Tobago Regional Health Authority CEO George Bell has resigned. He tendered his resignation last week to Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Orville London, who is currently performing the duties of Secretary of Health and Social Services. Bell asked to be relieved of the position in three months. London, however, has not yet responded to the resignation letter. The chief secretary confirmed to reporters at Wednesday's post-executive council media briefing that he had received Bell's letter of resignation, but declined further comment on the matter. Bell's resignation has come amidst controversy as the THA, in asserting its authority to nominate members of the board, has been challenged by Tobago Development Minister Vernella Alleyne-Toppin who insisted that this responsibility was under her purview.
To date there is still no board. London said he had again written to Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar, "asking her to ensure that this situation is dealt with, with some urgency." He said he was disappointed but not surprised at the apparent new position of the minister which supported what the rest of the assembly had been saying all along. In May, London wrote Persad-Bissessar expressing his consternation that Alleyne-Toppin had intended to change eight of the nine THA nominees. He said the minister had submitted her own lists, even against the advice of her counterpart THA Minority Leader Ashworth Jack. London said not even former prime ministers Basdeo Panday or Patrick Manning had ever questioned the right of the THA to nominate the board.
"No other government has ever disrespected the institution in such an obscene manner and attempted to undermine the integrity of the Tobago House of Assembly by making such an incursion into what is clearly by law or precedence the responsibility of the Tobago House of Assembly," he said. London noted that the Minister of Tobago Development was an appointed position made by the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and did not have to be held by a Tobagonian. "Today it might be a Tobago-born minister that we are allowing to do that...We do not know who it will be in the next five years," he said. "This is not just a matter for the Tobago House of Assembly, it is a matter for all Tobagonians to ask themselves whether this is something they are prepared to accept."