By Sue-Ann Wayow
OPPOSITION Leader Kamla Persad-Bissessar has issued a pre-action protocol letter to Attorney General Faris Al-Rawi calling for a date to be set for elections in the Penal/Debe Regional Corporation.
In her Budget contribution on Friday in Parliament, Persad-Bissessar said it was ironic that Tobago will get an opportunity to go at the polls twice in one year, but the Debe South electoral district remained without a representative for seven months.
She said, “What is surprising is that this PNM in their quest to gerrymander and deny the will of the people of Tobago they have now called another election in Tobago. So, two elections in Tobago in one year but none in Debe South after seven months without an elected representative.
“Yesterday I wrote a pre-action protocol letter to the AG asking why no date has been set and calling for an immediate issuance of the writ of election.”
The seat for Debe South became vacant in February following the death of former local government councillor Purushottam Singh.
Nothing in the Budget to sustain Tobago
Persad-Bissessar also said that Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley who speaks highly of Tobago and his Tobago heritage, does not grant the people of Tobago, the proper treatment and reminded of projects that did not materialise including the Sandals resort.
She questioned the status of No Man’s Land.
She said, “All citizens, especially Tobagonians, deserve to know from this Prime Minister ‘what happened to this $100M asset’ which was last vested in the Prime Minister’s portfolio. The last we knew ‘no man’s land’ was in Golden-Grove Buccoo Company Limited. That company last filed annual returns two years ago.”
The Opposition Leader said it made no sense, that Tobagonians were clamouring for food when a $500 million dollar was being planned for the island in the form of a Marriott Hotel at Rocky Point.
“You are constructing a hotel, at the height of a global pandemic, where international travel is already severely curtailed. Who is going to come to stay at this hotel?” Persad-Bissessar asked.
She added, “Instead of assisting local hoteliers and guesthouse owners who are lamenting the loss of income due to the ongoing closure of beaches, and lack of airlift, this government is bringing in competition.”
Persad-Bissessar, who leads the United National Congress (UNC), said her party has always respected the sister isle as an equal partner in development and have trusted and supported them in regulating their own affairs, without interference from Trinidad.
