TOBAGO-THA appoints a team to discuss autonomy

SCARBOROUGH, Tobago, CMC—The Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), Farley Augustine, says he will establish a special team to address the issue of Tobago’s autonomy.

In an address to Tobagonians on the issue of autonomy on Sunday night, Augustin said the public discussions team will be apolitical. The former University of the West Indies (UWI) lecturer, Dr. Winford James, will lead it.

“They will speak to you, the public, in the coming weeks. Also, this coming week, my office will dispatch to the prime minister, the leader of the opposition, and all individual members of the independent bench of the Senate.

“I will be inviting them and their charges to conversations with Tobago on this important matter,” he said, adding that the THA will release a docu-series detailing the history of Tobago’s quest for autonomy.

Prime Minister Dr. Keith Rowley recently said that his ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) administration intends to bring the two autonomy bills before the joint select committee to Parliament for a vote early in the current session.

However, Augustine clarified that Tobago would only accept something equal to what was proposed in 2013.

“We Tobagonians were told we should reject (then prime minister) Kamla’s (Persad Bissessar) 2013 bill for something better, and we agreed. We listened to porous leaders in Tobago then, and overwhelmingly, Tobago rejected Kamla’s bill by giving all 12 seats to the leaders of Tobago.

“Today, the leaders of Tobago then are the leaders of the country at Port of Spain now, and I dare say we will not accept any bill ….that offers less than what we rejected in 2013 because 2013 provisions were inadequate.

“Further, I must remind everyone that the founding father of our nation stated, “I hope I do not go too far in suggesting that Tobago as an island cannot simply be put on the same footing as the county council of Caroni (in Trinidad), Victoria or some other part or district of Trinidad”>

While he admitted that the definition of Tobago is controversial, Augustine nevertheless insisted that it is necessary in the quest for autonomy.

“The Constitution in sections 11 and 12 clearly states the nation formally known as the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago comprises the island of Trinidad and the island of Tobago without specifying the boundaries of either.

“This call for delineation is therefore within the purview of the constitutional provisions and merely seeks greater clarity for effective administration over the respective islands,” the THA Chief Secretary said.

He told Tobagonians that the same people who led Tobago in 2013 and demanded that the Kamla bill give Tobago 200 miles “are the same ones hypocritically demanding that Tobago should accept less today.”

In January 2013, then-prime minister Persad Bissessar dismissed suggestions that her coalition People’s Partnership government was introducing legislation to grant greater autonomy to Tobago ahead of the January 21 election for control of the THA.

However, opposition leader Rowley described the proposed amendment to the Trinidad and Tobago Constitution as a “fish with feathers” and reiterated that the PNM would not support the initiative that needs a special majority in the Parliament to get the green light.

Persad Bissessar told legislators that the legislation was in keeping with the policies outlined by her coalition government when it campaigned for the May 24, 2010, general election and was not intended to influence voters in the sister island to support the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP), a coalition partner seeking to topple the PNM after 12 years in charge of the 12-member THA.

Augustine, in his broadcast on Sunday, said that former president and prime minister, the late ANR Robinson, who was part of the coalition government, had stressed that internal self-government was a rights issue, adding that Tobago wanted to make a more meaningful contribution to the nation of Trinidad and Tobago.

However, he said that while his administration is conscious of the need to preserve the state of Trinidad and Tobago, the next generation may need to be more patient.

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