Chief Secretary tells Prime Minister: Mind yuh damn business!

TOBAGO House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine in a Facebook post on Monday told the Prime Minister to mind his own business and stay out of Tobago affairs, reacting to Rowley's call for Augustine to call fresh THA elections for allegedly having lost his moral mandate to govern when he left the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) party headed by Watson Duke after being elected to the THA.

On his personal page Augustine played a brief video clip of Dr Rowley aggressively telling listeners that even as Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago he had no remit in the affairs of the THA. "I am not involved in their business. As Prime Minister I stay out of Tobago's business. The law keeps me out. I have got responsibility as head of the Cabinet and then I am out of your (THA) business.

"Tobago's business is run at the administrative level by the Tobago House of Assembly. It is the only place in this country – where I am Prime Minister – where there is an executive body running the affairs of that part of the country, and you'll better understand it!"

In a brief comment accompanying the clip, Augustine quipped, "Well just mind yuh damn business then!"

UNC spokesman on Tobago affairs, Taharqa Obika, on Monday scoffed at Rowley's call for fresh elections in Tobago by saying it was Rowley who should in fact be calling fresh general elections in Trinidad and Tobago where Obika claimed the PNM leader had lost his mandate to govern.

Obika was unimpressed with Rowley's call to Augustine.

"I think the Prime Minister is perfectly placed to understand that he is in the same position. He should really first seek to advise himself."

Obika reckoned the PNM's loss of the last THA election by 14 seats-to-one translated into a likely loss of support in the two parliamentary seats in Tobago in any upcoming general election.

"In the THA election in 2021, given the resounding defeat of the PNM in Tobago and the fact the PNM holds a slim majority (in Parliament) and if we are to treat the rejection of the PNM at the polls in Tobago as a loss of their mandate (nationally), then in fact they are no longer a government of the majority in terms of parliamentary presence."

Obika suggested the PNM cannot now count on the Tobago East and Tobago West seats for which their candidates Ayanna Webster-Roy and Shamfa Cudjoe had been elected in the 2020 general elections.

"So in essence you may have two seats that are held in Tobago, but since 2021 the people of Tobago rejected the PNM. Given the slim majority that he holds in the nation's parliament, he should first look to examine himself in the mirror on the question of the morality of holding on to office.

"He should call a fresh election."

Obika underlined his point by further questioning the Government's moral legitimacy by alleging they had badly failed to curb crime, in the face of record murders and a likely resulting dent in investor confidence.

Political figures have resorted to trying to stake out moral positions on the issue, given that legally Augustine's position is protected.

Unlike the TT Parliament, the THA does not have crossing the floor provisions to mandate that dissidents must resign their elected positions if leaving the party that had been their vehicle into public office. The THA more closely mirrors the position of local government in Trinidad which has no crossing the floor provisions, as seen when Faaiq Mohammed - now Chaguanas Mayor - lawfully retained his seat at Chaguanas Borough Corporation when defecting from the ILP to UNC.