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Majority of Caymanians are in lower income bracket
Saturday, July 1, 2006
Dear Sir:
I sat and listened attentively as the current Leader of Government Business gave a poor description of the functionalities and operations of the Federal Reserve and how the decisions made by the Fed affects our local economy. It reminded me of a similarly poor description given by Mr George Ebanks sometime back.
While I give Mr. Tibbetts credit for attempting to rationalize the functionalities, I have to highlight his lack of knowledge which really makes me wonder if he understands the realm of forces he faces with the local Bankers Association and the need for proper local interpretation of our financial industry to deal with the difficult issues we face.
This leads me to raise the question as to whether or not the current government really understands the importance of change required that the Affordable Housing Initiative should have brought about.
While the materials of the structure of the homes are debatable, the overall economical financial viability of making financing more available for indigenous Caymanians to acquire their own home and benefit from at the end of the day, should prevail over the miniscule mountains that are being established out of mole hills.
I recently saw an article in the media indicating that NCB is now offering affordable homes. What I would like to point out is that the financing for such a development again is being processed through the traditional financial institutions, which means in simple terms that, the income bracket level that these homes will be targeting will be persons in the middle and higher income bracket.
Believe it or not, the fact is that the majority of indigenous Caymanians are really placed in the lower income bracket. At least according to the statistics I was able to see. So out of the fifty odd thousand residents that live on the Island, one third or less of that number is Caymanian.
So who will the homes now being proposed to be built by NCB through traditional financial measures really benefit, who will actually be able to afford these homes? This is an important question to arise and be addressed by our government.
Will the indigenous Caymanians benefit from this, in my opinion the answer to that question is no. So who are these homes really being built for and who will benefit from them? Well to give my opinion, I believe that we Caymanians will not.
What is even more interesting to learn, is that NCB is a Jamaican based company operating in the Cayman Islands by a young Caymanian contractor under the management and legal framework of a very prominent and powerful British attorney. What is even more ironic is that this attorney coincidently sat on the Board of Directors for the Affordable Housing Trust.
Now that the chain of oppression that wishes to continue to keep the local people of this country in suppression and depression has been highlighted, the question should then arise as to what measures are being taken by our government to prosecute the culprits responsible for breaching their contractual code of ethics? How will they ensure that such selfish intent to rob the indigenous people of this country a real chance to acquire their own place of residence and increase their chances of becoming more stable and productive citizens, do not occur again.
Well to start with, when one is appointed to sit on a Board of Directors, especially a board for a governmental entity, one must and should be held to a strict and high code of ethics and principles and failure to comply should result in legal action.
Therefore in my opinion, the alternative measures intended by the Affordable Housing Trust to empower its people should continue by adding the Affordable Housing Trust as a branch/extension of the CIDB.
Similar construction projects should and could continue under the approval of the Affordable Housing Trust Board of Directors and forwarded to the CIDB Board of Directors for final approval.
This will ensure that basic principles and code of ethics expected are upheld and transparent.
The fact is that while the IMF and Caribbean Development Bank encourages and financially supports such communal development projects, they do not get involved with the day to day micro management functions of such assignments.
The fact of our ministers in parliament, who all pledged their allegiance sole to the crown and not the local people, needs to be changed to include the indigenous people.
Tyrone Douglas
Saturday, July 1, 2006
Dear Sir:
I sat and listened attentively as the current Leader of Government Business gave a poor description of the functionalities and operations of the Federal Reserve and how the decisions made by the Fed affects our local economy. It reminded me of a similarly poor description given by Mr George Ebanks sometime back.
While I give Mr. Tibbetts credit for attempting to rationalize the functionalities, I have to highlight his lack of knowledge which really makes me wonder if he understands the realm of forces he faces with the local Bankers Association and the need for proper local interpretation of our financial industry to deal with the difficult issues we face.
This leads me to raise the question as to whether or not the current government really understands the importance of change required that the Affordable Housing Initiative should have brought about.
While the materials of the structure of the homes are debatable, the overall economical financial viability of making financing more available for indigenous Caymanians to acquire their own home and benefit from at the end of the day, should prevail over the miniscule mountains that are being established out of mole hills.
I recently saw an article in the media indicating that NCB is now offering affordable homes. What I would like to point out is that the financing for such a development again is being processed through the traditional financial institutions, which means in simple terms that, the income bracket level that these homes will be targeting will be persons in the middle and higher income bracket.
Believe it or not, the fact is that the majority of indigenous Caymanians are really placed in the lower income bracket. At least according to the statistics I was able to see. So out of the fifty odd thousand residents that live on the Island, one third or less of that number is Caymanian.
So who will the homes now being proposed to be built by NCB through traditional financial measures really benefit, who will actually be able to afford these homes? This is an important question to arise and be addressed by our government.
Will the indigenous Caymanians benefit from this, in my opinion the answer to that question is no. So who are these homes really being built for and who will benefit from them? Well to give my opinion, I believe that we Caymanians will not.
What is even more interesting to learn, is that NCB is a Jamaican based company operating in the Cayman Islands by a young Caymanian contractor under the management and legal framework of a very prominent and powerful British attorney. What is even more ironic is that this attorney coincidently sat on the Board of Directors for the Affordable Housing Trust.
Now that the chain of oppression that wishes to continue to keep the local people of this country in suppression and depression has been highlighted, the question should then arise as to what measures are being taken by our government to prosecute the culprits responsible for breaching their contractual code of ethics? How will they ensure that such selfish intent to rob the indigenous people of this country a real chance to acquire their own place of residence and increase their chances of becoming more stable and productive citizens, do not occur again.
Well to start with, when one is appointed to sit on a Board of Directors, especially a board for a governmental entity, one must and should be held to a strict and high code of ethics and principles and failure to comply should result in legal action.
Therefore in my opinion, the alternative measures intended by the Affordable Housing Trust to empower its people should continue by adding the Affordable Housing Trust as a branch/extension of the CIDB.
Similar construction projects should and could continue under the approval of the Affordable Housing Trust Board of Directors and forwarded to the CIDB Board of Directors for final approval.
This will ensure that basic principles and code of ethics expected are upheld and transparent.
The fact is that while the IMF and Caribbean Development Bank encourages and financially supports such communal development projects, they do not get involved with the day to day micro management functions of such assignments.
The fact of our ministers in parliament, who all pledged their allegiance sole to the crown and not the local people, needs to be changed to include the indigenous people.
Tyrone Douglas
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