 Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the motion as presented by the Honourable Prime Minister of the Estimates of Revenue and Expenditure for 2024-25. In the amount of 1 billion, 894 million, 110 thousand, 800 Eastern Caribbean dollars. Mr. Speaker, I have no idea what that amount of money means. I will not have it in my kitty and I will not sit close to it. But it is for the people of St. Lucia to be distributed among all the citizens. But Mr. Speaker, before I proceed in discussing the motion at hand, I want to take this opportunity to express gratitude. First of all, let me thank God for giving me the breath of life. And I'm still breathing and I'm alive for a reason. And all of us in this house is alive for a reason. And we have to make good use of that opportunity the Lord has given us. I want to thank my husband who started that challenging journey with me all the way. I want to thank the doctors. And at the time Mr. Speaker, it was like thinking on your feet. The doctors at Tapio, it was a last minute decision because I was on my way to OKEU. And then a diversion was made. And I want to thank Dr. Alwyn Benjamin, Dr. Christie Daniel and some other doctors at Tapio and the nurses. Oh, Rommel Daniel, sorry. I want to thank my family, my close friends. I want to thank the Honorable Prime Minister and my Cabinet colleagues. I want to thank the doctors in Martinick, Dr. Darbaugh. I want to thank the Council General in Martinick, Council General Alison Joseph. And the cultural attaché Mr. Shazi Shalom. And I want to thank my team in the ministry, the departments I headed. The constituents of Babylon, the people of St. Lucia and those in the diaspora. Mr. Speaker, I still believe that miracles do happen. And Mr. Speaker, I think my experience is one that I will share in a very profound way with my Cabinet colleagues. And I think more and more of this government, with a 2.5% health and security levy, we never know who this government may save their lives. Everybody may be fortunate to have an insurance or the health support. And I'm saying this, Mr. Speaker, because I know what I went through and there are times government have to step in at least to allow you to step out. Even if you have insurance, you have finance, but somebody must step in to allow things to happen. And this is what the government did, they step in and asked me to move so that at the end of the day, whatever lives we can save in St. Lucia, we do it for every single citizen in this country. Mr. Speaker, happy today that I had to leave my, call myself out of sick leave to be here to represent the people of Babylon, because nobody else would do that because that is why they elected me. And I thank the Lord for giving me the breath of life and the strength to come here to speak on their behalf. I want to commend my colleague minister who is holding the fort while I'm on sick leave and I let him know that I was following him and he did a great job. I told him be careful when he works on eggshells and he has done that very well, Mr. Speaker. I want my colleagues to put your hands together for honourable Jeremy Mayandam. Mr. Speaker, as I look at estimates of revenue and expenditure, this budget, a budget that is realistic and practical, it is a budget that is based on the principles of sharing the pie for everyone to get. It also my concept of how this government functions and I have described it several times that this government is charged with the responsibility of distributing water, distributing the wealth or resources of this country. And there are two instruments if you are using water to water plants, you can use a hose or you can use a spraying can. And this budget is actually re-emphasising the spraying can philosophy. What I know I saw happen during the last administration, they use the hose and the hose only went to the roots of a few plants that got very big as big as the massive tree we have, Derek Walcott Square. But with the spraying can, Mr. Speaker, you give life to every single plant. And whatever the prime minister has allocated, Mr. Speaker, to the tune of 1.8 billion dollars is going to spread it out so that every single plant, every single person in this country can get a little something out of it. And I applaud the prime minister with his wisdom and sharing the pie for us to survive. Mr. Speaker, I want to take you quickly to what I promised the people of Babylon. And some people usually hold parliamentary reps responsible for a whole set of things. But we must never forget what we document and what we put in writing is what we owe the people. And I promise the people in Babylon that would repurpose on new space and the primary schools to increase access to early childhood education and adult education programs. And Mr. Speaker, when I listened to my colleague minister, colleague parliamentarian and minister under the budget item, the estimates item number that speaks to education, innovation and vocational training, Mr. Speaker, I know that is one area where we have started benefiting in terms of early childhood education and we're getting ready for the adult education because Mr. Speaker, the Babylon constituency benefited from a pre-k classroom which was implemented by the Ministry of Equity and that is catering for early childhood education in Babylon. BNTF, yes. Right, we have a pre-k classroom in the Babylon primary school through the BNTF and that is fulfilling that promise. Mr. Speaker, I promise to establish a Babylon eco-tourism project which will include total watching, outdoor