 Yes, thank you Mr. Speaker, and I rise in response to some questions that were posed yesterday, and these questions were in keeping with the department under my watch. Mr. Speaker, the door was open, and I have no choice but to walk in, and the leader of the opposition yesterday when he made reference to the estimates of revenue and expenditure 2023-2024, cited page 82, had 22, which is under the public service and gender affairs, and he made reference to the section which speaks to fully implement the digital government and services platform DigiGolf by December 2022. Fully implement the shared services platform by December 2022. Unprocure ICT equipment for schools and containerize mobile data for center Caribbean digital transformation projects by September 2022. Mr. Speaker, you will be fully aware that the member opposites was claiming that nothing was done in this area. There was no report, and Mr. Speaker, I need to put it on record that when the Honorable Prime Minister assigned me the responsibility for the public service, home affairs, labor and gender affairs, and when I walked into the department of public service, I asked the members of the department who was the previous minister, and they told me the previous minister was the minister for finance. Mr. Speaker, the office in that ministry was occupied by minister of equity. Yet, it is in the public service. Mr. Speaker, it is an indication that the minister's responsibility for the public service was disconnected with what was happening in that department. And that is the challenge that I have on my hand, Mr. Speaker. And I can tell you, Mr. Speaker, that the DigiGolf project will cost this government 12.6 million US dollars. And it cannot be a project that nothing happened on it. Mr. Speaker, in the budget, the estimates, the Honorable Prime Minister has allocated 4.4 million dollars for implementation. And when we speak of what has happened, where is the report, this government came in 2021, December 2022, September 2022, we have a full report and this estimate could not have captured that report, but a lot of work has been done in that area, Mr. Speaker. The division of public sector modernization budget notes for 2023. The DigiGolf component of that ministry is that component and the other components we spoke about will be what will transform government's operation, not just in the public service, but in all government's department. And this is a huge investment on the part of this government. Mr. Speaker, when we speak of procurement of equipment for schools, last year the department of the public service handed over to the Ministry of Education 2,200 laptops to distribute to students. That's from this program. We distributed 2,200 tablets that was given to the Ministry of Education that came from this project, Mr. Speaker. And the Prime Minister has allocated 3 million dollars for operating the project expenses. And you will notice that there is a reduction with the GI NET program and the Caribbean Digital Transformation Project because these projects are actually wrapping up in the upcoming financial year. Mr. Speaker, the ICT Evolution Project, an amount of 6 million dollars is provided to honor the contractual payment to Crimson Logics for implementation phase of the project. A lot of money is allocated and if the member on the other side had read the estimates and do not come here and call dictation, page whatever, ask in a question, page whatever. When I was in school that's what we do to the students. You call dictation for them and they take notes and yesterday we had a dictation lesson from the leader of the opposition. It means he did not study the document. He did not look at what the estimates of revenue and expenditure dealt with. And you think you will come here and ask questions and say we did nothing when government has invested millions of dollars to transform the public service, government's operation and to make things better and to bring St. Lucia to the level of regional and international standards. Mr. Speaker, if we sit here and we do not go anyway, people outside there will believe it was the last administration that still managed in the country. We have to go out there and let people see the new faces, the new ideas and the new thinking of this government. And when we go out there, you hear the reports when our ministers give statement at cabinet and when they represent Mr. Speaker, you can see there is a breath of fresh air. And people at the regional and international level asking where were we because what they saw before is nothing compared to what they are seeing now. They are seeing a change, a transformation in terms of representation Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the point was raised on Orange Grove Plaza. I hope the leader of the opposition understood what he said because that falls on the facilities management in my ministry. I hope he understood what he said and the prime minister will deal with him accordingly. I will leave that for the prime minister to handle. I am not going there. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition made a reference on page 84. He asked questions on what is happening on page 84. He had 22. That again is under the department of the public service and gender affairs. Mr. Speaker, there were a few areas in that section and the leader of the opposition was asking answers to this. To develop standard operating procedures for the development of public service by March 31, 2022 to ensure consistency in the delivery service. To develop an orientation manual for the department of the public service by December 21, 2021. That is just about a few months after we got into office. To include new entrants to the shared commitments of the department. To develop a framework for teleworking by March 31, 2022 to determine the requirements for teleworking in St. Lucia public service. Not public service management bill. Mr. Speaker, there is a public service management bill that was prepared by 2030. This year it will be ten years. That bill has been out there. The last administration did nothing. They sat on it for the last five years and they were even trying to get an additional year before the election was called. So it would have been six years. What was done about this bill? This is the bill that we need. We need to look at the laws. We need to look at the regulations that will govern the public service. And the last time this bill was revised is almost thirty years, Mr. Speaker. We have the staff orders and that is why a lot of things have been outdated, Mr. Speaker, and we need to bring it in line. That bill was sent to the AG chambers. They did the legal drafting, reconfigured it and now it is back into the public service. And right now as I speak here today, Mr. Speaker, the heads of department at the public service, they are gathered at the training center in Union. And that is the third session going through that bill, word by word, so that it reflects. They are comparing what because