NICH President suspended over controversial contract
It has been in the news for days and today the issue came up again in Cabinet and the verdict is that except for what amounts to a slap on the wrist, Diane Haylock will remain as President of NICH; that is the word from the Cabinet. Haylock appeared in front of the cadre of ministers today to defend the concession agreement she signed with businessman David Gegg and his company Cruise Solutions… and it appears she was able to win them over. In a release issued late this evening, Cabinet says it is satisfied that the agreement is not a privatization of the reserve and that such a label was a gross mis-description and they do not support Haylock’s decision to sign a contract without putting the project to tender and without the knowledge of the full board. But while Haylock quote “erred in judgment, Cabinet is convinced that she acted in good faith, absolutely without any improper motive, and in extenuating circumstances.” The release goes on to say, quote “The president’s decision was made after full consultation with her technical staff and at a time (in July 2008) before the newly appointed NICH Board became functional. The Board did not hold its inaugural meeting until August, and its first business meeting until September. Nevertheless, it is Cabinet’s view that the president should have waited for the board to meet and consider the concession.” Because they do not feel that Haylock should be terminated for “this one mistake” they instead directed Minister of Culture Marcel Cardona to suspend her for one month without pay. We are not sure how Cardona feels about this development as we’ve been unable to reach him for comment. But we did catch the minister this morning before he went into the Cabinet meeting in Belmopan and he adamantly maintained to News Five’s Marion Ali that he believes Haylock should be terminated.
Marcel Cardona, Minister of Culture
“I believe that when we weigh the facts, look at the evidence etcetera because Ms. Haylock will be given an opportunity today to defend herself, but when all of us have considered all of the evidence, I think the decision will still be the only one in my humble opinion that can take place and that is she will need to be terminated. But at the ending of the day, it is the collective decision of Cabinet, it is not just my decision… but my humble opinion, what she has done, obviously a termination is necessary.”
Marion Ali
“If that doesn’t take place, if she remains, do you think you can work things out with her? It won’t be easy considering your past—it’s no secret that you have difference—but do you think that you can work with her as your president?”
Marcel Cardona
“Once she recognizes and respects my authority as the minister, I have no problems working along with her, but she has to understand that as a minister I am accountable to the people of Belize; anything goes wrong, it is my reputation that is on the line. She, she’s accountable apparently to no one but herself and that is the difference there.”
Marion Ali
“Minister, with respect, how could something like this, of this magnitude have happened and yourself not known about it? Does she have that much autonomy to act on her own? Does the contract, does the legislation give her that power?”
Marcel Cardona
“I must say that her contract, in my humble opinion, my understanding of it, as the Minister of Culture, I am her boss; she is supposed to report to me on a day to day basis whether it’s written or unwritten. That is understood. Whether the contract is invalid for whatever reason, it is understood that as the boss, she has to provide me with proper accounts of what she is doing and unfortunately, in this situation here, there was a severe lack of accountability to me as the minister.”
“I am not saying the project itself—setting up a restaurant facility etcetera—is not good, but I am saying the manner in which that project is taking place, I believe that the Belizean public as a whole have genuine concerns about it and that is my difficulty because if I had known about this, I would have readily indicated that we need to prepare a Cabinet paper on this matter, laying out the issues. It’s not only the board of directors that would have had to make a decision, but Cabinet would have then given some sort of recommendation or directive to the board of directors as to what’s government’s position, what’s government policy is in relation to situations like these. That is a major policy decision; that is the difficulty I have because when one person makes that policy decision on behalf of the board, on behalf of myself, on behalf of the entire Cabinet, on behalf of the entire government of Belize; that I have a problem with.”
Those were strong words coming from Cardona but by four this afternoon, the minister was apologizing in an unprecedented release for an interview this morning when he said that Haylock was appointed by the P.M. According to Cardona’s release, he had misspoken and he apologized to the Prime Minister.
Cardona says Government is seeking a legal opinion as to the validity of the contract, but in his opinion, everyone should have equal access to a business at the archaeological site and the only way to ensure that happens is if NICH is the operator.
