FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2019 • CAYMAN COMPAS S Join theater’s foray ‘Into the Woods’ Caym an Drama S ociety is holding audit ions for new production B2 ■EVENTS Going coconuts! Coco Fest celebrates Cayman’s favorite drupe this Saturday. B8 CAYMAN WEEKENDER Going coconuts! EDITORIAL | PAGE 4 PETITION ORGANIZERS: WHY THE RELUCTANCE TO SHARE YOUR NUMBERS? High of 84 Low of 74 Seas: Rough with wave heights of 4 to 6 feet. Small craft should continue to exercise caution over open water. ESTABLISHED 1965 www.caymancompass.com – 75 CENTS – FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2019 $5 Alternative investment conference under way Premier Alden McLaughlin welcomes delegates to the annual Cayman Alternative Investment Summit at the Kimpton Seafire hotel on Thursday morning. The theme of this year’s conference, is ‘Tech-Tonic Shift: Innovation in Alternative Investments,’ which explores how technological innovation impacts the industry. For more on this story, see page 8. – PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY SAME-SEX COUPLE FIGHTS FOR RIGHT TO MARRY Landmark court case will determine controversial issue JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Denying marriage rights to same-sex cou- ples is “simple discrimination” and violates rights guaranteed under the Cayman Islands Constitution, a leading barrister claimed Thursday as a test case on the issue began in Grand Court. Caymanian Chantelle Day and her partner Vickie Bodden Bush are bringing a joint judi- cial review and constitutional challenge con- testing government’s decision to refuse their application to marry in April of last year. The case, before Chief Justice Anthony Smellie, Cruise port petition puts dock debate on collision course JAMES WHITTAKER jwhittaker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Almost six months after begin- ning a campaign to force a refer- endum on the controversial cruise port project, volunteers are still collecting the signatures needed to trigger a public vote, though organizers have not stated how many people have signed the peti- tion to date. Members of the Cruise Port Referendum Campaign say they are closing in on the target of 5,288 signatures from registered voters. That total represents 25 percent of the electorate and is the threshold required to trigger a people-initiated referendum. The group declined to give a precise figure for the amount of verified signatures it has collected. Speaking after a public meeting at South Sound last month, Mario Rankin, one of the leaders of the group, said the number was in the “high 4,000s.” Katrina Jurn, of Cruise Port Referendum Cayman, told the Compass this week, “We are nearing our targeted goal and have commenced the internal verifica- tion process for registered voter signatures. “We are confident that we will go beyond the target of 5,288, de- spite voter apathy in some quarters and the fear of political retribution within the workplace, particularly within the Civil Service.” Civil servants are allowed to sign the petition, unless they are senior officials directly involved with the project. Government presses forward As campaigners work to gather signatures, government is pressing ahead with the procure- ment process. The Major Projects Office, which is responsible for the project man- agement of all government major capital projects above $10 million in value, is anticipating bids from three consortiums to design, build, finance and maintain the cruise facility and expanded cargo port. The final bids are due by the end of the first quarter of this year and a decision on the “preferred bidder” is expected later this year. At that point, government says it will be in a position to tell people exactly how much the project is expected to cost and precisely how it will be funded – unanswered questions that have sparked criticism over perceived lack of transparency from officials. Tourism Minister Moses Kirk- connell previously told the Com- pass that consultants PwC would then complete a final business case analysis on the project and the information would be pre- sented to the public before Cab- inet makes its final decision. A separate deal has already been agreed with two major cruise lines, Carnival Corporation and Cruise ships moor off George Town in October last year. - PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 8 » PLEASE TURN TO PAGE 9 »2 LOCAL NEWS FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS Enjoy a Cimboco breakfast of *Two Eggs (Done to your liking) *Your Choice of Apple Smoked or Canadian Bacon *Herb Roasted Potatoes *Honey Wheat Toast For ONLY $5.00!!! Finish it o with a cup of Java for $1.99 Start your day o right! Mon-Fri * 7:30-11:00am *Except Holidays Young Brac author pens second book JEWEL LEVY jlevy@pinnaclemedialtd.com Cayman Brac au- thor Joshua Dilbert re- leased his second book, “Sarma,” last week. Mr. Dilbert authored “The Mordenham Acres” previously, under the pen name Brad Tarlem. His latest offering features an elderly man with Alzheim- er’s disease. Mr. Dilbert said “Sarma” gave him an opportunity to hone his writing skills and at the same time promote awareness of Alzheim- er’s disease. “Alzheimer’s is a very sad disease and some do not receive the care and at- tention they deserve. But I can see their full minds are still in there somewhere,” Mr. Dilbert said. In “Sarma,” Joaquin, who suffers from Alzheim- er’s, has recently been placed in a nursing home, only receiving visits from his daughter and twin granddaughters. On one particular visit, he recalls a dream he had at age 16 in which he witnesses an alien invasion, later turns into a reptilian-like crea- ture, and experiences an apocalyptic event. “The book, I feel, ap- peals to an older, diverse audience, 13 years and older,” said Mr. Dilbert, who just turned 22. He started writing from around age 16, and from then on, he knew he wanted to publish his own books one day. His debut book, “The Mordenham Acres,” is a more whimsical tale than “Sarma,” telling the story of two young rats who long to journey into a beautiful forest in search of adventure. Mr. Dilbert said the community’s response was very supportive of both books. He said he has re- ceived many calls from people telling him he had done a good job, with some highlighting things they thought he could have done differently. Most people wanted to know why he did not use his own name as author for his first book, with many saying he might have done himself a disservice by writing under a pen name. “For this book, I used my real name,” he said. Despite the challenges they face, Mr. Dilbert feels authors are encouraged in Cayman, with the Cayman Islands