Minority Leader in the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Ashworth Jack is promising that internal self-government for Tobago will be achieved by the end of the year. He was speaking at a hastily-arranged news conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel, Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain, yesterday. Jack, leader of the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP), said his party would complete a Green Paper by June and would seek stakeholders' comments and draft a bill to be approved by Parliament. He said the move by the THA, under Chief Secretary Orville London, could not be approved in Parliament because the approved process had not been followed by the THA. Jack dismissed former THA Chief Secretary Hochoy Charles' accusation he was selling out the people of Tobago.
He said Tobago was "stagnant for so long" because of Charles' leadership and in the modern day it was more appropriate to negotiate agreements. Jack said he continued to wish Charles peace and God's best wishes in his advanced years. He said the PNM had no history of ever supporting moves for internal self-government for Tobago. Jack said his entrance to politics and his reason for remaining in the THA and refusing all other offers were intended to ensure internal self-government was achieved for the people of Tobago. Tobago Development Minister Vernella Alleyne-Toppin was summoned yesterday before the TOP leadership yesterday to explain her alleged misuse of a Government-issued credit card. (RL)