Hochoy Charles warns over new Tobago bill

FORMER chief secretary of the Tobago House of Asembly (THA) Hochoy Charles voiced his displeasure over aspects of the Tobago House of Assembly (Amendment) Bill, 2021 due for debate on Friday in the House of Representatives.

Last Monday, Newsday spoke to Charles, known in Tobago as "The Heavy Roller," who led the THA from 1996 to 2001.

The Prime Minister has proposed the 2021 bill to break the six-six deadlock in the recent THA elections. The bill lifts a proposal from a dormant proposed Constitution (Amendment)(Tobago Self-Government Bill) 2018 – for 15 seats in a proposed Tobago legislature – to increase the number of THA seats from 12 to 15, an odd number, and to rerun the election.

Charles, however, said Dr Rowley had "made a fundamental error," and his proposal was incorrect in law.

"The bill he sent to Parliament is useless. He says he's trying to fix something in Tobago. That can't fix anything."

Charles said while Rowley was correct to say documents from Tobago had recommended 15 seats in the island, this was based on a constitution amendment bill, not a THA bill.

"You cannot go in Parliament to pass a law to tell the EBC to create 15 seats in Tobago. That's not what the Constitution says. It says it is the EBC that must look at these things from time to time, present its report and make its recommendations to Parliament which will either agree or disagree.

"If we allow that to happen, the Prime Minister and they might create a piece of legislation to Parliament and say it is not in our interest to have 41 seats. 'We will create 49 by a piece of law and ask the EBC to set boundaries.'"

He told Newsday that while it was lawful for the Government to propose legislation specifying the number of seats in a body to be newly set up, that is a Tobago legislature, this measure cannot be taken up for a body already up and running, that is, the THA. For the latter case, he said under the law the responsibility for determining/altering the number of seats fell squarely within the remit of the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC.)

Charles said if Rowley were setting up a Tobago legislature he could bring this bill to specify 15 seats, but not for a THA already established.

He said Rowley could not use the 2021 bill to alter the composition of the THA.

"He cannot do that because the THA is already there.

"The Constitution says in order to interfere with those seats, it is the EBC that must make those reports. Not so? And Parliament would approve them. Not so?

"The Constitution says the EBC is the one who will look at the country because they are the ones who know how many voters you have and how many registrations, whether you should change boundaries and so on, and they will report to Parliament, which will approve it or disapprove it."

On the other hand, he said the 2018 bill could be used to state the number of seats in any newly-created Tobago legislature, and then empower the EBC to later on review the number of seats, just as the TT Constitution had established the TT Parliament whose number of seats is reviewed periodically by the EBC as also set up by the TT Constitution.

To set up a Tobago legislature as a new creature to do law-making, he said this will be done by a bill amending the constitution, not subsidary legislation (which he deemed the THA Bill.)

Charles said Rowley cannot simply dip into the 2018 bill to amend the constitution and extract a piece to then insert into the THA Act, saying the two situations were "completely different."

"To pull out somthing from a constitutional document and put in into a subsidiary piece of legislation cannot work."

He said upon TT's Independence, the Parliamemt had 24 seats but this was later reviewed by the EBC which recommended an incease which Parliament then had agreed on.

Charles lamented that Rowley's current moves were not to give Tobago its own legislature but that the PM just pulled out a bit of the 2018 bill to try to apply it to the THA Act.

He said Tobago will run an international campaign to tell the world that Trinidad is allegedly operating a colony in Tobago in breach of international law.

Charles said Parliament must give Tobago internal-self government, namely the power to pass laws in Tobago.

Asked about such powers now under the 1996 THA Act, Charles lamented if the THA passes any bill now, these will then require Parliament's approval.

Newsday asked that as regards the 2018 Bill, were there any particular new laws that Tobago should pass for itself?

Charles replied that this power should first be given to Tobago, which in its own time would decide upon laws. Newsday asked if Tobago should decide its own marriage laws, such as to tap the wedding tourism market, but he found the question trite when set against the wider call for Tobago to first get these law-making powers.

"Tobago can't even pass a law to protect our environment," he lamented.

However, Charles did spell out some of the facilities that Tobago needs, namely its own police service, prison and civil service.

Saying some Cabinet policies were detrimental to Tobago, he said, "Tobago is going to be internationalising this particular issue. The world will know that Trinidad is operating a colony in Tobago, contrary to international law. The bill they sent to Parliament is useless and would not be able to address the problem in Tobago, the bill the Prime Minister took to Parliament last Friday."