Book Fair and the Cayman Literary Awards held at the George Town Public Library. He feels that more needs to be done to assist young authors, but that the islands are taking steps in the right direction. The new book will soon be available at Bluff View store in Cayman Brac, and Mr. Dilbert is working to have copies available at book stores in Grand Cayman. The book is available online through various retailers, including Amazon. UCCI nears completion of delayed strategic plan MARK MUCKENFUSS mmuckenfuss@pinnaclemedialtd.com The University College of the Cayman Islands Board of Governors is moving ahead with efforts to secure better salaries for faculty and staff at the same time the school’s new president is laying out a revised vision for the institution. President Stacy McAfee spent much of Wednesday’s meeting of the Board of Gov- ernors outlining that vi- sion, which was tied to a refocusing of the long-de- layed five-year strategic plan for UCCI. Originally set to be ap- proved last spring, the stra- tegic plan is now expected to be voted on by the board at its March meeting. Ms. McAfee has refocused the plan around what she is calling three main pillars: ed- ucation, resources and eco- nomic impact. “One of the things I’m trying to accomplish [is] a better understanding of what UCCI is becoming,” Ms. McAfee said. She emphasized that the education component was based on a student-centered perspective. Part of being able to do that, she said, re- quires more information on the students themselves. Data gathering has been a weak point at UCCI, she said. “We need rich data to in- form our understanding of why students come to UCCI, what they hope to accom- plish, how they are in fact progressing and achieving various goals,” she said. Currently, she said, the school is looking at new sys- tems that could provide the school with the necessary in- formation. She expects ad- ditional personnel will be needed to handle that data. “Today it’s just a very labor-intensive process to pull data,” Ms. McAfee said, adding that analyzing and correlating that data is even more difficult. “We need more resources that will inform the counseling and support we need to offer.” Having such information is also necessary if the school wants international accredi- tation agencies to look at it seriously, she said. When it comes to the re- sources aspect of the stra- tegic plan, much of the focus is currently on obtaining a permanent agreement for funding a 5 percent cost of living allowance that was ap- proved by the Cabinet last year for faculty and staff. The increase was retroactive to July 1, 2018. UCCI employees received that pay through Dec. 31, but negotiations are still in progress to secure funding for carrying the in- crease forward. Board Chairman Anthony Ritch said he has been in dis- cussions with the Ministry of Education and expects an agreement on that issue to be finalized in the coming days. But UCCI has additional salary requests beyond the cost of living increase. “This is but one step and there is more to be done,” Mr. Ritch said. The board is finalizing a purchase agreement that would request additional funding to bring faculty and staff salaries at UCCI in line with similar civil service jobs elsewhere in government. The job equivalencies are based upon a study the board req- uisitioned last year. “By the end of March, I would expect us to for- malize it,” Mr. Ritch said of the request, He’s hoping for approval for the in- crease by June. President McAfee said the area of the strategic plan needing the most attention involves the economic im- pact of UCCI. “I think the third pillar, the engine for economic develop- ment, the knowledge transfer piece, is an area we’re devel- oping further,” she said. It’s important, she added, that the Cayman commu- nity understands the impor- tant role UCCI plays in the local economy. “We’re impacting the na- tion in a really big way,” she said. “Even those that don’t go to university receive a benefit from those that do.” Much of the focus will be on expanding technical and vocational education and training, she said, as well as forming more public-private partnerships that will open career avenues for students. In her letter to the board, she said, “professional and con- tinuing education offerings [need] to be more respon- sive to the needs of key in- dustry sectors.” If the plan is approved in March, Ms. McAfee said, it will only serve as a beginning. “Then the hard work be- gins,” she said. “That’s when it’s really exciting. You’ll start to see UCCI emerge from the chrysalis.” Beach walk to raise awareness of congenital heart defects SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Cayman commu- nity will come together to mark Congenital Heart De- fect Awareness Week and to pay tribute to the memory of Nolan Evans and Cristiano McKenzie on Sunday at Seven Mile Public Beach. People of all ages will have the opportunity to walk for a good cause on Sunday at the Heart Warriors and Angels Beach Walk, an event hosted by the families be- hind Team Cristiano and Team Nolan. Nolan Evans, also known as Baby Nolan, passed away last year on Jan. 25 at the age of seven months after fighting the effects of congen- ital heart disease. His par- ents, Ailian and Sean Evans, have dedicated their lives to preserving his memory and to raising awareness about the scourge of congenital heart defects. Cristiano McKenzie passed away at age 4 in June 2016 after a protracted battle with heart disease, and like the Evans family, parents Trisha Dilbert and Mario McKenzie want to keep fighting the battle in his honor and to make sure that fewer families will have to experience a similar loss in the future. That is where the Heart Warriors and Angels Beach Walk comes in. Participants will pay $25 to be a part of the 2K walk, and all proceeds will go to Hart for Hearts and the Cayman Heart Fund. People are encouraged to wear either a warrior or an angel costume. Prizes will be awarded for the best adult and children’s costume, and raffle prizes and will be available to people who par- ticipate on Sunday. The first 50 participants to register on the day will re- ceive a gift bag. Several local companies have helped to sponsor the event, and the Evans and McKenzie families hope to host the walk again in the fu- ture. The Evans family also hosts KidFest, a summer cel- ebration that is designed to honor Baby Nolan’s birthday. Pedro St. James hosted the first KidFest last June, and the Evans family hopes to stage it again this summer to raise more money to fight congenital heart defects. The Evans family has raised more than $20,000 through their philanthropic efforts so far. Registration requests for Sunday’s walk, which begins at 7 a.m., can be emailed to ailianevans@hotmail.co.uk. UCCI President Stacy McAfee Joshua Dilbert with his latest book, ‘Sarma.’ Ailian Evans visits the Heroes Wall at the Cayman Islands Hospital which features her son Nolan’s picture. A 2-kilometer beach walk will be held in the little boy’s memory and to raise awareness of congenital heart disease on Sunday morning at Seven Mile Public Beach.The islands’ most-trusted news source 3 CAYMAN COMPASS • FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2019 Disclaimer : FIN Grand Cayman features and amenities are based on current development plans and concepts and are subject to change without notice. Some services and amenities are subject to service-based fees or homeowner fees. Two to four bedroom residences priced from US $1.8M SECRET, CROWDLESS BEACH Beach cabanas, attendant and a private salt-water lagoon. DISCREET, RELIABLE, READY A full service team to care for your every need and safety. PRIVATE RESIDENCE ENTRY Private elevator access, private foyer, no corridors. WALLED, GATED AND LUSH A hidden oasis surrounded by tall privacy hedges. PRIVATE UNDERGROUND PARKING Gated with singular entry and exit access points. ART DECO OCEANFRONT RESIDENCES fin@fingrandcayman.com + 1 345 326 1400 Reserve your private tour and discover the last word in luxury PRIVATE, SECURE AND DISCREETThe islands’ most-trusted news source 4 – EDITORIAL – Opinion & Letters The Cayman Compass welcomes comments, opinions and viewpoints from readers. Letters to the editor can be emailed to editor@pinnaclemedialtd.com, submitted via www.caymancompass.com, sent by post or hand-delivered to the Compass office. Petition organizers: Why the reluctance to share your numbers? Why, nearly six months into the effort, will orga- nizers of a petition drive to force a cruise port ref- erendum not reveal how many signatures they have collected? To date, our reporters’ repeated requests for the simple information have been met with vague replies; the closest answer a vague “high 4,000s” offered by petition organizer Mario Rankin last month (see Front Page story). How are the signatures being verified? Have they been verified? By whom? The lack of clear answers to these fundamental inquiries raises troubling issues. Secrecy is fertile ground in which suspicions grow. These are not idle questions. Readers will recall the bungled efforts of those opposed to the closure of a segment of West Bay Road just a few years ago – a petition drive that yielded thousands of invalid signa- tures from foreign residents, visitors and children. On a more philosophical level, it is difficult to under- stand port opponents’ secrecy when one of their chief complaints about the port proposal is of government’s reluctance to share project details, including the cost, timeline for completion and plans to maintain services during construction. There is another reason the petition drive should be a model of transparency and open communication: The petitioners are attempting to exercise a relatively new power. Before the 2009 Constitution, Cayman had no mechanism for people-initiated referendums. There is still much about the process that is untested and unknown. Unfortunately, Elections Supervisor Wesley Howell has not been much help on that front, either – failing to respond to multiple requests for information from the Compass. Previously, he told the Compass that the terms of a referendum would be set by Cabinet and Legislative Assembly, and his office would be respon- sible for organizing it. How, exactly, that would work he has not said. Compounding the confusion is the law, itself – con- tained in Section 70 of the 2009 Constitution – which is as mangled a jumble of legalese as this editorial board has ever encountered. It is stacked with vague and relative directives, not least of which are the pro- visions that the petition must concern “a matter or matters of national importance,” that Cabinet, upon receiving the petitions must settle on the wording of the referendum “within a reasonable time period” and determine the date for the referendum “in a manner prescribed by law.” In 2011, the Constitutional Commission urged law- makers to draft and approve a legal and administra- tive framework for people-initiated referendums. The commission identified a host of questions and consid- erations that were not explicit in the constitution but demanded codification, from the formatting of peti- tions, determination of topics that may or may not be subject to referendum, campaign finance disclo- sure, rules for the collection and verification of signa- tures, how to handle amendments and time frames for petition organizers and Cabinet. To our knowledge, government never acted upon their recommendation. Which brings us to our current predicament. It is a relatively easy matter to put pen to paper, starting a petition or signing one, but make no mistake: The power to force an islandwide vote on any major public project or issue is an extremely serious undertaking. At the very least, a referendum which requires an off-cycle trip to the polls represents a sub- stantial withdrawal from the public purse. The logistics of securing the necessary signatures requires the acumen of a military tactician planning for battle, and the subsequent scrutiny of an eagle- eyed auditor. (Personally, on collecting the signatures, we would highly recommend consulting with the Jehovah’s Witnesses who are the obvious experts in door-to-door canvassing.) Levity aside, petition organizers ought to take a lesson from the iguana cullers who, through the gov- ernment, each week make public their progress toward their goal. Why should the petition organizers do anything less? FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS Trump’s big play for the political center WASHINGTON – With Demo- crats embracing neo-socialist policies to eliminate private health insurance and fossil fuels, America’s political center is up for grabs. In his State of the Union address Tuesday night, President Trump made a concerted – if belated – play for it. A State of the Union ad- dress is the one moment when the president can speak directly to tens of millions of persuadable Americans without a media filter. Trump seized that opportunity by stringing together a compel- ling list of achievements: mil- lions of new jobs created, including hundreds of thou- sands of new manufacturing jobs; millions of Americans off food stamps; wages rising and a booming economy. On his watch, we reached the lowest unemployment levels in a half-century, including the lowest African-American, Hispanic and Asian Amer- ican unemployment levels ever recorded, and thanks in part to his push