Duke: 'Govt keeping Tobagonians uneducated'

LEADER of the Progressive Democratic Patriots Watson Duke says the lack of universities and other tertiary institutions in Tobago is keeping Tobagonians uneducated.

He made the statement during a press conference at the Public Services Association (PSA) headquarters in Port of Spain on Tuesday morning.

There are currently campuses in Tobago for tertiary institutions such as the University of the Southern Caribbean (USC), the University of TT (UTT), the College of Science, Technology and Applied Arts of TT (COSTAATT), and National Energy Skills Centre (NESC). There is also an Open Campus location under the University of the West Indies (UWI).

Duke said, "They (The Government) have kept our people uneducated by not building universities or partnering with universities abroad to create a faculty (sic) (campus) on the island. We are tired of that and we are not willing to go one more election without that."

He believes Tobago is "enslaved" by Trinidad, calling the Tobago House of Assembly "the biggest slaveholder in the Caribbean."

"We refuse to continue living beyond the elections into a new period as slaves, as servants of Trinidad. We are your equal so treat us as your equal.

"We are fed up of being mistreated by Trinidad."