Former Acting Manager of the Point Salines International Airport (PSIA), Ronald "Pappy" Charles has landed another lucrative contract with the ruling New National Party (NNP) government of Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Mitchell.

Informed sources told GRENADA TODAY that Cabinet recently approved a contract in which Charles is to be paid US$4, 000.00 or approximately EC$ 10,867.60 per month as an employee of the Ministry of Agriculture.

Charles, who is from the River Road area in St. George's is a known political activist for the NNP regime. A source close to government said that under the deal struck, the former airport manager is expected to be engaged mainly in the training of workers in the Ministry of Agriculture, headed by Deputy Prime Minister, Gregory Bowen.

The US$4000.00 a month contract given to Charles has reportedly not gone down well with a number of senior civil servants within the ministry. According to a government insider, a number of workers within the ministry has apparently resorted to "go slow action" in protest against the hugh salary being paid to the NNP activist.

"When men (in the Ministry) hear the amount of money that Pappy will be getting, they stop work. The workers who have been there long are totally unhappy with what is happening. None of them getting that kind of money that Pappy is getting", he remarked.

When Charles was forced out of the PSIA job about five months ago, the current Chairman of the Board of Directors, Terrence Forrester accused him of not performing in the job. Forrester who is also closely aligned to the NNP government chided Charles for failing to carry out a number of directives handed down to him by the airport management.

Opponents of the Mitchell government regard the contract awarded to Charles as another case of "job for the boys".

A spokesman for the main opposition National Democratic Congress (NDC) questioned the rationale of offering Charles such a lucrative job when the precarious position of government finances.

"Pappy has just about failed in every place that he worked with them (government). They had to move him from the (Grenada) Mission in New York and put him at the airport. He (Charles) also failed to perform at the airport and they had to move him once again. What can he really do in agriculture?" he asked.

In recent weeks, Prime Minister Mitchell has been awarding new contracts to a number of key party officials including ex-government ministers like Augustine John and Laurina Waldron.

John who lost his St. George North-east Seat in the 2003 general election, has been brought back into the service as Complaints Officer in the Ministry of Works.

These ex-government ministers are being paid under the controversial 340 Line Vote which is part of the budget in most government ministries and departments.