Ameen, Scotland

Rural Development Minister Kadijah Ameen says an interministerial team met with the Elections and Boundaries Commission (EBC) on names the team flagged in the EBC’s 14th report – and the EBC subsequently found 29 errors – but People’s National Movement (PNM) MP Keith Scotland has said the meetings violated the Constitution.

Both spoke in yesterday’s debate on a motion regardin a draft order based on the EBC’s 14th report, which was passed.

Ameen said EBC’s report was submitted to the ministry on August 29, 2025, and was accompanied by an errata sheet which showed 29 errors arising from issues raised by the inter-ministerial team with the EBC.

She said when she first received the EBC’s report, there were a number of areas of concern. She said the inter-ministerial team expressed this to the EBC and she communicated with the EBC’s chief elections officer.

On November 3, the team met the EBC, which noted the concerns. Ameen said the team had a list of 414 names flagged because in the report, they were subject to be relocated, which concerned the team. She said the EBC cited challenges in Tobago and rural Trinidad areas, such as vague addresses used.

The EBC subsequently did an audit identifying “latent misregulations arising from unclear street naming and inconsistent address information” in several electoral districts.

The commission did field investigations to ascertain electors’ precise residential locations and the report and errata sheet were produced.

Ameen said the errata sheet was aimed at ensuring the accuracy of figures used for EBC’s analysis.

“This is a matter of serious concern! How in the past, after so many years of doing this, the EBC could submit a report to the minister and if as a Government we weren’t vigilant, these 29 errors would have never been identified!” she added

Ameen said scrutiny will also be done by the team on even numbers of municipality districts.

Concluding debate in replying to Scotland, she said the PNM’s past minister held a Local Government report for a year until the United National Congress threatened legal action.

Scotland: Why did ministry hide EBC report?

PNM’s Scotland slammed the Government’s laying of the report at the “11th hour.” He said unless dealt with before midnight last night, it would have no effect for the Tobago House of Assembly polls.

Demanding the public be told why it hadn’t been laid in Parliament when received on August, Scotland said all the meetings/consultations Ameen’s team had were in contravention of Section 72:3 of the Constitution.

“All that was done before the laying of the report could have been done after laying it … This motion came like a thief in the night, just like the radar in Tobago! We had mere hours’ notice, they felt they’d catch us with our pants down, but PNM’s like Boy Scouts – always ready!” Scotland added.

He queried why the report couldn’t have been raised in the 10 Parliament sittings since August, especially when Ameen alluded to transparency. He noted such reports were to be laid at the earlier opportunity after receipt from EBC.

Scotland said he hoped the Tobago MPs were “on the radar” participating in meetings.

“Tobagonians – be wary, as this disrespect meted out to you will come again!” he added, saying Tobagonians needed to know why the report was “hidden.”

Scotland called for explanations regarding parts of the report, including why two districts’ names were changed when only one polling division was transferred and other areas with larger demographic shifts had no renaming. He queried inconsistent application of the naming methodology and “selective approach” for the two seats.

Scotland added that no other Tobago areas were given directional definition like “North” and “South.” He questioned why the name “Bacolet” was removed though the area remains geographically.

“In all the minister’s ‘consultations’ these points never arose? What were they discussing? Maybe if we were invited to these ‘consultations’ we could have raised these issues,” he added.