'I'm not dismissed. I am still on the payroll. I am still employed; I am still enjoying all my benefits and still receiving my pay cheque' - Errol Greene

Tyrone Reid, Enterprise Reporter

Despite emphatic claims that executive director Errol Greene was dismissed from the National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA), he is still being paid his salary.

Dean Peart, the minister of Local Government and Environment, had said that Mr. Greene was fired. However, sources now say that the executive director was never dismissed and received his salary from the agency up to last month.

This was confirmed by Mr. Greene yesterday. "I'm not dismissed. I am still on the payroll. I am still employed; I am still enjoying all my benefits and still receiving my pay cheque," he said.

However, Mr. Greene declined to comment further. "I will speak at the appropriate time," he declared.

In NSWMA's hands

Ann-Marie Mittoo, communications director in the Ministry of Local Government and Environment, told The Gleaner that Mr. Greene's fate is now in the hands of the solid waste agency.

"Having had a response from the Solicitor General's office, the matter is now with the National Solid Waste Management Authority board and they are to convene at their next board meeting and take a decision, being guided by the Solicitor General's response," Mrs. Mittoo said.

While she could not say exactly when the next board meeting would be held, Mrs. Mittoo said it would be convened after recently-installed board chairman, Robert Bryan, returned to the island. She also said that the minister of Local Government and Environment was off the island.

No comment

When contacted, Christopher Powell, acting executive director at the NSWMA, refused to comment on the Errol Greene issue. "I can't speak to that matter. Remember it is a legal issue. You have to speak to the Permanent Secretary," he said.

Mr. Greene, who previously served as town clerk at the Kingston and St. Andrew Corporation (KSAC) and chief executive officer for the Kingston City Centre Improvement Company, was appointed executive director of the NSWMA in June 2005. In September 2006, he was asked to remain on leave to facilitate an investigation into allegations of irregularities at the agency. Later, Mr. Peart insisted that he return to the KSAC to his substantive post as town clerk.