For the past three years, Tobago has had the misfortune of being saddled with an administration whose own web has entangled many of its members, especially with the Trinidad and Tobago Police Service (TTPS).
It is alarming to have woken up almost weekly to scandal after scandal, allegation after allegation, misbehaviour after misbehaviour. It has been difficult to digest, far less forgetting the audio recordings of freakishly familiar voices, sinisterly plotting to pull wool over the eyes of all of us Tobagonians.
False allegations and misdirected attacks have become the norm of the day, with even a sitting Police Commissioner passing in the rush.
Sadly, September 6 was no different from what is tragically becoming a new normal. As Tobagonians opened our sleepy eyes, we were slapped with the news that a search warrant had been issued and served on the THA’s (Tobago House of Assembly) sitting Secretary of Infrastructure, Quarries and Urban Development. That warrant required police officers to take possession of the secretary’s mobile phone. Interestingly, it was neither the serving of the warrant nor the details of the warrant that agitated me but the false and wicked accusation made aligning the People’s National Movement (PNM) with the incident for the legitimate actions of the TTPS and the Licensing Division of the Ministry of Works and Transport.
The irrefutable fact is that the law enforcement officials had a legitimate concern. They took those concerns to the court, and the concerns were sufficient to cause the court to issue a warrant to gather evidence.
How, then, did this suddenly become about the PNM? More so, if nothing wrong was done, why the panic and the feigned furore?
The PNM supports every officer of the State carrying out his or her job within the confines of the law and to the best of their ability.
When former PNM ministers Franklin Khan (deceased) and Eric Williams were accused and charged, the PNM allowed the process to take its course, and after two years of investigation, the charges against both men were dropped.
In more recent times when former PNM minister Marlene McDonald (deceased) was accused and charged, the PNM did not accuse or wage war against the police or our political opponents, but rather allowed the process to take its course. Sadly, Ms McDonald passed before the completion of the court process.
The fact remains that no one is above the law. The secretary’s constant reference to the Licensing officers based in Tobago as being his “subordinates” speaks volumes about an individual bursting from hubris and entitlement. Being the secretary of a division doesn’t make you the lord of all you survey, and no one—not even the employees of the division—are your subordinates. By contrast, it would do the secretary and his colleagues well to remember that we, as politicians, are servants of the people, and not the other way around.
The victim card being played is weak and puerile. You have, without the shadow of a doubt, yet again proven to Tobago that you do not have what it takes to govern the island effectively.
Every sector, every stakeholder, every home is feeling the pain of your mismanagement of the island since December 6, 2021.
You came in with great promise, but Tobago has drunk from a poisoned chalice. Allow the investigation to take its course and let the chips fall where they may.
Senator Laurence Hislop
PRO, PNM—Tobago
Council