Cudjoe: Tobago bill gives many opportunities for first time

Tobago East MP Shamfa Cudjoe said submissions on the Constitution (Amendment) (Tobago Self-Government) Bill could be made up until the third reading of the bill. She said the bill in its current forms gives Tobago many opportunities for which it had been asking for decades.

She was responding to Opposition MP Dinesh Rambally during debate on the adoption of the report by the Joint Select Committee (JSC) on the Constitution (Amendment) (Tobago Self-Government) Bill, 2020. Rambally had called for more time to be given for consultation with Tobagonians on the bill.

Cudjoe said while the Opposition MP had said more time was needed for consultation, 24 days had passed since the JSC had said comments could be submitted and it was only on Monday at 1:27 pm that one set of comments had been received.

“Many of the people who are advocating against the bill have not read the bill, the JSC reports, or the opinions attached, but are using previous versions or their own thoughts about the bill to mislead Tobagonians. The more people understand the provisions of the current bill, the more they are accepting of it.”

Cudjoe said consultation had been done with experts, attorneys, the UN, and others, and the results of previous consultations had also been considered.

“We must be mindful of our international obligations. There must be a recognition that because it is about the autonomy of Tobago within the unitary state of Trinidad and Tobago, the realities of the international environment and the constraints imposed by international law cannot be ignored. Experts have advised against being defined by separate maritime boundaries. For the first time we are being granted exclusive lawmaking powers in specific areas, where Parliament cannot come and arbitrarily make legislation on issues under our watch.

“Administrative or executive jurisdiction, under this law we’re removing Cabinet dominance in over 30 areas, allowing the THA to be responsible for the direction and control of those areas to create policies and introduce and implement its own programmes. For the first time we are being granted ability to borrow, with consultation with the Minister of Finance. There’s a 6.8 per cent minimum allocation, and one of the best parts of this legislation is the fiscal review committee, which lets us be part of the decision-making process and make recommendations to Parliament based on our development agenda. The bill for the first time also features revenue sharing.”

She asked what would happen if the bill was not passed during this session of Parliament and asked the Opposition whether new consultations would change anything. She asked what the UNC had to offer that was better than what was before the Parliament currently.

Cudjoe said exploring secession or federation were not in the remit of the JSC.

Opposition MP Anita Haynes said Cudjoe had missed an opportunity to represent the constituents of her community. She said based on the documents circulated in Parliament by previous Opposition speakers, it was clear that Tobagonians were not comfortable with the bill.

Finance Minister Colm Imbert said the Opposition calling for more consultation was a stalling tactic which had been used by the UNC in previous bills. He said the bill contained rules to deal with the checks and balances needed when dealing with debt and debt services, the Tobago fund, and fiscal rules in legislation.

He said monies collected through taxation in Tobago should be put in an account and spent in Tobago. He said the approval by the Finance Minister needed for THA borrowing would not be unreasonably withheld.