Blockchain.com, which offers individuals and companies crypto trading and custody services, is setting up an office in Camana Bay and hiring its first on-island employee. It will partner with TechCayman, a tech-focused immigration and relocation services provider that utilises special government frameworks to help international companies come to Cayman.

In recent months Blockchain.com has been an active player in Cayman’s digital asset scene. In January, it had a conditional Virtual Asset Service Provider (VASP) licence approved by the Cayman Islands Monetary Authority, while in February Lane Kasselman, the co-CEO and president of Blockchain.com, spoke at Cayman Crypto Week 2026.

On its own, Blockchain’s small starter office and embryonic team won’t have much impact on Cayman’s economy. Yet its move from regulatory applications and conference appearances to establishing a physical presence and hiring locally shows how digital assets have the potential to bring real economic benefit.

“One of the aims of the VASP Act was to make Cayman a hub for regulated digital assets,” said Michael Bacina, deputy chair of the Blockchain Association of the Cayman Islands in a 1 July interview with the Compass. “Building an ecosystem with real players present encourages even more businesses to Cayman and helps lift up the jurisdiction.”

A coup for Cayman

Founded in the UK in 2011, Blockchain.com is one of the world’s oldest surviving cryptocurrency companies. It operates in more than 70 jurisdictions but Kasselman highlights Cayman’s regulation as one of the best.

“The Cayman Islands has established itself as a forward-thinking jurisdiction for digital asset innovation,” said Lane Kasselman, co-CEO at Blockchain.com. “Alongside TechCayman, we are proud to establish a physical presence and begin building a team to help shape a sustainable, regulated, and long-term future for crypto.”

Cayman has attracted a slew of digital asset firms in recent years, yet Blockchain.com is one of the largest to establish a physical presence on the Islands. Since its 2011 inception, the firm has supported more than 95 million wallets, 43 million verified users and approximately $1 trillion in crypto transactions.

“We are thrilled to welcome Blockchain.com to the region,” said Jennifer McCarthy, head of operations at TechCayman. “Attracting globally recognised leaders like Blockchain.com is a testament to the effectiveness of our legislative framework and our mission to support world-class technology companies within our thriving business community.”

Cayman national hero Francine Jackson, a leading campaigner for women’s rights and a marriage celebrant who performed almost 4,000 ceremonies, has passed away at the age of 97.

Jackson, who was active up to her last days, passed suddenly early Sunday, 5 July, her daughter Joy Basdeo told the Compass.

“It was sudden, but because of her age and she did have a heart condition, it wasn’t unexpected, but she was such an active person,” Basdeo said. “She hadn’t complained of anything.”

Jackson had attended a funeral service on Saturday, played bingo at a seniors’ club later and then went shopping, as she was expected to host one of her renowned tea parties on Sunday.

“We were out shopping,” Basdeo said. “She was getting ready for the tea. She wanted to make sure she had all the things ready to greet her guests for tea.”

Jackson, who was honoured with national hero status in January last year, was singled out for her work as an early pioneer who battled for women’s voting rights and the right to stand for office.

Jackson was announced as the islands’ newest addition to the national heroes list, along with Captain Keith Parker Tibbetts, Ernest Craddock Ebanks and Frank Hugh George Scotland.

Battle for women’s voting rights

Jackson was determined in the 1950s to gain recognition for women and give them a voice in the political process.

In 1948, a group of women in George Town, including Jackson, presented a petition for women’s voting rights to lawmakers. It was dismissed.

Jackson was undeterred. In 1957, she and three Bodden Town women submitted a similar petition for women’s voting rights and the right to stand for office. This time it was successful.

She voted for the first time in the 1959 election and, with several other women dubbed “the Fabulous Four” later stood for office – although all were defeated at the polls.

Faith and marriage ceremonies

Jackson in addition blazed a trail in marriage, becoming Cayman’s first Civil Register of Marriages, and opened Cayman Weddings in West Bay in the mid-1980s.

She and husband Vernon, who died a decade ago, between them performed almost 8,000 wedding ceremonies.

Jackson was also stalwart in her faith and was church mother at John Gray Memorial Church, where she counselled couples.

Francine Jackson, national hero and battler for women’s rights, has died aged 97. – Photo: Supplied

She stepped up during the devastation left in the wake of Hurricane Ivan, providing hot meals for many families after the massive storm.

Basdeo said it was hard to sum up a life lived so long and that had been lived so well.

She added, “That’s going to be a hard one. My mother was all about love. I never heard her speak unkindly about anyone and her door was open to anybody who needed help, support and prayer.

“She had a very strong faith. She was all about family. We have a big, loving family and we all enjoyed her very, very much and we were blessed to have her for so long.”

Basdeo added, “She was very community minded and that’s her biggest contribution to the country. Whenever she met anyone, she was ready to embrace them, no matter where they came from.

“She was a uniting force in the community, which is very important in these times.”

Deep interest in current affairs

Basdeo said her mother was a political person and retained her interest in current affairs, in Cayman and globally, right up to her death.

“She was always aware and kept herself aware about what was going on, not just on the island, but around the world,” Basdeo said.

“She often talked about politics and she was very knowledgeable about what was happening.”

Basdeo said she was a small child when her mother battled for women’s rights and did not remember much of her struggle.

“I wouldn’t say she was a feminist,” Basdeo said. “She was a strong and independent woman and she had a husband who encouraged her to be strong and independent.”

Jackson and her husband, who were married for 65 years, had three children, Basdeo, Jennifer Dilbert and André Jackson.

Jackson’s funeral arrangements are still to be announced.

A recent surge in car thefts has sparked concerns from police that the vehicles may be used in other serious crimes.

Police spoke out after several cars were reported stolen on Thursday, 1 July – all Hondas – from the Windsor Park and Prospect areas of George Town.

Police said they believe “that these vehicles are being scrapped for parts or to be refurbished so as not to appear to be the outstanding stolen vehicles. They are also believed to be used by perpetrators to commit other serious crimes.”

In response to the car thefts, police have set up a special task force to trace the vehicles and the culprits.

Police said officers were “taking a robust approach by dedicating resources specifically to locate these stolen vehicles and the persons responsible for the thefts in the coming days”.

The service said it had received 29 vehicle theft reports since 1 May and that 25 had been recovered.

The outstanding vehicles, including the most recent thefts:

• Blue Honda Civic (1995), registration 146658

• Grey/brown Honda CR-V, year and registration not known

• Grey Honda CR-V (1996), registration 237548

• Silver Honda CR-V (1997), registration 131145

A Honda CR-V, stolen and still untraced.

A Honda CR-V, still missing after it was stolen in George Town.

A Honda CR-V similar to a silver example stolen recently.

 
 Police announced just over a week ago that eight vehicles had been stolen over the week ending 19 June, mostly in George Town, Bodden Town and West Bay.

The majority of the cars were said be Hondas dating from the late 1990s to early 2000s, although other makes have also been stolen.

Police said at the time two of the cars had been traced and recovered.

The service added that drivers should park in well-lit, busy areas and make sure that their vehicles were properly locked before being left unattended.

Officers also recommended extra security measures, such as wheel locks, should be considered and that CCTV at homes could help prevent car theft, as well as other crimes.

Police last summer highlighted a string of similar thefts, also involving several older Honda models and said they believed some were taken to be broken up for spare parts.

They said 18 theft or attempted thefts had happened in July 2025 alone and that a teenager had been arrested in connection with parts taken from a stolen car.

Police listed 10 missing vehicles, seven of them Honda cars or motorbikes, including two CR-V SUVs and two Civic hatchbacks.

Two other motorbikes, a Kawasaki and a Yamaha, were also taken, along with a 2010 BMW X1 SUV.

Anyone with information on what they believe to be a stolen vehicle should call 911.

Prices for some of Grand Cayman’s water customers will be cut under a new water supply licence issued to the company that serves some of Cayman’s top tourism and residential areas.

