Chief Secretary of Tobago

The Chief Secretary of Tobago is the leader of the Tobagonian Government.[2] The Chief Secretary chairs the Tobagonian Cabinet and is primarily responsible for the formulation, development and presentation of Tobagonian Government policy. Additional functions of the Chief Secretary include promoting and representing Tobago in an official capacity, at home and abroad, and responsibility for constitutional affairs, as they relate to devolution and the Tobagonian Government.

Chief Secretary of Tobago
Coat of Arms
Incumbent The Honorable Ancil Dennis AM since 6 May 2020 (2020-05-06)
Style	Chief Secretary (informal) The Honourable (formal)
Status	Head of Government
Abbreviation	CS
Member of	Tobago House of Assembly Cabinet
Reports to	Tobago House of Assembly
Residence	Office of the Chief Secretary
Seat	Scarborough, Tobago
Nominator	Tobago House of Assembly
Appointer	President of Trinidad and Tobago
Term length	The Chief Secretary is nominated by the Assembly following quadrennial elections to the Assembly or resignation of the previous Chief Secretary
Formation	4 December 1980 (1980-12-04)
First holder	ANR Robinson AM
Salary	TT$492,360 per annum[1]
Website	www.tha.gov.tt/divisions/office-of-the-chief-secretary/

The Chief Secretary is a Member of the Assembly, and is nominated by the Tobago House of Assembly before bring officially appointed by the President. Members of the Tobagonian Cabinet as well as councilors of the Tobagonian Government are appointed by the Chief Secretary. As head of the Tobagonian Government, the Chief Secretary is directly accountable to the Tobago House of Assembly for their actions and the actions of the Tobagonian Government.

The official office of the Chief Secretary is in Calder Hall Road, Scarborough, Tobago as well as the Tobago House of Assembly on Jermingham Street.

The current Chief Secretary of Tobago is Ancil Dennis of the People's National Movement, in office since May 6, 2020.

Election and term

The Chief Secretary is almost always the leader of the largest party, or the leader of the senior partner in any majority coalition. There is no term of office for a Chief Secretary. In practice, they hold office as long as they retain the confidence of the chamber; indeed, they are required to either resign or seek a parliamentary dissolution (and with it, new elections) if his or her government "no longer enjoys the confidence of the Parliament." Whenever the office of Chief Secretary falls vacant, the President is responsible for appointing the new incumbent; the appointment is formalised at a meeting between the President and the Chief Secretary designate.

If an incumbent Chief Secretary is defeated in a general election, they do not immediately vacate office. The Chief Secretary only leaves office when the Tobago House of Assembly nominates a successor individual.

The period in office of a Chief Secretary is not linked to the term of members of the Tobago House of Assembly. A maximum four-year term is set for each session of Parliament.

Parliament can be dissolved and an extraordinary general election held, before the expiration of the four-year term.

The Chief Secretary, once appointed continues in office as the head of the devolved Tobago House of Assembly until either he or she resigns, is dismissed or dies in office. Resignation can be triggered off by the passage of a Motion of No Confidence in the Chief Secretary or the Tobagonian Government or by rejecting a Motion of Confidence in the Tobago House of Assembly. In those situations, the Chief Secretary must tender their resignation and the resignation of their government to the president. In such circumstances, the Presiding Officer appoints an interim Chief Secretary, until the Tobago House of Assembly determines on a new nominee to be presented to the President for formal appointment.

Nomination and appointment

Candidates for the position of Chief Secretary are nominated by the members of the Tobago House of Assembly from among its assembly members at the beginning of each term. The members elect the nominee for the Chief Secretary by majority vote. If no one is elected by a majority of votes cast with the first set of nominations, the process continues until a majority decide to cast their vote for one candidate. This process does not require an absolute majority of the Assembly (currently 7 out of 12 members).

Once this process has occurred the Presiding Officer shall formally send a letter to the incumbent President who must then appoint that nominee to the position of Chief Secretary.

List of Chief Secretaries of Tobago

Below is a list of office-holders: [3][4][5]

PNM (4)      NAR (4)      DAC (1)
No.	Portrait	Title Chief Secretary (Birth–Death) Office	Term of office & mandate Duration in years and days			Party	Government	Deputy
1		A. N. R. Robinson (1926–2014) AM for Roxborough/Delaford	4 December 1980	16 December 1986	1980	Democratic Action Congress	Robinson I	1	Jefferson Davidson (DAC) 1980-1986 (NAR) 1986
					1984		Robinson II
					—	National Alliance for Reconstruction	Robinson III
			6 years, 12 days
2		Jefferson Davidson (c.1938–) AM for Belle Garden/Goodwood	16 December 1986	31 October 1989	—	National Alliance for Reconstruction	Davidson I	2	Hochoy Charles (NAR)
					1988		Davidson II	3	Benedict Armstrong (NAR)
			3 years, 15 days^[†]
3		Lennox Denoon (1930–2007) AM for Scarborough/Signal Hill	1 November 1989	December 1996	1992	National Alliance for Reconstruction	Denoon
4		Hochoy Charles (–) AM for Moriah/Parlatuvier	December 1996	31 January 2001	1996	National Alliance for Reconstruction	Charles	4	Cecil Caruth (NAR)
5		Orville London (1945–) AM for Scarborough/Calder Hall	1 February 2001	26 January 2017	2001	People's National Movement	London I	5	Cynthia Alfred (PNM)
					2005		London II
					2009		London III	6	Hilton Sandy (PNM)
					2013		London IV	7	Tracy Davidson-Celestine (PNM)
			15 years, 360 days
6		Kelvin Charles (1957–) AM for Black Rock/Whim/Spring Garden	26 January 2017	30 April 2020	2017	People's National Movement	Charles	8	Joel Jack (PNM)
			3 years, 95 days
—		Joel Jack (acting)	30 April 2020	6 May 2020	—	People's National Movement
			6 days
7		Ancil Dennis (1987–) AM for Buccoo/Mount Pleasant	6 May 2020	Incumbent	—	People's National Movement	Dennis
			98 days

Timeline of Chief Secretaries

Previous nominating elections

Party key		PNM

Chief Secretary nominative elections
Parliamentary term	Date	Candidates	Votes received
Tenth Assembly	6 May 2020	Ancil Dennis	Nominated by	Sheldon Cunningham
			Seconded by	Hayden Spencer

Living former Chief Secretaries

There are two living former Tobago Chief Secretaries:

Name		Term of Office	Office	Date of birth
	Jefferson Davidson	1986–1989	Chairperson of Tobago	c. 1938
	Hochoy Charles	2013–2018	Chief Secretary of Tobago
	Orville London	1996-2001	Chief Secretary of Tobago	November 1945
	Kelvin Charles	2017-2020	Chief Secretary of Tobago	(1957-11-04) 4 November 1957
	Joel Jack (acting)	2020	Chief Secretary of Tobago

See also

• Tobago House of Assembly
• List of Presiding Officers of the Tobago House of Assembly

References

1. "DRAFT ESTIMATES OF THE REVENUE AND EXPENDITURE 2019" (PDF). Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. Retrieved 7 January 2020.
2. "About The Assembly". March 24, 2015.
3. (PDF) https://www.tha.gov.tt/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/update-issue-2.pdf. Retrieved 13 June 2020. Missing or empty |title= (help)
4. Pemberton, Rita; McCollin, Debbie; Matthews, Gelien; Toussaint, Michael. Historical dictionary of Trinidad and Tobago (Newition ed.). ISBN 978-1-5381-1146-8. Retrieved 13 June 2020.
5. "Trinidad and Tobago". www.worldstatesmen.org. Retrieved 12 June 2020.