By MARISSA WILLIAMS Tobago Bureau Wednesday, March 19 2008

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Dr Morgan Job...

THE Government and the Tobago House of Assembly (THA) came in for some serious tongue lashing by the National Liberation Movement for the major role the two played in the oppression of Tobagonians.

The claims were made during the group’s freedom rally at Scarborough Market on Sunday evening by several “freedom fighters” including Dr Morgan Job, Winford James and Deborah Moore-Miggins.

THA Chief Secretary Orville London was accused of overlooking the actual needs of Tobagonians in a bid “to look good for Manning” who was described as being insensitive towards Tobagonians.

“You know what is happening in Tobago has been happening for a while. Every year with every budget, we get funds from a government that calls itself central and then they decide how we manage it in Tobago,” James said.

And, he added, when we manage it, we manage it in a kind of way that we maintain the status quo. The management and maintenance of that status quo that angers me is that we wait for others to tell us what to do.

The small but participative crowd was stirred as speaker after speaker raised burning issues such as land taxes, the lack of tertiary education institutions and job opportunities. They were urged to take control of what was rightfully theirs, make their own laws, push for Constitutional Reform and seek independence from Trinidad.

“The people in Tobago have to understand history, they have to understand themselves and the only way that you can, trust me, is if you emancipate yourself from the mental slavery that shattered and scattered your mind with stupidity that comes out of the mouth of Trinidad,” Dr Job told the audience as he gave a lesson on Tobago’s history.

However, even as the group lit into the ills of the PNM administration, officials denied that the movement was a budding political party set to contest the 2008 THA elections. Officials insisted that it was not politically motivated and included persons of various political persuasions with “Tobago’s best interest at heart.”