Cayman Water said the cost per US gallon of water sold in its licensed area, which includes the visitor and residential hotspots of Seven Mile Beach and West Bay, would fall by an average of 6.5% under the new 25-year deal with regulator OfReg.

Rick McTaggart, CEO of Consolidated Water, the George Town-based parent of Cayman Water, added that the company was confident it could continue to meet increases in demand from predicted higher temperatures and lower rainfall this year, as well as into the future.

“I can say that Cayman Water is well-prepared for any higher water demand resulting from potentially drier and hotter weather this year, or other weather events such as hurricanes,” McTaggart said.

He added the exclusive licence was “a significant milestone” for the company and its customers.

“Lower base water rates and energy cost recovery charges under this new licence will provide an approximately 6.5% reduction in the cost of water per gallon to our customers, compared with prior licence.”

The deal will also see continuation of a royalty payment of 7.5% of gross water revenues to Cayman’s government-owned Water Authority-Cayman.

The payment last year amounted to almost $1.77 million.

More reservoir capacity

McTaggart highlighted that a new two-million-US-gallon storage tank in West Bay would be completed this year and that production from the company’s desalination plants had been expanded to increase supply by one million US gallons per day at the end of 2025.

That is in addition to the five million US gallons per day pumped out from the Governors Harbour and West Bay reverse osmosis desalination plants and an 8.7- million-US-gallon storage capacity at the two sites and the Britannia site next to Camana Bay.

“We are able to increase our production and storage capacity as required to meet water demand, subject to approval of all major capital projects by OfReg,” McTaggart said.

The present $71.96 a month charge for domestic consumption of up to 3,000 US gallons a month will drop $6.88 to $65.08 a month – a reduction of about 9.6 %.

The reductions will mean a domestic customer who uses less than 3,000 US gallons a month will see a 14.5% drop in their bills.

A commercial user who consumes less than 3,000 US gallons a month will get a 12.6% cut in their water bills.

Commercial operators who use upwards of 3,000 US gallons a month will see a reduction of almost 7% on their water consumption over that limit.

It is anticipated that domestic consumers will pay an average of 9.6% less under the new arrangements.

McTaggart said Consolidated Water, which also has operations elsewhere in the Caribbean and the US, could operate more efficiently than other regional water suppliers because it had to justify operating expenses to shareholders.

“This keeps constant pressure on management to control costs in all aspects of the business and maintains focus on efficiency,” he said.

Energy efficient and low leak levels

McTaggart highlighted the low level of leaks from pipelines and reservoirs and meter malfunctions.

He said the company had lost 7.4% of production because of leaks in the year to date compared with losses in other regional water utilities of more than 20%.

McTaggart said Consolidated Water’s production plants were among the most efficient in the world in terms of power consumption.

He added that the new deal included a clause to ensure savings on power consumption were shared with consumers and that any power usage over an OfReg-set limit had to be absorbed by the company.

“So, if we further improve our energy efficiency through desalination industry innovation, the customer will see a reduction in their bills due to the shared savings mechanism in the new licence,” McTaggart said.

The news came just weeks after the government-owned Water Authority-Cayman announced that it would increase its rates by 3% from July.

The authority said the increase meant the base price for the first 12 cubic metres of water used in a month – about 2,640 imperial gallons or 3,200 US gallons – would go up 13 cents from $4.34 per cubic metre to $4.47.

The price for water consumption over 12 cubic metres went up from $5.57 to $5.74 a cubic metre – a 17-cent increase.

Sewerage rates, based on assessed Sewerage Fixture Units, will go up from $1.672 to $1.722 per unit.

The disposal charges levied on sewage trucks increased from $17.018 to $17.529 per 832.67 imperial gallons (1,000 US gallons).

brackattacka writes: The Law Reform Commission’s paper makes clear that cannabis prohibition in the Caribbean did not emerge from strong scientific evidence. It was shaped by colonial-era fear, stigma, and the criminalisation of communities such as Rastafarians, with enforcement concerns tied to racial, ethnic, income, and socioeconomic disparities.

Continuing to punish adults for small-scale cannabis possession keeps Cayman attached to an outdated model that criminalises minor conduct while doing little to reduce real harm.

Cayman already recognises that cannabis has medical and therapeutic value through prescribed cannabis extracts and tinctures. It is logically inconsistent to acknowledge its medical use on one hand, while treating small-scale adult possession as deserving penalties of thousands of dollars and possible imprisonment with hard labour on the other. How in the rass is this proportional justice??

The comparison with alcohol is especially important, especially if you lived in the Brac. The paper notes that alcohol-related crime and youth alcohol use are more prevalent than cannabis in the Cayman Islands. In 2023, alcohol was linked to a larger share of violent crime than drugs, and among students, alcohol use began earlier and was more common than marijuana use.

Yet alcohol is regulated, taxed, and socially accepted (drunken dry humping on west bay road in front of kids, anyone?), while cannabis users are still exposed to criminal records, police encounters, and disproportionate penalties.

Cayman should decriminalise small amounts of cannabis immediately, remove criminal records for minor possession, protect medical patients, and create sensible rules around age limits, public use, impaired driving, education, and youth prevention. After that, the country should have an honest conversation about regulated recreational cannabis.

Regulation would allow Cayman to control supply, reduce the black market, set product standards, restrict youth access, and collect revenue instead of wasting public resources on low-level enforcement. It na hard for a 15-year-old to go buy a 5-dolla portion. It would be harder for them to get a cannabis vape from reflections.

A reminder that alcohol is the leading cause of unnatural death in the Cayman Islands, while a plate of turtle is the only thing at risk by a stoned individual.

This comment was posted in response to Discussion paper published on cannabis reform

(CMR) Government officials announced during The Cold Hard Truth on Thursday, July 2, a plan aimed at resolving the immigration status of an untold number of Cuban-Caymanians living here who, despite having documented Caymanian bloodlines going back generations, have never been granted formal Caymanian status.

Speaking on CMR's Cold Hard Truth morning program, Minister the Hon. Rolston Anglin and Permanent Secretary Julie Hunter laid out the roots of a problem they say has quietly compounded for more than half a century, disadvantaging multiple generations of people they describe as unquestionably Caymanian in lineage, name, and heritage.

The issue traces back to the early 20th century, when Caymanians, driven by a lack of economic opportunity at home, settled in Cuba, many on the Isla de Pino, to work in citrus farming and other trades. When the Cuban Revolution took hold in 1959, those Caymanian families found themselves trapped behind the new communist regime, unable to leave.

Sustained lobbying by Caymanian leaders eventually pressured the British Embassy to negotiate their release. The first “Freedom Flight” landed in Grand Cayman on October 22, 1968, followed by further waves of returnees through the 1970s, 80s and 90s. Anglin said that history is not widely taught or understood in Cayman today, which is part of why the issue has persisted in the shadows for so long.

According to officials, many of the returning Cuban-Caymanians were never formally granted Caymanian status. Instead, on the direction of the then-Executive Council, the Chief Immigration Officer issued letters simply permitting them to live and work in Cayman indefinitely without a work permit, but stopping short of conferring status. At the time, officials say, that arrangement felt sufficient: people were relieved simply to be home. But because the underlying immigration law was never amended to create a clear path from that letter to full status, the gap has passed down through the generations. Children and grandchildren born afterward cannot show that a parent held Caymanian status “at the time of birth,” a requirement under current law, leaving some multi-generational Caymanian families effectively stateless within their own homeland. Hunter was careful to note that the difficulty was not for lack of effort on the part of those affected. “It's not to say that a lot of them did not try,” she said. “You know, they tried, and they simply did not get through.”

A formal proposal was brought to caucus in March, and Anglin said it was unanimously supported once colleagues understood the scope of the issue.

