Watson Duke has responded to the resignation of Farley Augustine and his team from the Progressive Democratic Patriots, saying he believes the right thing to do now is to have fresh elections called on the island, no later than January 2023.

On Monday, in an unprecedented turn of events, it was confirmed that the Tobago House of Assembly is being run by members not affiliated to any political party, as Chief Secretary Farley Augustine, Deputy Chief Secretary Dr. Faith Yisrael and all other THA Secretaries have all resigned from the Progressive Democratic Patriots, with immediate effect.

The latest development continues on from a spat between Augustine and PDP leader Watson Duke which erupted in September.

In a statement, Chief Secretary Augustine assured Tobagonians the resignations will not impact their role within the THA.

In response, Duke- who now stands alone as political leader of the PDP, said Augustine had failed the people.

“This cowardly act of abandoning the PDP mandate and Tobagonians for 30 pieces of silver must be treated with scorn and contempt by us – the right-thinking people of Tobago,” he said.

Duke further thanked “Farley and friends for doing the honourable thing by resigning from the PDP and giving all of Tobago a fresh chance to vote for change…”