According to Watson Duke, a political figure and founder of the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP), Tobago’s citizens choose self-determination over autonomy.
At a news conference held on November 11 at the PDP offices in Port Mall, Scarborough, Duke stated that Tobago will have the autonomy to decide its political standing and its own social, economic, and cultural advancement free from outside interference.
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He said that whereas self-determination ensures all rights, autonomy only promises some rights.
Tobago has three political alternatives, he added, but he thinks its people would be content with a relationship with Trinidad. By forming an association, Tobago would maintain its independence while forming a relationship with Trinidad or any other nation of its choosing.
He said that it would entail pooling resources, security concerns, and a common currency, much like the European Union or the Eastern Caribbean Currency Union. Although each island would have its own parliament, they would all sit together. Thus, any legislation that was approved but did not receive the vote of Tobago would only be applicable to Trinidad.
According to him, Tobago’s other two alternatives were to either become an independent country or maintain its present interdependent relationship with Trinidad, which allows it some autonomy.
Duke claims that he was unaware that in 2021, while Farley Augustine was still a member of the PDP, a document was “secretly signed” pretending to represent Tobagonians’ opinions on the autonomy issue with the late Hochoy Charles, the former chief secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). Duke stated that this paper was forwarded to the central administration of Trinidad.
According to Duke, Augustine promised to provide MPs with a new version of the paper in January, but the assemblymen of the THA never received a copy of it, and there was no discussion about getting other opinions.
He remarked, “You gone Trinidad to talk to them (MPs) and the people of Tobago are totally unaware of what inside the document. So much for transparency!”
Duke continued, “Tobago must decide whether they will want until every morning for a two-thirds Parliamentary agreement at the Lower House, at the higher (sic) House to determine whether or not they get into the constitution, the things that they want. Or whether we can start affecting the simple majority laws that affect our day-to-day living.”
Tobagonians were addressing the question of autonomy for the first time in their history, according to Duke. He said that Augustine’s comments were complicating the matter by mixing autonomy with self-determination. To him, Augustine’s plan to integrate Tobago into the twin-island country is unclear.
“I want to make it absolutely clear today, that neither APT James, ANR Robinson nor Hochoy Charles fought for self-determination. What they fought for was more rights for Tobago,” Duke noted.
Duke claimed that the Trinidad and Tobago Act of 1887 made T&T a single colony and that Queen Victoria made Tobago a ward of T&T in 1889 through the Order-in-Council. He claimed that the only way to grant Tobago equal treatment was to repeal the act, replace it with a more recent one that establishes the boundaries of the two islands, and remove Tobago from Trinidad’s ward system.
“Anything else is a sell-out,” he concluded in his statement.
