Duke: Tobago People's Party not registered

PROGRESSIVE Democratic Patriots (PDP) leader Watson Duke claims the Tobago People’s Party (TPP) is not a registered political entity.

“It is nothing. It is not a party. It is all games, smoke and mirrors,” he said on Tuesday during a news conference at the PDP’s headquarters, Port Mall, Scarborough.

During a function on July 2 at the Shaw Park Cultural Complex, TPP interim political leader and THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine had told reporters the party was registered with the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC).

The TPP was launched in Scarborough on August 13. The party’s colour is blue and symbol, an anchor.

Duke claimed, “You cannot have a launch of a party that is not registered. It is fraudulent. You can’t sell jerseys, put up symbols, put up colours and get your people to want to invest, sign up something that doesn’t exist. That is fraudulent.”

He said as far as he was concerned, the THA’s executive members were still under the umbrella of the PDP.

“But they have become dissidents, meaning they have become like children who have disowned their parents because they want to do their own thing. That is what they have come as. But I am not taking them on.”

Contacted by Newsday on Friday, EBC corporate communications manager Bobbi Rogers told Newsday, "There is no registration of political parties in TT. At this time the EBC assigns a symbol to political parties."

A list of party symbols published in June on the EBC's website does not include a symbol or mention of the TPP.

On Tuesday, Duke said before the December 6, 2021, THA election, the members of the PDP had drafted plans for a better Tobago, including the manner in which the carnival and other festivals should be run.

“The people that went to vote on December 6, 2021, voted for that mandate but they are getting something different and this is worrisome.”

The TPP was established in April, some four months after Augustine and his executive resigned from the PDP and initially declared themselves independents in the THA.

The PDP secured an overwhelming 14-1 victory over the PNM in the December 2021 THA election. But eight months into its tenure, Duke accused the administration of failing to assist a Roxborough cultural group who had gone to New York to perform.

Duke subsequently fired Augustine, as well as Secretary of Health, Wellness and Social Protection Dr Faith BYisrael and Alicia Roberts-Patterson as deputy party leaders. He also resigned as deputy chief secretary and was replaced by BYisrael.

The news about a new political party in Tobago began circulating on Facebook on March 27. The team met on April 4 and 17.

There were plans to reveal a party name, symbol and colour at the second meeting. But when that meeting ended, only the party’s name was revealed.

Newsday was unable to get a response to Duke's claims from the TPP up to press time on Friday.