Chief Sec managing Sampson's former division

THA Chief Secretary Farley Augustine is handling the main responsibilities of the Division of Community Development, Youth Development and Sport, in the absence of Joel "Nuttsy" Sampson, the former secretary of the division, who is now Tobago West MP.

Augustine was responding to questions from Newsday about the replacement for Sampson, who resigned from the portfolio after his success in the April 28 general election. He was also the electoral representative for the Crown Point/Bon Accord district.

Sampson won his seat in the general election on a Tobago People’s Party (TPP) ticket, securing the constituency with a total of 6,713 votes, 109 votes more than PNM's Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis.

Augustine told Newsday on June 30, “The way the law is structured, once there isn’t a line secretary assigned or even if the line secretary is out of the country or off the island, then it reverts to the Chief Secretary. So their businesses are being handled at the moment, There will be a line secretary introduced, but give us a week or two.”

On June 5, Augustine officially recommissioned the Montgomery Hard Court in Bethel, which falls under Sampson's former division.

On May 5, Augustine told Newsday that a councillor or an elected assemblyman will soon replace Sampson as secretary. He said the replacement had already been identified but noted that the name would not be disclosed until all legal formalities are completed.

Augustine previously said there will be no by-election in the Crown Point/Bon Accord district as the vacancy arose within one year of the THA elections, constitutionally due to be called in 2025.

“We are looking at that right now, so we are looking at who would be the caretaker and what role we would put for that person. We certainly have six to seven months minimum.

"Based on the THA Act, the House dissolves for itself on the anniversary and then there is 35 to 90 days for the calling of the election, so certainly we have more time than Stuart Young had as Prime Minister.”

He said Sampson remains on the ground in his district in the interim.

“If it is one thing you know about me as a political leader is that boss moves are made in silence.”

Further announcements, he said, will be made soon.