to expand domestic energy production, the United States is the No. 1 producer of oil and natural gas in the world. The president then called on Democrats and Repub- licans to build on those achievements: He cited bipar- tisan legislation to tackle the opioid crisis, fix the Depart- ment of Veterans Affairs and reform “sentencing laws that have wrongly and dispropor- tionately harmed the African American community.” The lesson, Trump declared, is that “when we are united, we can make astonishing strides for our country.” He then laid out a uni- fying governing agenda “We must reject the politics of re- venge, resistance and retribu- tion,” the president declared, “and embrace the bound- less potential of cooperation, compromise and the common good.” This is exactly what a majority of Americans want. Even when he had to tackle divisive issues, he did so smartly. He made an im- passioned case for the border wall but did so by citing the harm illegal immigration does to unlawful migrants, especially women and chil- dren who are victimized by smugglers, cartels and human traffickers. He intro- duced Americans to Immigra- tion and Customs Enforce- ment agent Elvin Hernandez – a legal immigrant from the Dominican Republic – who has helped rescue mi- grant girls from the horror of forced prostitution and human slavery. “Tolerance for illegal immigration is not compassionate – it is cruel,” Trump declared, adding “I want people to come into our country in the largest numbers ever, but they have to come in legally.” Reason- able Americans in the center nodded in agreement. On abortion, he called out the Democrats for their ex- tremism, citing “lawmakers in New York [who] cheered with delight upon the pas- sage of legislation that would allow a baby to be ripped from the mother’s womb moments before birth.” Ac- cording to Gallup, only 13 percent of Americans sup- port third-trimester abortion, and even fewer, I suspect, support infanticide. The Trump we saw Tuesday night is the presi- dent we should see every day, not just once a year. He reached across the aisle, ap- pealed to persuadable voters in the center and asked them to consider his reason- able proposals. He made the case for controversial poli- cies in a way designed to win over open-minded skeptics. It worked. A CBS News in- stant poll found that 76 per- cent of viewers approved of what they heard in Trump’s address, including 72 percent who said they approved of his ideas for immigration. In short, Trump did some- thing he rarely does: work to expand his base. It’s a good start, but wooing per- suadable voters takes more than one good speech. It re- quires discipline and sus- tained effort. It’s not too late. Trump’s approval rating is 40 per- cent (up slightly from 37 per- cent during the government shutdown). Before his third- year State of the Union ad- dress, Ronald Reagan’s ap- proval was just 35 percent – and he won a second term in a landslide. Democrats are giving Trump an opening by em- bracing socialist policies that most Americans know will bankrupt the country. But Trump cannot count on Democrats to self-destruct. He must actively court the voters they are alienating with their far-left tilt and win over millions of Ameri- cans who are benefiting from his policies but still do not support his presidency. In his address, Trump declared that “America will never be a socialist country.” Whether he is right depends on what he does in the weeks and months ahead. Follow Marc A. Thiessen on Twitter, @marcthiessen. © 2019, The Washington Post Writers Group MARC A. THIESSEN He reached across the aisle, appealed to persuadable voters in the center and asked them to consider his reasonable proposals. PRINTED AND PUBLISHED BY: Caymanian Compass Limited (a subsidiary of Pinnacle Media Ltd) Compass Centre Shedden Road, George Town SEND US YOUR VIEWS OR NEWS: P.O. Box 1365 Grand Cayman KY1-1108, Cayman Islands Telephone: (345) 815-0095 Email: newsdesk@pinnaclemedialtd.com ADVERTISE WITH US: Telephone: (345) 949-5111 Email: sales@pinnaclemedialtd.com Website: www.caymancompass.com PUBLISHERS DAVID R. LEGGE AND VICKI L. LEGGE EDITOR-IN-CHIEF DAVID R. LEGGE EXECUTIVE EDITOR PATRICK BRENDEL A MEMBER OF THE INTER-AMERICAN PRESS ASSOCIATION “Give light and the people will find their own way”The islands’ most-trusted news source 5 CAYMAN COMPASS • FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2019 Investing in Cayman’s future: First class legal training – right from the start At Ogier, we’re looking for the next generation of leaders to keep us moving forward. What we’re offering is a platform to Be Extraordinary – to collaborate across borders, to be the first to experiment with new technology, and to be a part of an international law firm that wants to do things differently. What we’re looking for is not just technical expertise. 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They have hired a legal team to fight Dart’s efforts to have those cov- enants removed from the Land Register. Dart has filed a lawsuit seeking to free itself from these restrictive agreements, which guarantee Britannia owners use of the Britannia Golf Club and Grand Cayman Beach Suites. The developer bought both properties along with the old Hyatt hotel in 2016. The golf course has since closed and the Beach Suites has been redeveloped as a boutique hotel. In a writ filed with the Grand Court last month, law- yers acting for Dart argue that those agreements were simply contractual arrange- ments that should not be le- gally binding on Dart as the new owner. They claim the Regis- trar of Lands, listed as a de- fendant in the lawsuit along with various Britannia strata groups, should never have officially registered these rights as “incumbrances” that transferred with the owner- ship of the properties. They are asking that those incum- brances be removed. In its statement, the Bri- tannia Liaison Committee said it had instructed a “heavyweight legal team” in- cluding John Randall, QC, of St. Phillips Chambers in the U.K. and leading Cayman Is- lands law firm Walkers to fight the case. The committee said, “Over the past 25 years, home- owners in Britannia have bought properties in good faith, with the knowledge that certain rights were clearly registered in their fa- vour on the Cayman Islands Land Register. The existence of these rights and the reli- ability of the register have been an attractive feature to owners, residents and pro- spective purchasers in Bri- tannia. The BLC is confi- dent that the Courts of the Cayman Islands will up- hold these rights, and de- cline to grant Dart any order for their cancellation and deletion.” Kim Lund, who owns a property in Britannia and is acting as a