SPECIAL Report
H.E. the Governor respondsto White Paper questions
A series of crucial White Paper questionsregarding Citizenship, Human Rights, Auditing and Financial Accountabilityand Borrowing submitted by the Chamber of Commerce's White PaperTask Force to His Excellency the Governor Mr. Peter Smith, CBEwere announced at the public forum at the George Town Town Hallon Tuesday evening, 25th July.
A complete transcript of the questions posed by the Chamber WhitePaper Task Force and the Governor's response to each questionis reproduced below.
CITIZENSHIP
CHAMBER: When will the offer of British Citizenship takeeffect?
GOVERNOR SMITH: This will be following the enactment of legislationin the United Kingdom and we still have no date for that. I thinkit is unlikely that there will be sufficient parliamentary timebefore, say, the middle of next year.
CHAMBER:After the relevant legislation comes into effect how long willa British Dependent Territories ('BDT') citizen have to decidewhether or not to accept British Citizenship?
GOVERNOR SMITH: Since on the day the legislation is enacted allBritish Dependent Territories (BDT) citizens become immediatelyBritish citizens, this question is not relevant. Subsequent decisionsby any person to renounce the new British citizenship can be doneat any time.
CHAMBER: Under the Constitution of the Cayman Islands oneof the qualifications that a person must possess in order to beeligible to stand for election or to vote in an election is thathe is a BDT citizen by virtue of a connection with the Islands.Once British Citizenship is granted to Caymanians how will theaforementioned qualification be changed?
GOVERNOR SMITH: No change to these rules since all BDT citizenswill retain that citizenship as well as British citizenship. Therewill be no loss of BDT citizenship under the new regulations.
CHAMBER: Will the child of a BDT citizen who opts not toaccept British Citizenship be entitled to obtain British Citizenship?
GOVERNOR SMITH:Even if the parent subsequently renouncesBritish citizenship, any children who at that point of decisionwere similarly British citizens would retain that citizenship.
CHAMBER: Will BDT citizens who accept British Citizenshipbe included in the pool of persons eligible to be drafted formilitary service?
GOVERNOR SMITH:There is no draft for military servicein the UK and has not been for many, many years. As a point ofinterest, BDT citizens are already eligible to join the BritishArmed Forces on a voluntary basis. This will not change followingthe introduction of British citizenship.
CHAMBER: Would a BDT citizen who accepts British Citizenshipbe eligible to vote and stand for election in the U.K. or anyother EU country?
GOVERNOR SMITH:Eligibility to vote and stand for electionin any of the European Union (EU) countries, including the UK,is predicated not just on citizenship but also on residence inthe particular country concerned.
ENCOURAGING GOOD GOVERNMENT - Human Rights
CHAMBER: The White Paper provides that 'Overseas Territorylegislation should comply with the same international obligationsto which Britain is subject, such as the European Convention onHuman Rights and the UN International Covenant on Civil and PoliticalRights'. Would it be possible to obtain a comprehensive list ofall of Britain's international obligations in relation to humanrights?
GOVERNOR SMITH: There are presently six obligations internationallyto which Britian is subject on the Human Rights agenda and ofthese all but one have already been extended to the Cayman Islands.The list is: European Convention on Human Rights; United Nations(UN) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; UNConvention on the Rights of the Child; UN Convention on the Abolitionof Torture; and, finally, Convention for the Elimination of DiscriminationAgainst Women (CEDAW), which does not apply in Cayman at present.
CHAMBER: We are aware that the European Union is consideringthe adoption of a Charter of Fundamental Human Rights. We understandthat such Charter may contain provisions granting to all EU citizensthe right to freedom of movement between EU member jurisdictionsand the right to vote and stand for election in all EU memberjurisdictions. Furthermore, we understand that such Charter mayalso contain provisions granting to the citizens of third-partyjurisdictions the right of freedom of movement and the right tovote and stand for elections if such citizens have been legallyresident in an EU jurisdiction for at least 5 years. If the Charterwere adopted would it apply to the Overseas Territories and, ifso, would the provisions regarding the right of freedom of movementand the rights to vote and stand for election apply to the CaymanIslands?
GOVERNOR SMITH:The draft Charter of Fundamental HumanRights is specifically targeted at the institutions of the EUto bring them within the terms of the European Convention on HumanRights, which is now part of the domestic legislation of all EUMember States It will not allow the free right of movement intoCayman given the UK Government's stated offer on citizenship ofnon-reciprocity
ENCOURAGING GOOD GOVERNMENT - Auditingand Financial Accountability
CHAMBER: The White Paper provides that 'Overseas Territorieswill be required to produce timely, independently audited annualaccounts for all public sector activities to UK standards, withfull identification of contingent financial liabilities.' We understandthat this requirement will mean that the Cayman Islands Governmentwill have to change its accounting system from a cash based systemto an accrual (full accounting) system. Please confirm that ourunderstanding is correct. Please also let us know the expecteddate of completion of the change in Government's system of accounting.
GOVERNOR SMITH:The conversion of the Cayman IslandsGovernment accounting system to accruals accounting from the currentcash-based system is well under way and the target is that the2002 annual budget will be both prepared and audited under theaccruals system.
ENCOURAGING GOOD GOVERNMENT - Borrowing
CHAMBER: As a result of the White Paper, what limitations,if any, will be placed on the Cayman Islands Government's abilityto borrow and to guarantee loans to other organisations?
GOVERNOR SMITH: The guidelines on Borrowing include that 10% ofrecurrent revenue should be the maximum allocated for debt repayment(both principal and interest). The Government's present levelis only around 6%. A second target set out is that there shouldbe 90 days of executive expenditure available in cash reserves(formerly expressed as having 25% of recurrent expenditure inreserve).