TOBAGO-POLITICS-Rift widens within the ruling party in Tobago.

SCARBOROUGH, Tobago, The ruling Progressive Democratic Party (PDP) Monday marked the first anniversary of its electoral victory in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) with the Chief Secretary, Farley Augustine, announcing the resignation of all but one member of the party.

“I wish to assure the people of Tobago that we remain completely focussed on the business of the (THA) and serving the people of Tobago. I also wish to state that this transition will be seamless and swift, and I will address this matter further in due course,” Augustine said in a statement that was signed by all the other PDP members, who now claim they are independents. The resignations took effect from December 1.

The members pledged their support for Augustine, and the resignation is the latest development within the PDP that had been formed by trade unionist Watson Duke, who, on September 15, submitted his letter of resignation to Augustine.

“Dear Chief Secretary, I am writing to formalize my resignation with immediate effect as Deputy Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly. I will not accept your invitation to fight for such or any position. I wish to remind you I gave you the authority to become Chief Secretary, and now I remove myself to ensure that the voice of the PDP will be heard.

“As you are aware, Democracy and Transparency have always been part of my political philosophy. I have seen firsthand that you chose to fight against me rather than fight for our people. I have lost all confidence in you,” Duke, the former president of the Public Service Association (PSA), had written.

PDP, on December 1 last year, ended 20 years of THA dominance by the People’s National Movement (PNM), winning 14 of the 15 seats that political observers said would have implications for the future relationship between Trinidad and Tobago.

Augustine had said then that the results should be viewed in the context of the move to gain self-determination from Trinidad.

“Let this win be a strong message that Tobago has rejected your incomplete autonomy bill, and we demand more. Let this be a resounding message, a strong message that we have rejected your notion that we are only good enough to earn TT$200 million (One TT dollar=US$0.16 cents) per year and we must resort to being beggars of the national purse,” he said, a position that had also found favor with Duke.

But the two fell out after Duke made statements on his Facebook page in August that the Augustine-led THA abandoned 27 members of the Roxborough Folk Performing group in New York.

In a Facebook message, THA Minority Leader, Ancil Dennis, wrote, “for the first time in our history, our island is managed by a team of defectors with no fixed abode. This is unprecedented, undemocratic, and perhaps unconstitutional.

“This is certainly not what Tobagonians had in mind; more challenging times ahead,” he added.