NICH President Dianne Haylock is serving a one month suspension without pay. That’s what Cabinet decided on Tuesday when Haylock was summoned to defend her decision to enter into a contract with the controversial tourism developer David Gegg and his company Cruise Solutions. It has been an unaccustomed public battering for Haylock who – as one writer described her - is “the former diva of civil society, and advocate of good governance.” So, for Dianne Haylock to be accused of making a secret agreement to privatize and archaeological reserve – and for that accusation – those very words, to be coming from her own ministry, well you can imagine, it has been two weeks of bitter and stunned silence for this champion of transparency. But she’s speaking out now. Today she told Jules Vasquez that her suspension should go by in no time, it’s what happens after that, which raises the burning questions.
Jules Vasquez,
Suspended for a month without pay, how does that feel?
Dianne Haylock, NICH President
“Jules what can I say, it is not something I am happy about but that was the decision that Cabinet and I can live with it. I will live with; a month will go by in no time.”
Jules Vasquez,
Things having unfolded as they did, what is your greatest regret?
Dianne Haylock,
“Jules well first of all I honestly believe that this situation should not have become a public issue the way it has happened. There was something that somebody might have had some concern about; I feel there was a proper channel by which this issue could have been addressed. That channel was not utilized by any means and so I was flabbergasted by the whole thing to say the least because as I said, if there was some concern that people wanted to talk about, then there were avenues that could have been explored to address this issue and they were not.”
Jules Vasquez,
Do you think there was a deliberate orchestration of events to publicize it or as they say blow it up as large as possible, thus making your termination an inevitability?
Dianne Haylock,
“I feel that way Jules; I honestly feel that way.”
Jules Vasquez,
Were you surprised at the ferocity of the response from the Ministry of Culture?
Dianne Haylock,
“Jules I can’t even describe my feelings. I was stunned, I was angry, I was upset – I could not believe that my own Ministry would do something like that and again to say that it was privatization when it was not, to make reference to the entire area which is 4.5 acres or something like that which it wasn’t. The whole way within which that thing to my mind was crafted, was intended to stir a sense of public outrage and I believe it did that and I think that that is totally totally totally unfair.”
Jules Vasquez,
Do you feel at this point that someone owes you an apology?
Dianne Haylock,
“I feel so. I feel so because I feel my name has been smeared unfairly. I have not committed a crime and in many ways I feel as if I have been treated like a criminal so there is a sense, yes, that I am owed an apology.”
Jules Vasquez,
And more so, those so who supposedly treated you like a criminal are within your own party.
Dianne Haylock,
“I am not going to comment on things like that Jules. Right now I am hurt but as far as I am concerned, that too shall pass.”
Jules Vasquez,
Has peace been made between yourself and the Minister of Culture?
Dianne Haylock,
“The Minister of Culture and I have not seen each other, spoken to each other; we have not had any face to face meeting, discussion, since the 16th of December 2008. We’ve had no interaction with each other since then so I cannot comment on our relationship at this particular point in time. The Minister came to my office on the 16th of December, Tuesday the 16th of December, came into my office, he asked me about this agreement, or he suggested that he had asked me about this agreement and that I had told him no agreement existed and I told him absolutely, categorically, no. He and I had had no discussion about it. He said a few things, he and I did not have a conversation, he left my office. Subsequent to that I sought to have a meeting with him for the 22nd of December. I was informed he was unavailable for such a meeting.”
Jules Vasquez,
About this subject?
Dianne Haylock,
“Well I sought a meeting subsequent to that happening and of course to primarily talk about that and I was told that he was unavailable to meet with me and then I was going on leave the 23rd. So I left at that stage without, just thinking well this matter will be dealt with when I get back. So needless to say like I said before, I was utterly amazed, I was flabbergasted, when I got the news on the evening of the 24th while I was in LA with my family that this thing had happened.”
Jules Vasquez,
Justify if you can in the public’s mind this contract.
Dianne Haylock,
“One of the objectives I see at NICH right now is to deal with the issue of financial sustainability. I feel that it is vitally important for us to find new ways to earn an income because the ways in which we currently make money to subsidize the NICH enterprise is not enough. I was approached by Cruise Solutions to consider this request. That request was made to me, I believe in June, sometime. I immediately brought that issue to the attention of our management team. The management team had its discussion back and forth about the merits of it. I asked my technical people about the status quo as far as things like this go and I was advised that we have these concessions, which are basically administered by the Institute of Archaeology which runs the archeologically parks, that we have various concessions, different kinds of concessions, with approximately twenty something different people, so they saw it as fitting right into that, except it would be a slightly different kind of agreement. And once the management said yeah this is something we should explore further, we then passed it on to the Institute of Archaeology which is the institution at NICH to move into the whole thing and come back to us with a proposal as to how this could actually happen. I sent a letter in July to Cruise Solutions and I left the rest of it up to the technicians who crafted the agreement as per other agreements. Jules I basically saw this as a win win situation for NICH.”
Jules Vasquez,
Even the Prime Minister, speaking on the record, said it was a severe lapse of judgement and in his press release called it an unauthorized signing.
Dianne Haylock,
“I cannot argue with that. I will tell you that I interpret my actions as something done within the scope of management. I saw it purely, and this is based on the feedback that I got from my technical people, I saw it purely as a managerial thing and not as a policy issue. I think we have to beg to differ but if that is the way the Prime Minister interprets it, I am not going to argue with the PM. The PM is entitled to that view and I respect the view. In hindsight, I am telling you how I felt and I honestly, I say this with all sincerity, I did that on the basis of it being a managerial decision.”
Jules Vasquez,
When you return from your suspension, how will you lead a board which has presumed to fire you, wrongly the Prime Minister has said, but a board which as you turned around they put a knife inna yuh back?
Dianne Haylock,
“Jules I have had a meeting with the board. I think the members of the board and I expressed how we felt, we were very frank with each other. I would like to believe that we can move beyond that and still work together.”
Jules Vasquez,
Do you think that when they fired you, they were being prodded, encouraged, led to do so, by Minister Marcel Cardona?
Dianne Haylock,
“I won’t comment on that.”
Jules Vasquez,
Are you able to froseeably continue on as the President of NICH with the present Minister of Culture? We know that NICH is autonomous but the two parts have to work together.
Dianne Haylock,
“Jules, I have learned a lot in my life. Twenty years ago I would say no. Right now for me I could work with anybody as long as that person and I fully understand the lines of authority; what is your role in this, what is my role – let us be clear on that and if there is a lack of clarity, let’s clarify it.”
Jules Vasquez,
Did you ever contemplate, ‘you know what – I don’t need this aggravation – mek I go live inna mi house by Faber’s Road?’
Dianne Haylock,
“Believe me I have contemplated it but at the end of the day I really have done nothing wrong and so I will allow this thing to play itself out. Hopefully after the dust has settled, rationality will enter back into the equation.”
It’s of significant note that Haylock’s appointment ends on February 19. In the normal course it was expected that a renewal would have been automatic, but with the icy relations between Haylock and The Minister of Culture, no one can quite say which way it will go. The Board of Directors of NICH was scheduled to meet today – but that was postponed until tomorrow. They are expected to discuss the Gegg contract and examine the comparative merits of keeping or cancelling it.
