Dennis: Huge step back if autonomy bills abandoned
Chief Secretary Ancil Dennis - Office of Chief Seceratary
Chief Secretary Ancil Dennis has urged Tobagonians to resist calls for a restart of the process to get greater autonomy for the island.
At the post executive council news conference on Wednesday, Dennis gave his views about the Joint Select Committee’s two-day public consultation on the Tobago Self-Government Bill and the Tobago Island Administration Bill, held at the Victor E Bruce Financial Complex, Scarborough, on April 30 and May 1.
The JSC, headed by Planning and Development Minister Camille Robinson-Regis, met with representatives of the island’s major political parties and other stakeholders.
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Augustine asks JSC: Why 6.8% for Tobago?
PDP deputy leader Farley Augustine. FILE PHOTO
PDP deputy political leader Farley Augustine is calling on the Joint Select Committee (JSC) to explain how they came up with the proposal to allocate a minimum of 6.8 per cent of the national budget to Tobago.
In an interview with Newsday on Monday, Augustine said the members of the JSC need to provide some clarity on the figure.
“We are wondering how the JSC arrived at 6.8 per cent. What is the justification, what is the arithmetic behind it?”
He added: “They have not been able to properly justify how they arrived at 6.8 per cent. (It) cannot do the kind of development work that is needed in Tobago; we’re talking about capital expenditure work that is needed in Tobago and so that is something that has to be revisited.”
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KINNESHA GEORGE-HARRY and COREY CONNELLY
Economist Dr Vanus James has described the Draft Constitution Amendment Bill (Tobago Self Government Bill) as a constitutional illusion.
James, a Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) supporter, said the draft bill, currently made public by Parliament s Joint Select Committee for consideration, does not allow Tobagonians the equality they desire.
In a recent interview, James told Newsday the promises in the explanatory note, that Tobagonians will be able to make their own choices and manage their own affairs, are blocked by many specific provisions of the bill.
He said, “Indeed, the proposed Constitution Amendment Bill is a kind of constitutional illusion designed to fool the unwary Tobagonian into seeing two things that are not really there – equality of status and self-determination.”