that thing that was developed ten years ago, some of it is already outdated and therefore we need to review it. So they are comparing that with what is in the standing orders in the staff orders so that we can bring it in line. Copies of that bill, Mr. Speaker, has been distributed to all cabinet colleagues so that they can have a look at it and we'll find some time to study it again to ensure that what is in that bill. And we also have the regulations that go with the bill. These are the regulations we need so that we can look at reforming and modernizing the public service. And the public out there have been complaining over and over and we know this government has made a commitment and the prime minister will speak to that because it comes with a lot of policy, it comes with finances for us to revisit the public service and make it an efficient and effective instrument to solve dissolution people. Mr. Speaker, we are talking about modernizing the public service. Yes, we are looking at technology, but technology is not all. We have to look at the issue of benchmark qualification when the public service commission has to appoint persons. The teaching service commission has to appoint persons. When they look at what are the requirements for a particular position, these things are long outdated. They are talking about GCE, so long we have CXC. So we need to go back to the drawing board and bring these things up to speed so that we attract what is in keeping with our times. And Mr. Speaker, we have to look at how do we restructure the public service, how do we restructure government's operation, communication, implementation of government's programs. All these things are on slow motion. How do we revisit the public service? How do we reform the public service so that we have legislation that is in keeping with the nutrient, with the times? And when we complete this exercise, Mr. Speaker, we want St. Lucia to be an envy for the rest of the region so that we have the most modernized public service. We have to reform. We have to bring it up to speed. And Mr. Speaker, you would have heard me in this house when the governor for the central bank presented a report to St. Lucia. And when we look at where we run in a number of areas, St. Lucia had fallen flat. This research wasn't done by this government. It was done by an international regional agency. So it is very fair. It is objective and therefore we just have to pack up, buckle our shoes and move up and let us take St. Lucia to the level that St. Lucia used to be and even higher. That is our objective. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition went further and he spoke about border control agency. And he said how I spoke about border control agency and he didn't see anything in the budget. Mr. Speaker, had the gentleman read the estimates of revenue and expenditure, he would have seen what the Honorable Prime Minister has done and what he plans to do in that area. Under the Department of Home Affairs, the border control management system that was launched about eight months ago. And that management system gives you access to every point of entry who enters the country and who lives the country. We did not have that before. And at one point you can see everything that's happening. That is in motion. And the Prime Minister allocated in the budget $1,045,319 we have to spend annually. That is required for license payment to assist the immigration department in monitoring of persons who travel in and out of the country. That is in the budget. There is an allocation in the budget Mr. Speaker of $200,000 for relocation of passport and immigration office. Right now we are actually retrofitting a new place to relocate immigration and passport. And the Prime Minister has put in the budget $200,000 to facilitate that. Mr. Speaker, in the budget the Prime Minister made an allocation of $3,000,000. In fact it will cost us $3,377,107 to provide procurement for $175,000. So people cannot say they cannot get passports. They will not get passports. Government has already invested in purchasing 175,000 passports. So there are passports for children who are not even born yet Mr. Speaker. So when you hear all the rush and they are not getting passports on the lines are long and so on. But maybe it's a good thing Mr. Speaker. Because those who are coming for the passport they are actually bringing a little revenue so at least we can pay for the passports that we have ordered. This amount will be paid what we owe the Canadian bank note for printing the passport for us. We have to pay that over a period of three years. So whatever we collect from the passport we have to pay for printing the passport. So government is not making a huge profit when people spoke about cost of passport and it was like people thought it was a fortune. No, we are not printing passports and this passport because it is of a high sensitive nature, high security. It costs some money to put that together. And Mr. Speaker, on the border control agency we are finalizing the legislation before this new entity comes into being. It is now the document, the bill, the legislation is with the attorney general. And it has implication for a border control agency because it has, it will bring in the customs. It will bring in the marine unit. It will bring in emigration. All these entities must come together as one entity. It has implication for the bargaining agent. It has implication in terms of how they will operate and government has to find the finance for us to get. But first thing we have to put in place is the legislation. We need the laws that will govern this entity and we have to make sure that it does not cross line with other legislation. So these things take time and we are working on it. It is with the attorney general right now and we are trying to finalize. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition spoke and that touches on the department of labor. And he talked about increasing salaries. He noticed increasing salaries in a number of departments including the department of the public service and so on. But isn't it a fact that this government decided to give the public servants the 3% increase which the last government promised them, Mr. Speaker? And the prime minister honoured that obligation and paid the public servants and even paid them the back pay. Because he could not have paid it at the time. The prime minister had to find the money. So therefore what he expect to happen with the figures, he expected the figures to remain the same. That's what increases Mr. Speaker. And when it comes to the back pay, it's a one time payment. But when it comes to the salary increase, it's a permanent increase. The prime minister cannot change it again. So everybody's salary that went up by whatever million dollars the prime minister has to get that every month to add to pay the nuisance. And Mr. Speaker, since this government has been in office, every public servant gets their pay on time. The prime minister, I cannot