Duncan appointed to electoral commission
Published:Friday | December 3, 2010 | 12:00 AM
Daraine Luton, Senior Staff Reporter
FORMER PEOPLE'S National Party (PNP) General Secretary Dr D.K. Duncan has been awarded the $8-million job of commissioner on the Electoral Commission of Jamaica (ECJ) by Opposition Leader Portia Simpson Miller.
Duncan is to replace the ailing Donald Buchanan who has indicated that he would not continue on the ECJ due to ill-health.
The ECJ yesterday confirmed that Duncan was now a nominated member of the commission. However, The Gleaner was unable to ascertain how long Duncan has been serving on the commission.
The veteran politician, who returned to active politics in the 2007 election campaign and inched home past the Jamaica Labour Party's (JLP) Barrington Gray by 10 votes after a magisterial recount, will be working alongside Peter Bunting, the man he briefly opposed for the job of PNP general secretary.
Protect electoral process
The commission is empowered by law to protect the electoral process from the immediate direction, influence and control of the Government, which might influence its functioning to the detriment of persons with opposing views who might wish to participate.
It comprises four selected members, four nominated members which include two persons nominated by the prime minister and two nominated by the leader of the opposition.
All members of the commission are paid at the same level at which a puisne judge is remunerated. Chairman Errol Miller earns $8.3 million yearly, while selected members Dorothy Pyne-McLarty, Dr Herbert Thompson and Justice Clarence Walker earn $8 million yearly for serving on the commission.
The same salary is paid to nominated member Senator Tom Tavares-Finson, who is not paid from the public purse.
Bunting and Duncan, the opposition members, are, however, paid $4.7 million as the law dictates that where remuneration is paid from the public purse, the amount payable by the commission is that portion that brings their salary up to the level of a puisne judge.
Government minister Karl Samuda, who is the other nominated member on the commission, earns $2.4 million from the ECJ which is then added to his salary, bringing it to $5.6 million.