Eliz­a­beth Gon­za­les 

To­ba­go Peo­ple’s Par­ty (TPP) po­lit­i­cal leader Far­ley Au­gus­tine says Wat­son Duke’s po­lit­i­cal ca­reer is over and he is ready to bury it on 28 April.

Speak­ing dur­ing a po­lit­i­cal meet­ing in Cas­tara, Au­gus­tine said that while he still re­spects Duke, leader of the Pro­gres­sive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Pa­tri­ots (PDP), as a per­son, his time in pol­i­tics has end­ed.

“I am very much con­scious that God has al­ready out­ed the light on his po­lit­i­cal ca­reer,” he said. “And come the 28th of April, we have to bury him and bury him dead be­cause there is no place here.”

The PDP won the 2021 THA elec­tion with a 14-1 vic­to­ry over the PNM, dis­rupt­ing a 21-year reign.

Less than a year lat­er, a fall­out oc­curred be­tween Duke and Au­gus­tine.

Au­gus­tine said Duke pushed out the very peo­ple who helped him build the PDP, which led to the birth of the TPP.

“We don't for­get how he put we out, how you cuss we, how you say is your par­ty, and what you says goes, and that we must not have an opin­ion.”

He said when Duke de­clared the par­ty his own, he failed to re­alise “all the oil in the coil was leav­ing.”

“And what he didn't re­alise is when the pitch oil leaves the bul­li­fay, can't light. I re­alise he has aligned him­self with the PNM, but the bal­isi­er can't light bul­li­fay, and we con­tin­ue to stand on the side of oil, and in scrip­ture, oil rep­re­sents truth.”

He said al­though he would still greet Duke in pub­lic, Duke no longer holds rel­e­vance in To­ba­go’s po­lit­i­cal fu­ture.

“While you won’t hear me bad talk­ing him, be­cause I don’t have time for bad talk­ing any­body… I will still shake his hands. I will still call him broth­er.”

Au­gus­tine said the split oc­curred be­cause he pri­ori­tised To­ba­go over the par­ty.

“The great falling out hap­pen be­cause I have a firm po­si­tion that it must be To­ba­go over par­ty every sin­gle time, not some­times, not when you feel like, but every sin­gle time it has to be To­ba­go over par­ty.”

He com­pared Duke’s lead­er­ship to Moses, say­ing his sea­son has passed.

“You see, some peo­ple per­haps are like Moses. They help lead us out of Egypt, but God ain’t giv­ing them the vi­sion or the au­thor­i­ty to lead us in the Promised Land. So his time and his sea­son have passed. This is Joshua gen­er­a­tion now.”

Au­gus­tine said the 28 April elec­tion will con­firm that truth and lay Duke’s 10-year-old par­ty to rest.