This Is Jersey

SENATOR Wendy Kinnard shocked States Members by handing in her resignation just a few months before her term of office was to expire, citing an ‘issue of moral conscience and principle’.
The decision was never fully explained, but the former Senator blamed her ministerial colleagues’ failings for prompting her to quit her post. The Home Affairs Minister had been due to leave politics at the end of her term in 2008, but she said that the failure of other Ministers to deal with a matter over advice to juries on uncorroborated evidence forced her to leave. On the morning of her departure, she told the States that she had recently asked the Council of Ministers to take a proposal about the court procedural issue but that they had refused, leaving her with no choice but to step down. She later denied that her resignation was in any way connected with the Haut de la Garenne investigation. Senator Kinnard was first elected to the States in 1996, after finishing fourth in the Senatorial elections, and had been in charge of Home Affairs, both as president and minister, for six years.

NEARLY all of the hustings during the Senatorial campaign were standing-room only as people sought to grill the 21 candidates over issues such as GST, population growth and States spending. The only place where they drew a blank, however, was with the Island’s newest voters, the 16 and 17-year-olds. Candidate Daniel Wimberley – who was later successful in the Deputies’ elections – organised the student hustings at Hautlieu School to give the newly empowered young people a chance to speak to candidates before they voted for the first time ever. However, just 22 students turned up and the candidates addressed a near-empty hall on issues such as making Jersey more attractive to university-leavers, pride in the Island and restoring faith in the States. Deputy Carolyn Labey, the politician who fought to get students the right to vote, later blamed the low turnout on poor communication and an unhelpful Education department. Deputy Wimberley agreed that the turnout was terrible and said that he was disappointed with the outcome.

DESPITE strong anti-establishment questions at many of the Senatorial hustings, Islanders voted in the main to keep the status quo, electing just one new face to the States at the Senatorial elections.
Former magistrate Ian Le Marquand – who topped the poll – was the only newcomer of the six elected Senators, which included returning Senators Philip Ozouf and Paul Routier and the promotion of Deputies Alan Breckon, Sarah Ferguson and Alan MacLean. The elections brought to a close, for at least three years, the political careers of Senator Mike Vibert and Deputy Peter Troy, who finished ninth and twelfth respectively. Deputy Geoff Southern also finished outside the top places, coming seventh with 7,194 votes, but successfully retained his seat in the Deputies’ elections in November. Senator Le Marquand was duly awarded for his high finish, (14,238 votes), when his fellow members elected him as Home Affairs Minister in December.

NEARLY 2,000 runners battled atrocious weather conditions to compete in Jersey’s third Standard Chartered marathon. The forecast was for heavy rain and gale force winds, but the runners were undeterred, as were the spectators, who still turned out to cheer them along the way. And despite some truly awful running conditions – some athletes were drenched by waves crashing over the sea wall – some runners recorded some excellent times with the previous winner, Andrew Hennessy, bettering his 2007 finish by a full six minutes. The women’s event was won by Jersey’s multi-Island Games medallist Jo Gorrod, who was running her first marathon. Competitors from France, Belgium, Luxembourg, Canada, Australia, the UK, Guernsey, Alderney, Egypt, Kenya, the UAE and Pakistan comprised 250 relay teams of five runners and 373 individual entries on the day.

IN the wake of an unsteady financial climate, the Council of Ministers announced that they would guarantee every penny of Islanders’ savings with the £600 million rainy day fund. It took two days of top-level discussions before the Chief Minister Frank Walker revealed that they would bring a proposition to ensure that Islanders’ savings would be protected if banks went bust. Senator Walker said that the strategic reserve would be used to bail out the banks if all other measures failed, but stressed that such a worst-case scenario was very unlikely in Jersey. He also said that, before the rainy day fund was dipped into, the Island could be forced to borrow and make the banks repay the loans and reassured Islanders that Jersey’s long-standing tradition of letting in only banks in the top 500 stood the Island in good stead.

Article posted on 29th December, 2008 - 2.55pm