Tobago Chamber chairman: New party not inspiring confidence

TOBAGO Business Chamber chairman and attorney Martin George is accusing the THA ‘independents’ of sending mixed signals to Tobagonians.

Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and members of his team met with hundreds of supporters on Tuesday at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex to set the framework for the establishment of a new, people-centred political party.

But after almost five hours of deliberations, the meeting ended shortly before 10 pm without any decision being made about the name, colour and logo for the party.

On Wednesday, George said he did not believe the process was inspiring much confidence in Tobagonians.

“Having regard to the attempted launch of a political entity which occurred yesterday (Tuesday), which then was suggested that it was not a launch of a political entity, it does not exactly send the right signal.

“And it does not exactly inspire confidence in Tobagonians that the independents really, at this stage, know what they are doing,” he said in a video on Facebook.

He went on, “It is either you are launching a political party or you are not. The idea of putting out this teaser with this burnt orange colour, which may, I guess, be the party colours and one minute you are describing it as a launch of a party then the next minute you are saying it is a conversation to hear from the people as to what they want.

“What the people want is good governance, an identifiable political vehicle and mechanism by which they can identify the goals, the policies, the principles, the practices, the procedures and the promises so that they can hold you accountable in regards to your term of office.” George said it did not appear as though this was offered on Tuesday.

“People are still in the dark, they still don’t know anything about it. You still have no clear indication of a name, direction, a political leader. You have heard talk of an interim political leader. And you ask yourself, ‘Is this what Tobago voted for? Is this what Tobago wanted?”

He said people could understand if they said they had differences with the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) and left the party.

The THA Act, he noted, does not prevent them from doing so legally.

But George believes there must be “some level of accountability and ethical and moral responsibility and maturity that you show to the people of Tobago by treating their business with dignity, responsibility and respect and show that you are serious about getting your act together even if it is that you form your new party.

“But be serious about it and come with something tangible that people can work with and identify with and be able to move forward with.”

He believes “this sort of guessing game and cat-and-mouse game, it does nothing to inspire in anyone the confidence that the independents have a clue.”

Augustine announced on Tuesday that a name, symbol and colour for the new political party in Tobago should be finalised on April 17.