Farley: THA must stand up for Tobagonians

Minority Assemblyman Farley Augustine is calling on members of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to stand up in defence of Tobago and Tobagonians.

Augustine, in an interview with Newsday Tobago last Thursday following discussion on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed between Government and Sandals Resorts International (SRI) for a resort in Tobago, said the document brings no benefits for the island, and that neither Tobago West MP Shamfa Cudjoe nor Communications Minister Stuart Young can represent Tobagonians’ interests in any negotiations with SRI.

“I wish that members of the Executive Council (THA) had presented themselves because it was a non-political public meeting. I felt that the members of the Executive Council should have taken the opportunity to be present and to hear the very forthright and frank views of Tobagonians.

“The truth is that Stuart Young cannot represent Tobagonians’ interest in any negotiations with Sandals. Shamfa Cudjoe did not represent the interest of Tobagonians… in fact she signed the MOU (which) really shows the intent is to give away Tobago’s heritage to Sandals and foreigners.

“The MOU was not in favour of Tobago and the country at all and I am shocked that Cudjoe, while serving as a Minister of Tourism would have signed that MOU,” he said.

The discussion on the MOU led by chartered surveyor and activist Afra Raymond at the Scarborough library last Thursday. Raymond, in February 27 this year, requested the MOU through the Freedom of Information Act. He was not provided with the information and he took the State to court. On November 28, one day before his case was to be heard in court, he was given the MOU.

Invited by former diplomat Reginald Dumas to speak on the document and its implications for Tobago and Trinidad, Raymond addressed several issues, maintaining that the document was “deeply detrimental and not in the public interest,” and that TT would not be getting back the money (estimated $3B) invested in the project.

Augustine, commending residents for turning out in their numbers for the discussion, said:

“The majority of Tobagonians see the Sandals project as neo-colonialism, as a re-colonisation of land and resources. Most Tobagonians are rightfully upset that they have not been consulted on the issue, many cannot wrap their minds around the environmental implications of putting Sandals at that particular location (Buccoo/Golden Grove) and so I think the Government and the Executive Council must listen to the people of Tobago.”

Augustine also responded to a comment by Environment Secretary Kwesi Des Vignes last Wednesday that environmentalists were being alarmists regarding the Sandals resort.

“He (Des Vignes) essentially is mooting a point from the Executive Council that everybody in Tobago is being alarmist, that we need to wait, that nothing has happened as yet, that we’re being premature. But Tobagonians don’t want anything to happen on the ground with regards to Sandals without their interests being heard and we are not having the interests of Tobago being defended,” he said.