 The speaker whereas is provided on the section 63.1 of the public finance management act cap 15.0 on the act that the minister financed me by an affirmative resolution of parliament borrowed from a bank or a financial institution for the capital of current expenditure of government and whereas it is further provided on the section 64 of the act that money borrowed by the government must be paid into and form part of the consolidated fund. And whereas the minister of finance considered it necessary to borrow an amount of US dollars, 6 million, the loan from the African export import bank to finance the construction of social infrastructure and other facilities damaged or destroyed by tropical storm breads under education we by rehabilitation climate link facility. And whereas the loan is repairable in 7 years commencing from the date of disbursement of the loan inclusive of a grace period of 2 years. And whereas the loan is repairable in equal semiannual instalments on the 40th day of June and 41st day of December of each year after the grace period. And whereas interest is repairable at the rate of 6% per annum, we resolve that parliament of arises the minister of finance to borrow the amount of 6 million US dollars from the African export import bank to finance the construction of social infrastructure and other facilities damaged or destroyed by tropical storm breads under an education climate link facility. And whereas the loan is repairable in 7 years commencing from the date of disbursement of the loan inclusive of a grace period of 2 years. And whereas the loan is repairable in equal semiannual instalments on the 40th day of June and 41st day of December of each year after the grace period. Interest is repairable at the rate of 6% per annum. Mr. Speaker, this motion is not simply a finance motion or financing mechanism Mr. Speaker. It's a ideological shift Mr. Speaker. And it also is a shift from a small island seeking, maintaining its old friends and seeking new ones. Mr. Speaker, this loan is from the African export import bank, African export bank. And you may recall Mr. Speaker, I came to this honourable house a few months ago and I asked the government, the honourable house, I asked the permission for me to sign on to membership of this bank Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, when I did that, I made a point that it was the beginning of a self-serve dialogue where as I repeat, we maintained our old friends but they look for new ones Mr. Speaker. And Senusha is one of the first countries to sign this agreement because Senusha was aware that in our external affairs posture we had to look to the south so we can get some increased support and help for our country Mr. Speaker. And Kyricon signed on and to agreement with the same bank for $1.5 billion for aid in loans and grants to the countries of Kyricon Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, very quietly Senusha went about his business with Mr. Speaker and I want to thank the officials of the Ministry of Finance Mr. Speaker, the Director of Finance and the staff of the Ministry of Finance Mr. Speaker for the expeditious manner in which they worked on this first thing for Mr. Speaker. So today Senusha, if not the first, is one of the first countries, if not the first but is one of the first countries Mr. Speaker to benefit from loan from our brothers in Africa Mr. Speaker. And we make no bones, we're not afraid to say Mr. Speaker is from our brothers in Africa Mr. Speaker because this is part of our heritage, it's part of our history Mr. Speaker and as we try to deny it and try to circumvent it and try to do all kinds of things Mr. Speaker our heritage, our history of all the peoples of the region started and part of that history Mr. Speaker comes from Africa and Africa has some of the world's fastest developing countries Mr. Speaker only what you hear about Africa from some sections of the press Mr. Speaker is bad news as all you hear is bad news, all you hear is news of wars etc. Africa has its problems Mr. Speaker, there are many good things happening in Africa and the African export import bank Mr. Speaker is one of the good things that happen in Africa Mr. Speaker and we are going to be increasing our work with the bank Mr. Speaker because the bank has a payment system that we are trying to see if we can get the budget the major finance are working on it so you can use that payment system Mr. Speaker to help us with some of the issues we have in international payments Mr. Speaker sometime ago we came to this old house Mr. Speaker and we asked for us to be able to do some repairs for hurricane breath Mr. Speaker and you may have heard that sometime ago the opposition was blaming me for the hot weather they blamed me for the heat, they blamed the labor party for the heat Mr. Speaker but we know that climate change is a real situation climate change is real Mr. Speaker and after hurricane breath or it was never hurricane it was a storm fortunately it did not become hurricane it was a storm Mr. Speaker there was damage to some of our schools and we had to come here to go into the contingency fund to borrow two million dollars Mr. Speaker to borrow two million dollars or to use two million dollars from the contingency fund because we wanted to follow the public finance management act we never quoted clauses that did not exist in the public finance management act the public finance management act is clear as to how you deal with the contingency fund it's very clear so we came to parliament and we may have to come to parliament again for a supplementary budget to deal with some of the issues that some of the expansion some of the issues in the economy that we do not cater for some things we have to do may have something in the youth economy we will come back, we will have the maturity and the honesty to come back in this honourable house and say that we may need a supplementary budget Mr. Speaker we are not going to make any excuses we are not going to look for any clauses that did not exist in the public finance management act we are not going that Mr. Speaker so this loan