PDP deputy: Duke can defend himself, let chips fall where they may

"Let the chips fall where they may," declared Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) deputy leader Farley Augustine, as he welcomed a police investigation into his party's political leader and Public Services Association (PSA) president Watson Duke receiving a $500,000 gratuity from the union in 2019.

Duke had announced his intention to resign in September 2019, but then changed his mind.

Duke, who was re-elected in the December 2020 PSA elections, has been president since 2009.

The PSA boss, responding in a Facebook video, claimed the probe was part of a strategy by the PNM and others to “demonise” him. He further alleged the strategy “to attack black success” came out of the PNM playbook and had been used against him since he launched the PDP in 2016.

Police visited the PSA headquarters in Port of Spain on Friday.

In a press release on Thursday, the People’s National Movement’s (PNM) Tobago Council called on the real Farley Augustine to stand up.

Questioning whether Augustine was a champion of morality or a hypocrite, the PNM demanded he respond to the latest allegations involving his party’s leader.

The PNM said Augustine's silence was deafening considering his vociferous condemnation of PNM Tobago leader Tracy Davidson-Celestine's role in the zipline project during the THA election campaign.

In an interview with the media on Friday, Augustine said, "There is an attempt to switch the narrative as if nothing untoward happened with the zipline issue and to what was raised by the auditor general. The info I placed in the public domain was never misleading or misconstrued. They were facts based on Executive Council notes, auditor general management letter and auditor general report which gave a damning review of our expenditure for 2016."

He added, "The press release draws a false equivalent with Mr Duke and PSA and what going on with the THA."

Augustine said he had never previously intervened in PSA matters because it had nothing to do with him.

"I have never commented before now on matters internal to the PSA. I have always kept my business within the THA"

He claimed there are still more questions than answers yet some are jumping to conclusions.

"A lot of info is still missing. Is Mr Duke entitled to a gratuity? If he's entitled, was the gratuity that he received correctly calculated?

'If he received gratuity for the period for the last PSA election, the next gratuity should be a difference from what he received previously.

"Gratuity normally is given at end of every term not at the end of your complete tenure. As a (THA) secretary who served four years, gratuity comes at the end of the four years. Is that the same case for PSA? These are questions I don't have answers for.

"The PNM said it is a police investigation and guess what I say to that?

"Fine, let the police investigate and let the chips fall where they may."

Augustine said he has nothing to hide and welcomed police to do their work efficiently.

"I am very comfortable that everything I do is above board.

"PSA business is PSA business, THA business is my business. I am a member of the THA. I am a citizen of this island. I'm not a member of PSA.

"Whether it's THA or PSA, let the police investigate."

Augustine said the PNM was trying to save face as Tobagonians have seen them as greedy and power-hungry.

"Mr Duke is more than capable of speaking for himself. He speaks for himself all the time. I hold no brief for Mr Duke and Mr Duke holds no brief for me."

In the PNM's press release, it said fair-minded Tobagonians must be alarmed at the recent revelations involving Duke.

The party said: “Concerns were raised when the public received reports that WASA (Water and Sewerage Authority) paid millions to a company owned by the wife of Watson Duke.

“That concern has been further heightened by the recent investigation which unearthed the fact that he had accepted over half a million dollars in gratuity payments from the PSA.”

The PNM said it was shocked that Duke boasted in a Facebook live broadcast on March 22 "that he had received the money and that he was entitled to it.

“In that report, he also indicated that the money was used to fund the PDP launch at the Magdalena Hotel, although he and his deputy Farley Augustine had previously reported that the event was funded by donations from the members.”The PNM called on Augustine to state his position on these developments.

“It is particularly revealing that while this sorry saga is being played out in the public domain, Farley Augustine, the PDP candidate for chief secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly, is uncharacteristically silent.

“Farley Augustine, who never passes up an opportunity to be interviewed or to use social media to promote himself to denigrate his opponents, has suddenly gone quiet.”

The PNM queried the silence of Augustine when compared to his vociferous condemnation of PNM Tobago political leader Tracy Davidson-Celestine's role in the zipline project in the THA election campaign

"Are you the same Farley Augustine who used misinformation in your efforts to destroy the character of a Tobago East sister, in your quest for political power?

"Are you the same Farley Augustine who portrayed himself as a champion of morality in public life when you launched that vicious campaign against PNM political leader Tracy Davidson Celestine? Should Tobagonians not conclude that you are guilty of the highest level of hypocrisy?"

The PNM said Augustine cannot remain silent and still maintain any credibility in the eyes of Tobagonians.

Recalling when Augustine apologised to Tobago after Duke had made crass comments against two Tobago women before the last general election, the PNM said the public is aware that the last time Augustine spoke out on an issue involving Duke, “he was put firmly in his place by his political leader.

“His response, in the present environment, will give us some indication as to whether he is man or mouse, or maybe, just a willing pawn.”