Opinion

Former minister outlines solutions to Cayman Islands woes

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  1. Cayman Turtle Farm Island Wildlife Encounter -  Close all components of this attraction except the Turtle Farm related operations. This would allow for the subsidy to be reduced from $9M to $1M, an annual savings of CI$8M;
  2. Tourism Attractions Board – Privatize its operations, including Pedro Castle, the Botanic Park, Hell and the Craft Market and save approximately CI$1.4M in annual subsidy;
  3. Cayman Airways – The Panama and Dallas routes should not have been launched in the middle of a budget crisis and a global recession. Immediately discontinue these routes and eliminate the approximately $1.5M marketing and operational budget associated with them. Reinstate the implementation plan for the Lufthansa Consultants Report which was commenced in 2008 and this will save the airline approximately $2M annually. This should convert into a $2M reduction in government’s annual subsidy to Cayman Airways;
  4. The Nation Building Fund – This has been justified on the basis that our children need money for scholarships and our churches need money for ‘nation building’. Yet we have properly functioning Education Council and Ministry of Tourism Scholarship programmes with properly established criterion awarding record numbers of scholarships annually. Our churches have an obligation to act as a moral compass for our society rather than inadvertently promoting greed through accepting government’s patronage. Any money given to churches for infrastructure projects, such as hurricane shelter space, is easily justified but must be properly funded through government’s capital development programme and not through this illusive creature called a “Nation Building Fund”. Eliminate it and save $4M annually;
  5. Government Administration Building - Mandate all remaining government agencies that were slated to move into the new Government Administration Building to do so without further delay. This could save the government approximately $2.5M in lease costs annually; and
  6. Health Services Authority – Implement and enforce more prudent policies and eliminate the significant waste by mandating the HSA to deliver its services within the $8M annual subsidy. This would save on average $12M annually by eliminating the need to provide large allocations of supplementary funding. Health care subsidies to the HSA have continued to increase to unsustainable levels growing from a total of $17M in 2009/10 to $19M in 2010/11 to $27M in 2011/12.

Published August 18, 2012

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