9 February 2015
BY E-MAIL
Premier The Hon Alden McLaughlin
cc.The Hon Moses Kirkconnell
cc. The Hon Kurt Tibbetts
cc. The Hon Marco Archer
Honourable and dear Sir,
Re: (1) State of the Nation, (2) Petroleum Products pricing, (3) Banking, (4) "Mardi Gras", (5) "Fort Street declaration"
Please accept my kind regards and very best wishes to you in my new
capacity as the chairman of the Cayman Ministers' Association.
1. First, we were pleased and very relieved to hear of all the progress
you outlined and detailed in your recent "state of the nation" report
last week. In our prayers we have given thanks for the promising future
for the Cayman Islands as depicted in your address, and have committed
this and all such hopes to the Lord for His guidance of our people.
2. Secondly, we were asked to look into the pricing situation for
petroleum products, and again we are very glad to learn that the matter
of a degree of price regulation that does not only depend on an
agreement between two distributors is being actively contemplated by
the Government. Mr. Duke Munroe of the Petroleum Inspectorate answered
a query from us about this very completely, but, as he said, "With
regards to the state of regulation of fuel prices, no such regulation
exists." He explained that this was because there was no legislation
for it in existence here, and the Inspectorate had no authority to
attempt it, either directly or indirectly. Our letter to him and his
answer can be found at our website www.caymin.ky by following the link
"Answered Letters".
We support and encourage your efforts to bring about some balance to
what appears to be the current power of the distributors to fix the
prices at levels that appear to be unreasonable, when one considers the
price levels in other national markets. We consider that there is an
urgent issue of justice to be addressed when such products that are so
necessary to the local consumers are distributed by a small number of
companies. These will naturally seek to set their "bottom line" at
levels that they feel will suit them, in the context of the lack of any
balancing option on the part of their consumers to withdraw or even
reduce their patronage.
3. We also discussed the somewhat similar situation of local banking
services, in which service fees of one kind or another have become
increasingly burdensome to local customers. We have not made sufficient
enquiries to give a detailed breakdown of such fees, though I am aware
that in at least some banks every non-electronic transfer of funds
between two accounts of the same account holder attracts a charge, that
some banks levy a charge, that can be substantial in comparison with
the value of the transaction, for depositing a cheque from a foreign
source, and that at least some banks also levy a charge upon a customer
cashing a cheque that was paid to them by another customer of the same
bank. The point of justice at issue, as with the petroleum prices
issue, is whether the customer has sufficient power to provide an
effective balance to such practices, and if not what the Government
might be able and willing to do to redress the matter.
4. A fourth matter that has been discussed raises issues of culture and
the religious basis of society, although it may directly affect only
some worshipping communities rather than all. I refer to the new "Mardi
Gras" event in George Town that involves events of the same kind
climaxing in the evening of Ash Wednesday. There are a number of local
sponsors for this extended event, and these sponsors include the Cayman
Islands Tourist Board itself. There are reasons for expressing
disappointment about this. We are aware that there was a very limited
version of this happening in Cayman Kai for years before this, but that
limited version does not appear to have been widely sponsored, as this
one is, or indeed given significant official support.
In Grand Cayman Ash Wednesday has been particularly marked by the
Agricultural Show, and this has become a widely accepted occasion.
Also, Ash Wednesday is recognised in the Christian worldview as the
beginning of the season of Lent, and is a Principal Holy Day on the
church calendar. The focus of thought has begun its change towards
preparation for Passiontide, Holy Week, Good Friday and the
Resurrection of our Lord. In some countries the period before Ash
Wednesday is marked by "carnival" (meaning farewell to meats), and of
course "Mardi Gras" is the original francophone version of "Fat
Tuesday", in English referred to as "Shrove Tuesday", the day before
Ash Wednesday, when in earlier times people made confession before
embarking on the holy Season of Lent, beginning on Ash Wednesday. An
important component to Ash Wednesday, though perhaps not locally
widespread, is the practice of the imposition of ashes as a sign of our
mortality and penitence, and this is practised by a variety of churches
in the Islands.
Now it is my recollection that from the early years of "Batabano", the
organisers were good enough to avoid the periods of Lent, Holy Week and
Easter and settle on the period after Easter so as not to conflict with
these observances. Indeed, it is my understanding that "Batabano" was
marketed as the Cayman version of "carnival", and perhaps still is. We
hope and trust that the sensitivity that was demonstrated then to the
situation will continue to be evident.
Additionally, the relevant Tuesday and Ash Wednesday have been polar
opposites in mood in Caribbean areas e.g. in Trinidad, and visitors who
are culturally aware of this might perhaps be confused by what seems to
be envisaged here this time.
5. Finally, and so as not to extend this letter unmanageably I would
like just to refer you at this time to our thoughts on the "Fort Street
Declaration", which appear as a draft on our web-site www.caymin.ky and
to invite your reaction to it. Perhaps a meeting could be arranged?
With kind regards again and all blessings,
Bishop Nicholas Sykes
Chairman, Cayman Ministers' Association.