spokesperson for the liaison committee, said removing those rights now would add millions of dol- lars to the value of the land, which was bought with the covenants attached. If that happens, he said it would have negative impact on other developments, with similar covenants. “This is a huge precedent for the Cayman Islands. If a developer can strip away rights that people have en- joyed for 25 years, people are going to question whether to invest in real estate in the Cayman Islands.” The dispute has been rumbling for more than two years, with multiple meet- ings held between Dart and the homeowners in an effort to find a resolu- tion to the impasse outside the courtroom. Dart had no immediate comment to make on the Bri- tannia owners’ statement, but last month, the com- pany stated, “Dart has every confidence that the Grand Court will appropriately con- sider and decide the impor- tant legal issues involving the restrictive agreements and that such decision will give clarity to what Dart re- gards as an open legal issue in this jurisdiction.” Rotary Club to host ‘games’ to aid Special Olympics SPENCER FORDIN sfordin@pinnaclemedialtd.com The Rotary Club of Grand Cayman is enlisting the com- munity to pitch in and par- ticipate at the Rotary Olym- pics, a fundraising event that will help local Spe- cial Olympics athletes com- pete against their peers in March’s Special Olympics World Summer Games in the United Arab Emirates. The “Rotary Olympics,” which will be held at 5 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 28, at Sea Alissa, the home of A.L. and Melissa Thompson on South Church Street, will be a fun collection of family-style games designed to raise money for the trip abroad to the World Summer Games. The Special Olympics Summer Games will be held in Abu Dhabi and Dubai on March 14-21, and a 37-member Cayman delega- tion is poised to compete in a number of activities. Special Olympics Cayman Islands has already raised $100,000 of a $200,000 goal to finance the journey, and the Rotary Olympics next month is one event designed to help fill in the gaps. “It’s incredibly mean- ingful when people come out and help make this possible,” said Vanessa Hansen Allott, a public relations represen- tative for Special Olympics Cayman Islands. “It means the world to the athletes and it’s beneficial for the commu- nity when we’re working to- gether that way.” The Rotary Olympics will feature a festive mix of com- petitions, including back- yard games like Giant Jenga, Connect 4, Twister and Corn- hole, among others. Prizes will be distributed in cate- gories such as Best Costume, Best Team Name, Worst Ath- letic Ability, Crowd Participa- tion and more. And while the competi- tion at the Rotary Olympics will be for fun, the objective of event is something bigger. Cayman will be sending 19 athletes, seven unified partners and 11 coaches and staff members who are pouring their hearts into pre- paring for their moment on the international stage. Cayman’s Special Olym- pics team will compete in athletics, aquatics, basket- ball and bocce. Three of the disciplines include unified partners, where people without intel- lectual disabilities train and compete alongside Special Olympics athletes. An estimated 7,000 ath- letes and 3,000 coaches will represent 170 countries at the Special Olympics Summer Games, and there will be 30,000 volunteers and 50,000 spectators cheering them on. Jessica McDowall, daughter of the late Penny McDowall, will be the head swim coach for Cayman’s Special Olympics delegation. All of the competitors will take the athletes’ oath before competition, which will in- clude them saying: “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.” Kathryn Walsh from the Rotary Club of Grand Cayman said that admission to the Rotary Olympics event this month will come with a plate of jerk chicken and a drink, and she said the Ro- tary Club hopes the fund- raiser will be more fun than the average event on the Cayman social calendar. “We try to support the community wherever we see a need,” said Ms. Walsh. “The Special Olympics team has been working very hard at getting over there. These are all stellar athletes that de- serve all the recognition they can get and every penny we can raise for them. If this goes really well, we’re hoping we can do this again.” Entry will cost $120 for a team of four and $35 per individual. Rotaract Blue Cayman Islands will serve as a co-sponsor of the Rotary Olympics along with the Ro- tary Club of Grand Cayman. For more details, send an email to rotaryolympics@gmail.com. Homeowners at Britannia have hired a legal team to fight Dart’s efforts to remove covenants that entitled owners to golf club and Beach Suites access. – PHOTO: TANEOS RAMSAY Cayman’s Special Olympics team, pictured in December last year with the late Penny McDowall, front row, far right, is headed to the United Arab Emirates to compete in the 2019 Special Olympics World Summer Games. A liaison committee, representing the homeowners, released a statement Thursday saying covenants guaranteeing them use of those amenities had been an attractive feature in their decision to buy into the development in the first place.The islands’ most-trusted news source 7 CAYMAN COMPASS • FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2019 APPLEBYGLOBAL.COM HEAD FOR HEIGHTS? Realise your full potential by joining the right firm. If you’re a young Caymanian looking for a fulfilling career in law, Appleby offers Legal Scholarships and Internships. Submit your application before 1 March 2019. Learn more now at applebyglobal.com/careers REACH YOUR LEVEL WITH THE APPLEBY SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMME.The islands’ most-trusted news source 8 FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2019 • CAYMAN COMPASS Investment summit explores data globalization and machine learning MICHAEL KLEIN mklein@pinnaclemedialtd.com Globalization is not over. In many ways, it is acceler- ating, as a new form of inter- nationalization is no longer about goods and services but about data, according to Tony Cowell, partner at KPMG and chairman of the Cayman Al- ternative Investment Summit. Unstructured data like satellite imagery or social media data can provide “huge opportunities” for the alterna- tive investment industry, he said on Thursday, at the start of the sixth annual two-day conference, which attracts fund managers, institutional investors, economists and technologists in addition to Cayman’s financial services professionals. Those invest- ment managers who do not use alternative data will face strategic risks in their busi- ness, Mr. Cowell said. “Digitization will become the North Star of our in- dustry,” Mr. Cowell