NASSAU| Former Deputy Prime Minister Desmond Bannister ordered that his personal driver’s salary be increased to nearly $56,000 just a few months before the 2021 General Election, according to a letter obtained by the Gallery.
Prior to the increase, Bannister’s driver, Vaughn Evans, was making $47,650 a year along with a double increment of $1,650 to drive the then-minister of works around town.
However, on January 1, 2021, the driver’s salary was increased to $55,900. He also received $8,243 in back pay in September 2021 – days before the Free National Movement government was kicked out of office.
Evans was seconded to the Water and Sewerage Corporation (WSC) to become Bannister’s chauffeur after the FNM took office in 2017.
Prior to that, Evans worked as a meter reader at WSC. The interesting career move as Bannister’s personal driver came with a huge salary increase for Evans, who received a five-step promotion to the title of Assistant Supervisor.
However, the only thing he supervised was the steering wheel as he spent his days driving Bannister to and from Cabinet meetings, the House of Assembly and public functions.
Evans, a rabid FNM supporter, walked through WSC Headquarters bragging about the FNM’s landslide victory and his “come-up” from Meter Reader to Assistant Supervisor.
However, following the FNM’s embarrassing loss at the polls on September 16, Evans was shipped back to WSC.
The same coworkers he taunted are now laughing behind their desks as Evans cries about being victimized by the “New Day” government, which ordered him to report to his regular duties at WSC.
Though he is still on the job, he now has his employer in court fighting for a promotion that he didn’t earned but received as a political favor.
Employees are now marveling at the audacity of Evans’ legal battle for a position he did not earn.
Instead of driving Desmond Bannister, he is now driving colleagues up the wall with his incessant complaints.