During the morning show on Thursday, Hunter read out the resolution as it was originally presented to caucus, walking through the history of Caymanian settlement in Cuba, the 1959 revolution that trapped them there, the government's decades of lobbying for their release, and the series of gaps in immigration law that left their descendants without a clear path to status, concluding with the resolution that Anglin be tasked with establishing a working group to research and identify the individuals affected, with a view to regularizing the matter once and for all. A working group of roughly 20 people, including individuals who arrived on the earliest Freedom Flights, is now being assembled to research and identify affected individuals living in Cayman, with an eye toward eventual bespoke legislation creating a clear pathway to status.

Officials stressed the effort is narrowly targeted. It applies only to people of Cuban-Caymanian descent already living in the Cayman Islands, not to a broader pool of relatives still in Cuba, and not to an open-ended expansion of the population. A sunset clause is expected to be built into any eventual legislation to prevent the measure from becoming a permanent or indefinite pathway. “This is not about floodgates, about persons coming in,” Anglin said. “This is about persons of Cuban Caymanian descendants who are living in the Cayman Islands now. They are here already.”

The problem came into sharp focus recently after two young children — descendants of a woman who returned from Cuba decades ago on one of those letters — were blocked from being registered in school because the system had no record recognizing them as Caymanian.

“We can't be in Cayman in 2026 and have little children being disadvantaged purely because of how their great grandparents were being brought,” Anglin said.

Anglin pointed to the case of a well-known West Bay resident, born to two Caymanian parents, who has lived in Cayman for decades without status. “It is wrong,” he said. “Absolutely wrong.”

Anglin was emphatic that the initiative is not a backdoor for new immigration claims. “We have to make this extremely clear: these are persons who have Caymanian lineage running through their veins,” he said. “These are not first generation, or anyone just seeking to get status having just come to Cayman, without having that established link — that established link of family lineage.” He added that the scope of the working group's mandate stops at Cayman's shores: “We are not looking back to Isle of Pine at this stage. We do not have that remit. We are looking purely at people who are living in Cayman and have been disadvantaged about how they were brought back home. These are Caymanians that are living amongst us, and that is not right.”

Several callers pressed officials on why Cuban-Caymanians were being prioritized over other groups, including Caymanian descendants in Honduras, Jamaica, Nicaragua and elsewhere, who say they face similar hurdles.

Anglin and Hunter reiterated that the focus is now on Caymanians working in Cuba who were forcibly prevented from leaving during the revolution. They said other immigration anomalies are being handled separately and on a case-by-case basis, but that the Cuban-Caymanian cohort represented a discrete, well-documented group whose situation could be resolved through targeted legislation.

Anyone believed to be affected has been encouraged to come forward once the working group's contact details are finalized, officials said, adding that public outreach on the initiative will follow in the coming weeks.

(CNS): The delivery of financial assistance to families in need is undergoing a review as the government battles a growing welfare bill. People who need help include a growing number of working poor in the Cayman Islands, as well as retirees on inadequate pensions, those with disabilities and the unemployed.

During the recent meeting of parliament and during Finance Committee, the entire system of welfare support, ranging from full monthly stipends to limited help with certain bills or rent, and its evident inadequacies were debated and discussed frequently.

On Tuesday, 23 June, Social Development Minister Isaac Rankine said that over the last twelve months, the Department of Financial Assistance (DFA) completed 547 reassessments of individuals and households receiving government support.

Answering a question from Deputy Opposition Leader Kenneth Bryan, he told the House that 391 (71%) received increased average monthly services, and 155 (28%) saw their provision reduced because their financial circumstances had improved slightly. There was no change in one case.

The minister explained that financial assistance is calculated based on a household’s verified deficit, which can change over time as income and expenses change. Some households had smaller shortfalls between their expenses and their income.

Some households’ incomes grew because clients found jobs or worked more hours, or because they benefited from an increase in ex gratia payments. In other households, expenses had decreased, or there were fewer household members — all of which reduced the level of support they needed.

“Reductions occurred only where a household’s verified financial need decreased, resulting in a lower assessed shortfall and therefore a lower level of services,” Rankine said, noting that the savings amounted to just under $60,000.

“By contrast, the 391 persons who experienced increases saw a combined monthly increase of $182,904.86. This demonstrates that through reassessment, the government was able to redirect the $59,294.45 in reduced monthly services to help meet the increased needs of the 391 clients whose household deficits had grown,” he said.

Bryan had filed a private member’s motion, which was debated later that day, asking the government to revise the threshold limits for families, given the cost of living and the number of people struggling to make ends meet.

Currently, households of one to three people with an income of at least $3,000, households of four to six people with an income of $3,500, and households of seven people or more with an income of $4,000 are ineligible for financial assistance.

Bryan argued that, with inflation rising to 5.3% this year on the back of a cost-of-living crisis that started before COVID, “hard-working Caymanian families are currently disqualified from receiving assistance because they earn marginally above these outdated thresholds, yet remain in a state of financial deficit due to the soaring cost of living”.

However, the government refused the motion because of the DFA’s ongoing review of these thresholds. Rankine told parliament that the NCFC intends to make all decisions based on evidence and reliable data. When the review is complete, there will likely be an increase, but the government wants to complete the research and analysis first, he said.

Bryan’s attempts to file an opposition bill on the same subject also failed to make it to the floor of the House because, as Speaker Ezzard Miller explained, it fell foul of Standing Orders.

On Tuesday, 30 June, Finance Committee voted to give Rankine’s ministry an additional CI$3.1 million to support the DFA, but it was clear that more money would be needed before the end of the year. When parliament returns in September, the ministry is expected to ask for at least as much again, which means the overall budget before the end of 2026 will exceed $30 million.

Rankine also revealed that the support given to seafarers and veterans in the existing budget is insufficient, and another $1.275 million for their ex gratia payments was appropriated, increasing the annual budget for this one line item from $10 million to $11,275,000.

(CMR) The Cayman Islands Postal Service (CIPS) has announced that, effective 1 July 2026, it is temporarily suspending the acceptance of postal items containing goods destined for European Union (EU) countries.

The temporary suspension is due to the implementation of new European Union destination duty requirements that have recently come into effect. The duty requirements vary across European Union member states. As a result, the Cayman Islands Postal Service and its technology providers are in negotiations with each destination to establish the necessary arrangements for implementation.

As a result, the CIPS has temporarily suspended acceptance of postal items containing goods for EU destinations from 1 July 2026 until the relevant agreements are in place.

Customers sending documents to EU destinations will not be affected by this temporary service disruption. The suspension of services applies only to parcels containing goods or merchandise.

The CIPS anticipates resuming acceptance of postal items containing goods destined for EU countries on a phased basis, as each destination’s agreement is put in place. Further updates will be provided as service options reopen.

During this temporary suspension of services, the CIPS encourages all customers who need to send goods to EU destinations to make alternative arrangements until postal acceptance resumes.

The CIPS apologizes for any inconvenience and thanks customers for their patience and understanding as it works with its service partner to meet the new destination requirements.

For questions or assistance, customers may contact the Cayman Islands Postal Service Customer Care team at CIPSCustomerCare@gov.ky.

(CMR) Cayman Airways will receive an additional $13 million in government funding after the Finance Committee approved the supplementary appropriation on Tuesday “to meet uncontrollable cost pressures and unexpected expenses.”

Tourism Minister Gary Rutty told the committee the request breaks down into three main categories: $5.5 million in costs officials described as “uncontrollable,” including a $2.3 million shortfall against budgeted revenue growth and about $2 million in higher ground-handling and security expenses; $5.28 million tied to a spike in fuel prices; and $2.25 million to cover an unplanned engine failure that grounded an aircraft for roughly three months.

Cayman Airways' average fuel price has climbed to about US$4.75 per gallon, up from roughly US$2.75 late last year, an increase the airline's chief financial officer put at 83 percent and attributed to global instability tied to the conflict involving Iran.

