Tobago Correspondent
Sports and Community Development Minister Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis said she has no intention of engaging in conflict with Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Secretary for Community Development, Youth Development and Sport Terance Baynes. Instead, she is focused on making it easier for Tobagonians to access community programmes.
Baynes restricted the Central Government from using facilities under his Division without his permission.
In response, Cudjoe-Lewis said, “I don’t fight and fight up. One place I fight is at the polls. I don’t do the back-and-forth. Other than that there is no need for fighting. We are both in our positions and we would have gone to people’s doors asking them for their votes so we can deliver projects and programmes to improve their lives.
“This Assembly is bending over backwards to try to create war and trying to fuel this image of war and discord between the THA and Central Government and we are not here for it.”
Yesterday, tensions mounted between Cudjoe-Lewis and Baynes, who took to social media to give their versions of the issue.
Baynes’ decision was contained in an internal memo that was leaked on social media yesterday. Dated April 5, it notified the administration that immediate approval for using the facilities will not be granted to the Central Government without his consent.
As a result, vocational skills training courses offered by Export Centres Company Limited (ECCL) and supported by the Sports and Community Development Ministry at the Black Rock Community Centre have been postponed until a new location can be found.
Baynes said his decision was prompted by the Ministry’s constant encroachment on the Division’s vocational skills training projects.
He said, “(They have been) offering some of the same classes we are offering, displacing us with our classes and even engaging some of the tutors we have been using in our courses and that is just one incident.”
He said he would not be surprised if his decision is used as a political tool and isn’t too worried about his relationship with Cudjoe-Lewis.
“The Minister and I had no relationship and that is her choice ... I’m not overly concerned about that.”
He asked, “Have you ever seen me appear in anything the Minister is doing in Tobago?”
Cudjoe-Lewis said Baynes should know that ministers are not responsible for sending out invitations to events hosted or projects sponsored by ministries.
In a follow-up Facebook live just after midday yesterday, Baynes accused the Minister of supporting Tobago only to satisfy her political agenda.
“I have concluded that the Minister does not appreciate or like what we are doing in Tobago, or even the officials that are there. So, any engagement she has in Tobago cannot be in any way in the right spirit,” he said.
“It’s only for political purposes. It’s only to use Tobago or to use the facilities in the Tobago space that are there for the advancement of her own political career. I have no question in my mind as to what is her intent.”
Cudjoe-Lewis refuted these claims and denied that the courses offered by her Ministry are interfering with THA programmes.
She explained that the courses are being offered at the request of the Black Rock Village Council through ECCL, an enterprise responsible for training artisans.
She suggested that Baynes settle his grievances without picking a fight and leaving Tobagonians at a disadvantage.
“SportTT wrote to Tobago since last year to get them to agree so we can bring the programme to Tobago because there is so much from it in introducing sports to schools, providing them with coaches, support and helping them develop infrastructure and with equipment and THA didn’t respond,” Cudjoe-Lewis said.
She also noted the Ministry has been providing vocational skills training courses to Tobagonians for more than 60 years and she intends to offer the help despite the secretary’s actions.