All set for THA polls

The PNM won all 12 seats in the 2013 THA Elections, held amid jibes of “pumpkin house” and “Calcutta ship”, rendering fruitless the then People Partnership (PP) Administration’s heavy campaigning for the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP). The TOP also lost its two parliamentary seats in 2015 and lost key activists and is now little heard of, as is Hochoy Charles’ Platform For Truth (PFT), another contender in 2013.

Now, Tobagonians can vote on a mix of Tobago issues (such as Sandals Hotel, airlift, sea-bridge, water-supply and construction) and national issues (chiefly crime and the economy). There are new and old faces, but not outgoing THA head, the avuncular Orville London, who ran the PNM-led THA for 16 years, nor Ashworth Jack whose TOP is offering no candidates. Even as Tobagonians mull a THA minus London, the question now is whether the PNM Island Council’s new head, Kelvin Charles, can inherit the commanding stature once held by London, a former school principal whose calm demeanour had endeared him to many who still highly respect him.

Former PNM MP for Tobago East and government minister, Eudine Job-Davis, has split from the party and now leads the MFT. The Public Services Association’s (PSA) charismatic yet controversial president, Watson Duke, a Tobago East candidate in 2015, leads the PDP which he is confident will win seven seats. The Tobago Forwards are led by former PP senator and justice minister, attorney Christlyn Moore, herself a former Tobago West candidate in 2015.

This election now comes after the recent Local Government Elections in Trinidad where the ruling People’s National Movement (PNM) largely kept its support base won three years prior and in last year’s General Election. One surmises that the PNM enters this THA Election with several advantages.

These include an island’s pride in a son of the soil ascending to the country’s highest political office, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley, as was the case for former PM and former President, the late Arthur NR Robinson.

Secondly and thirdly the PNM has an advantage of incumbency at both central Government and in the THA. While local polls - for Trinidad’s municipal corporations and Tobago’s THA - let voters protest against an incumbent party in central Government, the PNM recently felt no real voter- backlash in Trinidad, but for a low voter turnout that affected all parties across the board. However, Job-Davis - since leaving the PNM and launching the MFT - espoused that Tobago should be governed by an indigenous party with no links to Trinidad.

In a recent interview with Newsday she alleged arrogance and nepotism by the PNM in Tobago by saying extremely the isle had descended into “Hitler days” where one no longer knows whom one can trust to talk too. A similar allegation has been levelled by Duke, who has been sporting a jersey emblazoned, “Enough! Nepotism, Underdevelopment, Promises, Corruption”.

Duke has transferred his fiery charisma as trade unionist to the political arena, but himself still faces matters external to politics, even as his party could well make its mark. Christlyn Moore, touting a block of blue soap against the PNM, has vowed to “Wash dem away!” With the exit of London, whatever the results, the THA will get new leadership in an election of great significance for Tobago and for its relationship with Trinidad.