The engine issue was traced to a coating defect found during a routine internal inspection, according to chief executive Fabian Whorms, who said the aircraft required a replacement part, a leased substitute engine and a specialist repair team before returning to service over the weekend.

Opposition member Kenneth Bryan questioned why the airline needed funding to cover a first-quarter revenue shortfall when May had reportedly been its best revenue month on record, with three quarters of the budget year still remaining. Rutty and airline officials said the early shortfall stemmed from increased low-cost competition on South Florida routes that eased once carriers including Spirit and JetBlue scaled back service. Bryan said he accepted the fuel and engine costs as legitimate but argued the airline could have waited to see whether stronger months offset the shortfall before seeking more money, and said he plans to raise the matter again in the House in September.

A 2023 performance audit by the Office of the Auditor General found the airline received $152.5 million in government funding between 2018 and 2022 while posting deficits in each of those five years, for total losses of $34 million. The same audit found the carrier loses money on three of its four government-defined route categories, and Auditor General Sue Winspear flagged a recurring pattern of inadequate budgeting that results in repeated mid-year appropriation requests.

Supportive committee members argued Cayman Airways remains the only carrier serving Cayman Brac and Little Cayman and that losses on international routes are the cost of keeping fares affordable and maintaining air links to the outside world. Minister Rutty said the airline is developing its own loyalty program and co-branded credit card as it looks to diversify revenue beyond ticket sales, following a trend among larger North American carriers.

The $13 million passed without opposition in the committee's voice vote and forms part of a broader $134.3 million package of supplementary appropriations approved this week. It will be formally incorporated into a Supplementary Appropriation Bill to be presented to Parliament by March 31, 2027. Further requests, including for Cayman Airways, are considered likely when the Finance Committee reconvenes in September.

Drugs drones may have taken to the air in Cayman, the new director of Customs and Border Control has warned.

Marlon Bodden, a veteran police officer-turned-customs official, said the service had “received information” that drones were being used as hi-tech mules to transport contraband around Cayman.

“We don’t have any evidence of that, but we have received information that that drones are being used, so that is definitely something that we will look into as an emerging issue and we will take the appropriate action in that regard,” he said.

Bodden added that the service was not aware if the drones were operated to courier contraband around Cayman or if they were used to transport drugs from vessels offshore to land.

“We don’t have any evidence of that, in terms of whether it is transport from one point to the next, but we have received information about it.”

Bodden was speaking on Tuesday, 30 June, just after it was announced he would succeed Bruce Smith as head of the Cayman’ Customs and Border Control.

He noted that the criminal landscape was in constant flux and that offenders had become better organised than ever before and were prepared to exploit advantages offered by the use of technology.

Increased sophistication

“The organised crime groups are far more sophisticated now. In my earlier days, there was just the regular individual that would take a chance – we’d refer to them as mules or whatever,” Bodden said.

“Now, there is more sophistication; they run the networks as a business where they have the hierarchies a little more sophisticated.”

Bodden added, “You have individuals who can use drones and can do deliveries to different individuals rather than use their motor vehicles … so technology has actually changed the way that we have to basically police the national security space, for want of a better description.”

He said the biggest modern threats were from technology, illicit finance using hard-to-trace cryptocurrency and blockchain, and their usage by criminal kingpins.

“That is going to be the largest threat for us – to be able to basically manage that threat; that is where the whole world is headed.”

But Bodden said intelligence-led operations and increased inter-agency and international cooperation were the best ways to combat emerging threats.

“It’s all about intelligence and that’s what the CBC is all about. We intend to drive our products in terms of the justice that we serve – that what we refer to as our products – in terms of intelligence sharing and working with our domestic, international and regional partners,” he said.

“That’s the best way to actually combat any kind of national security threat; you have to work with your partner agencies, you have to train and develop your staff to make them capable, ready and willing to combat the threats happening in today’s world.”

More international travel

Bodden said the global numbers of people travelling by air and by sea was on the increase, so CBC had to harness technology to speed people through arrival processes.

“You have to have technology that will assist you to help to move people through … you’re talking about facilitating legitimate trade and travel,” he said.

Bodden said he believed that collaboration between agencies and jurisdictions was the best way to clamp down on international problems such as drugs, firearms and human trafficking.

“Everyone has a stake in the security of a particular country and we encourage individuals … to work with us, and we work with them as partners because, at the end of the day, we want to contribute to the environment being safe to come into, being safe where we can all live and enjoy our life … not having that fear of crime, for example.”

The Law Reform Commission invites stakeholders and members of the general public to comment on the issues identified in the Discussion Paper titled “Cannabis Reform: Options for a Harm Minimisation Framework” and, in particular, to submit their views on the consultation questions presented.

The Discussion Paper examines recreational cannabis use and possession. It reviews reform models and their impacts in other jurisdictions, and presents reform options for public consultation.

In particular, the Paper examines —

• whether the importation, production, distribution and sale of cannabis should remain illegal;
• whether the home cultivation of cannabis should be decriminalised;
• whether consumption and possession of cannabis should be decriminalised for minors;
• whether criminal penalties for possession and consumption should be replaced with administrative penalties;
• whether decriminalisation should be limited to dried cannabis;
• potential possession limits; and
• whether historic minor cannabis convictions should be extinguished.

The Paper may be viewed on the following websites: www.lrc.gov.ky, https://publicconsultation.gov.ky/ or www.gov.ky or a copy may be collected from the Offices of the Commission.

Submissions should be forwarded no later than 1 September, 2026 to the Director of the Law Reform Commission, 5th Floor Government Administration Building, Portfolio of Legal Affairs, 133 Elgin Avenue, George Town, Grand Cayman, P.O. Box 136, Grand Cayman KY1-9000 either electronically to cilawreform@gov.ky, or in writing, by post or hand delivered.

Tenancy reform could reach parliament in September after the government revealed it is already working on legislation to update the Cayman Islands rental housing laws.

The disclosure came during a debate on a private member’s motion brought by opposition MP Roy McTaggart, who called on the government to review and implement the Residential Tenancies Act and related regulations by January 2027.

McTaggart said the proposal was aimed at addressing concerns over rising housing costs and the absence of modern protections for landlords and tenants.

However, the government said the work was already under way and indicated that legislation could be ready within months.

“We want to be able to have this here for the September sitting of parliament,” housing minister Jay Ebanks said.

Ebanks said the current administration inherited significant work on tenancy reform from the previous government.

He credited former premier and housing minister Juliana O’Connor-Connolly and civil servants with developing a draft framework that is now being advanced.

The minister said tenancy reform is part of a wider housing agenda that has already included mortgage reform, a national housing policy and a homeownership programme.

While agreeing that existing laws require updating, the government declined to support McTaggart’s motion.

“I have no choice but to reject this motion today,” Ebanks said. “I look forward to a proper debate when we bring the bill forward.”

McTaggart said the motion was prompted by concerns raised by constituents struggling with rental housing issues and recommendations contained in the National Housing Development Trust’s housing strategy.

He told parliament that publicly available planning documents suggested implementation of the Residential Tenancies Act could take between two and four years.

McTaggart said he had not previously heard a commitment to bring tenancy legislation before parliament this year.

“I brought a motion looking to see if I could spur the government on to actually act a bit quicker,” he said.

The debate took place during the Third Sitting of the First Meeting of the 2026-2027 Session of Parliament.

Following the debate, the motion was defeated by a vote of 10-6. Two members abstained and one member was absent.

Despite rejecting the motion, government members reiterated that tenancy legislation remains under development and is expected to return to parliament later this year.

(CNS): Six months into the year, the National Coalition for Caymanians presented additional budget appropriations to Finance Committee on Tuesday to the tune of CI$134.3 million over and above the expected expenditure presented in November of CI$1.25 billion.

