AT 11 am this morning, (Monday, September 19, 2022), the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) will elect a new deputy chief secretary at a special sitting of the House.
This, followed the resignation of Watson Duke from the post after just nine months in office.
Duke, who led the Progressive Democratic Patriots (PDP) political party to a historic win over the People’s National Movement (PNM) in Tobago, fell out with Chief Secretary Farley Augustine who was PDP’s deputy leader.
Duke has since revoked Augustine’s party positions along with Dr Faith B. Yisrael and Alicia Roberts-Patterson.
On Saturday, the Office of the Chief Secretary, in a press release stated that it has received Duke’s resignation letter which was forwarded to the offices of the President and Presiding Officer for appropriate action.
The Office stated, “The Office of the Chief Secretary and by extension, the Tobago House of Assembly wishes to publicly thank Mr Watson Solomon Duke for his service over the past nine months.”
Duke remains electoral representative for Roxborough/Argyle.
The Office of the Chief Secretary said the election of a new deputy was in accordance with Act 40 of 1996 Section 8 of the THA Act that states “The assemblymen shall elect from among their number, the Chief Secretary and the Deputy Chief Secretary in accordance with section 11 and following such election, the President shall administer to the Chief Secretary and the Deputy Chief Secretary respectively, the oath of office set out in the Third Schedule.”
The special meeting will be held at the Shaw Park Complex due to ongoing works inside the Tobago House of Assembly Legislature Chamber, the THA later stated on its social media pages.
Persons have been invited to attend in public as well as view the event online.
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