Augustine gives Duke three months to sever ties with PSA

Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Deputy Chief Secretary Watson Duke has three months to sever his ties with the Public Services Association, of which he is president.

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine announced this at a news conference after the assignment of portfolios at the Assembly Legislature in Scarborough.

Their party, the Progressive Democratic Patriots, won 14 of the 15 seats in Monday's elections. Duke is leader of the party and Augustine deputy leader.

Concerns have been raised over the legality of Duke's being PSA president while also serving as Deputy Chief Secretary of the THA.

Augustine said: “Mr Duke himself is working on severing ties with his union...He just doesn’t feel that the best way to do that is just to cut it off immediately, and that there should be a stepped approach to doing so. Of course, we respect that, and we would support his decision to do that.

"Once he has severed all ties with the union, as the Chief Secretary, I can reconsider whether of course I would give him a role. That would be my call, of course, to make but for now he would just be deputy chief secretary.”

He said the move is not as easy as one might think.

“He believes that he needs to set up the proper exit plan to allow for continuity within the union and so that things don’t just fall apart because the head leave. And so, he needs to ease himself out of the union.”

Questioned about what should happen if Augustine needed to travel abroad and Duke had temporarily to assume the post of Chief Secretary, he said he is sure by the time he is ready for his first overseas trip, Duke will not be with the PSA.