If you heard a crashing sound this afternoon, it was Dianne Haylock, President of NICH being thrown under the bus by no other than her Minister, Marcel Cardona. His office issued a completely unprecedented release today, publicly bashing and scolding Haylock for entering into a contract – the release claims – without the knowledge of her Board of Directors or the Minister himself.
The contract is the one we told you about on Friday, an agreement with tourism developer David Gegg and his company Cruise Solutions to build a restaurant with cave tubing services at the Caves Branch Destination, known properly as Nohoch Chen, which is managed by NICH and considered a prime revenue earner. And that’s part of the reason it was brought to our attention, because other tourism interests feel like it gives cruise solutions an unfair advantage at this prime destination.
But according to the remarkable release from the Ministry of Culture – the contract is more than questionable, Haylock entered into it unilaterally, without consulting the NICH Board or the Minister and – the release alleges – without the full authority of law. In fact, the release – and again this is from the Ministry of Culture refers to it as an effective privatization of an archaeological reserve.
We’ll quote the release at length; it says “the Ministry of..... Culture, nor Cabinet, nor the board of directors of NICH, (has at any time) taken the policy-decision to privatize the Nohoch Chen (Caves Branch) Reserve.” And if that wasn’t clear enough it continues to say that: “the Ministry of Youth, Sports & Culture hereby confirms that at no time was the Minister...., nor were the members of the Board of Directors of NICH, consulted prior to the entry into such a purported contract, with a view to obtaining their active participation in this extremely important policy-making or decision-making process. At no time did Ms. Haylock seek the views or the consent of either the Minister with responsibility for culture, nor the collective decision of the Board of Directors for NICH.”
And because of that alleged non consultation, the release says: “the Ministry...is...of the view that any....contractual relations between Dianne Haylock and a private individual or entity with a view to privatizing....(caves branch....is ultra vires her executive powers...Ms. Haylock....is empowered by the NICH Act to carry out the ordinary day-to-day activities of NICH, but certainly not undertake major policy decisions on her own, without having fully apprised either the Minister with responsibility for culture, or the NICH board.”
And it concludes, resolutely, almost with the air of a decree: “....the Ministry of Culture hereby declares that,....any....contract allegedly entered into between Dianne Haylock and David Gegg of Cruise Solutions Ltd., as it pertains to the Caves Branch Reserve, is completely null and void, and shall not be honoured by the Ministry of Youth, Sports & Culture, nor the National Institute of Culture and History.”
And it ends with a flourish: “this is in keeping with the manifesto promises of the new UDP government, which promised equal or fair treatment for all, and proper accountability and transparency in all public transactions.”
How’s that for a sharp come-uppance? Well, we could not reach Haylock for comment as she is reportedly out of the country. But it is a very serious public scolding for her, and it is even more remarkable if you know as we do, that Haylock was the Prime Minister’s choice for the job, and has always been considered to enjoy protection from him. We don’t know how or if that executive buffer factored at all into Cardona’s unprecedented release.
