2 weeks ago
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Kelvon Morris - MINORITY Leader Kelvon Morris says the Tobago House of Assembly’s (THA’s) attempt to curb expenditure in fiscal 2026, despite claims of receiving its 'biggest' allocation suggests that the budget was both misleading and deceptive.
In the $59 billion fiscal package presented by Finance Minister Davendranath Tancoo on October 13, Tobago received an allocation of $2.96 billion, which the assembly said, was the highest in Tobago’s history, representing five per cent of the national budget.
In addition, the Government also allocated a further $763 million to be spent by various ministries on Tobago.
At the close of a two-day, post-budget retreat at the Mt Irvine Bay Hotel on October 29, Secretary of Finance, Trade and the Economy Petal-Ann Roberts told reporters that divisions across the THA were being urged to constrain their expenditures for fiscal 2026.
She said the strategy discussed was for divisions to limit expenditure to 2025 levels, adding they had identified spending caps for each division.
Roberts said the focus would be on six priority areas: tourism, agriculture, digital transformation, human capital development, investment in micro, small and medium enterprises and infrastructure. Other critical areas are health, education and community development.
In an interview with Newsday on October 31, Morris said, “While the Minister of Finance boasted of giving Tobago its biggest budgetary allocation in theory, in principle, Tobago has been short-changed.”
He said the development allocation had actually been reduced from $256 million in 2024/2025 to $201.5 million in the 2025/2026 fiscal year.
“Even more deceiving is that most of the so-called increase lies in areas such as overseas travel and personal expenditure, including salary adjustments arising from the Salaries Review Commission.”
Morris observed there was no allocation to fund the Cepep or Unemployment Relief Programme.
“This strongly suggests that it is only a matter of time before these two programmes are dismantled in Tobago, just as they have been in Trinidad.”
Regardless of the assurances being given, he said, the reality is that all THA policies remain subject to Section 75 of the Constitution and the authority of the cabinet.
Morris added whenever a THA policy or programme conflicted with a national one, the government’s directive took precedence.
“We saw this happen with the Reforestation Programme, and given that the Prime Minister has described Cepep and URP as modern-day slavery, one can only conclude that those programmes are now at risk in Tobago as well.”
With the THA election scheduled to take place within the next few months, Morris believes there may be a rush to settle outstanding gratuities, increments, overtime payments, debts to suppliers and contractors and to patch roads and fix bridges.
“But after the elections, Tobagonians will come to feel the full weight of what I call ‘Tancoo’s half-baked budget,’ a budget filled with political showmanship but empty of real substance for Tobago’s development.”
English (US) ·