Ambition and Reform

Farley Augustine and his Tobago People’s Party (TPP) are in the unenviable (though historically normal position) of having to depend on money from an opposing political force - at this time the People’s National Movement¹.

Earlier this week the long dormant ‘Tobago Bill’ was pushed to Parliament by the country’s Prime Minister - he, as head of the PNM no doubt hoping to score political points for the upcoming general election. As history records, the bill failed to get ratified despite being passed in the Lower House. Something to do with Constitution matters. The upshot as concerns Tobago is, Autonomy talks are off the national table, probably until another generation decides to take it up again.

Kindling public ambition to stimulate that process suggests community reflection is due on why Tobago’s Self Government Bill failed to acquire a majority in Parliament. Obviously, according to one commentator (Dr Winsford James) “Trinidad does not feel Tobago’s pain”. The man may be on to something.

But what exactly? Odds are Tobago’s story simply needs to be retold so their need is ‘felt’. In such a way that Trinidadians will see and therefore understand that an autonomous Tobago makes for a more prosperous Trinidad and Tobago. The story must also show the corollary; that a financially dependent Tobago resident population takes away money from the average Trinidadian’s purse. In short, if Tobago is left on the proverbial vine the entire nation suffers.

Noted economist (and Tobago son) Dr Vanus James asserts Tobago has been locked into endemic poverty since the time England divested itself of a burdensome colonial holding. The next autonomy story could start there.