UNC queries State heads’ pay

Following revelations of the $70,000 monthly salary of Petrotrin CEO/Chair-man Malcolm Jones and of the previous $50,000 salary of WASA CEO Errol Grimes, the Opposition wants more disclosures about other heads of State companies.

At tomorrow’s sitting of the House of Representatives the Opposition is expected to unleash a barrage of some 25 questions to ministers, already listed on the parliamentary order paper, with several querrying the salaries of heads of State companies. Opposition Chief Whip, Ganga Singh, will ask Minister of Public Utilities and the Environment, Rennie Dumas: “What is the remuneration and compensation package of the current executive chairman of the Solid Waste Management Company Limited (SWMCOL)?” and “What was the equivalent package of the last chief executive officer of the Solid Waste Management Company Limited (SWMCOL)?”.

The MP for Caroni East will also ask Prime Minister Patrick Manning about the remuneration paid to members of the Piarco Airport Commission of Inquiry. Singh will querry the “monies paid to the Chairman and other member Commissioners, the fees paid to the attorneys-at-law, listing how much each attorney-at-law received, the administrative cost, and the cost of television time”. Opposition MP for Tabaquite, Adesh Nanan, will ask Minister of Education, Senator Hazel Manning, about a consultant allegedly in her Ministry. Nanan will ask: “Will the Minister inform this House of the terms of employment, inclusive of salary, of Mr Kenrick Burgess, a project management consultant in the Ministry of Education? Would the Minister identify the areas of responsibility of this project management consultant?”. Burgess wrote the report for the Inter American Development Bank (IDB) which condemned the Biche School built by the former UNC regime, said to be polluted by gas emissions.