Attractive compensation packages paid to at least two heads of public-sector bodies triggered a number of queries in Gordon House during a question-and-answer session yestreday.

Opposition Spokesman on Finance Dr Omar Davies wanted to know why Commissioner of Customs Danville Walker was receiving what he termed "an interesting" compensation package.

Walker's total remuneration is a little more than $8 million, with more than half that amount paid in personal allowances.

Davies demands rationale

Davies, who questioned Minister of Finance and the Public Service Audley Shaw, said the minister should tell the House and the country the rationale "for this strange way to repackage the compensation".

According to Shaw, the salary for the "established" post of commissioner of customs did not apply in the case of Walker.

He explained that the former director of elections was employed on "special contractual terms".

Continuing, Shaw said this was deemed necessary for a number of reasons.

Walker's recruitment

He told his parliamentary colleagues that Walker was recruited on the basis that he would be paid a similar salary to that which he received when he headed the Electoral Office of Jamaica.

"It would have been difficult to expect that he would take that assignment at a compensation level that would be less than half of what he received while he was director of elections," said Shaw.

Justifying the package paid to Walker, the finance minister pointed out that the commissioner of customs would not receive a pension.

But Davies quickly dismissed that point as irrelevant, saying that Walker would be getting gratuity at the end of his contract.

Commenting further on the issue, Shaw said salary currently paid for some established posts in the public sector were inadequate.

He said the administration would have to review compensation packages in the public sector in order to attract certain levels of employees.

Another package that raised eyebrows in Gordon House yesterday was that of National Solid Waste Management Authority (NSWMA) Executive Director Joan Gordon-Webley. The NSWMA boss is receiving a total package of little more than $4.5 million per annum.

Special incentive

However, a special incentive clause will allow Gordon-Webley to earn 20 per cent of amounts saved by the company through the implementation of cost-cutting measures.

Davies again queried that arrangement, questioning whether other employees of the company would benefit from this scheme.

The opposition spokesman further asked: "How do you ascertain how much of that increase, if any, is due solely to the executive director and how about other members of staff who may have contributed to this efficiency?"

Shaw said: "The precise rationale for arriving at this formula I will undertake to provide for the former minister, we get it from the compensation unit."

Remuneration packages