POLITICS-TRINIDAD & TOBAGO: Tobagonians Up in Arms About Poor Ferry Service

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Wesley Gibbings

PORT OF SPAIN, Sep 13 2000 (IPS) - Tobagonians are keeping their fingers crossed that the lone ferry servicing the Tobago-Trinidad route does not break down again and, in the process, raise one of the country’s more contentious political issues.

Head of the Tobago arm of the opposition People’s National Movement (PNM), Orville London, has told IPS that whether or not the boat breaks down, like it did last month, the ferry service will feature prominently in the campaign for upcoming national elections.

Prime Minister Basdeo Panday threatened last month that “heads will roll” at the Port Authority following a breakdown in the service that left scores of passengers and millions of dollars in goods stranded on either side of the sea channel separating Trinidad from its sister isle Tobago.

So far, there have been no casualties at the Port Authority and Works Minister Sadiq Baksh, who was also heavily criticised by the Prime Minister, has since been named a candidate for the ruling United National Congress (UNC) for general elections due within the next five months.

“They have promised a boat by the end of October,” London said. “Well, we will have to wait and see.”

Tobago West Member of Parliament (MP), Pamela Nicholson, who defected from the National Alliance for Reconstruction (NAR) two years ago over problems with the UNC which dominates the two-party coalition government, has tried unsuccessfully to raise the issue in parliament as a matter of “urgent, national importance.”

House Speaker, Hector McLean, promptly and inexplicably, dismissed Nicholson’s parliamentary motion to have the issue debated two weeks ago.

But the matter is being discussed freely on the streets of Tobago’s capital, Scarborough, which has been harder hit than Port of Spain by problems associated with the ferry service.

Almost everything from hardware to food in Tobago is imported from Trinidad which lies 32 km south-west of the tiny island. During the last shutdown in the service, Tobago businesses complained of astronomical losses associated with the abandoning of tonnes of cargo on the Port of Spain docks.

In the midst of the long annual school vacation, the two main airlines operating the air link between the islands could hardly cope with the additional passengers and cargo loads. One airline close to doubled its scheduled flights to and from Tobago, still almost every flight was fully booked.

“We have been talking about the ferry, we have submitted proposals, but it doesn’t mean anything until Trinidadians are stranded in Tobago,” said the Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA), Hochoy Charles.

Charles has been at the forefront of a campaign to have responsibility for the ferry service passed to the THA. But it is not a proposal that has been widely supported – even in Tobago.

One hotelier told IPS the sea ferry is “not just a Tobago issue, it is a Trinidad and Tobago issue.”

He argued that the central government should take full responsibility for the service even to the extent of subsidising it.

The ferry service currently takes a heavy toll on the finances of the Port Authority and officials of the state-run agency have reportedly submitted fresh proposals that involve, among other things, its privatisation.

“Why isn’t the government subsidising the ferry project?” Nicholson asked. “Since 1999, the Panorama (the vessel) has been breaking down … Obviously, the government does not see the ferry as a vital link to Tobago,” she said.

Tobago Affairs Minister, Morgan Job, however, dismissed such claims. At a recent press conference, he publicly apologised on behalf of the government for failing to follow through on a promise to pursue the purchase or lease of an additional vessel. Job blamed the high level of bureaucracy for the delay in securing another ferry.

Even so, Finance Minister Brian Kuei Tung promised in his annual budget presentation two weeks ago, that an additional vessel would be forthcoming by the end of October.

The Minister noted, however, that even that deadline might be “iffy”. He told one reporter that while he had no problem finding the money for the vessel, “you don’t get boats of that kind sitting down waiting for Trinidad and Tobago to come and say ‘I want a boat to lease’ … it’s not like renting a car.”

Tobago community activist, Poku Ware, said it was evident that the UNC now wished to play “the boat card” in the run-up to the election.

“If we are a twin-island republic, it is only human that proper communication between the two islands be treated as a matter of top priority and as an essential service,” he said.

A plan to establish a new port in the village of Toco at the north- eastern tip of Trinidad was recently killed by environmentalists and the Toco community following claims that the port was instead designed more for storage and refuelling work associated with the oil industry.

It would have halved the current five-hour ferry ride journey from Port of Spain to Scarborough.

Now, the space between the national and Tobago capitals seems that more distant as people on both sides of the channel sit and wait for the long overdue boat.