Tobago Correspondent
Minority Leader Kelvon Morris says Chief Secretary Farley Augustine’s seven-out-of-ten rating for the performance of his administration is far from reality and out of touch with what Tobagonians are experiencing every day.
Augustine and his team marked their third year in office last Friday, after defeating the People’s National Movement 14-1 in the December 6, 2021, Tobago House of Assembly (THA) election, although under the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) banner before breaking away from that party and forming the Tobago People’s Party (TPP).
Augustine told the media this week that his administration has outperformed the previous PNM regime and is focused on positioning Tobago as a leading island globally, not just regionally.
He spoke of challenges but mentioned his successes, such as stabilising Tobago’s economy post-COVID, improving salaries, increasing social grants, and boosting agricultural and health services.
But according to Morris, tourism is at an all-time low, with fewer visitors, and there have been no new attractions or investments to boost the economy. He said the healthcare system is struggling, with more deaths happening at the hospital, and food production is declining, which is threatening the island’s food security.
He said Augustine’s rating is outright delusional.
“You have already managed over seven and a half billion dollars. Yet, year-on-year, Tobago’s GDP continues to decline under your watch. You have failed the people of Tobago, Mr Chief Secretary, you have failed those who believed and bought into your battle cry ‘Let me fix this’. You are fixed to nobody but yourselves.”
Morris said if Augustine truly understood how bad things are for Tobagonians, he would not be giving himself such high marks for his leadership.
Meanwhile, Tobago Business Chamber chairman Martin George believes Augustine’s seven-out-of-ten rating for his administration’s performance might not reflect how the public truly feels.
He suggests that surveys or questionnaires would give a clearer picture of what people think about the THA leadership after three years in office.
George said, “It’s easy to give oneself self-serving, self-congratulatory messages and pat oneself on the back. What might have been a better barometer of public opinion would have been if surveys or public questionnaires were done to get genuine feedback from the public about the THA’s performance.”
George compared the situation to his time as a director on the Police Service Commission.
He explained that police officers rated their own performance but public surveys—which followed—often revealed a big gap between how the police saw themselves and how the public felt.
“That’s the true gauge to see how people really feel. To truly assess public officials, we should develop objective criteria for measuring performance,” he said.
“This shouldn’t just apply to the THA but to everyone—councillors, regional corporations, central government, and Parliament.”
George asked leaders to rely less on self-praise and more on meaningful feedback from the people they serve. Meanwhile, for economist Dr Vanus James, the current administration scored a minus-F for failure.
“You can’t rate yourself, you have to let the market or rating agency rate you. And you cannot give credit to nonsense. He created a collapsed economy, how could that be seven out of ten?” James asked.
“I would say he deserves an F for failure. We handed him an economy that was growing. He let it collapse … that’s a minus already. He’s done nothing on constitutional reform. Done nothing on empowering the community. That’s another minus. He turned off his phone after he won election. No one can’t talk to him; he listens to no one … that’s another minus.”
He added, “It’s clear he doesn’t know what he’s doing. The damage is done to the people of Tobago, he can’t rectify that because in order to rectify that he has to know what he’s doing.”