argued in his opening remarks. “The rise of machine learning will really make our industry un- recognizable in the future.” However, funds that use machine learning in their in- vestment process somewhat downplayed the significance of the change, stating that it is merely another form of quan- titative value investing that analyzes unstructured data to inform investment decisions. Michelle McCloskey, pres- ident of Man Group, said her firm has been interested in machine learning for 10 years in partnership with Ox- ford University. But in truth, she said, much of the tech- nological capabilities that Man uses in the investment process are about improving business efficiency rather than generating returns. Mike Chen, senior port- folio manager and lead ma- chine learning researcher at PanAgora Asset Management, said, “Machine learning is a continuous evolution of what we have been doing for 20 years.” As such, it was neither “new” nor “fancy,” he added. Machine learning was simply linear regression and learning from data to make predictions. These predic- tions and inferences still come from human intuition and sensibility, he said. First, an investment thesis is formed traditionally, and then machine learning is ap- plied to analyze big data sets. For instance, given that more than 50 percent of the market capitalization of a company is typically driven by intangi- bles, such as brand and intel- lectual property, it would be useful to measure the intan- gibles, he said. If most of the value of a company is generated by the employees, one invest- ment hypothesis could then be, for example, that higher employee sentiment leads to more revenue per employee and higher stock return. “And each of these steps can be tested to see that it holds water statistically,” Mr. Chen said. Alternative data providers regularly approach quant funds to sell data that prom- ises, if analyzed correctly, to predict company perfor- mance or market behavior. Christine Qi, co-founder and partner at high-frequency trading firm Domeyard LP, said this could be satellite data of WalMart parking lots with the premise that because it approximates the number of customers every day, it would be possible to deter- mine WalMart sales figures before the retailer’s earnings announcement. Or it could be satellite imagery of oil rigs to estimate how much oil is in a specific country. The problem is that only a handful of firms have been able to leverage this type of data successfully to create excess returns. The reason is, Ms. Qi said, that there is a lot of noise in the data, a lot of inaccuracies that will affect the outcome of the analysis. Because much of the data turns out to be noise, a significant amount of re- sources are needed to trans- form the raw data into a us- able format. The conference opened with a welcome address from Premier Alden McLaughlin Thursday morning. The Cayman Alterna- tive Investment Summit con- tinues Friday at the Kimpton Seafire hotel with a range of speaker presentations and panels about the impact of technological change on in- vestment firms. An on-stage inter- view with Hollywood ac- tress Natalie Portman will close out the conference in the afternoon. began in front of a packed public gallery that included supporters of same-sex mar- riage, as well as its most vocal political opponent, leg- islator Anthony Eden. Edward Fitzgerald, QC, has been recruited to repre- sent the couple, while gov- ernment has hired Jeffrey Jowell, QC, to fight its corner. In his opening argument, Mr. Fitzgerald said his cli- ents, who have been in a committed relationship since 2013 and have a 5-year-old daughter, legally adopted in the U.K., had been “beset with problems” because of the Cayman Islands govern- ment’s refusal to allow them to marry, or at least formalize their partnership through a civil union. For example, he said, Ms. Bodden Bush, a joint Hon- duran and U.K. national, has no official immigration status in the islands as her partner- ship with Ms. Day is not le- gally recognized. Equally, their relationship with their child is not recognized by the state. Though they are a family unit living in the Cayman Is- lands, the state treats them as “legal strangers,” he said denying them a suite of rights on issues relating to succession, immigration, in- surance and adoption. Mr. Fitzgerald said not al- lowing them to marry and enjoy the same rights as cou- ples of the opposite sex, vio- lates their right to family life and their right to freedom of conscience – fundamental freedoms guaranteed by Cay- man’s Bill of Rights. “Most important, it consti- tutes unjustified discrimina- tion on the grounds of sexual orientation,” he added. He said his clients had taken legal action reluctantly after Ms. Day had reached out to the premier and gov- ernor as far back as Sep- tember 2017 to ask them to change the territory’s laws. Reading from Ms. Day’s letter, he said she had un- equivocally urged govern- ment to act to introduce same-sex marriage or, at the very least, civil partnerships – something he described as the “irreducible minimum” re- quired of countries that sign up to the European Conven- tion of Human Rights, which includes Cayman through its constitutional relationship with the U.K. Ms. Day wrote, “I am proud to be Caymanian, but made to feel an outcast and a second-class citizen in my own country. “The message from Cayman is you can love who you want, but if they are of the same sex, be quiet and don’t expect to be treated the same.” Though the governor, at the time Helen Kilpatrick, did engage in correspon- dence with the couple and even made a speech urging the government to adopt legislation on civil partner- ships, Mr. Fitzgerald said the premier, Alden McLaughlin, did not respond at all and nothing was done. Mr. Fitzgerald said the case of Italy v. Oliari, set- tled by the European Court in 2015, had established civil partnerships as the “irre- ducible minimum right,” but Cayman’s constitution goes further and, if properly in- terpreted, should be seen as affording same-sex couples equal marriage rights. Government’s legal team did not speak Thursday morning in the opening of what is expected to be a three-day hearing, but Mr. Fitzgerald gave a preview of their arguments, based on their written submissions. He accused the govern- ment of “hollow words” and “crocodile tears” in their written claims of respect for the status of his clients’ relationship. He said the govern- ment’s written submission suggested it would seek to argue that allowing same- sex marriage threatened “public morality,” but he claimed they had provided no evidence to support this. He added that the argument included a “vague reference” to the Cayman