The money was allocated to various ministries, but Finance Minister Rolston Anglin revealed that $49 million will be going to his education ministry’s already significant budget, a large portion of which will be spent on the new high school on Cayman Brac, as well as potentially another two schools that the minister declined to explain.

However, the biggest chunk of cash is going to the Ministry of Planning, Lands, Agriculture, Housing and Infrastructure. MPs voted to give the ministry CI$59 million over and above the original budget to cover a range of expenditures, including roads, compensation for compulsory land purchases for roads, land for building houses, and upgrading the airport on Little Cayman.

Money is also being set aside for agriculture, and a large portion of the cash will be spent on upgrading the port in George Town and buying new equipment.

Before MPs voted on this whopping supplementary spending, Anglin, in his role as Finance Committee chair, explained that, despite the size of the supplementary appropriation bill, the government’s revenue stream was so much more than forecasted last November that it is still expecting to have a core surplus by the year-end of over $10 million.

“We are performing extremely well,” Anglin told the committee, but said there might be more spending, given the global uncertainties.

The NCFC will be monitoring both revenue and expenditure during the course of the year to ensure that, where the government is helping people through the cost-of-living crisis with initiatives such as the fuel subsidy programmes, they are in a position to extend that help if necessary.

He said that the supplementary appropriation requests reflected the needs of the community and government’s commitment to responsibly addressing emerging pressures while maintaining compliance with the Framework for Fiscal Responsibility.

“The committee is seeking a significant number of capital expenditure appropriations that have given rise since the passage of the budget. There is a significant amount of new opportunities that have come to government’s attention by way of acquisition of school plant, acquisition of certain lands, regulatory compliance needs as it relates to combating illicit finance and the like,” he stated.

Anglin told the committee that, as of 31 May, the CIG’s core surplus stood at almost CI$268 million, which means it has earned enough money to be able to cover the cumulative deficit as the year goes on, leaving the government with room to increase the budget expenditure by almost $1.4 billion.

He said the revenue performance is significantly higher than originally projected as a result of the increase in fees from financial services, which continues to be the government’s main revenue stream. He also reported that stamp duty collection was still breaking records due to sales of high-end luxury properties priced over $2 million, which are subject to the new 10% stamp duty rate.

With almost CI$110 million going to the education and planning ministries, the remaining cash was spread across other ministries, including $5 million for the financial services ministry to support ongoing work on the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force’s Fifth Round of Mutual Evaluation.

This includes the procurement of specialist anti-money laundering, counter-terrorist financing and counter-proliferation financing consultants.

The Department of Financial Assistance is getting an additional $3.1 million, but the committee heard from both the finance minister and Social Development Minister Isaac Rankine that, once the current review of the department is complete, it is expected that at least as much again will be required to meet the needs of its clients before the end of the year.

Meanwhile, $13 million was allocated to Cayman Airways for a long list of issues, not least to help it meet an aviation fuel bill that is 83% higher this year due to the wars in the Middle East, which Tourism Minister Gary Rutty said they had not budgeted for.

As he wrapped up the proceedings, Anglin said he would call Finance Committee back in September to update members and the public on “where we are financially and ensure that we are practising responsible fiscal management and complying with all elements of the FFR”.

The finance minister added, “We can only continue to hope and pray that the budget continues to hold up the way it has thus far. The revenues as has been reported… show that we are performing extremely well, and we anticipate things to continue to improve on that front.”

Anglin stressed that it was important for the public to understand how the budget is performing.

The Water Authority-Cayman has defended its spending of $1 million on Christmas cash gifts for staff over a five-year period after the expenditure was highlighted in a new auditor general’s report.

The publicly owned utility spent approximately $1 million in total on Christmas cash gifts – around $1,200 per employee per year, according to the report, which was tabled in Parliament last week.

The auditor general noted the Water Authority’s total benefits bill of $1.8 million, which also covered Christmas meals, corporate wellness activities, gift cards, honorariums and employee awards, was equivalent to 74% of all staff welfare spending across the entire public sector over the same period.

Asked about the expenditure, the Water Authority said the payments were in lieu of a bonus structure and had been in place for more than two decades. All staff members are paid the same amount each Christmas.

“The Authority does not have a bonus structure; however, it does have robust employee support programmes, many of which have been in place for over 20 years,” a spokesperson said.

“One of the supports is an annual monetary Christmas gift to all employees, reflecting its ongoing commitment to acknowledging staff contributions and organisational excellence.”

The spending was highlighted in the auditor general’s report on public sector pay and benefits, which have now risen to more than $700 million annually, equivalent to more than half of the country’s total budget.

The report indicates costs from increased hiring and cost-of-living pay adjustments have led to a surge in spending that has outstripped government’s revenue growth putting a strain on the country’s finances.

The government awarded pay increases totalling around 10% to all public servants between 2020 and 2024 through two cost-of-living adjustments, on top of $27.8 million in one-off honorariums, with a further 5% increase, costing an estimated $25.2 million annually, taking effect in January 2025.

The disclosure coincides with a Water Authority proposal to raise customer rates that has drawn concern and opposition from politicians. The authority is seeking to raise water rates by 17.53% from July 2026, having been confirmed as eligible for the increase by the auditor general’s office under a prescribed calculation methodology.

The Water Authority board said it had resolved to proceed with a reduced increase of 3%, which it said would add approximately $3 per month to the average customer’s bill. The authority said the adjustment was needed to fund critical capital development projects over the next decade.

Cash payments will no longer be accepted at The Grand Cayman Marriott Resort from 1 July.

The West Bay Road hotel announced on its social media channels that it is moving fully to a card-only operation, saying the decision was “part of our ongoing commitment to enhancing the guest experience and aligning with evolving global hospitality trends”.

‘Greater convenience’

It said that all outlets and services within the resort will accept credit cards and debit cards and added, “By moving to a cashless environment, we aim to deliver greater convenience and efficiency across all guest touchpoints, enhanced security for both guests and associates and more streamlined and modern service experience.”

It thanked guests for their understanding and “continued partnership as we move forward with this enhancement to our service offering”.

While some venues in Grand Cayman are cash-only, it is rare for a venue to refuse to accept cash at all.

Jim Mauer, vice-president and managing director at The Westin Grand Cayman Seven Mile Beach Resort & Spa, told the Compass that a credit card was required to check in to The Westin and its sister hotel Sunshine Suites, but cash was accepted across its food and beverage outlets and guests could even pay their total bill with cash at the end of the stay if they wished.

“Essentially, we are cashless at the front desk and see very little need for cash but still think it’s a requirement in our food or beverage outlets,” Mauer said.

Camila Panton, marketing manager at Hotel Indigo Grand Cayman and Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa, said, “At this time, neither Hotel Indigo Grand Cayman nor Kimpton Seafire Resort + Spa has plans to transition to a fully cashless operation. We remain committed to offering guests a range of convenient payment options.”

A recent report warns Cayman needs to build thousands of new homes over the next decade or more to catch up with demand from a growing population. The Compass looks at the current challenges for Caymanians in getting on the housing ladder and asks if and how the country can make it easier for people to own a home.

When Darquise Nantel found her first home last year, the thing that first struck her was the big bay windows that flooded the 954-square-foot apartment with natural light.

She also noticed, with relief, the ‘neutral smell’ and the lack of mould.

The schoolteacher had been looking for a year to find a place for herself and her son.

“Sometimes, agents would bring me to these places and I was thinking ‘would you live here? ‘The smell was almost unbearable.”

This one wasn’t perfect. It only had one bedroom, but it was spacious and, with a little creativity, she knew she could make it into a home.

She had a pony wall built so her 12-year-old son had his own space to sleep and change and play on his computer. The apartment was clean, in a nice neighbourhood and, at $360,000, it was within her price range.

A space of their own: Darquise Nantel had a pony wall put in to make a separate room for her son. – Photo: Supplied

She put in an offer and has no regrets. At 46, after 25 years of working in schools around Cayman, she is finally on the housing ladder.