recall he came to cabinet and said how he went to borrow some money to pay salaries. He's taking it from the taxpayers money and he pays. And the prime minister has always said that if you hire somebody to work, you must find the money to pay. And he does not play by paying public servants. All we expect from public servants is to give a fair day's work for a fair day's pay. Don't say that salary is too small because you agreed to work at that salary. And this is what government can afford. And on that basis, I want the leader of the opposition to understand that he will see an increase in salary because this government is concerned about the welfare of the workers in this country. I think that's why it's called a labor government. Some people say a labor government but it is for everybody. But when you have an emphasis on labor, you have to look at workers and workers' rights, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition also commented on the service commissions. And he said it's an increase for service commissions. I want the leader of the opposition, I'm speaking to his seat because he's not there now. The government is getting ready for negotiations. We have to put in a negotiating team. And therefore we have to pay on a raryom to pay them. So you would see an increase there. Government established a minimum wage commission. That wasn't there before. So we have to give them a little stipend something for them to operate. So he will see the figures moving. And it is because this government is focused on doing the right thing, helping our people, making things better. Not today they have been asking for a minimum wage institution. I reported Mr. Speaker in this house that the commission has met. We have not even paid them a stipend yet. But they have done, we have some very good experts, very technical people on the team. And they have come with an initial report Mr. Speaker. And I did say in this house earlier this week that they are just getting ready to present their final report to the prime minister and to cabinet ministers. So you would have seen an increase in allocation for service commissions Mr. Speaker because things are happening. We are not stagnant. And Mr. Speaker, I move quickly to, and the leader of the opposition spoke about travelling. And he would have known a lot about that. Because I remember listening to the Calypso that spoke about the Amazon of Ossicola. And that's how they had described the leader of the opposition at the time that he was prime minister. He was like a bird in the air. So we cannot come here and talk about travelling and travelling and travelling. And I am telling you Mr. Speaker as I have said before that when our members travel, it is basically to improve on the image of St. Lucia. The few meetings that I have attended Mr. Speaker, they asked where were you? Because that's not what we used to hear before. And most of our colleagues travelled when the agencies offered them an effort in accommodation. And we only spend the money when it is absolutely necessary if we have in the kitty. Because we cannot stay home and say we are not going anywhere. We have to go. But I don't think any of us will occupy a hotel room that will cost over two thousand pounds. A night. Because not under the watch of this prime minister. He has a calculator which has only minus subtraction and division. Anytime we check the calculator we do not see the addition, multiplication and equal sign. He took that out of his calculator. That's news for you? New information. Right. So check the calculator. So he takes, he plays plus attention to every figure. He either minus, that's too high. He divide and he say that's your allocation and then equal. That's it. So you try and see how best you can manage. Mr. Speaker, I want to address brief free concerns raised by the members of Viewfort South, my learned colleague, former prime minister. And I want to respond by saying that before the outbursts in Viewfort South, Mr. Speaker, I did visit Viewfort with the intention of bringing a number of government services to the South. And that was based on instructions from the prime minister. We had a delegation and I was in communication with the parliamentary rep for Viewfort South. He should have accompanied me on the tour, but unfortunately the date that we set it, he was out of state. And he gave me permission to continue the mission. So we did visit Viewfort South and we have been in contact with our different, the public service has been in contact with the different government ministries. So that we look at what are some of the agencies that can implement some activities in Viewfort South. So that discussion, I think we started off with the passport. That was the original idea that we come in to provide passport services for the South. I did mention that we have ordered the equipment and we also visited the location where we are going to operate. And DigiGog Mr. Speaker will also be setting up service center in Viewfort. But there are a number of other government ministries that are operating in Viewfort. They are operating in silos and therefore we are going to bring that coordination and harmonization in the type of services we provide in the south of the island. But as the member for Viewfort South indicated that this is an opportune time for us to bring about some transformation in Viewfort. And not Viewfort alone Mr. Speaker. Member for Barbono, I don't want to stop you but you are proceeding to give another substantive speech. You can simply, the member of Viewfort South said he needed certain points, certain services. You can just point out that those services are to be, you have discussed them on their comment. But you are giving another substantive presentation which is not what the standard orders provide for. Mr. Speaker, I just felt that I needed to give him an update since we have not spoken since my visit. No you can do that. He is fully aware of that Mr. Speaker. So we are in the process of responding to his concerns and the dialogue will continue. So Mr. Speaker, I wanted to be known that the department of the public service is responding given the resources are located, given the mandate from the prime minister to address a number of the concerns that are raised. And Mr. Speaker, I will not sit in this house and allow any member, especially the member of the opposition to raise issues and give the impression that nothing had happened. There is so much Mr. Speaker that has happened that this estimates of revenue and expenditure will not have enough space to carry it. And Mr. Speaker, I can assure you that in the coming months we will find our channels, our opportunities to communicate to the St. Lucian public what this government has been doing in the areas that were raised by the member, the leader of the opposition. So with this Mr. Speaker, I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to bring clarity to the number of questions that were raised when the petition lesson was given. I thank you.