Meighoo: UNC did more for Tobago

Dr Kirk Meighoo -
Dr Kirk Meighoo -

THE UNC has done more for Tobago than the PNM ever did.

Party PRO Kirk Meighoo made this claim on Thursday, in response to statements made by PNM Tobago leader Tracy Davidson-Celestine at a political meeting in Tobago earlier this week.

At that meeting, Davidson-Celestine questioned whether the PDP was connected to the UNC.

In a statement, Meighoo said, "The UNC condemns Tracy Davidson-Celestine’s bringing our party on her campaign platform to try to sully our name."

He claimed Davidson-Celestine was trying to divert public attention away from the PNM's "open and naked corruption in Tobago" under her watch. Meighoo further alleged that Davidson-Celestine was "using racist and inaccurate insinuations" to attack the UNC unjustly.

"The UNC has a far prouder record for Tobago than the PNM does. The PNM has always fought. against the autonomy of Tobago. The UNC, on the other hand, has always supported Tobago’s autonomy."

Meighoo boasted that the UNC enabled former president Arthur NR Robinson's entrenchment of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Act in the Constitution, guaranteed Tobago's budgetary allocation through the Dispute Resolution Committee (which was part of the same THA Act) and "more than anything else, has enhanced and guaranteed the autonomy of Tobago in our twin-island republic."

He challenged Davidson-Celestine to address allegations about $2.5 million being spent on a rope for a zipline project.

Meighoo also called on Davidson-Celestine to account for her personal expenditure.

After claiming the PNM was employing the same "Calcutta Ship" strategy it used in the 2013 THA elections, when it won all 12 seats in the assembly, Meighoo declared, "The UNC rejects Davidson-Celestine’s racism and unreservedly and proudly stands by its record of respect and enhancement of Tobago’s autonomy."

The UNC is not contesting the January 25 THA elections. In the 2013 elections, UNC leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar (then prime minister) and several other UNC parliamentarians campaigned in support of the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP), a member of the People's Partnership coalition government.

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"Meighoo: UNC did more for Tobago"

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