It was a moment she had not believed possible when a friend first advised her to start looking.

“I said I can’t afford it. Period. I don’t have the money.”

But she had been saving $500 a month through a government Credit Union deduction and tapped her pension to make up to the $36,000 deposit.

The rest was financed through a long-term mortgage.

“I will be paying this off well into my retirement,” she said. “One day it will be my son’s.”

Her experience was, in many ways, typical of new homeowners in Cayman. Sacrifice and compromise were needed to take a modest first step into property ownership.

For many of the buyers that spoke to the Compass for this article, it would not have been possible without the Credit Union, the stamp duty waiver for Caymanian first-time buyers or the ability to dip into their pension for a deposit and closing fees.

‘More homes needed’

New housing developments are popping up all over Grand Cayman, but the rate of building of all types of accommodation has not kept pace with the increase in population.

And the rising cost of land, building materials and labour incentivises developers to maximise profit margins by focusing on the higher end of the market.

New construction is constant in Cayman but the supply of housing, particularly in the affordable range, has not kept up with population growth. – Photo: James Whittaker

A new government strategic report and 10-year strategy offers an extensive analysis of the situation along with 98 policy recommendations.

But its core conclusion is that Cayman’s housing affordability issue is, like many of Cayman’s infrastructure challenges, a case of the population outgrowing its infrastructure.

“The more people who want – and need – a home, relative to the number available, the higher the price will be,” the report states. “This is simply the rule of ‘supply and demand’ – and in the Cayman Islands, supply is short while demand is high and growing.”

The report indicates Cayman needs to build 2,000-3,000 more homes just to catch up with current demand.

And while some developers and analysts question the size of the gap, the majority were in agreement that the island needs more housing to support its growing population.

Currently, the median apartment unit sells for $814,838 and the median house for $746,154, with the average two-bedroom apartment now priced over $740,000.

Some realtors argue that this is a ‘false statistic’ because of the number of luxury high-end sales that skew those figures.

But even with that caveat, there is little argument about the report’s core conclusion that affording a home on a teacher’s salary in Cayman’s market is a stretch. That goes too for most professional jobs, let alone blue collar work.

In the words of government’s consultants in that 10-year-strategy document, current housing prices are “out of reach” for the average worker and the “dream of home ownership for Caymanians” is being squeezed.

The bottom rung is harder to reach

Alanna Warwick-Smith went into her search for a home in 2020 with her eyes wide open. She had been cleared for $220,000 by the bank and her goal was simply to get on the bottom rung of the housing ladder before it moved above that.

She lived with her parents and made voluntary contributions to her pension scheme so she was not tempted to use the money.

As she searched for a suitable place, she felt like she was constantly chasing the market. She watched prices for the same type of property climb from $180,000 to $220,000.

When she did make a bid on a pre-construction unit in West Bay, she found herself in a bidding war she didn’t have the cash to win.

She wrote the developer a letter instead, explaining that she didn’t have the full deposit in hand but would within 90 days, and that she was “just a girl from West Bay who wants to stay in West Bay”.

The Caymanian developer accepted her offer over a rival bid.

Alanna Warwick-Smith tracked her savings until she could afford a deposit. – Photo: Supplied

Getting on the ladder was difficult but not impossible, though it did involve a realistic assessment of expectations.

“I think we need to reframe what the Caymanian dream is,” she said. “If I had waited for a house with two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a yard, I would still be living at home. I had to ask myself ‘what is my Caymanian dream and what is available to me now?'” Warwick-Smith said.

She acknowledges her story is not typical within her age group, that it took commitment and good fortune, and that the same opportunity may not exist for someone trying to do the same thing seven years later.

“I cannot fathom what it is like today,” she said.

Dr. Stephanie Schirn returned from the UK to begin a well-paid professional career as a psychologist in private practice. She also lived with her parents for a year before taking the plunge to buy her own place for $450,000. She had been cleared for the loan, but three different banks raised three different sets of problems and she faced a race against time to close within the 45-day deadline to avoid losing her deposit.

Her experience highlights specific challenges for single people applying for a mortgage without a second income to fall back on. One bank demanded an extra $8,000 in indemnity insurance and a locked payment buffer in case she lost her job.

“Each bank found different reasons to have issues with me,” she said. “It felt like, here’s a hoop, jump through it. Okay, great. Now here’s another hoop.”

Though the process was stressful, it had a happy ending. She believes banks could be more flexible and consistent across the board in their requirements.

A mother of one, who asked not to be named, told us she had given up on the idea of owning a home, despite earning a good salary. She currently rents a place with a yard and a pool in a condo complex. Even with a budget of $600,000, she said, she was unable to find anything that felt worth the money.

With strata fees, repair costs and mortgage interest rate debt, she did the calculations and decided she was better off renting.

The construction gap

Construction industry figureheads question the extent of the building gap, but agree more homes are needed.

A senior industry source, who has been involved in multiple mid-range developments, said it was clear that supply was not matching demand.

“Even if I could build a house super-duper cheap tomorrow, the free market will instantly value that home in the $500,000 or more range,” he said.

Changing that is not necessarily in the interests of developers either. Flooding the market with new housing would crash the pricing their business depends on.

His comments echo remarks in government’s housing report that there is ‘no free market reason’ to build affordable housing.

There is little free market incentive to build new affordable housing in Cayman, according to industry stakeholders interviewed in a government report. – Photo: James Whittaker

To change that, he suggests, government needs to lower the cost of building and improve the efficiency of the planning approvals process.

Eliminating stamp duty for anyone buying into a new-build development and cutting customs import duty for building materials for housing are two suggestions.

He describes the Building Control Unit process as “beyond broken”, with the slow inspections and approval process causing delays and driving up costs.

“The risk environment for builders is just climbing higher and higher, which makes them build less and build at higher price points,” he said.

Removing those hurdles will make building cheaper and swifter, something that would bring down prices by putting more units in the market, he says. To ensure development is more heavily focused at the lower end, however, he believes government will have to consider some form of subsidy.

“We can’t just wish and pray for homes to magically be cheap. The materials and labour going into them just don’t care what the final product is.”

Abandoned equipment at a stalled housing project in West Bay. – Photo: James Whittaker

“Concrete and steel are concrete and steel. The government is going to have to look at the different choices on the table for subsidies or restrictions, pick one or two models, and bite the bullet.

“None of them are perfect, and they all come with some sort of cost. That’s the price of deflating the value of a home.”

The planning process

Architect and developer Eduardo Bernal, who has worked in Cayman for 25 years, said the inspections process through the Building Control Unit had got longer and more cumbersome over the years.

“They are totally understaffed. If they have enough people to go through the normal process of reviewing the plans, we would have no problem. It’s really that simple,” he said.

One suggestion from the report that he believes would help is a system of pre-approved template house plans that developers could build from without going through the full planning and inspection process every time.

He points to a Canadian model in which licensed engineers, rather than government reviewers, carry the liability for residential projects under 5,000 square feet.

He has recent first-hand experience of the challenges of getting a project – albeit, in this case, a substantial development – through planning. The architect is behind an $86 million, 157-unit apartment block called ‘The Eldemire’ on Boilers Road that he says would provide affordable rental units in the capital.

An artist’s impression of a planned multi-storey apartment block in George Town known as the Eldemire. – Artwork: Supplied

More informal housing currently sits on the Boilers Road site. – Photo: James Whittaker

The project, initially rejected last year after Central Planning Authority members cited concerns about the scale of the development, and the impact on parking and traffic, is being reconsidered with slightly amended designs.

Bernal believes the model – a large corporate landlord – aligns with government goals to bring residents back to George Town, to create homes at reasonable prices, and to build higher density, lower-cost units in urban locations rather than on green space.

