Coming UnderFire Comes
with Being A News Leader
From the quarters of those who care forand have worked in these islands towards keeping Government affairsin the sunshine, there has always been a hue and cry when thefacts and attendant truth become known to the public.
Among them is a consistent belief that verymuch like the subject of a photograph, only the best side mustbe seen. This is manifested in concerted efforts to maintain thatsunny, though sometimes false, picture.
The Cayman Islands has been studied andreported on by a myriad of specialists and consultants. Imported'professionals' in all forms and fashion, they tabulated and documentedon every issue from Aggregate to Tourism, to Airline to Prisonto Government accounting.
Million and millions of dollars, and inmany of the cases an astounding amount of hours, have been spenton these reports and reviews, only for them to be left to collecta tremendous amount of dust, much to the disgust of well meaningindividuals and other entities who have taken their terms of referenceseriously to produce these reports.
The particular issue we address at thistime is the fact that we have begun to publish extracts from areport on H. M. Prison at Northward which has not yet been presentedto the Members of the Executive Council though it was handed oversince May. This latter fact, of that document not yet meetingthe eyes of our elected representatives, we discovered after itspublication was commenced by this newspaper.
There is no way in which this publicationcould have known that this was the case.
Mind you, those who create the furore overour bringing it to the people make no noise about the fact thatthe report was handed over two months ago and there was no Governmentrelease indicating that such was ever received from the author,Sir David Ramsbotham, Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Prisons.
In a sense two matters arise here:
1) why is it taking so long for the handedover report to reach ExCo; and 2) why is it taking so long forthose responsible to tell the public of this report.
In the circumstances what is to be expectedof a newspaper that prides itself in being a channel of informationwith a social responsibility? Was Cayman Net News expected tosit on the document and await an official announcement, wheneverthat comes along? Would that not represent some sort of conspiracyagainst the people?
We have a commitment to serve a communitywhich has been promised an administration of transparency andaccountability. In this absence, we at Cayman Net News feel compelledto publish what we know, even at the risk that some in high placeswill become upset with us for removing rumours by replacing samewith facts, and delivering to the public information to whichit has a right.
Our people are grasping for the proverbialstraw bearing some hope that their plans are in sync with thelives they have been promised - but not getting.
Among those at fault as well, are the privatesector business owners who do not make their opinions heard, byspeaking out on the many issues affecting the fabric of the community,which created Cayman's success story.
Certainly, there are many who must sharethe blame for letting slide matters that could affect the psycheof the nation and which are presently breaking the back of oureconomy.