Finance, resources for Tobago development

INGRID MELVILLE

Part 2

THE 2023-2024 budget is being debated as I write. The budget is, properly, The Appropriation (Financial Year 2024) Bill, 2023, and becomes an act of Parliament after it is passed.

It is proposed that the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) should be granted 4.3 per cent of the national budget for the financial year 2024. This is in alignment with the 2001 Dispute Resolution Commission (DRC) report which recommended that Tobago should receive between 4.03 per cent and 6.9 per cent of the national budget per annum. It should be noted that in 2023, any percentage of the national budget up to 6.9 per cent can be granted to the THA.

While the percentage of the budget which the THA receives is outlined in the DRC recommendations, the underlying legal basis for the funding of the THA is found in the TT Constitution.

In 1996, by Act No 39 of 1996, the Constitution was amended to create the new THA. The amendment established the THA Fund in section 141D, which states:

“There is established a fund to be called 'The Tobago House of Assembly Fund' which shall consist of:

"(a) such monies as may be appropriated by Parliament for the use of the Assembly; and

"(b) such other monies as the Assembly may lawfully collect.”

Therefore, under the present law there is guaranteed funding for the THA enshrined in the Constitution, and a level of predictability of the percentage which the THA would receive in the DRC resolution.

The question we should ask ourselves is what can we expect in terms of funding for the THA (which would be renamed the Tobago Island Government) if the two bills before the Parliament are passed in their current state?

As a reminder, the bills are: The Constitution (Amendment) (Tobago Self-Government) Bill 2021, and The Tobago Island Government Bill.

The self-government bill does not provide the THA with any guaranteed funding. If passed, there will be no section in the Constitution which will provide the THA with any funding as the present section 141D would be removed. The THA will have no protected funding in the Constitution.

The other bill makes provision for a Tobago fund with a predictable level of funding in Clauses 30 and 31. Clause 30 states that Tobago will have “for any financial year no less than 6.8 per cent of the total fund appropriated by Parliament for the financial year or such other percentage as may be determined by the Fiscal Review Committee.”

At first glance, the bill provides the THA with a higher minimum amount, but if the two bills are passed in their present format the following potential challenges are noted:

1. The Constitution will no longer enshrine or guarantee any funding for the THA.

2. The Fiscal Review Committee may determine that it will reduce the promised minimum of 6.8 per cent to the THA.

3. An act, passed by a simple majority in the Parliament, can reduce the allocation for Tobago to less than 6.8 per cent or, worse, remove it altogether.

The THA could invoke the jurisdiction of the High Court to gain an interpretation of the autonomy law if such a potential conundrum occurs. One wonders whether the THA's coffers would be controlled from Trinidad in the interim. Would this also constitute a national financial crisis in accordance with clause 8 of the self-government bill 2021 so that the lawmaking powers of the Tobago legislature would be suspended while such a case is ongoing?

While these thoughts do not constitute a risk assessment of the provisions in these bills, the financial risk for the THA, if the bills are enacted, must be considered. The THA will lose the constitutionally guaranteed funding in the budget. The DRC process, which can be utilised to ensure the realignment of financing that will positively impact Tobago’s path to sustainable development, would be replaced by a fiscal review committee.

Interestingly, according to section 43 (1) of the Tobago Island Government Bill, the Fiscal Review Committee will comprise the Minister of Finance as chairman, the deputy chairman who will be the secretary with responsibility for finance or his alternate, one member appointed by the Executive Council and two members appointed by Cabinet. At a glance, the THA will be outweighed and outvoted.

As the budget is on course to once again provide the THA with an amount close to the agreed minimum, the THA has the opportunity to consider, from a data-driven perspective, the application of results-based management to review the developmental impact of the present formula. If the econometric modelling is done by the THA, maybe the business case might be established to trigger the Dispute Resolution Commission in 2023.

In reviewing the autonomy bills, it should be noted that the budget is only one of the resources for financing Tobago’s development, which the bills would weaken if enacted.

The present THA Act, in section 54, vests all state lands in the THA (except for the President and Prime Minister’s residences). The THA can also make laws for state lands. The autonomy bills do not include state lands as an area which the THA can make laws for.

Further to this, the two bills remove the responsibility for the management and control of town and country planning and critical aspects of environmental management from the THA. As the global community pursues the net-zero agenda, the management of the commons, such as the Tobago Main Ridge Forest Reserve, the world’s oldest legally protected rainforest, and the blue economy, are assets critical in decarbonisation and overall sustainability.

Furthermore, the consideration of any formula for resource sharing in the oil and gas economy continues to be absent from the fiscal revenue stream for resourcing Tobago’s development. While the THA is provided with a right to borrow, there is also no indication that a percentage of sovereign debt will be reserved for the THA.

Based on the foregoing, the provisions in these bills will not allow the THA to shape the economic, social and cultural development of Tobago, which international human rights instruments provide as integral to the right to self-determination.

Indeed, autonomy for Tobago should mean it remains a part of the country of TT. However, the government in Tobago would have the power and resources which would allow it to make laws and policies which would create an enabling framework that would result in an empowered population and sustainable development of the island.

In my opinion, with regard to financial provisions and resources, the two bills do not tell an autonomy story. Nothing prevents the central government from granting the THA 6.8 per cent of the budget in 2023. Unless a clause, such as section 141D, is embedded in the Constitution to insulate guaranteed funding for the THA, the budget allocation for the THA can be easily removed when there is a change of government or acrimony between the administration in Trinidad and the administration in Tobago.

In the absence of constitutional guaranteed financing, those bills remind me of the proverb, “a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.”

Ingrid Melville is an attorney