Destined for greatness

“At one time growing up I wanted to be Prime Minister,” Augustine, 31, said in a Sunday Newsday interview.

The THA may be a far cry from the Office of the Prime Minister, St Clair, Trinidad, but for Augustine, who won the Speyside/ L’Anse Fourmi/Parlatuvier seat on a Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) ticket in the January 23 THA election, it is an opportunity to finally have an input in the development of Tobago.

“I am hoping to bring issues of rural Tobago to the forefront for the first time,” said Augustine, the youngest member of the THA. “I am also hoping to challenge my colleagues in the House to think big and outside of the confines of tradition.” A natural orator with a passion for his hometown of Speyside, Augustine was one of the stand-outs of the THA election campaign.

Before the campaign began in earnest, the former schoolteacher was courted by both the People’s National Movement (PNM) and the Tobago Forwards to contest the Speyside/L’Anse Fourmi/Parlatuvier electoral district. After some prodding, he chose to be a candidate for the Watson Dukeled PDP, a fledgling party which promised greater inclusion and a ground-up approach to governance.

Duke won the Roxborough/ Delaford seat.

Asked about his choice of the PDP, Augustine said: “I wanted to be part of something new. I didn’t want to be controlled by a political organisation whose structure was long established and there wasn’t room for me to advance changes.” He said he wanted to contribute towards the building of a political party in a real way.

“I am an idealist when it comes to politics,” he said. “I didn’t just want to join a party and run for a seat. I want to have some control over the rules of engagement within the party.” Augustine said the PDP was Tobago’s only indigenous political party.

“It wasn’t constructed on the basis of someone breaking away from another party. I wanted a Tobago-centric party that was daring to be different in approach, behaviour and philosophy.” On the hustings, Augustine was known for fiery, captivating speeches which highlighted the perceived limitations of the PNM-THA administration over the past 16 years.

The Bishop’s High School alumnus also spoke glowingly of the contributions of the people of Tobago East to the island’s history, blatantly contradicting statements made by the PNM’s candidate for Canaan/Bon Accord, Clarence Jacob, about PDP leader Duke.

During the campaign, Jacob issued a message to Duke, saying, “No country man can’t run town “(implying that people from Tobago’s rural communities cannot aspire to sit as Chief Secretary of the THA). Duke was born in the rural district off Roxborough.

The statement sparked a firestorm of controversy, with many Tobagonians deeming his utterance irresponsible, biased and condescending.

On his elevation to the THA, Augustine said: “I felt overwhelmed by the bigness of the moment. The pride of this achievement was so ubiquitous that it could almost be sliced. In that single moment I felt most privileged and blessed.” Augustine painted an almost storybook picture about life in Speyside. He recalled being tossed into the sea by fishermen and being able to swim long distances by age four. Recreation revolved around the beach, as there were no phones, cable TV computers and Internet when he was growing up.

Augustine said, however, it was not until he entered high school in 1996 that he recognised the limitations of his community.

“It was then that I began to dislike the fact that I lived in a place so remote that getting transport to and from my village was the hardest thing ever,” he said. “I also disliked that we were considered backward because we spoke Tobago Creole and because we lived closer to the earth. As young boy, I did not know how to defend the life that I thought was great but that the world outside of my village felt was primitive.

Despite the setbacks, Augustine said he always felt destined for greatness.

“My village always made me feel like I could achieve anything.

I was the boy that village celebrated as being ‘bright’,” he said. “The village literally built my self-esteem and pushed me all through my life. Even when I was struggling as a high school student, I kept telling myself I have to do well because I will disappoint the village.” Augustine said the support from villagers has never waned.

He recalled that when he returned to Speyside on vacation while studying language communication and society (linguistics) and international relations at the Mona campus of the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, between 2005 and 2009, he would meet “a fridge filled with fish, because the fishermen felt that I needed as much fish I could get to keep me going.” Augustine, who taught English literature and communications at Speyside High School, was also one of the managers of its Mantas football team. He headed two of the school’s steel orchestras and was the head teacher for the student council and prefect body.

Augustine said he was passionate about bridging the developmental divide between Tobago and Trinidad and between Tobago East and West.

Young professionals on the island also needed support, he said.

“This, in large part, has contributed to emigration and our almost stagnant population size.” Augustine lamented that most of his high school classmates no longer lived in Tobago “because they feel that the island has little to offer them.” Saying that he also developed an “acute passion” for the unemployed people he met on the campaign, Augustine observed that many young people seemed content with the bare minimum with little concern for their self-development and life beyond Speyside.

“I could not fathom that I had so many young men in my constituency who are contented with liming and gambling and getting high off weed,” he said.

Augustine described life for the young Tobagonian as mixed.

“It offers contracted employment through the THA, limited entrepreneurial opportunity, close family ties and an abundance of party vibes. But many of our young people feel stifled on the island.” Augustine said the biggest challenge facing Tobago was the island’s apparent inability to complete projects in a timely manner.

“This is fuelled by corruption, nepotism and a lack of planning,” he claimed.

He claimed Tobago had not got value for money under the Orville London administration.

“After having $40 billion in 16 years, with a population of just around 60,000, we still can’t boast of having one of the fastest developing islands in the region,” he concluded. “This is indicative of us having a management issue.”