meetings Wednesday afternoon to fly back to Arkansas to consult with his most coveted client. In related news, Brian Cashman, the team’s general manager, said he felt like “Hannibal Lecter in a straitjacket” while he waited for a decision. It’s kind of restricting my movements a little bit,” Cashman said. The Yankees have moved forward on other fronts, but Lee is commanding their attention. That attention increased when it was widely reported late Wednesday that the speedy outfielder Carl Crawford had agreed to a long-term deal with the Boston Red Sox. The Yankees proved their interest in Lee with some mighty financial backing Wednesday, offering him a six-year deal worth about $140 million. Cashman acknowledged only that an offer was presented, but a baseball official with knowledge of the discussions confirmed the terms. The contract would vault Lee past his close friend C. C. Sabathia to collect the highest annual salary for a starter. The Yankees signed Sabathia to a seven-year, $161 million contract in 2008, but they view Johan Santana’s six-year, $137.5 million deal with the Mets in 2008 as more of a guideline in their current discussions. Cashman would not say whether it was the Yankees’ best offer, or if it could grow if another team countered with an equally strong or better proposal. The signing of Crawford could encourage the Yankees to improve their offer because they have less of a fallback option in case Lee decides to sign elsewhere.
WORLD SPORTS
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Cliff Lee
“I never have a problem knocking on Hal’s door and asking for more money,” said Cashman, referring to Hal Steinbrenner, the organization’s managing general partner. “I have a problem sometimes with Hal saying yes. I know my title is general manager, but I consider myself the director for spending for the New York Yankees. I don’t make it, I spend it.” The Texas Rangers are considered the Yankees’ main challenger for Lee. Texas has told Lee’s agent, Darek Braunecker, that it wants to know what it will take to sign Lee rather than submit a counteroffer. The Rangers hope to hear by the weekend what those terms would be. “We don’t want to get into a bidding war,” the Rangers president Nolan Ryan said. “We need to find out
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where we are and not let things linger any further than they need to. We want to know what it will take to keep him. I think Cliff and Kristen and their family have enjoyed their time here and I think our club and community fits their lifestyle.” Cashman said he had no sense of when a resolution might be reached. Braunecker surely had a better read on which teams were interested — and how much they were willing to spend — before he got here. He brokered two long-term deals for A. J. Burnett at past winter meetings, in 2005 with Toronto and in 2008 with the Yankees, and Cashman said the Burnett negotiations proceeded at a deliberate pace two years ago because they were engaged in a bidding war with Atlanta. Braunecker is ostensibly taking a
more unhurried approach this year because he knows that no other starters on the free-agent market compare to Lee. Interested teams are unlikely to move on until Lee signs. “If it takes time, so be it,” said Cashman, who last month visited Lee in Arkansas and said he was open to another face-to-face meeting if it would mean completing a deal. He added: “He’s somebody worth waiting for. We certainly hope that he picks us.” If Lee does not, the Yankees have explored other avenues, engaging Crawford in a dinner meeting Tuesday. But now that Crawford has reportedly agreed to a seven-year, $142 million deal with Boston, Cashman may have to become more creative in the trade market. “You look at all the pieces that are out there, and you make decisions,” Manager Joe Girardi said Wednesday. “Does it fit with your team, or doesn’t it fit with your team? Does it make our team better? Because sometimes your Plan A doesn’t go according to plan, and you go to something else.” The Yankees’ Plan A also includes the return of Andy Pettitte, who has not decided if he will pitch in 2011. Pettitte called Cashman on Wednesday morning to “get assurance from me that he’s not somehow messing our plans up,” Cashman said. “He wants us to get Cliff Lee, I can tell you that,” Cashman added. All along, Cashman has said he expects Pettitte to retire, and there was nothing said in Wednesday’s conversation that made him feel differently. But because Pettitte has not announced his decision, Cashman was still hopeful that he would return.
Pete Sampras tennis trophies India Firm Favourites For 2011 Cricket World Cup stolen from storage depot - Imran Khan
NEW DELHI - India will be the overwhelming favourites to win next year's World Cup with home advantage and an ideal build-up on tour in South Africa, Pakistan's 1992 World Cup-winning captain Imran Khan said. "India is easily the favourite team, going by their form and depth both in bowling and batting," the former Pakistani all-rounder told reporters on Thursday after the broadcasting arrangements for the 2011 tournament were announced. "I think the South Africa tour will do them good. The tougher is the tour, the better prepared you are for the World Cup." India will contest three test matches in South Africa starting on December 16 followed by a Twenty20 and five one-dayers before heading home to prepare for tournament starting on February 19 hosted by themselves, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. India are ranked number one test team by the ICC (International Cricket Council) and the number two one-day international (ODI) side behind holders Australia. "India is the favourite team and Sri Lanka is a close second. They will also have home advantage, which matters a lot," Imran added. Australia beat Sri Lanka in the final to clinch the last World Cup in the Caribbean and 1996 winning captain Arjuna Ranatunga said his compatriots should again do well. "Sri Lanka is one of the favourites. They have built a good team but my only worry is their middle order," said the portly Sri Lankan, whose astute captaincy fashioned the team's stunning 1996 World Cup victory over the Australians. "In 1996, we had a strong middle order. But of course this team has better bowlers and both (Muttiah) Muralitharan and (Lasith) Malinga are matchwinning bowlers," he added.
Former world number one men's tennis player Pete Sampras has had most of his tournament trophies stolen. The American said the trophies were taken from a warehouse in Los Angeles, where they were being kept in storage. "Losing this stuff is like having the history of my tennis life taken away," the retired star told the LosAngeles Times newspaper. Mr Sampras said he wanted his children to see the trophies and appealed for help in getting them back. "I'm not one to gloat about trophies, or show them off. I've never been like that. They didn't see me play, but I would like them to see these things," Pete Sampras he said. He said he was making the theft public in the hope that it would lead to the return of the items. "I know this is a long shot, but I would regret it if I didn't at least try. Maybe somebody knows something. That's all I can hope for," Mr Sampras said. He said he had put the trophies in storage after moving home twice, but that none of the items was insured because there was no way of placing a monetary value on them. "I thought there were security cameras. I thought these things were locked up tight," Mr Sampras said. "I was shocked." The paper said the thieves had made off with most of his trophies from his 64 tour wins, two Davis Cups victories, an Olympic ring and six trophies for his world number one rankings from 1993 to 1998. Magazine articles and newspaper clippings were also taken, along with memorabilia autographed by the musicians Elton John and Carlos Santana. However, Mr Sampras said that only one of the 14 Grand Slam trophies he had won had been stolen - the first one he won at the Australian Open in 1994. The 39-year-old retired in 2003 and has two children with his wife, the actress Bridgette Wilson.
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