People’s National Movement Tobago Council leader Tracy Davidson-Celestine has again raised the issue of secession for Tobago, saying it will be a bad move.
The Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) has been campaigning on this point in its current Tobago House of Assembly drive, saying Tobago needs to be independent of Trinidad.
But speaking at the PNM’s campaign meeting in Darrel Spring/Whim on Thursday night, Davidson-Celestine warned Tobagonians that secession meant no billion-dollar budget allocation and no easy access to Trinidad.
“You will need a visa to visit Trinidad and you would have to pay the full fare by boat or plane,” she said.
She said public servants would also lose out on promotions within the sector.
Davidson-Celestine once again held the PDP responsible for the failure of the Tobago autonomy bill.
“Tobago recently had an opportunity to become a game-changer in terms of our development in the region and our development in the country,” she said.
“We had an opportunity to sign on to the Tobago Autonomy Bill from the PNM and even with the support of the UNC (United National Congress) but that did not happen.
“And we saw how the PDP hug up with their representatives from Trinidad to deny Tobagonians of the opportunity to self-determine. And when you look at the reasons that they have placed, they would have placed their own interests before that of the people of Tobago.”
She said PDP deputy leader Farley Augustine wants to be Chief Secretary with or without the support from his leader Watson Duke.
“And when he opened the bill that was laid in Parliament and recognised that you must become Chief Secretary by becoming political leader and then be chosen by the candidates that sat around the table, he decided no, I not going down that road,” she said.
Davidson-Celestine said in the meetings that were held as they tried to reach a power-sharing agreement following the 6-6 tie earlier this year, Augustine’s focus was in changing the precedence in Tobago to instead vote in a Chief Secretary through a THA election.
“That is what he is all about, putting his own personal agenda in front of the agenda of the people of Tobago,” Davidson-Celestine said.
Duke, she said, wanted independence and secession from Trinidad.
“And so he was there in Magdalena (hotel) telling the people that ‘we want our own this and we want our own that’,” she said.
Davidson-Celestine said Duke wanted Tobgao cut off from Trinidad and that would be his first order of business if he won the election.
She urged the people to pay attention to the meaning of secession.
“But in this context, secession is about moving Tobago away from Trinidad. It is about cutting off Trinidad from Tobago,” she said.
She called on Tobago to “wise up and protect its future.”
“That $2.2 billion that we now enjoy from Cabinet, we will no longer have,” she said, noting that because Duke wants to be Prime Minister, he does not care about Tobago losing out on the budget allocation.
Davidson-Celestine said if the PDP won the election, the country would wake up on December 7 and realise “crapaud smoke all ah we pipe.”