Robinson-Regis: Bills to give Tobago what it wants

LEADER of Government Business Camille Robinson-Regis said now is the time to give Tobago the greater self-governance within the unitary state of Trinidad and Tobago that it has been demanding for years.

She was opening debate in the House of Representatives to adopt the report of the joint select committee (JSC) on the Constitution (Amendment) (Tobago Self-Government) Bill, 2020.

Recalling that calls for greater self-government for Tobago pre-dated 2018, when this bill was brought before a JSC, Robinson-Regis said keeping the bill before Parliament any longer would be disrespectful to Tobagonians.

"Now is the time. Change is inevitable. Now is the time to move this process towards its logical conclusion."

After indicating the bill needed a three-fifths majority (25 votes) to pass in the House and a two-thirds majority (21 votes) to pass in the House and Senate respectively, Robinson-Regis launched what seemed to be a pre-emptive strike against what she described as the UNC's tradition in recent times to abstain when it came to voting on any special-majority legislation. She said it was her fervent prayer that the UNC would vote for the bill and in so doing, show "a modicum of respect for the people of Tobago."

After saying none of the three UNC members on the JSC (senator Jearlean John, Couva South MP Rudranath Indarsingh and Chaguanas West MP Dinesh Rambally) signed the committee's report, but attached their own minority report to it, Robinson-Regis said the UNC's claims of insufficient consultation on the bill were a non-issue. She said amongst those consulted by the JSC were all 12 elected members of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

Robinson-Regis said the UNC's lack of commitment to Tobago is underscored by the fact that only once, in the distant past, has it ever fielded general-election candidates in Tobago.

Robinson-Regis, who chaired the JSC, said many people believed legislation to give Tobago greater self-governance would never see the light of day.

"We are here taking one step closer to repairing a relationship that some argue was broken with the annexation of Tobago to Trinidad in 1889, approximately 132 years ago, when Tobago was made a ward of Trinidad."

She said the PNM has fulfilled a promise to Tobagonians by bringing this bill to Parliament. Referring to the existing THA 1996 legislation, Robinson-Regis said many people felt over time that more could have been done for Tobago. After noting numerous consultations and debates from then to now, she said, "Notwithstanding the long history of the PNM in Tobago, we have never sought to insert ourselves in the debate, preferring instead to let the good people of Tobago speak for themselves."

She said the forum of political parties in Tobago emerged from those consultations and provided invaluable contributions to the JSC's report and the accompanying legislation. This, she said, disproves the UNC's claims that the legislation are PNM bills and must be rejected for what they are: "The dying gasp of a party drowing in their sea of irrelevance, not only to the national community but also to the people of Tobago, who the opposition in its various incarnations has always treated with abject disdain and disrespect."

Describing herself as an eternal optimist, Robinson-Regis said, "Although I ought not to be shocked by their behaviour. I am."

She added, "Quite uniquely, there was no government policy directing these bills. The only policy before this committee was the bill itself, which essentially emanated from Tobago."

The bill, she argued, will ensure "decisions that affect the lives of Tobagonians are made in Tobago."

Robinson-Regis said, "Separation from Trinidad is not in the hearts of the average Tobagonian nor the average Trinidadian. Talk about secession can only come from the minds and mouths of those who are suffering from delusions of grandeur who wish to move from duke to a prince perhaps and whose Abercromby Fortress is slowly crumbling into ruins."

She said the legislation does not call for any kind of federalism, which would require a constitution commission and significant years of deeper national consultations.

She said the JSC is satisfied the legislation proposes a workable model for greater self-governance for Tobago.

Under the legislature, Robinson-Regis said Tobago gets a legislature and an executive, but no judiciary.

"Tobago's governing institutions will be enshrined in the Constitution and cannot be arbitrarily amended."

She said the Constitution will recognise "the status of Tobago and its governing instituions."

Key insitutions will be amended to ensure recognition of Tobago and its institutions. "Fundamentally, Tobago requested internal government over all matters critical to the operations of the Tobago island government, including the ability of the Tobago island government to deal funds allocated and/or collected for the exclusive use of Tobago."

Anything over and above what is proposed in the bill, she warned, "will require a shredding of our Constitution of TT and drafting of an entirely new one. That is a matter of fact, not fiction."

She said the draft Constitution (Amendment) (Tobago Self-Government) Bill, 2020.) and the draft Tobago Island Administrative Bill 2021 (attached to the JSC's report) detail aspects of the greater self-governance that Tobago will benefit from once they become law.

One of these, she said, is the conversion of the THA into a unicameral legislature with 15 elected and ten appointed members, the latter of whom will include five, three and two councillors appointed on the advice of the Chief Secretary, Minority Leader and the President respectively.

The legislation, Robinson-Regis continued, also envisages Tobago being allocated approximately six per cent of the national budget and having its maritime space being increased from six to 11 nautical miles within the unitary state of TT.

Referring to self- governance legislation for the Philippines, the United Kingdom and Ireland, Antigua and Barbuda, and St Kitts and Nevis. Robinson-Regis said all maritime waters between Trinidad and Tobago will fall under the jurisdiction of the entire country.