Augustine: Remove politics from public service

Aspiring Chief Secretary and deputy political leader of the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) Farley Augustine said nepotism is one of the things he intends to address if elected.

In a Facebook live video on Thursday, Augustine said, “You see this foolishness where whenever a party wins it’s about who is a supporter of my party versus who is not a supporter of my party, that cripples the public sector because then we have public servants trying to become politicians as opposed to public servants. We must respect public servants and allow them to do their jobs without having to do so in fear, regardless of which party they support.”

Augustine said political affiliation should not have any bearing on personal or professional relationships.

He added: “I have very close friends who are PNM, some of them who would tell me that they would give me the vote and I feel they lie to me... they never give me the vote, but that doesn’t stop me from being their best friend. At the end of the day, we are all Tobagonians and it is about how we can live together as a family.

"This is a small society and if we alienate some people, the society will suffer as a result. And so, we have to remove the politics from the public sector and allow people to really work efficiently and work without fear as we align them properly to where their skill sets are.”

Augustine said another problem affecting the island is the hoarding of knowledge and skills.

He said people should not be afraid to help others improve their skills and qualifications.

“As a teacher, I believed that my job was to make my students better than me, to put them in a position where they would become superior to me and so it cannot be about fearing talent and skill but it has to be about using talent and skill wherever they may be found."

He said that a THA under his watch will work with the people.

“It is about how all of us can come together to create a better Tobago, that is what it is about. If you would have noticed how I have campaigned in the past, you would realise that I not try to be vitriolic.

"I am aggressive, I am passionate and of course I would hit some hard picong and so on but I try not to get too personal, because at the end of the day we all must live here,” he said.

The Parlatuvier/L'Anse Fourmi/Speyside electoral representative also predicted a sweep for the PDP in the THA election, constitutionally due in 2021.

The party held a virtual general meeting last week and a prayer service over the weekend as it gears up for its campaign.