of US six million dollars is for rehabilitation of school infrastructure and other facilities damage or destroyed after tropical storm breath Mr. Speaker and it's under education rehabilitation climate linked facility from the African export bank Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker after the storm and from the stock taken by the mission education 21 schools were damaged 21 schools were damaged Mr. Speaker the damage included minor things like damage the roof coverings but some of major Mr. Speaker roof frame collapsed, ceiling damage water penetration broken windows and disruption electricity supplies Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker the school plant in Senusia a lot of it is old and a lot of it needs repair and maintenance Mr. Speaker and we admit that we admit it Mr. Speaker a lot of it maintains but that is Mr. Speaker for the money that is allocated to school plant repairs we try to ensure that we get value for money Mr. Speaker and if you have to compare Mr. Speaker what is happening to school repairs with the money that we spend and compared to whether value for money was received Mr. Speaker in money that is spent before the jury is still out and that is why we moved when we went government we tried to get synergies and we tried to get benefits from moving school repairs from the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Infrastructure where the core competency of the Ministry of Infrastructure is in repairs is in infrastructure is in buildings so we moved the unit from the Ministry of Education and allowed the Ministry of Education to deal in its core competencies that is education so we took the burden of school repairs from them and we move it to the Ministry of Infrastructure where there were all the experts ధర్ట్లూఔిత౅ alrededor .ఫికీంఎదిLab వరాదిరెకో international ఆనికార్మి కిగారఘల It's basically cash that is I think the $10,000 that we gave to each principal to pay for liquor things, to buy a rock, to buy liquor things, $10,000 which each principal accounted for. But to tell the public that he spent a million dollars in school repairs. It's not true, the estimates are clear to show what we spent. But you know they perpetuate these lies, a million dollars in school repairs. $10,000 each principal was given I think $10,000 for liquor experiences. So we always spent more than a million dollars in school repairs. We have spent more than a million dollars in school repairs. But what we are doing now Mr. Speaker is that we are dedicating $6 million for school repairs. $6 million for school repairs. $6 million for school repairs. And these schools Mr. Speaker, 16 schools, 16 out of the 21 schools that were damaged are going to be repaired. 16 other schools Mr. Speaker. And again Mr. Speaker, we do not build schools or we do not repair schools according to constituency. And the minister of education will be clear about Mr. Speaker. There are schools, I'll give an example. The Antipole Circle School Mr. Speaker. Some of my colleagues went to the Antipole School Mr. Speaker. There is a block in that school that is basically a hazard. But you know I am Mr. Speaker? Because it's perceived, it's perceived that if you repair the Antipole School, the part, oh no, you know when they don't even think these things out. Saint Lucia has no zoning. So it doesn't mean the children who go to that school are from castles east. They are from all over the country. Because Saint Lucia has no zoning, each Saint Lucia has zoning. The zoning school that is zoned is the Bishop Garcia School Mr. Speaker. And I want to announce today, today I am building a brand new kitchen in the Bishop Garcia School. A brand new kitchen. I don't want to applause, hold it to yourself. I am building a brand new kitchen Mr. Speaker. A brand new kitchen in the Bishop. That's a school that impacts my constituency. The Antipole School, people are from all over the country, all over the country. They refuse to fix it. And when they are going, and when they are doing, they are doing their house to house. Peer fixing the Antipole School. Peer fixing the Antipole School. Refusing it. But thankfully we are going to begin repairs on the Antipole School because of that facility Mr. Speaker. And again the Antipole School is going to benefit people either way. Mr. Speaker, we are going to repair, we are going to repair 60 other 21 schools Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, I want to note, I want to note that the interest rate on that loan is 6% or so. And Mr. Speaker, that is, and if you listened to me in my budget presentation, I made the point of the rising interest rates globally. You understand? Some of us here will want to pretend that the interest rates only rise for solution because they are part of government. Interest rates are rising globally Mr. Speaker. And if you look at the estimates, and if you look at my budget speech, I made the point that the allocation for interest rates has to increase. The exact figures because of the increase in global interest rates Mr. Speaker. So this loan Mr. Speaker, the interest rate is at 6% over 7 years for 2-year grace period. But what's important is that that loan was negotiated in less than 3 months Mr. Speaker because of the skill, because of the transparency and because the accountability of the staff of the Ministry of Finance Mr. Speaker. In less than 3 months that loan was negotiated. My officials and Mr. Finance went up there because they did not go up there with a minister telling them to say this, say that, give this one the contract. Make sure they are getting contract. Make sure you look for that consultant. Make sure that never happens. And the term will come when I am going to speak about consultancy fees. Because there has been a myth about consultancy fees Mr. Speaker. But you know these things are going to be dealt with Mr. Speaker. Let me tell you something Mr. Speaker. Do you know that in the World Bank project there is a particular line for consultancy fees. Because the World Bank has said that these consultancy fees, the consultants have to be tender. The consultants have