ROWLEY PLAYS TOBAGO, BUDGET POLITICS

PRIME MINISTER Dr. Keith Rowley is playing politics with Tobago and the national Budget in a bid to win a third term of office.

The recent recommendation by President Christine Kangaloo of autonomy for the sister isle is a curtain-raiser to a sensitive 2025 general election issue.

The wage settlement with public sector workers and pre-Christmas backpay are the Government’s most significant measures toward the working class.

The Government would also create several short-term jobs through the $6.2 billion assigned to the Public Sector Improvement Programme (PSIP).

The PSIP would be used for 1,232 programmes and projects, Finance Minister Colm Imbert said.

In addition, retail businesses are expected to benefit from Christmas shopping by the workers, who are due to receive a total of $1 billion.

There is speculation that in light of the payout and the hefty spending on anti-crime measures, Rowley would opt for an election ahead of the August 2025 due date.

The comment by Kangaloo that “it is our duty to prioritise the issue of Tobago’s politics” has awakened a longstanding and emotional matter.

Tobagonians have long favoured constitutional autonomy from Trinidad.

The president’s remark prompted ready responses from Government officials, who said the opposition United National Congress had previously objected to autonomy.

The People’s National Movement is expected to champion self-governance as an electoral issue ahead of the crucial 2025 national polls.

The ruling national party is likely to promise autonomy if it is returned to office.

The UNC has been linked to Tobago People’s Party, led by Tobago House of Assembly (THA) Chief Secretary Farley Augustine.

The PNM currently controls both national electoral seats in the sister isle.

But with Farley’s dominant win in the 2021 THA polls, there is speculation that the PNM will surrender at least one of the seats at the next general election.

Before the PNM’s win in 2015, the Tobago East seat had been held consistently by political parties opposed to the PNM.

The pioneering A.N.R. Robinson represented the constituency for a generation.

Ayanna Wesbster-Roy is the current MP for Tobago East, while Shamfa Cudjoe-Lewis represents Tobago West.

Some political observers expect that one or both candidates would be replaced in an effort by the PNM to instil new blood into the campaign.

It is now likely that PNM politicians would stoke the fire on autonomy, with Rowley leading the charge.

Already, Ancil Dennis, head of PNM’s Tobago Council, has stated that the UNC voted against two previous attempts to provide self-governance.

Dennis said: “The challenge is how do we get the Opposition Members of Parliament to support the bills and give Tobago far more autonomy than we have now.”

On the labour matter, unions, especially the militant Oilfields Workers’ Trade Union (OWTU), have recently taken an aggressive anti-PNM line.

OWTU supported UNC candidates in the August 14 local government election.

During that campaign, union boss Ancel Roget said that PNM’s policies are “geared to suit one per cent of all the people in this country.

“It is time the other 99 per cent stands up in their own defence.

OWTU is one of 17 unions that are members of the Joint Trade Union Movement (JTUM).   

Political observers say Rowley is hoping to soften labour’s hardline position.

These issues point to a hotly-contested general election, in which the PNM is seeking to hold onto its Tobago seats and win workers’ support.

Several political observers feel that Rowley has already set a roadmap leading to the next general election.

Based on its performance in the August LG polls, the UNC is confident of winning at least two more general election seats in Trinidad. 

The Tobago seats could be critical to which party rules the country after the next general election.