Tobago contractor laments 'betrayal of trust'

One of Tobago’s building and construction contractor, Patrick Parks, is calling for a return of the “Tobago-ness” as he lamented a "betrayal of trust" by those entrusted to lead the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

Parks was giving an overview on his experience with the current THA administration at a public forum, hosted by the Tobago Chamber of Commerce and Economy entitled Tobago Economy in Crisis, at Rovanel's Conference Centre, Bon Accord.

Parks said for the last year, the local construction sector has declined and he is one of the contractors who have felt the pinch. He said the issues faced are surmountable now and hence there is need for a conversation on the island with people who are “patriotic to Tobago.”

Parks added, "Something has gone wrong; we are drifting from what we know as Tobago-ness and the Tobagonian. We just want to bring that back and we want to bring it back in business also.”

He added: “We are all love-minded, and we want to share that love, share the experience throughout Tobago. We want to revive that Tobagoness, that Tobago culture. That Tobago where long time we use to call clannish; we want to be clannish once more, not divisive, not against each other, not doing wickedness to each other. We want to stop that foolishness; we want to be able to work together to build a better Tobago and develop Tobago.

He said people could agree to disagree but at the end of the day, Tobago’s interest must be paramount. He noted that he is against the direction that the island is heading. He said a lot of information was presented to the public by the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) prior to the last THA elections, but all those promises have been broken.

“One member said and explained very eloquently what it is and what it would do to Tobago if we bring Trinidad contractors here. (He) said it would be destructive and it's not a good thing....Few moments later, it’s the total opposite. Why should we sit down as Tobagonians and accept that, when you give us your word. Since when we does behave like that?

"You tell us you’re doing something and then immediately after, you do the total opposite. It is called betrayal – it have no other word for it. It is a total betrayal of a person's trust. People would have trusted you and entrusted you to do certain things and then the opposite occurred. It ent even take days – immediately.”

He said the domino effect of the sidelining of local contractors is staff having to be laid off.

He said he was one of the contractors who met with the THA hired auditors.

In January, THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine ordered a forensic audit into five initiatives managed under the former PNM-led THA administration during the period October 2019 to November 2021. The projects were the emergency restoration works programme; the road restoration programme; the road resurfacing programme; the emergency infrastructure rehabilitation project and the agricultural access roads programme.

In July, Augustine said contractors would receive minimum payment before the audit was completed. He said a preliminary report pointed to "some extremely troubling signs."

Discussing preliminary findings of the audit report in September, Augustine said there was evidence of irregularities in the road restoration projects, including full payments for no work, unsigned contracts and inflated costs.

Parks also claimed that payments for projects outside the original scope of the audit were being denied.

“This audit with no end that they continue to use to prevent Tobagonians from getting work and bringing in people from Trinidad is wickedness. It needs to stop.”

He said he was the only contractor granted a four per cent of the 30 per cent promised but has decided not to be quiet.

“We’re unable to pay all the statutory; bank interest keeps going up – it is just one after the next.

"It isn’t just affecting us; subcontractors working with me, they’re not eligible for loans now because they have no confidence in that they’ll get paid. They have no confidence in the THA so we can’t extend credit to you. The banks are no longer giving us credit, they’ve lost all confidence in the THA – this is not how we run and govern an island. We need to fix that, we ned to get serious about governance, we need to get serious about our island.”

He added: “The THA workers and them on their three-year contracts or their two-year contracts, you know what the banks say – they’re no longer honouring contracts beyond the contractual term, so if you have six months remaining on your contract, they can only give you a six-month facility.”