Jack, Kamla get enthusiastic welcome in Warner's Moriah hometown

Jack Warner in Tobago: "Moriah, I am back home!"

Jack Warner and his People's Partnership colleagues went to Warner's hometown of Moriah in Tobago on Thursday to an enthusiastic welcome by supporters of the Tobago Organisation of the People (TOP).

He arrived while the TOP meeting was in progress and when it was his turn to speak he acknowledged the crowd. "This is a fantastic crowd, the biggest I’ve seen in Tobago,” he said. 

"Moriah, I’m back home. That shop was my Uncle Leonard shop,” he decalred as he pointed to a nearby building. Warner's father was from Tobago and his mother from Trinidad. He has often said he is a product of the union of Trinidad and Tobago.

Equality for Tobago is one of the messages he and his colleagues have been sending to voters in Tobago. However he reminded his audience that the only way they can see that equality is when they vote for TOP on Monday.

He said if they do their part then Ashworth Jack would be sworn in on January 24 as the new Chief Secretary of the Tobago House of Assembly.

“Go in every nook and cranny," he urged them, adding that it is unproductive to count "egg in fowl bumsee.” 

When the Prime Minister arrived at the meeting she too received a warm Tobago welcome as women danced with her to the platform to the tune She’s Royal. 

Warner seized the moment to show that change is coming to Tobago. “Where Orville? Let him come and see for himself...There’s a new dawn in Tobago, a new era has come.”

Warner attacked the THA Chief Secretary. "If ever there was a disaster on the island, Orville is it...Orville, people tell me you build a house in Sou Sou Lands and renting it to a Chinee. They tell me you have a house in Calder Hall and one in Delpeche.

"Orville, they tell me you have shares in a gas station. Since 2008, the THA has given no financial statement to the Auditor General,” Warner said.

London has previously challenged Warner to provide proof of his allegations but the national security minister and chairman of the United National Congress (UNC) has not done so.

Warner also had another disturbing statement. He said he has been advised there are three camps with Jamaat al Muslimeen members in Tobago. TOP leader Ashworth Jack has said 20 thugs from a religious sect have been driving around Tobago and intimidating potential voters. 

When Persad-Bissessar addressed the crowd she made reference to the now infamous racist statement by a PNM candidate that if the PNM loses the election to TOP Indians would invade the island.

She spoke about a comment from her sports minister. “Anil (Roberts) said some people don’t want a Calcutta ship in Tobago. But he said his mother is from Calcutta and his father is from Tobago,” she delcared.

She also predicted that the TOP would win the election on Monday and Jack would be sworn in as THA Chief Secretary on January 24.

She reminded her audience that 24 is special for her. In 2010, she won the leadership of her party on January 24, was made Leader of the Opposition on February 24 and won a landslide victory over the PNM on May 24.

“God works in mysterious ways," she said. On January 24, Jack will be sworn in as chief secretary,” she said.