Density is a contentious issue in Cayman. The government’s housing report notes a general antipathy from the public towards higher buildings. But it warns that this approach is necessary to add homes with less impact on open space.

Bernal supports the concept of allowing a range of mid- and higher-rise buildings in districts of George Town, like Eastern Avenue, where heights are currently restricted to three storeys to provide housing.

Planning regulations make cheap housing tough to build

Jessica Peacey, a planning consultant, said there are a number of barriers to building cheaper homes in Cayman.

She believes a more flexible approach to zoning, removing restrictions on the number of bedrooms per unit, would open up options for mixed communities with more affordable options.

“What we’re currently seeing is, because there’s a bedroom cap, it doesn’t enable a variety of units with different bedrooms to serve different levels of the society.

“In the ideal world, you would have a development that supports young single professionals or couples, a young family, and then all the way through to larger families.”

Currently, there are restrictions in certain zones on the number of bedrooms per acre. In a low-density residential area, for example, the limit is 24 bedrooms per acre.

That’s also been an issue for developers and businesses seeking to build dormitory-style accommodation for their employees.

Peacey also points to a regulation in the planning law that creates a carve out for low-cost housing programmes. That regulation allows for smaller lot sizes with greater density to make housing more affordable, but only applies to government-approved schemes.

There is no clear mechanism, however, for private developers to get that approval, and it has traditionally been applied only to National Housing Development Trust projects, which are almost exclusively single-family homes.

Public-private partnership

There is broad consensus that building housing in Cayman is likely to involve incentives and subsidies for the private sector.

One developer told government’s consultants, “There is no free-market reason to build affordable housing; that’s a social problem that requires a government solution.”

Sam Story, managing director at financial advisory firm Teneo in the Cayman Islands and former head of finance at UK affordable housing developer Wates Residential, believes Cayman could consider adopting a model already in use in the UK as part of the overall solution.

Under the programme, the government contributes land that it already owns, removing a significant development cost.

The developer is then guaranteed an agreed fixed profit margin to build a single housing development containing social housing, shared-ownership units and open-market sale units side by side.

The sales of the open-market units effectively subsidise the cost of the social and shared-ownership housing.

“This is tried and tested in Greater London, and I’ve seen the results first-hand,” said Story, who was involved in numerous such projects in the UK.

He said these types of joint venture partnerships can help create cohesive communities of differing income brackets rather than siloed housing projects.

Developments are typically cost-engineered by maximising usable living space and creating an overall higher density of homes.

Standardising both floor-plan designs and fixtures and fittings across multiple units can also help create economies of scale and drive down costs.

“A common assumption is that such developments might be unattractive. With the right architects, designers and planners, however, these schemes can be designed to be visually appealing, sustainable, and create vibrant and cohesive communities.

“It just needs to be done with a cost hat on, rather than through a profit-maximising lens, as you would do for a luxury development on Seven Mile Beach.”

The financial model underpinning the joint venture is designed to absorb cost shocks without abandoning the affordable units altogether.

The old government building is a publicly-owned unused site in the centre of George Town that could be a candidate for a joint venture housing partnership. – Photo: File

He points to the old ‘Glass House’ government administration building and police station site in central George Town as potential ideal locations for a flagship affordable housing scheme of this kind, given its proximity to jobs and the bus network, reducing the need for space-consuming car parking.

Story suggests that the government may consider further encouraging local developers to partner with them, for instance, by offering duty or work permit concessions and prioritised planning approvals that apply for the duration of the project across all of their developments.

Government has already indicated that it intends to restrict new foreign-owned developers entering the market.

Story suggests that exceptions could be made to the moratorium on Local Companies Control Licences for developers who make significant commitments to delivering affordable housing before being able to commence other projects.

Full action plan still to be announced

While the report is named a ‘masterplan’, what has been publicly released does not include any implementation timeline or strategy.

Government has had the report in hand since it was tabled in Parliament by Housing Minister Jay Ebanks in April. At that time, he told the House the islands are already short by more than 3,000 homes and will need 5,000 more within 15 years.

Ebanks pre-empted criticism of the density increases the report recommends, saying, “Some will say density threatens our way of life. I say density, guided by area plans, protects Caymanian neighbourhoods and keeps families together.”

In a speech to Parliament, he said, housing was not about concrete and paint, but about providing for people.

“It is about Caymanian workers who give everything to this economy and still struggle to secure a place to sleep,” he said.

“It is about the apprentice building a multi-million-dollar home he could never dream of living in. It is about the farmer squeezed into a single bedroom while development rises around him.

“It is about the front-line workers who serve this country day after day yet cannot secure a stable rental.”

(CNS): Housing Minister Jay Ebanks told parliament last week that the Cayman Islands Government will bring new residential tenancy legislation to parliament in September, when it meets again after the summer break, and criticised PPM member Roy Tatum for bringing a private member’s motion urging the CIG to advance the legislation and pass it before the end of the year.

The minister said the opposition had failed to address the issue during their time in office and now, when the government was close to finalising a new law, after publishing a housing policy, “the opposition gets up on their soap box”.

“The truth is, they never did anything about housing, and the policy exposes the complete utter failure,” Ebanks said as he rose to refuse the motion, claiming the government was working on all aspects of housing as a priority.

He said the government was “actively working on the tenancy law”, noting that work had begun under Juliana O’Connor-Connolly, who is now a member of the PPM but was housing minister in the UPM administration. The draft she left had formed the basis of the new legislation that the ministry is now finalising, Ebanks stated.

“He knows the law is close and now he is trying to pretend he’s out there forcing the government’s hand,” Ebanks added, and challenged Tatum over the PPM’s lack of action across two terms on what was even then an emerging housing crisis.

He said work on this legislation had been long and hard as the bill required a “complete revamp”, not a piecemeal approach, and he looked forward to a proper debate when the bill was published and tabled in parliament.

In response, Tatum said he regretted the minister’s decision and that it was not his intention to “steal the thunder”. However, he said he had never heard Ebanks say he intended to bring this law this year.

When he presented the motion, Tatum highlighted some of the pressures facing both sides of the rental market — landlords and tenants — which have fundamentally transformed since 2009, when the current law was developed. Back then, Cayman’s population was about 55,000, with around 11,800 rental households.

He noted that today, the population exceeds 90,000, and there are well over 17,000 rental households. “The rental market is now serving thousands more families than it did when the legislation was passed. At the same time, population growth, rising housing costs, and increasing pressures on the housing market have made affordable long-term housing more difficult to secure,” he said..

“The growth of the short-term rental market is also placing additional pressures on the availability of and the cost of long-term rental accommodation,” he noted. “I was unable to find the perfect published average for a 2009 two-bedroom, two-bath apartment, but as best as I could determine, available evidence indicated that a typical rental has risen by 150%.”

Tatum said the legislation was desperately needed and was about fairness for both landlords and tenants, and after 17 years of waiting, the people of these islands should not have to wait any longer for meaningful action.

Cayman may soon have one of its own playing in the National Hockey League.

Jaxon Cover, who got his start playing ball hockey and roller hockey on Grand Cayman, was selected by the Ottawa Senators with the 32nd, and final, pick of the first round of the NHL’s annual entry draft on Friday evening, 26 June.

Cover, 18, is the first player from Cayman ever to be picked in the NHL draft.

He didn’t start playing ice hockey until the age of 13, as he lived on an island with no ice rink.

Speaking to the Compass Saturday morning, his mother Nanalie Cover, who along with extended family and high school friends were on hand in Buffalo, New York, with Jaxon to see him being chosen in the draft, said he and his family were all “very thankful, grateful and humbled by Jaxon’s journey, and where he is this morning”.

She added that they were also grateful that the “people of the Cayman Islands have this as a symbol of what we can do, and what is possible for all, irrespective of where they originate”.

The proud mother, who is president and CEO of the University College of the Cayman Islands, admitted it was nerve-racking as the night went on, and the final name of the first round of 32 was being chosen. “It went down to the wire,” she said.

