Members of the Opposition United National Congress (UNC) on the Joint Select Committee (JSC) of Parliament, tasked with considering the report on Constitution Amendment (Tobago Self-Government) 2020, say the bill needs further public consultation.
JSC member and Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh piloting the Opposition’s contribution to the bill said the party would not support it because the committee did not hold sufficient consultation with Tobagonians and Trinidadians on the final changes to the bill. The JSC drafted two bills- Constitution Amendment
(Tobago Self-Government Bill 2021 and Tobago Island Government Bill (2021).
“ It is ironic that the UNC stands in defence of Tobago,” he said, using the Tobago Council of the People’s National
Movement’s (PNM) 2013 Tobago House of Assembly election slogan.
He quoted extensively what Tobagonians said about the
bills.
He said the deputy leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots, Farley Augustine, and chairman of One Tobago Voice, Hochoy Charles “pleaded” with JSC members for “at least two to three weeks so that they could hold meaningful consultations with their membership.”
Citing the Minority Report penned by the UNC’s committee members, he said it stemmed from the opposition’s concerns about some committee members’ “approach to the consultation.”
“ Madam Speaker...the genesis of our minority report has its platform in the mannerism or approach to consultation and whether or not from the UNC, the committee, and by extension the Government was prepared to listen to the stakeholders in a very meaningful manner, not in an abrupt manner not in an abrasive manner not in a contemptuous manner.”
Another Opposition UNC JSC member Dinesh Rambally continued his contribution in a similar vein.
He said the “bill is an insult to all right-thinking Tobagonians and the outcome of a rude and condescending consultation process.”
He cited an article by the former ambassador and former Head of the Public Service, Reginald Dumas. Dumas, he said, noted that the consultations were limited and did not include “ all stakeholders” as only members of groups were invited to meet the committee.
He also said former Tobago House of Assembly’s(THA) Presiding Officer Dr Denise Tsoiafatt -Angus indicated she was
“disappointed” by the bills.
Tosiafatt- Angus, a former PNM Public Relations Officer contested the 2021 THA elections on an independent ticket.
Government member and Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi said he was surprised Indarsingh did not address any areas of the bill but spent his time talking about the consultation process. He said the bills sought to enshrine the equality of Tobago and Trinidad in the constitution.
He touched on many issues, in the bill, including the Tobago land issues.
“All lands and property of every kind, including things in action, vested in the former Assembly are vested in the Secretary of Finance who shall hold them in trust... This is in Schedule 2. It sets out the list of matters for which the Tobago Legislature shall have exclusive lawmaking powers,” he said.