ATTORNEY GENERAL and Minister of Legal Affairs Reginald Armour, SC, has apologised to Tobagonians for the difficulties they have encountered in accessing services at the Tobago sub-office of the Registrar General's Department.

To ensure an improved and timely delivery in the delivery of legal services, Armour said an acting Deputy Registrar has been temporarily assigned to the Tobago office.

In addition, either the Deputy Registrar General or an Assistant Registrar will be present in the office between Monday to Friday.

Armour denied that the government was attempting to 'recolonise' Tobago through the Registrar General's Department.

He said some of the problems being experienced by members of the public were owing to "the actions of one or two employees." He said investigations into their conduct are ongoing.

'I would like to impress upon the public that suggestions of wanting to control everything from Trinidad or to recolonise Tobago through the Registrar General's Department reflects an alarming lack of understanding of the law or a complete disregard of the responsibilities of leadership,' he told reporters during a news conference at the Office of the Prime Minister, Central Administrative Services - Tobago, on December 11.

'There has been no recent change in approved operating procedures in Tobago. There has been no effort by the Cabinet of the government of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, of which I am proud to be Attorney General, to reduce any operational autonomy of the Tobago Office of the Registrar General.

'In fact, the opposite is true. Since the intervention of Cabinet in August of this year, the efforts by both the Cabinet and the Registrar General's office have been to expand the service capability and to improve on the delivery of services to the people of Tobago.'

Last week, Chief Secretary Farley Augustine claimed that Tobago was being taken back in time by central government as many people were having major difficulties accessing services at the Registrar General's Department.

Augustine blamed the Cabinet and said the situation was exacerbated after the Deputy Registrar General resigned in March this year. He claimed she was frustrated out of the job. He asked whether Tobagonians were being punished for voting out the People's National Movement in the December 2021 THA elections.

He expressed similar concerns about the inability to access legal services in October 2023 and had called on the Prime Minister and Armour to investigate the matter.

Dr Rowley, responding to Augustine's latest claim at the post-Cabinet news conference on December 5, rejected his view that Tobago was being taken back in time.

He said there 'has been no deliberate (attempt) on the part of the government to do any such thing,' but he instructed Armour to address the issue comprehensively.

AG meets with Tobago lawyers

On December 11, Armour met with Tobago MPs Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis and Ayanna Webster-Roy and members of the Tobago Lawyers Association, led by its president Dawn Pall