She added that her son was “very, very optimistic for what this new chapter will bring for him, and he’s just processing it, you know. He’s 18, he’s just processing and enjoying the moment with his friends that came here to celebrate with him.”

Most recently, Jaxon has played for the Ontario junior ice hockey team, the London Knights.

Unlike the National Football League and the National Basketball League, where players taken in the entry draft are older and often immediately play for the team that drafts them, NHL draftees are younger and often take several years to develop their skills before they get a chance to play in the NHL.

For Cover, the next step in his hockey development will take place at a university in the United States, where he has committed to play for Penn State – the same university that the #1 pick of this year’s draft, Gavin McKenna, attended.

Ryder Cali, left, and Jaxon Cover, who both began their hockey careers playing in youth ball and roller hockey leagues in the Cayman Islands, have been chosen in the NHL draft. – Photo: Courtesy of NHL

Another young player with Cayman ties – Ryder Cali, who also got his start playing ball hockey on Grand Cayman at the same time Cover did – was drafted with the 16th pick in the second round – #48 overall – on Saturday 27 June by the Florida Panthers. Cali is committed to attend and play hockey at Providence College (Rhode Island) starting this fall.

Ball hockey in Cayman

Fareed Hosein, who refereed hockey games that both boys played at Kings Gym, said Jaxon, from a young age, stood out as a “very talented” player, and had been coached by his father Patrick, who played ball hockey for Cayman.

“That’s kind of where it came from. His dad was involved in the ball hockey programme, and played at least once or twice in the World Championships. We send away a ball hockey team every two years, all over the world, wherever it is. So, that’s where Jaxon’s interest in the game derived from, with his dad.”

Hosein says Jaxon learned to roller skate and play hockey at King’s gym. “Then, Jaxon got too good, and went to get some serious coaching up in Canada,” he said.

Jaxon Cover, centre, in white, and Ryder Cali, in green sleeves, play on hockey on the beach in Grand Cayman when they were both much younger. – Photo: Supplied

He says he thinks the success of Jaxon and Ryder might propel other young kids to want to get involved in the sport.

He explained that many children start off with the Learn to Skate programme at King’s and then move onto the kids’ hockey programme there.

“Now, here’s two kids that are up for NHL draft. That’s hard to imagine from an island this size, really,” he said on Friday, prior to the first round selections.

He noted that being picked for the NHL draft is on a “completely different level” that would be hard to emulate for other local players, but said learning the sport and excelling at it could lead to college scholarships for some.

“Because there is no ice rink here, … he’s had to deal with a lot more challenges than, say, someone in Canada or the States or Switzerland or any place that has ice rinks, where we don’t, so it’s quite a big leap to make that jump [into the NHL draft].

He said many kids who excel at the sport are usually coached by their own parents, who, like Jaxon’s father, Patrick Cover, and Ryder’s mother, Fiona McLeod, have played competitively, though there have been some outside coaches from Canada that have come to Cayman in the past.

Cover photo: Jaxon Cover, pictured here, front row, far left, after his team won the under-8 roller hockey championships in 2016. His dad Patrick, one of the team coaches, is in the back row, far right. – Photo: File

Talented from the start

Mark Thompson, founder of the Cayman Islands Ball Hockey Association, also recalled Jaxon’s skills, saying that, from about 6 years old, he was playing in age 8-and-under games.

“I mean, everybody saw something in him,” he said.

“Obviously, Patrick’s from Toronto, so it’s kind of natural to try to get him into a school up there, to see what can happen,” he added.

He says it was clear from the very start that Jaxon had talent.

“It was very obvious, even from that early age. He always was a great player for his age group and his peers. He was, by far, one of the better players, no matter when or whoever he played with …

“He played with the older kids. That’s how kids always get better, you put them up against kids that are tougher than them.”

The bright green flash of a Grand Cayman parrot crossing the road or calling from a tree remains a familiar sight and sounds in the Islands. But despite being Cayman’s national bird and a protected species under the National Conservation Act, conservationists say the long-term future of the birds remains uncertain.

According to Department of Environment research officer Jane Haakonsson, the Cayman Islands’ parrot populations continue to face significant challenges.

“Parrot numbers fluctuate over time but are generally decreasing due to habitat loss,” Haakonsson said. “Populations are negatively affected by major hurricanes, conversion of primary habitat, and other pressures such as alien invasive species including feral cats and rats.”

The situation is particularly stark on Cayman Brac, where Hurricane Paloma in 2008 wiped out more than half of the island’s parrot population. Similar losses were experienced on Grand Cayman following Hurricane Ivan in 2004.

Recent Department of Environment surveys estimate the Grand Cayman parrot population at approximately 3,184 birds and the Cayman Brac parrot population at around 1,065 birds. Researchers note that the Grand Cayman parrot population has declined by more than half over the past decade.

Cayman parrots exclusive to the Islands

The Cayman Islands are home to two unique subspecies of the Cuban Amazon parrot: the Grand Cayman parrot and the Cayman Brac parrot. Found nowhere else on earth, both are considered endemic to the Cayman Islands.

The Cayman Brac parrot is a protected species found only on Cayman Brac. – Photo: Simone Scott/National Trust

Monitoring these populations is a major undertaking. Haakonsson explained that Department of Environment researchers use distance-sampling surveys across both islands, recording parrots seen or heard at established survey points and estimating their distance from observers. The data is then analysed to estimate overall population size and track trends over time.

The current nesting season, which runs from March through July, is a particularly sensitive period for the birds.

“Yes, Cayman parrots are nesting right now,” Haakonsson said. “They nest in natural cavities in mature trees such as black mangrove, almond and mango trees, as well as hollow palm trees.”

She stressed that nesting birds, eggs and chicks should never be approached or disturbed.

Poaching concerns

The warning comes as poaching remains an ongoing concern. While the National Conservation Act allows for fines of up to $500,000, actual penalties imposed by the courts have been far lower.

A pair of Cayman parrots. – Photo: File

Haakonsson pointed to a 2021 case in which two Cayman parrot chicks were stolen from a nest. The offender was ultimately fined $2,000 and ordered to complete community service.

“When we quote the National Conservation Act with the maximum sentence of CI$500,000, we do ourselves a bit of a disfavour given that only CI$1,000 per bird is what was actually fined,” she said.

The department has worked to combat the illegal pet trade through education, enforcement and a 2019-2020 amnesty programme that allowed owners of captive parrots to legally register their birds. More than 300 captive parrots were documented, fitted with identification bands and microchips, helping authorities distinguish legally registered birds from newly poached ones.

Public awareness appears to be improving. In 2024, a social media advertisement offering a captive Cayman parrot for sale sparked widespread outrage and led to an investigation by the Department of Environment.

Habitat protection remains equally important. Cayman parrots depend on mature forests containing large, old trees that provide nesting cavities and food sources. As development continues, conservationists warn that the loss of these habitats reduces the birds’ ability to recover from hurricanes and other environmental pressures.

Parrots can be problematic for farmers

The birds feed on a variety of native fruits, flowers, seeds and buds, including wild fig, sea grape, mahogany and red birch. They may also feed on cultivated fruit and crops, particularly when these are abundant and easily accessible.

Haaksonnson acknowledges that the parrots can be problematic at times for local farmers and the Department of Environment has been testing a range of non-lethal crop protection measures with farmers.

“One of the more effective methods is playing species-specific parrot alarm calls, which can discourage parrots from remaining in a crop area.” Haakonnson said. She added, “Keeping fruit trees relatively low can also deter parrots as they prefer taller fruit trees.”

Haakonsson noted that the Cayman Islands are fortunate to still have thriving native parrot populations at all.

“The Caribbean has lost more than 50% of its parrot species to extinction,” she said. “We are therefore extremely lucky to still have them around.”