Getting onBoard the
Information Highway
It is one thing to say that we are in thecommunication age and everyone should get on board or risk beingleft behind. What must happen, however, is that support mechanismsbe put in place to ensure that all can get on board and travelalong the information highway.
To be part of and keep abreast with thecommunications era one needs information technology equipment.For the householder that is a computer.
Although prices of these communication toolsare dropping, they remain out of the reach of many. That priceis compounded by charges added on that have nothing to do withthe cost of production.
That charge is Government's import dutyat the port of entry that takes the new tool of communicationfurther away from the average person, who recognises a need forit but finds meeting the cost impossible.
Government is strategising this country'sneed to re-position itself to bring Cayman up to strength to competein the Internet age. And, recent pronouncements point to plansand moves afoot to revolutionise the service to make the costof transmission cheaper.
What about the machinery with which to initiatethat transition? Why can't the administration do all in its powerto make acquisition of computers more affordable so that everystudent the future workforce, - and others who have beenmade redundant or need to be re-trained, can have a computer likethey now have TVs?
In recognising this need, other countrieshave either lowered or done away with import duty that makes thecomputer cost prohibitive. Just Tuesday of this week legislatorsin neighbouring Jamaica relieved that equipment and all accompanyingsoftware of the burdensome duty.
Here in Cayman, it can be said that whileGovernment is encouraging the populace to be technology conscious,it is preventing this achievement by not making it possible thatevery home could have a computer.
There is talk of the need for more Caymaniansto be employed in the information technology industry. The onlyway we could get there on a broad basis is by firstly puttingthe children in on the act.
We have an estimated 6,000 school age children.If, for argument' sake, each one of them were to buy a computerat an average $1000 with the accompanying 20 per cent duty whichequals $200, that would put into the coffers of government some$1.2 million dollars.
If the administration should forsake thatduty, the question that forces itself to the fore is: has it notbeen worth the cost?
It means that among our youngsters therewould be a cadre of technologically ready brains ready to takethe Cayman Islands forward along a path that ensures we remainamong those in the world at the forefront of business and commerce.
The ConstitutionalReview
Require the People's purview
Continuing along this theme of technologyand making the best use of it in production, Cayman Net News recentlyencountered a still puzzling of response during an attempt tosecure an electronic copy of the 1971 constitution and its amendments.
The Clerk of the Legislative Assembly informedus that the Attorney General would not allow this publicationto be distributed electronically because it is not a public document.
Say what?
Putting aside this whimsical statement,such approaches to use of modern technology washes away any statementsby the administration about getting Caymanians on the informationhighway. Or is it that there is a further need to tax those whowish a copy to pay the $16.80 being asked at the Clerk's office.?
Cayman Net News intendsto publish this 49-page document, which belongs to the people,as a series in our publication, and on the Internet at ourcost for retyping. Yet, we must, because we have the people'swill at heart.