way of life and an argument that Cay- man’s special “culture and heritage” should make it ex- empt from the European Court’s ruling that member states should be obligated to provide a framework to confer legal rights on same- sex relationships. He said none of these ar- guments were relevant to a secular constitution and it was “simply impossible” to find “anything other than prejudice” in the arguments against same-sex marriage. Refuting suggestions that Cayman’s constitution spec- ifies that marriage should be between a man and a woman, he said the doc- ument simply states that nothing can be done to inter- fere with the rights of men and women to marry. “It says you can’t take away the right of people of the opposite sex to marry. It doesn’t say you can’t add the right of other people to enjoy those rights,” he said. The case was continuing Thursday afternoon and is expected to conclude Sat- urday. At that point, Chief Justice Smellie will adjourn to consider his judgment which will be delivered at a later date. Same-sex couple fights for right to marry CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1 Machine learning is not new to alternative investment firms, panelists at the Cayman Alternative Investment Summit argued. From left, moderator Jon Cohen, partner KPMG; Mark Jackson, scientific lead and business development, Cambridge Quantum Computing; Michelle McCloskey, president, Man Group; Mike Chen, senior portfolio manager and lead machine learning researcher, PanAgora Asset Management; and Christine Qi, co-founder and partner, Domeyard LP. - Photos: Taneos Ramsay Tony Cowell, partner at KPMG and chairman of the Cayman Alternative Investment Summit, takes a photo at the opening of the summit with a ‘selfie drone.’The islands’ most-trusted news source 9 CAYMAN COMPASS • FRIDAY FEBRUARY 8, 2019 The Family of the Late Alice Rivers regrets to announce her passing on Saturday, 2 February, 2019. Condolences can be registered at www.boddenfuneralservices.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page A funeral service will be held 2:00 p.m. Sunday, 10 February, 2019 at West Bay Seventh Day Adventist Church. Interment will follow in West Bay Cemetery. The Family Of The Late Condolences can be registered at boddenfuneralservices.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page. William Pamer regret to announce his passing on Wednesday, 30 January, 2019. Mr. Pamer will be repatriated to Canada. The Family of the Late Gwen Whittaker regrets to announce her passing on Tuesday, 5 February, 2019. Condolences can be registered at www.boddenfuneralservices.com & Bodden Funeral Service Facebook page A funeral service will be held 11:00 a.m. Saturday, 9 February, 2019 at Savannah United Church. Interment will follow in Old Man Bay Cemetery. Royal Caribbean, to help fi- nance the construction of the facility. The details of that deal have not been disclosed. Little room for maneuver Despite those commit- ments, the Cayman Islands Constitution leaves little room for maneuver for government if the campaigners reach the required number of signa- tures. Suggestions that the wording in the document is vague enough to allow gov- ernment to avoid a public vote if 25 percent of the electorate signs the petition were dis- missed by legal experts and opposition politicians. Andrew Woodcock, of Hampson and Company, said Sections 69 and 70 of the con- stitution (see sidebar), which deal with referendums, were unambiguous and he does not believe they would be open to legal challenge. Mr. Woodcock, formerly a lecturer at the Truman Bodden Law School, said Section 69, which says government “may” call a referendum if the ma- jority of legislators approve, referred only to government- initiated referendums and does not, in his view, conflict with the power of the people to force a referendum through Section 70 on matters of “na- tional importance.” “The effect of Section 70 is that, where a petition signed by 25 percent of the electorate is submitted to Cabinet, there is no discretion. A referendum must be called,” he said. “It is for this reason that it is a highly democratic pro- vision. This is particularly so in a smaller jurisdiction such as ours, where the number of signatures required is rela- tively small.” Opposition leader Ezzard Miller said it would be impos- sible, politically and legally, for government to avoid a ref- erendum if the campaigners reach the threshold. “If they get the numbers and they are verified, they have to have a referendum,” he said. “Cabinet has to pass a law that states the question and sets the date.” He said any attempt to avoid a referendum at that stage would be “polit- ical suicide.” “I don’t think they have any wiggle room,” Mr. Miller said. “If you get 25 percent of the registered voters and they are authenticated, and they try that [to avoid a refer- endum], I will call for a gen- eral election.” No time limit The constitution does not set a time limit for the va- lidity of signatures, so, in theory, the campaigners have an indefinite amount of time to collect the signatures. Mr. Miller said he did not believe the presence of a signed and sealed con- tract would be enough to pre- vent a referendum, under the constitution. He acknowledged that backing out of a contract, if a referendum went against the government, would likely mean incurring substantial financial penalties, but said this would be a point for the government to argue in the run up to a public vote rather than sufficient justification to stop it. Mr. Woodcock said the Constitution does give gov- ernment the power to set the question for a people-initiated referendum. “As you would appreciate, the manner in which a ques- tion is phrased can have a very significant political im- pact. Therefore, the provision is not entirely democratically transparent,” he added. He said there was poten- tially some room for argu- ment over whether the issue at hand met the bar for a topic of “national importance.” There is no definition of this phrase in the constitution, meaning it could be open to interpretation. “There is an argument to say that, whenever 25 per- cent of the registered voters … wish to have a matter dealt with at referendum, it must be deemed to be a question of national importance. That is, the mere fact of the interest of such a proportion of the pop- ulation renders it a question of national importance. That, however, is my own view, and is not made clear by the Con- stitution,” he added. Next steps? If and when the cam- paigners collect the required number of signatures, the Constitution specifies that the petition must be presented to Cabinet. The next step in the pro- cess is not spelled out in the document but it