PM shows Tobago love

SOON AFTER assuming power, at a post-cabinet briefing on May 29, the Prime Minister signalled her resolve to deliver some “low-hanging fruit,” at no cost to taxpayers, in relation to Tobago. Six months later, Ms Persad-Bissessar has unveiled what that looks like, on November 4 announcing the grant of an export licence for quarry operations at Studley Park.

That licence costs little to nothing. Yet, it could generate as much as $1.4 billion in revenue over three years, according to some estimates. The UNC leader’s approach of grasping things easily within reach belies the boldness of her vision for Trinidad and Tobago relations. Her announcement this week in Scarborough is a game-changer.

When national leaders turn their gaze towards Tobago, the results have often been dispiriting. Meetings are held, grand announcements made, promises issued. But when the fanfare fades, results are few and far between. Reforms falter in Parliament or languish in committees. The PNM, which had a rocky relationship with the THA, delivered little real change over a decade. One would be forgiven for wondering if Ms Persad-Bissessar’s 50-minute address is a truly transformative moment. It comes ahead of a THA election.

However, the ambit of the PM’s ambition may be much wider than just one assembly poll or the shoring up of her already strong parliamentary position by keeping the two Tobago MPs onside. The unlocking of aggregate resources on the island comes amid a dramatically altered geopolitical environment, in which boundaries are, figuratively if not literally, being redrawn. Ms Persad-Bissessar has her eye on something bigger when she remarks, “As the tide meets the shores of Tobago, the same tides meet the shores of Trinidad. Two islands, one nation, let us go forward side by side, one purpose, one vision and one mission.”

Effectively, the Prime Minister has thrown down the gauntlet to Farley Augustine, the ever-popular THA Chief Secretary, whose hold on the island is about to be tested electorally for the second time this year. Authorised to engage in this money-making venture, which is likely to be overseen by Studley Park Enterprises Ltd, a company owned by the THA, which has been led by Ashworth Jack, a political familiar, it will be for Mr Augustine to balance the range of thorny commercial, regulatory and environmental questions looming.

To listen to the PM on Wednesday was also to glean other reforms down the road, including the abolition of the 4.03 per cent to 6.9 per cent budgetary range and its replacement with a “fair share,” project-based model. The issue of autonomy, something promised but left undelivered by partisan politics, also looms. With the UNC leader correctly noting many non-legislative Tobago reforms are possible, it is likely she is only just getting started.

Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar speaks to the media on the steps of the Tobago House of Assembly during a visit to Tobago on November 4.