Tobago House of Assembly (THA) councillor Petal Daniel-Benoit is calling on the Farley Augustine-led assembly to settle down and do their jobs.

Daniel-Benoit spoke on the current lack of a chief administrator at the assembly, at Wednesay’s news conference hosted by the office of the Minority Leader in Scarborough. The assembly has been without a chief administrator since May 17, when Ethlyn John retired.

The councillor said according to the THA Act, a chief administrator shall be assigned who shall be a public officer for the purposes of Section 1:21 of the Constitution. She said with no chief administrator for the past month, there are questions as to the legal and other implications of this absence.

“The minority and the public would like to know who is approving, who is delegating authority, who is making the decisions that should be under the pen of the chief administrator of the THA at this time.”

She said it was not the first time in the history of the assembly there had been a transition of administrators, or even the first time under the current administration.

“We are asking:with this current appointment or transition to a new chief administrator, why is there a problem? What is the issue why there was not a smooth transition from one chief administrator to the other? "And it appears as if everything this administration does is mired with confusion and bacchanal. So why was this transition mired with the normal bacchanal and confusion as presents itself with what happens under this administration?”

She said the actions of the administration continue to erode the public trust and confidence.

The people of Tobago voted overwhelmingly, 14-1, in the last THA elections, she said, on a promise of good governance, greater accountability and transparency.

“We are yet to see that on this island.

"We are therefore putting it to this administration that if you cannot do the job that the people elected you to do, we are asking you to step aside and give the people another opportunity to choose those who can do the job.

"Do the right thing. It is time to stop the politicking, it is time to stop trying to shape the narrative and it is time to settle down to governing. You are entrusted with that responsibility, and we are asking you to govern, govern in the best interest of all of Tobago.”

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