Newly-appointed Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Farley Augustine has maintained that deputy Chief Secretary Watson Duke will not have to relinquish his post as president of the Public Services Association (PSA).
Augustine was asked about Duke’s status as both THA Executive member and PSA president just moments after being sworn in yesterday.
“The law says that one cannot be a member of the executive and receive any remunerations, salaries, benefits from any other place,” Augustine said.
“As you would be aware, earlier in the week I made it clear that Mr Duke would need to be aligned with the law in order to be considered to be a member of the executive. Now, he has since made himself in line with the law.”
Augustine has a media conference planned for later today after President Paula-Mae Weekes swears in the seven secretaries and said he will explain the “broader vision” of what he wants to achieve then.
“And matters concerning a conflict of interest would not arise,” he said.
Augustine said when he lays out the executive today, Duke will be assigned a task.
“Then you would get to understand the full vision,” Augustine said.
Augustine said there were other challenges, including the state of the economy.
“We do have a private sector that has all but collapsed and there is an urgent need for us to realign even further to ensure that we can get tourism back up and running, that we can secure our private sector, that we can secure jobs and that is a top priority for us,” he said.
Augustine said he was planning a retreat for the THA executive, as no one on the entire slate has any political experience.
“There are no oldies present in my executive. They are all completely new to the executive. Yes, that was purposeful because I felt Tobago needed a very fresh breath, a fresh direction and I did not want folks with old attitudes trying to transfer those old political cultures into the new executive,” he said.
He said that the challenge was now to get the team ready to hit the ground immediately.
Augustine promised to present a budget in January and also hinted that there would be a “realignment” of portfolios in the THA.
He promised an update on the portfolios today after the official swearing-in duties are completed.
“We have quite a wide range of expertise and we would be using the expertise along those lines. We are also bringing in some interesting councillors in a short while,” Augustine said, adding that some may be a surprise to the public.
“We have as a councillor, someone who has not been in politics at all but I have brought him on because of the kind of expertise that I think he would bring to the table,” he said, adding there were “promising days ahead” for Tobago.
As Chief Secretary, Augustine is not allowed to drive himself and yesterday said he asked to forego that protocol but was refused. He admitted he was still “grappling” with the changes.
“I am accustomed to my short pants and slippers and thing, driving myself any hour of the day and night,” he said.
Augustine said he planned to have regular communications with Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, which is part of the job description. He said that he hoped the new relationship would put politics in the past and work toward the betterment of Tobago.
He said that the Progressive Democratic Patriots would keep its campaign pledge to make funding available to every district, PNM or PDP.
“Because there has to be equity in the distribution of resources. I am now Chief Secretary for all of Tobago and that includes Darryl Spring/Whim,” Augustine said.
The PNM candidate Kelvon Morris won that lone seat.
“He will not be starved for resources, I wish to assure him of that,” Augustine said, adding that Morris was an old friend and former classmate.
“I don’t see why politics should divide us,” he noted.
Morris concerned
Meanwhile, Morris has also expressed concern about Duke’s dual roles.
“In terms of we now have Mr Watson Duke has been elected deputy Chief Secretary and of course we know that and we saw a release from the Public Services Association indicating that he would have relinquished his remuneration packages but not the position,” Morris said.
“I am of the firm view that that does not auger well for good governance. I am seeing conflicts of interest and my first order of business would be to write to the Chief Secretary indicating that we are very uncomfortable with such a development.
“If we are about good governance, then we must start off on the right foot.”
Despite that concern, Morris congratulated the PDP on its victory and also commended the people of Tobago.
“It speaks to the level of democracy on this island of Tobago,” he said.
Morris said that the ease of transition from the People’s National Movement to the Progressive Democratic Patriots was testimony to the maturity of the electorate.