Shastri Boodan
Give the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) to the PDP.
That's the call of former NAR Assemblyman Stanley Beard.
Beard, 68, who served from 1984 to 2001, said in the 20 years the PNM governed Tobago, they delivered very little despite the billions of dollars they got from the Central Government. Beard said the icing on the cake for the voting swing was the Auditor’s General report.
He told Guardian Media the solution could come from the decision made by President Arthur NR Robinson when the PNM and UNC were in an 18-18 deadlock in 2000.
Beards said, “He looked at it and he said listened. The UNC had been in office and there had been a tie. If you were good in office there should not be a tie. The party in waiting was the PNM and in his wisdom he said gave the party in waiting and opportunity to show what they can do to try to get the country out of the bind."
He added, "Use the precedent set by ANR Robinson back then and ask the PDP to form the new THA government. The incumbents have been in office for 20 years and have quite a lot of baggage.”
Beard said since 2001 when the NAR came out of office, a number of interests for the benefit of Tobago were not carried out.
Beard said when the PDP came in 2015 they worked towards the development of several revenue-generating jobs.
He said the PDP has promised a bottom-up approach towards government that involves the people at all levels.
He said a younger population, more attuned to social media, followed the PDP’s campaign.
“The icing on the cake was the auditor’s general report that spoke of a lack of accountability.”
Beard said Watson Duke made the right choice by allowing Farley Augustine to take the lead. He said the PDP took it seriously while the PNM felt it was a walk in the park.