An Extract from the Express Newspapers Monday September 9, 2002.

Panday: PNM misused $30m UNC left for Tobago

UNC leader Basdeo Panday has accused the Government of misusing $30 million left by his regime for the people of Tobago.

Speaking at the formal opening of a UNC constituency office in Tobago on Saturday, Panday said: “We allocated $30 million for the Tobago House of Assembly to advertise tourism. The PNM up to today say they can’t find it. Of course they can’t find the money. You see how much they paid for those newspaper and TV ads and so on? That is where it has gone.”

He described the two Tobago seats as “critical” and urged the population to “take back your country”.

The small gathering at the ceremony included Panday’s wife, Oma, UNC officials Wade Mark and Mervyn Assam, activist Arnim Smith and former Tobago West candidate Beverly Ramsey-Moore.

Panday said the opening of the office—located on Piggott Street, Scarborough, where the Tobago NAR used to have its headquarters—was not merely to fight the October 7 general election.

He said: “It’s a pity that this office is being opened in the heat of a general election. I want to stress to you that the purpose of this office is not merely to fight and win elections. It is not merely an election machine. It has always been my ambition to build a political party that is a social organisation, not a political machine.”

During talks between UNC officials and activists in Tobago it was agreed that the party should seek a meeting with Tobago NAR leader Hochoy Charles on a possible accommodation.