Curtis Douglas: All who committed PDP 'treason', come home

MINUTES after being announced as the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) Tobago West candidate, All Tobago Fisherfolk Association (ATFA) president Curtis Douglas is appealing to former party supporters to come home.

At his unveiling at the PDP’s Scarborough office on March 24, Douglas called on ex-PDP members who may now be backing the Tobago People's Party, to "do the right thing."

The PDP, led by Watson Duke, won the December 2021 THA elections 14-1 over the PNM.

However, in January 2023, after a public feud between Chief Secretary Farley Augustine and Duke, then Deputy Chief Secretary, Augustine and the rest of the THA executive resigned from the PDP and declared themselves independents in the THA.

Augustine and his supporters later formed the Tobago People's Party (TPP) in August 2023.

Douglas said, “All those who would have create high treason unto the party – come home. You all come home because God do not like anything that’s nasty and that’s dirty, and if a foundation is built under deception, it will be weak and it would crumble.

"So I am saying to you all – when anchor (the TPP symbol) hits salt water it rottens, and as a fisherman, the chain does burst. Come home.

"So by the end of the day, Tobago and Trinidad and all those Tobagonians in Trinidad, come home on April 28 and let's do the right thing, let's do the honourable thing and let’s do the best thing for Tobago and give Tobago a chance to breathe.”

Douglas said he accepts the challenge to be the party’s standard-bearer in the April 28 general election.

“I am going to fight for Tobago, and I am going to win for Tobago.

"Part of the reason why the people would have selected or call Mr Duke to ask for Mr Douglas, the people that are meeting me on the streets and are calling on me – I am answering to the people. This is to tell Mr Watson Solomon Duke and the chairman and the thousands of PDP supporters that we have – I, Curtis Anthony Douglas accepts the responsibility, I am going to lead the people of Tobago West to victory in this upcoming election.”

He said for 30 years, Tobago has failed to be represented.

“I will not be going down to Trinidad to beat no desk and to sleep in the Parliament of TT. History will be made, and it starts from today. I am saying on the 28 of April, everyone – you, you, you and you – the people of Tobago that are smart will finally come out and vote for the PDP.”

He said the PNM has not benefited Tobago.

“PNM in Trinidad, PNM in Tobago – nothing of substance would have come out of it. I am telling you all today, I am making an oath with the people of Tobago, which are my brothers and the sisters, Tobago must win under the leadership of Mr Watson Solomon Duke.”

He added: “Tobago shall no longer be the stepchild, the bastard of the society. We are born of a mother, we are children of mothers, more so, we are not here to propagate propaganda. What we are here is to fix Tobago, and Tobago must win.”

He said on April 28, no party should record more votes than the PDP.

Asked why he chose the PDP, he said, “The PDP is the national party of Tobago and will also be the national party of Trinidad and Tobago. The Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) is the only party.”

He also made a call to the fishing sector.

“The fisherfolk, I am calling upon them now to do the right thing. Let’s come out in our large numbers on the 28 of April, let's vote for the PDP.

Meanwhile, political leader Watson Duke has been retained as the candidate for Tobago East. Confident of taking both seats, Duke described himself as a professional negotiator, noting that when he wins, he intends to negotiate with other parties to become prime minister.

He said he is interested in four positions.

"Prime minister, attorney general, national security minister and finance minister. They can take anything else they want, because that is fair negotiations; they could take anything else.

"Next, as prime minister, I want half of all the diplomatic positions, I would give them my picks, they can take the rest. I’m negotiating hard. I want half of all board positions in Trinidad. For the first time we are going to have balance in this thing called Trinidad and Tobago.”