is likely that the Elections Office would be charged with verifying the signatures against the elec- toral roll. Once the petition is verified, Cabinet would be ex- pected to go to the Legislative Assembly to pass a law, set- ting out the question for the referendum and the terms of the vote. Wesley Howell, the current supervisor of elections, did not respond to multiple calls and emails requesting infor- mation for this article. He pre- viously told the Compass that the Cabinet and Legislative Assembly direct the terms of a referendum and the Elec- tions Office is then respon- sible for organizing it. Two referendums have been held in Cayman in recent years – the first involving the modernization of constitution, in 2009, and the second on the “one man, one vote” issue, in 2012. Both were initiated by government. For people-initiated ref- erendums, the Constitution specifies that the result is binding on the government and the legislature “if assented to by more than 50 percent of persons registered as electors.” That creates a high bar for the campaigners to reach. Simply carrying the majority of votes in the poll would not be sufficient as those that do not show up will effectively be counted as votes in sup- port of the port project. The turnout at the 2017 general election was 75 per- cent. If a similar turnout is seen at a referendum, that would mean 15,864 of the Cayman Islands’ 21,152 reg - istered voters showing up to the polls to cast their vote. In those circumstances, 10,577 (two thirds) of the votes would need to go against the port project for the result to be binding on the government. The legislature has the power, if it initiates a ref- erendum of its own accord, to lower that threshold to a simple majority of those that turn out to vote (7,933 in the above example). Mr. Miller says this is one of the reasons he pushed gov- ernment to call a referendum itself, during a marathon Leg- islative Assembly session on the Brac in September. At the time, government cited the time and cost of putting on a referendum as prohibitive and insisted it would delay the procurement process. Nearly six months later and with no preferred bidder yet selected, Mr. Miller says he finds that argument less con- vincing than he did at the time. “It takes six weeks from Nomination Day to organize a General Election,” he said. “If they had called a refer- endum in September when we brought our motion, they would have the result by now. If they were confident they had the support of the people, that is what they would have done.” Cockfighting roosters to be destroyed CAROL WINKER cwinker@pinnaclemedialtd.com Approximately 40 roosters were ordered to be destroyed after two men pleaded guilty to charges arising from reported incidents of cockfighting. Yunio Abril Blanco, 33, pleaded guilty Wednesday to keeping animals for cock- fighting on June 6 last year. He also admitted having a medical product without a prescription at a North Sound Road ad- dress on the same date. He appeared in the dock with Luis Francisco Grate- raux, 50, who was due to be sentenced for cruelty to ani- mals. However, defense at- torney John Furniss asked for all sentencing proceedings to be adjourned because Mr. Grateraux also faced charges of importing restricted phar- maceuticals – medicines that require a prescription. Mr. Furniss said the de- fendant always admitted pos- sessing the medicines, but said he purchased them on island. Magistrate Kirsty-Ann Gunn said a file note indicated that the Crown was to pro- vide amended charges. This was done and Mr. Grateraux pleaded guilty to possession. This defendant first ap- peared in court in August last year on charges that he en- couraged, aided or assisted in the fighting or baiting of cocks following alleged inci- dents in East End and North Side in March 2018. After his arrest, the ani- mals were seized and kept by the Department of Agriculture. Crown counsel Garcia Kelly asked for a destruction order. He advised that keeping them was costing the depart- ment “a considerable sum.” He further advised that an alternative was not feasible. “These animals have been bred in such a way that they are naturally ferocious, so that they cannot be re-intro- duced into a normal popula- tion of other animals,” he said. Mr. Furniss said both men were willing to sign over ownership of the animals to the department. On that basis, the magistrate ordered their destruction. Mr. Furniss asked the Crown to review other charges against Mr. Blanco, including cockfighting, cru- elty to animals and causing unnecessary suffering. He said these charges related to the preparation of animals for cockfighting. “What they were doing may have been lawful and normal in their own country, but it is illegal here,” Mr. Furniss commented. The files did not indi- cate the defendants’ country of origin. A pre-sentence so- cial inquiry report had not been completed for Mr. Grat- eraux and Mr. Furniss also requested one for Mr. Blanco, so the magistrate set sen- tencing for March 20. THE PROVISIONS FOR REFERENDUMS, AS SET OUT IN THE CONSTITUTION: POWER TO PROVIDE FOR A REFERENDUM 69. A law enacted by the Legislature may make pro- vision to hold a referendum among persons regis- tered as electors in accordance with section 90, on a matter or matters of national importance, when so re- solved by the majority of the elected members of the Assembly; but the question of whether the Cayman Islands should seek any amendment to this Consti- tution that may result in their independence shall be deemed to be a matter of national importance. PEOPLE-INITIATED REFERENDUMS 70. (1) Without prejudice to section 69, a law en- acted by the Legislature shall make provision to hold a referendum among persons registered as electors in accordance with section 90 on a matter or mat- ters of national importance that do not contravene any part of the Bill of Rights or any other part of this Constitution. (2) Before a referendum under this section may be held – (a) there shall be presented to the Cabinet a pe- tition signed by not less than 25 percent of per- sons registered as electors in accordance with section 90; (b) the Cabinet shall settle the wording of a ref- erendum question or questions within a reason- able time period as prescribed by law; and (c) the Cabinet shall make a determination on the date the referendum shall be held in a manner prescribed by law. (3) Subject to this Constitution, a referendum under this section shall be binding on the Government and the Legislature if assented to by more than 50 per- cent of persons registered as electors in accordance with section 90. Cruise port petition puts dock debate on collision course CONTINUED FROM PAGE 1Next >