PROGRESSIVE Democratic Patriots (PDP) political leader Watson Duke says he regrets not becoming Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly (THA).

Had he been elected to the position, he said, Tobago would not have been grappling with eight murders for 2024.

At a news conference on May 9 at the PDP’s head office in Scarborough, Duke lamented the shooting death of Nikesha Sandy at Jaegars Hall Trace, Plymouth, and extended condolences to her family and friends.

Saying Tobago’s worsening crime situation, particularly murders, required swift and decisive action, Duke called on Chief Secretary Farley Augustine to create the position of Secretary of Homeland Security in the THA.

“Let the House of Assembly pass that. Once the House of Assembly passes that, then it is for Tobago,” he said, adding that murders cannot continue unabated.

Duke said, “Sometimes, I regret that I did not take up the Chief Secretary job. I simply regret sometimes because had I been there, none of this would have ever happened. I would have taken the bull by its horns and I would have ensured that there is not one more murder past eight. It is too much. And three females being murdered. I would have gotten to the bottom of this, to the end of this and I would have acted decisively.”

He added he was aggrieved that murders were being committed in broad daylight and that guns were being used.

At present, Duke said, the THA does not have a division for security nor does it have one for legal issues.

“Therefore, I am calling upon the Chief Secretary now, with immediate effect to bring to the House of Assembly an emergency meeting where we must seek to create a division within the THA called Secretary for Homeland Security in Tobago. That must be done within one week.”

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