Minority Leader in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Kelvon Morris says he is not sure yet whether he will contest the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) internal elections for a Tobago council.
The party will hold an internal election on April 24 to fill all 17 executive positions in the Tobago council. This comes after a number of its executive members resigned following the party’s 14-1 defeat in the December 6 THA elections.
Current political leader, Tracy Davidson-Celestine has said she does not intend to contest the election, while former Chief Secretary, Ancil Dennis has said he will now contest the post.
As rumours circulate about whether Morris, who is now the lone-PNM representative on the Assembly, will also seek the political leader’s office, he sought to give some answers during a press conference on Thursday.
“I am honestly not in a position to give an answer today, in fact coming out of the prayer service, I believe I want some time to honestly take this matter on a spiritual level where I would be able to seek the Almighty’s guidance, I’ll be doing some serious praying and fasting and I will allow God to lead the way,” Morris said.
Asked when he would be able to provide a response, Morris promised it would be before the party’s nomination day.
He urged party members and Tobagonians alike to think about offering themselves for office.
He also offered some advice to those who do contest the election.
“I also want to caution the members of the PNM at this time as well, for us to understand the importance of unity, understand the importance of togetherness, understand the importance of teamwork, understand the importance of maturity and also understand the importance of family.”
Morris said while there will be competition for the positions, members should show respect, honesty and dignity throughout the election.
Morris also outlined his plans to ensure the PDP-led Assembly was held accountable by his office.
He said he will be setting up a whistleblower programme on the island.
“We want to launch something called I-TELL—a whistleblower programme that would allow persons anonymously and safely log any concerns of misconduct, malfeasance and any issues with public administration,” he said.
Morris said these complaints can be made both virtually and by use of a dropbox at the front of his office. He urged Tobagonians to make use of either platform to air their concerns.
“It matters not who the information affects, we will continue to uphold the highest standards of integrity, accountability and transparency in public affairs and we encourage all of Tobago to also hold true to those ideals, not because you are a supporter of red or a supporter of black, we are saying to you come forward wherever wrongdoing lies, come forward with the information and we would ensure it gets the relevant attention,” Morris said.
His office will also contain a Social Support and Industrials Relations help desk to assist those who need financial support or have disputes with their employer.
“This will bring to bear both public and private resources to ensure that we can give support to the most vulnerable in Tobago. There will be a physical desk where you can come to the office of the Minority leader and we will have an officer specifically to deal with those persons coming for support and with issues relating to industrial relations,” Morris said.
Like the whistleblower programme, there will also be a virtual platform to log complaints.
And Morris does not plan to stop there.
He said, “We are launching our 24-hour hotline for all of Tobago to treat with any issue, it could be from your roads, all issues relating to service and to ensuring that the administration is held accountable this 24 (hour) hotline will be available to you, this is where you can log issues and we will take it up with the administration.”
He announced that he would be asking the Assembly to formulate a workforce work-from-home policy that can be used throughout the THA when the council meets on February 24.
