NICH president speaks on controversial contract

The ten year agreement between NICH and Cruise Solutions’ was ventilated by the media for days unending and while NICH president Diane Haylock was suspended by Cabinet for a month, it doesn’t mean that the issue has gone away. Haylock is now having her say about the public spat between her and Minister of Culture Marcel Cardona. Fresh off a radio talk show, this morning Haylock told News Five why she signed the concessionary agreement with developer David Gegg and did not tell her minister and how she’s coping with being in the hot seat. According to Haylock, the entire thing was like a storm in a teacup and having a restaurant at the Caves Branch archaeological site is a win-win situation for both NICH and Gegg.

Diane Haylock, President, NICH
“I will hold my head high because I really feel I did not do anything wrong in terms of the agreement that NICH signed with Cruise Solutions. I did not sell anything out, I did not give anything away. NICH makes the most money from any one tour company from Cruise Solutions. So Cruise Solutions is obligated by virtue of investing in a restaurant there, Cruise Solutions, for its own benefit, is obligated to bring in tourists to that site. The more people Cruise Solutions brings to that site, the more money in the coffers of NICH. Cruise Solutions has to ay the entrance fee for every single tourist it brings. It does not have any advantage over any other operator who brings a tourist to the site. The restaurant is there, anybody is free to use it. We were able to get Cruise Solutions to integrate two gift shops into its designs. At the end of the day, we own that building by virtue of the fact that we own that land… I have not privatized any of the property. I would never privatize any of the property and I simple see it as a win-win situation for NICH as an institution and as an extension, I see it as something that will benefit people living in that area.”

Kendra Griffith
“Do you feel that you did something wrong in not informing the minister of this project?”

Diane Haylock
“I did not share the information with the minister and I should have shared it with him. It was not an unintentional thing on my part, not to share it with him, but the fact that I didn’t is an issue… I can’t say anything about it other than that, yeah.”

Kendra Griffith
“And the board of NICH?”

Diane Haylock
“This whole event took place the… the bulk of this event took place prior to the board actually having its inaugural meeting. I treated it strictly as a management decision. I did not see—and I still maintain—did not see it as a policy decision and the whole way in which NICH is structured, there are things that management can do and there are things that the board can and should do by right as the policy setting.”

Kendra Griffith
“So you are saying that because you saw it as a management decision it wasn’t something that needed to go further than yourself, to the board or minister for approval?”

Diane Haylock
“For approval. But certainly in terms of sharing the information, I have no fault with that.”

Kendra Griffith
“What was the relation like between you and the minister before this whole scandal erupted?”

Diane Haylock
“We’ve had a challenging relationship. We have had issues that we agree on, we’ve had issues that we disagree on; we’ve had some strong disagreements, but to me that is part and parcel for the course. I strongly feel that this matter should have, could have been dealt in the proper way; it wasn’t. the fact that it became a big media blitz when it need not have gone that way, I suppose maybe there is a sense of embarrassment in the sense that gosh, I certainly don’t like being out there in the media in this way. So yes, but it has more to do with a sense of anger and hurt, if one may look at it that way. I want to believe that for as long as I continue to be the President of NICH and for as long as he continues to be the Minister of NICH, that we must, we should, and we can find a way to work together.”

The contract is currently being reviewed by the NICH board to determine its validity.