Last week, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley announced in Tobago that he intends to establish a Joint Select Committee of the Parliament to address the question of full internal self-government for Tobago. According to the Prime Minister:
“However, it ultimately will be a matter for the Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago. Tobago cannot give itself self-government, Trinidad cannot give Tobago self-government but between Trinidad and Tobago and the Parliament of the people’s representatives, we can answer that question, and we will do it.”
This was a major development which gives the signal that the issue is at the top of the policy agenda of the Rowley administration. The political will to make it happen is clearly there and it appears that the discussions between Prime Minister Rowley and Chief Secretary London went very well.
In addressing this issue, the policy position will obviously have to be a superior one to what was unsuccessfully advanced before. Whereas there was previously an intention to devolve certain powers of the Cabinet to the Tobago House of Assembly, one would imagine that this time there may be more powers being made available to the THA.
Essentially, the ideal position would be one of ensuring that final responsibility will reside in Tobago for all policy matters without recourse to Trinidad. There were many issues in the public domain which will require attention.
A major issue will relate to the question of land and sea jurisdiction for the THA. To this end, the question of maritime jurisdiction for the THA will arise insofar as there can be no question about its land jurisdiction, but just how far out to sea will its maritime jurisdiction go?
Under the former draft legislation on this matter, there was a proposal for jurisdiction to extend up to eleven miles out to sea so that it would fall just inside the twelve-mile territorial sea limit. There were those who argued that it should go all the way to the twelve-mile limit and that the base lines around Tobago should be clearly defined in such a manner as to clearly define its boundaries with Trinidad.
Another area of controversy was the proposal advanced in some quarters that internal self-government for Tobago should encompass a demarcated area inside of the 200-mile exclusive economic zone to facilitate the ability of the island to access its true economic benefits separate and apart from Trinidad inside of that zone.
The issue of oil and gas leases being negotiated within these spaces of the territorial sea and the exclusive economic zone was contentious in the public domain. There is an opportunity now to carve out a role for the THA to become a party to such leases and to earn revenue from them.
Will internal self-government bring with it a signing authority for the THA to be act on behalf of the State in respect of such territorial negotiations and contracts or will this be reserved for the central Government?
With the prospect of a dedicated stream of revenue from oil and gas leases with the autonomous involvement of the THA in the process will come a requirement for enhanced scrutiny of revenue and expenditure. One of the contentious matters has been the issue of being subjected to scrutiny in Port-of-Spain as opposed to Scarborough.
The institutional capacity of the THA will have to be enhanced in such a way that it can perform the tasks of parliamentary scrutiny within its own walls by way of granting the THA enhanced powers for exclusive Tobago legislation, exclusive power to raise and spend its own revenues and impose its own taxes.
Such a policy can best be accomplished by making T&T a federation with Tobago having federal powers (as opposed to devolved powers under a unitary state). In like manner, Trinidad can be the other part of the federation so that the constitutional reform will provide two tiers of government, one being the federal government with designated powers over both islands and the other being individual state powers for each state of the union, namely Trinidad, on the one hand, and Tobago, on the other.
If the THA and the Rowley administration come forward with such a proposal, then the work of the Joint Select Committee will be based on changing the foundation of the State from being a unitary one to being a federal one.
Foreign commercial interests will naturally want to monitor such constitutional and political negotiations because the way in which they will have to engage the State will more than likely change.
The issue of internal self-government has been debated over many years. In 1980 ANR Robinson was able to accomplish a return of the Assembly that Tobago lost after its union with Trinidad between 1887 and 1899. In 1996, the powers of that assembly were enhanced over what existed before, but the quarrels of disadvantage never went away.
An opportunity now exists for taking the quantum leap into the zone of settlement of this issue once for all. A federal solution is a way forward for both T&T.