Stakeholders: Mediation will 'settle THA tug of war'

The Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP’s) recent proposal to invite independent mediators to preside over power-sharing negotiations in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) was rejected by the People’s National Movement (PNM).

But for some stakeholders, mediation would have at least begun the process of reconstituting the THA to move the island’s business forward.

Speaking at a virtual panel discussion on the issue, hosted by Tobago CivilNET, on Monday night, independent senator Maria Dillon-Remy dismissed the notion that utilising mediators would be an indictment against the THA representatives.

“I don’t necessarily think so,” she said during the discussion, titled One People Together.

“Handling your business is difficult – we are accepting that, and mediation would try to help you to get an outcome out of it.”

Dillon-Remy said seeking mediation should not be regarded as incompetence.

“It is not necessarily that you are weak or that you can’t do things well.”

But she noted it is the first time in the THA’s 40-year history that a deadlock has arisen.

“So, we don’t have that history of this kind of mediation.”

Dillon-Remy said governments all over the world are using mediation to resolve serious issues.

She said mediation does not necessarily involve an individual but could also be a group of people.

Designer Ternicka Mahabal believes mediation is the best solution.

She said, “I would think that having a mediator would be an ideal direction to be used in order to settle this whole tug of war.”

Describing the PNM and PDP assemblymen as “two passionate groups of representatives,” Mahabal said in order to find common ground there must be a third party to create balance.

“There has not been much movement. We have been stagnant without a mediator. So, we would not know unless we actually take the risk to see where it goes from there.”

Mahabal reasoned that if the deadlock remains, “it will demotivate the agenda of everything else.

“So, having a mediator is something that can actually be a prosperous solution towards moving forward and ahead in a better direction towards attaining all that we seek to fulfil in the form of purpose as representatives.”

Musician Xavier Edwardz noted mediation already occurred when the Prime Minister spoke with the 12 assemblymen at the Magdalena Grand Beach & Golf Resort, Lowlands, on March 3.

Edwardz said, “The discussion that the Prime Minister chaired, he, in a sense, acted as a mediator in that process. Therefore, mediation is something that for either party to be resistant to right now is demonstrating a lack of acknowledgement for the equality that has been mandated for them to act in that framework based on the way the people voted.”

Tobago Youth Council president Janae Campbell also believes a mediator is a step in the right direction.

“I just think we need to be meticulous in who we select,” she said.