Tobago House of Assembly history

In 1886, the Secretary of State announced plans to unite the two islands of Trinidad and Tobago.

Although the voters of Tobago rejected the Peoples National Movement in the 1956 election, the party formed the Government and paid particular attention to Tobago.

The 1980 Act also enabled the THA to make by-laws for the proper management of facilities operated by it and provided for a Finance and General Purposes Committee and other Committees of the THA. A Tobago House of Assembly Fund was also established.

With the inadequacies of the 1996 Act and the failure of the Clarke draft Constitution to effectively address Tobago matters, private citizens on the island and the THA, mobilised and sought to ascertain the view of Tobagonians on constitutional reform, governance and other issues.

In April 2005 the THA adopted a resolution call on the government “to pursue as a matter of urgency legislative and/or constitution reform to accord to the people of Tobago democratic internal self-government inter alia”. The THA then appointed a Select Committee to study the matter.

There was attached to the Green Paper the Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2011.

During the THA elections of 2013, The Bill was laid in the House of Representatives on 7 January 2013, was abandoned and lapsed on 10 July 2013.

The first meeting of the Joint Team was held at the Magdalena Grand Beach Resort on 4 March 2015.

A briefing document entitled “Tobago’s Position on Its Right to Self Determination” was dispatched to me as the new Prime Minister in January 2016.