to be tender and the consultants are chosen by a tendering process. Do you know? The World Bank says that if you do not want this fees tender, you must pay it from your own money. Pay your money, do what you want, your money, do what they want to pay. Just like the Kuwaiti roads. We bring the roads and you must tender it. The government said that they will pay the consultancy fees themselves just to choose their own consultants. And I will not tell you because it's not my style. I do not come in here and mention private citizens name. I don't do it. I don't deal with politicians. No one can ever accuse me in my public life or ever mention in any private citizens name on any platform. I don't get involved in that. You never have me attacked police or public servants or police. You never have me say that the commissioner police was not going to do it. She is not fit to say that. We don't get involved in that. You never have me say that. And I want you to fact check me. You never called a public servant's name in my political career. I don't get involved in that. I deal with politicians. Politicians. That's what I deal with. And politicians are going to deal with me. You understand? So, they wanted, what they said is that they remove consultancy from the tender process and they choose the consultants themselves. Instead of allowing the tender to give somebody else a fair chance. I talk about consultancy fees. Compare health and security levy with consultancy fees. That's where you go in. But the record will show what consultants were paid. How much they were paid. And what, who choose the consultants with the speaker. But that's for another show. That's another show. That's another show. Because all these things, we are banding around with the speaker. All these things, we are banding around with the speaker. All these things will come to light. They will come to light. So, Mr. Speaker, the loan, as I said, is at six percent. But what's important, Mr. Speaker, is the six million dollar loan will trigger off the possibility of grand funding of two million dollars US from the global partnership for education, GPE, we should otherwise have not access if we didn't get that loan, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, with the grant, if we get a grant of US two million dollars, Mr. Speaker, the grant will increase the facility, Mr. Speaker. So, we hope increase the facility to eight million dollars, Mr. Speaker. So, we hope that we can get that grant, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the two million dollars will also increase the country's debt portfolio. But we believe that once we are borrowing to improve the quality of life of the people, that borrowing is necessary. We will always borrow when we have to to improve the quality of life of the people's solution, Mr. Speaker. So, this six million dollars for the rehabilitation of schools, Mr. Speaker, is a welfare project. It's welfare because our children will get educated in better surroundings, Mr. Speaker. I'm talking about education, Mr. Speaker. The Cabinet working with and the Minister of Education will expand the Cabinet, Mr. Speaker. We have taken a position that there should be one university graduate or one higher education trade person in every household, Mr. Speaker. And the Cabinet, with the help of the Cayman Development Bank, we've just approved a three million dollar facility, Mr. Speaker, to work to be used as a guarantee for people who don't have the income or can't afford to send their children for higher education. So, they do not have the assets. They don't have the security to send their children for higher education because we do not believe that poverty should stop you from being educated. We also think that because you can't afford to go to school abroad, Mr. Speaker, because you can't afford to go to school abroad, that you should not be educated. So, if that facility of three million dollars is going to the Minister will expand, we will be used to help people who cannot afford, who don't have the security, who don't have the name to be able to go to school abroad. And help them to go to school to get educated, Mr. Speaker. So, very soon, we will come to this honourable house, to the honourable house to support the government in this three million dollar facility, Mr. Speaker. That is what you call doing things for the less fortunate people, educating them, exposing them to higher education, Mr. Speaker. That's what it is. And this week, I think Thursday, the Minister will expand, we are going to be launching the digital, the digital content for our education system, Mr. Speaker, prepared by local people, right, Minister? Local people, Mr. Speaker, nobody from local people and we are going to be using that content for our students in schools in this country. We are very proud of the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Education for that good work. So, Mr. Speaker, our record on education is clear. You can see what you've done. You can trace our progress as far as education is concerned. That is what we are doing for poor people. That's what we are doing for them. We are helping them because each one of us, each one of us, Mr. Speaker, we benefited from higher education. We benefited and we want our children to be better than us. And we want the children of all people in the country to be exposed to higher education, Mr. Speaker. So, this is what the government is doing. Mr. Speaker, I ask members to support this motion, this resolution and I look forward to, I think, Mr. Education's work is happening and the view for this school is finished. We know, Mr. Speaker, the members of the view for this school are very concerned about the school. We are doing some work in there. 90% compete, Mr. Speaker. We hope to be competed before the end of the year. And the other schools, I think there is a school in Monrush, in Monrush, I show that, right? Right. A school in show that we are going to be preparing, a school in show in Monrush, Mr. Speaker and several schools in the country. So, I urge members to support this resolution. I thank you, Mr. Speaker.