PDP political leader Watson Duke has confirmed his support for Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, leader of the Tobago People’s Party (TPP), ahead of the January 12 Tobago House of Assembly elections.
Speaking at a news conference at the PDP headquarters at Port Mall this morning, Duke acknowledged what he described as Augustine’s shortcomings but emphasised the importance of family and solidarity.
“Because at the end of the day, family is family,” Duke said. “As bad as Farley is, doesn’t answer your phone sometimes, tell you one thing and do the next thing sometimes, he’s still family. We have to stick together until we get it right. So I’ve said to him when he called me recently, I said, boy, look, I’m here. (0:42) Let me sleep on it.I slept on it. I rolled on it, I prayed on it. But I said, you cannot abandon family under no circumstances. So I’m here to tell the public today that Farley has my support.”
Duke said he was speaking on behalf of PDP Spartans and others in the audience. “Farley has our support. We will be going in the highways and the byways, the nooks and the crannies. We will be looking for the forgotten people, those who have been alienated, those who have been marginalised and sidelined and been made to lose their saltiness. I’m going to let them know ye are the salt of the earth. And you cannot lose your saltiness now. Speak up for yourself. Look out for us. Because from this day onward, we have a mission.”
He warned against returning the PNM to power in Tobago. “Having been out of office for the first four years, they are coming to tell us put Tobago first,” Duke said.
This announcement comes a short while ago, amid growing interest in the PDP and TPP’s positions ahead of the January 12 THA elections.
In September 2022, Duke resigned immediately from the post of Deputy Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly. At that time he has said he will sit on the opposite side of the THA, describing the current executive as a group of “spineless jellyfish”, “nauseating” and “imposters.”
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