Chief Secretary of Tobago

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.

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.

Below is a list of office-holders: [4][5][6]

NAR (3)   PNM (3)   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
			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
			274 days

There are four living former Chief Secretaries and two living former acting 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

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