By KARL E CUPID Tobago Bureau Saturday, September 4 2010

PRIME Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar has said the People’s Partnership Government has no intention of usurping the powers and functions of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA). Speaking Thursday evening at the Coco Reef Resort following an earlier meeting with THA Chief Secretary Orville London, at his Calder Hall office, Persad-Bissessar also assured there would be no “fracturing” of the constitutional arrangements with respect to the relationship between Tobago and Trinidad.

London had raised the issue of an ongoing rift between the Ministry of Tobago Development and the Assembly over their respective responsibilities. “I gave him (London) the assurance that we will act according to law, so there will be no fracturing of the constitutional arrangements as they are and therefore the functions that are by law those vested in the THA, we will honour that law and will abide by the rule of law as always,” the Prime Minister assured Newsday.

“We have no intention of usurping the legal functions of the THA, none whatsoever! But at the same time we are the Government and we would do all we can for the benefit of the people of Tobago, but where the law has given a role, or a function to the THA, I have no intention of taking those away.” She said it would be up to the people of Tobago to decide if they wanted Central Government to be in charge. It would also require a call for constitutional changes, she added. The Prime Minister assured that was not on the cards at present.