A Wave of GoodNews
The country this week is savouring a much-deservedsoothing breeze that is blowing through these islands after anumber of situations that combined to create anxiety among allwho live here.
What with the news that our national flagcarrier, Cayman Airways, can boast a clean bill of health andall of its planes have taken to the sky again. Add to that thenews from our Immigration Board that it is making giant stepsforward in clearing away a pile of applications which at one timemight have appeared to be an insurmountable backlog.
Then we have final confirmation that twomajor banks here, Barclays and CIBC, are indeed part of a Caribbean-widemerger that should soon see the region have its first mega-bank.
The unfortunate coincidence of events wasenough to have even the sturdiest of our loyal citizens or residentsreeling. When addressing the state of affairs at CAL Leader ofGovernment Business with Portfolio responsibility for Cayman Airways,Hon. Mr Kirk Tibbetts, put it aptly to the press: "Here isa situation at present that is not anything but a co-incidentalsequence of events". Larger than the CAL affair, that statementcan be applied to the three phenomena that afflicted the CaymanIslands all at once, or near enough.
Taking a closer look at the issue of CAL.Now that the three aircraft have retaken their air routes andrelieved of the financial burden of the $400,000 weekly sub-servicecost, we should be able to say the matter was a lesson well learnt.No one the board, management and staff, and goodly citizens- will ever again take our national flag carrier for granted.
Whether one is for or against emigrationto Cayman by expatriates, policies of the Immigration Board arealways a hot topic. Either it did too much or too little, wastoo positive or too negative.
Now that the Board has announced successin reducing the applications backlog owing to a drive by staff,all should be relieved, and those workers should feel a senseof accomplishment.
Relieved because a declaration by the Boardthat it has cleared things up to May this year and in the processconsidered 3,946 work permit applications does not mean it hasallowed almost 4,000 people into the country. The Board's carefullychosen term 'considered' means that some got in and some may haveleft. For those concerned the state of uncertainty, the limbodance, is over because it makes the next course of action clearer.
For months the story was blowing in thewind that Barclays and CIBC were mulling some form of link-upthat would result in a regional financial house packing a formidableforce. But the available information barely qualified above rumour.
Any uncertainty about money makes peoplenervous. That is why conservativism predominates financial affairs.Depositors were uneasy about how their money in the banks willbe treated, and staff were worried about whether they would havetheir jobs.
Now the air is clear. The financial houseswill merge. Although concrete information has yet to become availableon if, or how many, staff will be going home, actions of the banks'executive indicate that comfortable severance packages may bein store for those made redundant.
At the same time it is good news for peopleconcerned about the ability of small individual institutions tofend off the rush from international conglomerates with the adventof free trade. Cayman and the Caribbean will now have a largebank to stand firm. Maybe it is a start.
The good news is finally beginning to cometo pass in these blessed Islands.