Tobago
Corey Connelly
TOBAGO business stakeholders are calling for an urgent meeting with the THA executive to discuss the way forward. as they claim they are still experiencing the effects of the Covid19 pandemic.
At a Tobago Chamber of Commerce business development series titled Financing Solutions for Business in Tobago at the Scarborough Library on Thursday, economist Dr Vanus James, who moderated the session, asked participants to move a resolution calling for a meeting with Chief Secretary Farley Augustine. and its executive.
Food Security, Natural Resources, Environment and Sustainable Development Secretary Nathisha Charles-Pantin, who attended the event, promised to raise the issue with August.
James said the House will also formally write to Augustine.
The resolution came after more than three hours of intense discussion about financial mechanisms that could be implemented to revive struggling businesses.
Panellists included political commentator and credit union expert Dr Winford James, entrepreneur Kaye Trotman and Youth Development Director Ann-Marie De Gazon.
Many stakeholders agreed that the current tough climate within the THA does not bode well for investor confidence and building a meaningful strategy to help businesses.
On December 4, 2022, Agustin and all THA executive members resigned from the Progressive Democratic Patriots and declared themselves independent in the assembly.
Their resignations came months after PDP political leader Watson Duke accused the administration of failing to provide financial assistance to a Roxborough group that had gone to New York to perform at several cultural events.
On Thursday, retired civil servant Barry Nelson asserted that Trinidad sees Tobago primarily as an island to trade its goods and services.
“Trinidad sees us no differently and the proof in the pudding is those businesses – Carib, Angostura – you see in Barbados, Guyana, all the way to the islands. Have you seen them in Tobago?” he asked.
“So we in Tobago need to get our politics right. If we don’t get our policy right, with the government running the business, we’re going to stay where we are.”
He described THA Act 40 of 1996 as a “continuing act”.
But Nelson complained that there has not been an ongoing review of the act and its structures over the years.
“So we were just stuck in a closed barrel like crabs and fighting among each other.”
Charles-Pantin agreed that political stability is required.
“Of course, we understood everything that led to what is happening now and we will aim for that – political stability is necessary to move forward.”
She told stakeholders that they must continue to work together to solve the problem affecting businesses.
“We don’t have all the money we want. We cannot employ every person under the Tobago House of Assembly if we want development.”
She said that of the $24 million her division received for development, $23,600,000 was for salaries.
“So I have to find ways to monetize some of the natural assets because science and ecology is my background, agriculture is my background. So I would have made an effort to earn money.”
She referred to the Great Cocoa Lure Experience in Goldsborough as one of her efforts to cash in on the island’s natural wealth.
Saying she inherited a “sumptuous” division, Charles-Pantin said workers were also disappointed.
“They feel they’ve been sidelined for years in terms of their creativity and their ideas.”
Charles-Pantin applauded the chamber for welcoming the initiative, saying Tobago has an opportunity to come together and make recommendations for the business community and THA to move forward positively.
