Saturday night, the Progressive Democratic Patriots(PDP) made its final appeal to Tobagonians to use their index finger in the upcoming December 6 Tobago House of Assembly(THA) elections and vote the Peoples National Movement(PNM) out of office.
Addressing supporters, under the theme, “The Dream, the Hope, the fight,” Deputy political leader, Farley Augustine made the point that the PNM had told many lies in its effort to deceive Tobagonians during the election campaign but he said, “Three of those lies were critical,” and had to be dealt with.
“Lie number one that they have told you is that you will lose services when you vote for the PDP.” Augustine rejected that notion by openly stating that his party is about promoting services. He said no one will lose amenities, services, or contracts that they held before the elections. He said contrary to what was said by the PNM, Tobagonians will have more to gain under the PDP’s guidance.
In addition, Augustine took offense at a statement by the Prime Minister, Dr. Keith Rowley. He stated that the Prime Minister hinted in one of his comments that Tobagonians will lose money if they voted for the PDP. That he will refuse to give Tobago what they are entitled to by law.
“Well, I want to say to you Dr. Rowley, tonight, with all due respect, you play mad and do not give us our money when we win the elections and we will see,” Augustine warned. He continued his thought by saying: “I am not coming to be a chief beggar. That is what you have now. I am coming here to be a chief fighter” The PDP second in command noted that it was what Tobago needed at the moment.
Augustine pointed out that for the past 21 years Tobago did not have men standing up for the people. He stated: “What we had was not men, we had some manicou running this place. Afraid to stand up on behalf of the people of Tobago.”
“And the third and perhaps the biggest lie they tell is that when you vote for the PDP that somehow magically Tobago will secede,” Augustine asked Tobagonians to be aware of the scare tactics. He said, “Now, think about it logically. If Tobago had the powers to secede just so then you do not think we would have just taken our autonomy and gone our way a long time? You think we would have been begging and sitting down writing all kinds of amendments to the Tobago bill to send down to Trinidad.” He noted that the power for secession lied in the Parliament in Port-of-Spain.
Augustine, a former school teacher said that the PNM had spent a considerable amount of money advertising and peddling those lies across Tobago. He said those lies were moulded to put the voting population back into a state of submission and remain subservient to the PNM’s dominance. Augustine coined the term political lynching to describe the efforts made by the PNM to scare Tobagonians but expressed confidence in the Tobagonian’s ability to see through the political babblings.
He stated: “What I can tell you is that under the Progressive Democratic Patriots, you will have the kind of servant leadership from across this team that you have never seen before. You will have deliverables on your doorstep month after month and I will assure you within four years we would have done more than they have done within 21 years.”