Eliz­a­beth Gon­za­les

To­ba­go Cor­re­spon­dent

Po­lit­i­cal leader of the In­no­v­a­tive De­mo­c­ra­t­ic Al­liance (IDA), Denise Tsoiafatt-An­gus, has asked To­bag­o­ni­ans to be wary of what she calls “ham­per pol­i­tics”, where politi­cians dis­trib­ute food and favours to se­cure votes while ig­nor­ing the is­land’s re­al is­sues.

At the launch of the par­ty’s can­di­dates for To­ba­go East and West yes­ter­day, Tsoiafatt-An­gus said the is­land need­ed long-term so­lu­tions, not tem­po­rary hand­outs to dis­tract To­bag­o­ni­ans from ex­ist­ing un­der­ly­ing prob­lems.

“To­ba­go de­serves re­al so­lu­tions, not more ham­pered pol­i­tics,” said Tsoiafatt-An­gus.

“We need lead­er­ship fo­cused on sus­tain­able progress for our com­mu­ni­ties, not just giv­ing out food to win votes. That kind of lead­er­ship won’t help us grow.”

She called the IDA the on­ly true al­ter­na­tive for To­ba­go, with “can­di­dates who have valu­able pri­vate-sec­tor ex­pe­ri­ence and a deep un­der­stand­ing of the chal­lenges To­bag­o­ni­ans face.”

She al­so crit­i­cised the prac­tice of link­ing jobs and op­por­tu­ni­ties to po­lit­i­cal loy­al­ty, say­ing lead­er­ship should be based on mer­it and ca­pa­bil­i­ty, not favours, es­pe­cial­ly around elec­tion time.

“We’re tired of the sys­tem where jobs and op­por­tu­ni­ties go on­ly to po­lit­i­cal sup­port­ers. That’s not how gov­er­nance should work. We be­lieve in mer­it-based lead­er­ship, where every­one has a chance to suc­ceed,” she said.

“We’re here to bring re­al change, not emp­ty promis­es.”

The IDA in­tro­duced Ger­ard Bal­four, a well-known pan­nist and mu­si­cian, as the can­di­date for To­ba­go East, and Kate Trot­man, Pres­i­dent of the Bed and Break­fast and Self-Cater­ing As­so­ci­a­tion, as the can­di­date for To­ba­go West. Tsoiafatt-An­gus de­scribed both can­di­dates as a mix of youth­ful en­er­gy and ex­pe­ri­ence.

She said, “Ger­ard Bal­four for To­ba­go East is pas­sion­ate, in­no­v­a­tive, and dy­nam­ic, un­der­stand­ing the needs of To­ba­go’s youth. Kate Trot­man for To­ba­go West brings years of ex­pe­ri­ence in the tourism sec­tor and proven lead­er­ship skills,” she said. “They are not ca­reer politi­cians but prob­lem-solvers with a clear vi­sion for To­ba­go’s fu­ture.”

Both Bal­four and Trot­man said they could un­seat the cur­rent PNM rep­re­sen­ta­tives.

Tsoiafatt-An­gus said the par­ty will bring, “re­al changes for the peo­ple of To­ba­go.”

Tsoiafatt-An­gus framed the up­com­ing elec­tion as “a res­cue mis­sion to save our space of To­ba­go.”

She asked vot­ers to re­ject po­lit­i­cal de­pen­den­cy and choose lead­ers who will pri­ori­tise the is­land’s fu­ture.

“The peo­ple of To­ba­go de­serve bet­ter,” she said.

“This elec­tion is not about favours or hand­outs. It’s about se­cur­ing a brighter fu­ture for our chil­dren and com­mu­ni­ties.”

As part of its Save Our Space cam­paign, the IDA said it is fo­cused on be­com­ing the re­al al­ter­na­tive for change in To­ba­go.

Tsoiafatt-An­gus said the par­ty hoped to make se­ri­ous progress in the up­com­ing elec­tion, hop­ing To­bag­o­ni­ans would sup­port a vi­sion for sus­tain­able growth and true lead­er­ship.