THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine says Tobago’s development continues to be stymied.

Augustine told the Tobago Updates morning show on Wednesday that the overarching issue at hand is Tobago’s autonomy, and that autonomy is not necessarily about secession.

“Tobago’s development continues to be stymied by virtue of the fact that we really and truly do not have the kind of autonomy to make the moves that we want to make, and we have to be sure that when we are getting the autonomy, that we are getting what Tobago needs for its socio-cultural and socio-economic development.”

He said he has never been a proponent of secession, adding that TT can be a twin-island republic with devolution of powers.

“This is nothing new, there is no magic to it. It exists elsewhere within the Commonwealth – in St Kitts/ Nevis they have a federation for example. In the United Kingdom, they have broad, sweeping devolution powers. Even as we speak, Scotland is part of the UK but Scotland can pass its own laws, Scotland can set its own taxation policies, Scotland can hold a referendum if it wants to determine if it wants to actually secede or not...

“Outside of the Commonwealth, you have federation existing. You have other examples of how power can be devolved from the centre to outlying regions. So that doesn’t in any way challenge the notion of there being a twin-island republic.”

But Augustine said what his administration was seeking was for Tobago to decide on its socio-cultural, socio-economic needs and its development trajectory.

A week ago, in a Facebook post. Augustine told the Prime Minister to mind his own business and stay out of Tobago affairs. He was reacting to Dr Rowley’s call for fresh THA elections.

Questioned about the statement, Augustine said: “Sometimes you have to just give a one-liner, one statement to put things into perspective and to put people in their rightful place.

“The statement is very clear, is very logical, and the statement was also backed up with a video and two photographs from Act 40 of 1996 (the THA Act), the fifth schedule.”

He said when one looks at the law, there are several things that fall under the remit of the Central Government and thereby the Prime Minister that are left completely unhandled.

“...And then things for which he has no remit, no position in law whatsoever he is trying to have a position on.

[caption id="attachment_1014488" align="alignnone" width="1024"] In this February 7, 2022 file photo, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, left, and Chief Secretary Farley Augustine at Blenheim House, Tobago after the PDP won the THA election. - Photo courtesy OPM[/caption]

And so I needed to remind the Prime Minister that his business, really and truly, includes the sixth schedule. “So when we have police stations falling apart, when we have prisons having to be relocated because it was in a bad condition and I had to intervene and send Works (the Division of Infrastructure) and spend THA money to repair the prisons so that Tobago prisoners can be here, so that families