I am quite amazed, amused and proud that the Tobago Council of the Peoples National Movement feels that anything I say is worthy of their collective attention. But it indicates to me that the entire context and tenor of my argument hit a nerve in that Council and I take the opportunity to repeat the nub of my argument. Firstly it is a truth conveniently overlooked by the Tobago Council of the Peoples National Movement and the Tobago House of Assembly, that the Peoples Partnership Government of which I was a part, consistent with its manifesto promise which later became government policy, consulted widely on the matter of internal self government for Tobago. The Partnership Government thereafter drafted and laid in Parliament a Bill designed to give life to this very issue. The Partnership Government to date is the first and only government to attempt to give birth to our desire for Internal Self Government. It is a further truth that that Bill was vehemently opposed by the Peoples National Movement at both the Tobago level and the national level. Their support was needed in the Parliament to bring about the constitutional change required to recognize our long and passionate desire for internal self government, yet they continued to stand exactly where that party has stood on this issue for over 40 years – They refused to support Tobago, Tobagonians, and the internationally recognized right to self determination It is yet another truth that The THA sponsored Consultations are not the first or even the fifth consultations on the matter of Tobago’s internal self government, though their efforts in continuing the conversation that they themselves refused to have in 2012, is commendable, if belated and open to suspicion by right thinking and critical thinking persons. It is a hard and sorry truth that if the efforts of their most recent of many documents are to see the light of day, they need the support of the government, who, I reiterate, not only already has a policy document on this very issue, but crystalized it into draft legislation which was rejected by the PNM in 2012. So that having set in motion a chain of events designed to come into direct confrontation with the Government on an issue that the Government in consultation with the People of both islands already resolved, I opined (if tongue in cheek), that this was really a farce on the part of the THA intended to bully the government , reminiscent in my view of another similar ‘fast’ currently playing out on the National stage. What is insulting therefore is not my perhaps macabre humor, but rather this farce perpetrated by the THA at taxpayer expense; to create a document that already exists; to purport to solve a problem that was already solved; to consult with people who now suffer from consultation fatigue, all the while pretending that there is an end in sight that they can somehow single handedly bring about. As for apologies, I on behalf of all Tobagonians demand an apology from Tobago Council of the Peoples National Movement whose lads and ladies have inhabited the corridors of power in the THA for the last 12 years. I demand an apology for the opportunity for Internal Self Government that was wasted by the PNM in 2012 because of ego rather than national interest; I demand an apology for the fact that Tobago has had no library for over a decade. I demand an apology for the construction of the monstrosity that besmirches the Tobago skyline intended to be a cultural complex. I demand an apology for MILSHERV and for the Bayleaf project. And I demand that ‘they’ spell my name correctly the next time ‘they’ ask for an apology. When all these apologies are received, we can chat.
Posted on: Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:54:54 +0000
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