Former chief secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Hochoy Charles is set to begin islandwide walkabouts to mobilise citizens to resist moves by the People's Partnership Government to recolonise the island. He said he was in the final stages of preparation for the first walkabout which is to take place in Charlotteville today. In an interview yesterday, Charles said it was illegal for Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to carry out certain functions on the island which fell under the THA Act.
He said those functions included the establishment of a separate CEPEP company in Tobago. Charles said the PP Government was attempting to take away some of the limited authority under the control of the THA. "It is recolonisation and everybody in Tobago is going to...(pause)-I don't want to use strong language-we are going to resist that with every power that we have," he stressed. He said the entire population must know the truth. He added: "We are going to call on everybody to assist us in fighting off the colonial attitude of the Government of Trinidad towards the people of Tobago.
"We are hitting the road and we continue to heighten the struggle in Tobago to get constitutional reform and the powers Tobago has been looking for." He said the ultimate desire of the people of Tobago was to attain a system of self-governance. The next move would be to secure law-making and executive powers for the people of Tobago, he added.