Tobago House of Assembly Chief Secretary Orville London is again calling for the firing of Minister of Tobago Development and Tobago West MP Dr Delmon Baker over a statement he made in a weekly paper recently. In an article in the Mirror on February 11, Baker was quoted as saying: “Persons are more likely to be shot dead in Tobago than in Trinidad.” London had previously called for an apology and retraction of the statement from Baker who has refused.
Speaking at a news conference at the Administrative Complex, Calder Hall, yesterday, London called on Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar to revoke immediately Baker’s appointment. “I want to make a public call on behalf of the people of Tobago to the Prime Minister to revoke the appointment of Dr Delmon Baker as Minister of Tobago Development and for the people of Tobago West and the rest of Tobago to reject him as their representative.
“In fact, Dr Baker has demonstrated that he is neither interested in Tobago nor its development,” London said. He added statistics from the Police Service contradicted Baker’s statement, noting the Tobago Division was awarded for outstanding performance in the reduction of serious crime in 2014. He said the confirmation of the figures came from former national security minister Gary Griffith, acting Commissioner of Police Stephen Williams and permanent secretary in the Ministry of National Security Carl Francis in recent months.
London said Tobago had already started feeling the pinch from the negative effects on potential visitors who may have read Baker’s statement. He said Baker responded to his request to retract his statement by returning correspondence he sent to him in an envelope to the Office of the Chief Secretary. London said he had not written to the PM on the matter but hoped a response would be received following the public request. On Wednesday, Baker defended the statement and promised to make further comments to support what he said.