Today the information came hard, fast and from multiple sources that there was another scandal brewing at NICH and President Dianne Haylock was again, right in the middle of it. The allegation comes from a member of the NICH Board, Judy Collier who wrote a letter to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet on January sixth alleging that Haylock And Tourism Ministry CEO Mike Singh have given the architect Julius Espat the inside track on a project to revamp the House of Culture into a first class destination.
The problem arises because Collier was asked to serve on a House of Culture Committee to make the grounds of the Old Government House a premier destination for tourists. But Espat – who is definitely PUP affiliated was asked to serve on the same board. When he submitted a plan for what the place could look like, Collier concluded that he had somehow been appointed as or taken on the role of Architect for the job.
In her letter to the PM Collier argues that she was, quote “concerned that Espat could become the “automatic architect” without giving any other architects a chance to submit their proposals. To Collier that raised the possibility that, quote, “this could possibly become an additional scandal and embarrassment to the UDP and to Ms. Dianne Haylock.” And certainly if a contract for architecture work has been given to Julius Espat that’s enough to raise an eyebrow, if it was without tender, it is as well, and if an insider position was used to secure the contract, well, altogether, that’s an outrage. Except that none of those things happened.
We caught up with Tourism CEO Mike Singh this afternoon. He said, it’s much ado about nothing, because Espat hasn’t been retained to do anything, he’s given his services for free.
Mike Singh, CEO – Ministry of Tourism
“Mr. Espat kindly volunteered to assist. He has a lot of intimate knowledge on the building which made him very appropriate because he is the one who made the original renovation and he volunteered his work at no cost and has been very participatory in the committee and we welcome his assistance but there has never been any discussion about a contract. At this point we are developing a concept, the volunteers are putting together a concept to be presented to various organizations to try to raise the funding to do the project. There is no money to do the project so it is really a volunteer group.”
Jules Vasquez,
It says here that he has presented drawings and if he has presented drawings that means work has been done and the implication of this is that he is on track or has the inside track on becoming the architect for this project and that as a committee member, his inside position has been used to gain that advantage.
Mike Singh,
“Again that is incorrect. Julius has volunteered his work to help us to develop a concept. That concept came at no cost; the work came at no cost. Until funding is acquired, until a project has been announced there is no contract to talk about. Any architect that would be willing to volunteer their time would be accepted. I don’t see the issue with Mr. Espat, I think he is very capable of assisting, I think he is doing civic duty in trying to help us and at the end of the day I don’t see how that can be presupposed that he is being given a contract. That is certainly not the case.”
Jules Vasquez,
If and when the project advances to the time when it does require an architect, a planner, this sort of thing, will he be at an advantageous position to get that, being that he has already proposed a preliminary sketch or preliminary plan?
Mike Singh,
“No I don’t believe that. This sketch will by no means be the final decision. This is sort of an idea of what we see the House of Culture being converted into. When it actually gets into engineering drawings and costings, then you would certainly need an engineering team to perhaps take some of these concepts as an idea and turn it into actual plans and at that point all those contracts will be put out to proper tender, proper bidding and certainly will be taken to the highest authority before any contract would be given. And I don’t believe that if there is no monetary contract being given out, if there is no spending of government money, I don’t see why anybody should be second guessed as to who is helping out.”
Jules Vasquez,
Well certainly some might have the view that Julius Espat is no friend of the government of the day and that is not by the declaration of Mr. Espat, that is the interpretation, being that he was considered a friend of the last government, that he is no friend of this one and should not be sitting at the table where plans for this government’s work are being put together.
Mike Singh,
“But Jules that’s ridiculous. Mr. Espat is very talented at what he does and he is a Belizean and he actually lives in the neighbourhood which gives him an interest in making sure that the neighbourhood uplifts itself and I don’t buy that. At the end of the day I think we all need to get together as Belizeans and we need to work together to build, and if talent comes in that happens to be painted a different colour should we say no. I don’t believe we should.”
As for Collier’s letter to the Prime Minister and to Cabinet, the PM today told us that he had not seen the letter nor had it been formally presented to Cabinet. When he heard the outline of the case – the upshot of which is that Espat has not been retained - he told us that he felt Collier was jumping at shadows.