camping, bird watching and hike trails, Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, if I go back quickly to the minister's item 46 in the estimates of revenue heading 46, Ministry of Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, Culture and Information, we are waiting patiently. We are promise I saw a little snippet in the summary that Babylon was mentioned and I'm sure this time around the ministry will come through to deliver some aspect of tourism. And Babylon, Mr. Speaker, unlike other constituencies, we have defined Babylon as an agro, we go agro-tourism because agriculture is the foundation for livelihood for Babylon people and they will work around it with tourism to enhance economic activity for the people in the constituency of Babylon. Mr. Speaker, provide Wi-Fi access across the communities in the constituency and Mr. Speaker, we have started a process where Babylon Central has Wi-Fi and a few other communities where Wi-Fi, the GI net program will be installed to provide Wi-Fi for the people. So I know this is coming under the ministry under my watch which is public service. So we know I am delivering along those lines. Improve access to land under a land rationalization program for housing and agriculture. And Mr. Speaker, the ministry of housing and local government has started delivering especially in the land rationalization program where the people at Talvan were able to get land. Those who occupied the land for over 30 years, they were able to get land to the tune of $2.50 a square foot. That's a remarkable achievement by this government and in fulfilling my promise to the constituents. And on the housing Mr. Speaker, I am very pleased that a number of persons who are most in need in the constituency we have item number budget line for estimates 48 ministry of housing and local government that we will see the work of housing continuing in the Babylon constituency and I am very pleased that we were able to take people out of some the probable conditions in which they live and we have improved that under the housing program. Mr. Speaker, I also promise to redevelop Babylon central with a view to improving access to the services provided by the Babylon multipurpose centre. And Mr. Speaker, that too falls on the local government and I know equity, ministry of equity also share part of that responsibility for human resource development centres and we have a multipurpose centre that has been in existence since 1987 and it needs some major works. So I am depending heavily on the honourable Prime Minister, Minister of Finance to come to the rescue of the Babylon people in this area. Mr. Speaker, as we look at the estimates of revenue and expenditure I am putting all my colleague ministers on notice because what I have done during the past two and a half years is to hold a fort and I have held a fort for them in a number of areas with the CDP contributions that come to the constituency every single ministry has gotten some activity going on under the CDP and some of the main ministries have also come forward to start some work and Mr. Speaker, if I speak of work done in the Babylon constituency I need to thank the Minister of Infrastructure for coming to our rescue especially in the area of slope stabilisation and pot holding however we are waiting for our share of roads Mr. Speaker and our share of roads we start with one road we call the Assuba Road this was a road that was started under the last administration it was stopped and now it is a link road between Gara and Bogis and once we open that road Mr. Speaker it is going to make life a lot easier for the people at Gara and the people at Bogis that end up in a kind of what we call a stop zone there is no through road that can connect it and once we connect that road we will have traffic flowing throughout Babylon Mr. Speaker, as I speak to infrastructure we have what we call the Puadu Road and that's a road that was neglected by the last administration but it was a very good road it's a necessary road to help the farmers in the Talvan area and I did some work in that area through my CDP to bring some relief to the farmers and they are very grateful but I am encouraging and hoping that the Minister of Infrastructure will come to make it a more motorable road we have the Lafitte Road in the Babylon central area this road I did some work on it to make it motorable for the people but we are hoping that Minister of Infrastructure will help us complete that Mr. Speaker, as we speak of roads those of you who know Babylon will understand there is a part of Babylon where the road has not been developed and these roads are critical for tourism and they are critical for agriculture and Mr. Speaker, I speak no other than the Maki Road where I did some work in the road to give some relief to the farmers but the Maki Road is also a road for tourism the ATV riders use that road very often it is a package for tourism and people explore St. Lucia looking for exciting places to visit and this road there is serving that purpose so here infrastructure, agriculture and tourism can come together to bring some relief Mr. Speaker, I speak of the Brantans Road and Brantans is a road that had never been addressed during the last and Mr. Speaker, I was able to use some of the CDP funds to assist the farmers it's a road that will serve tourism for total watching, bird watching, hiking it is a road that will serve the farmers and it was interesting to know about 50% of the watermelons that are produced in St. Lucia is coming from that area so Mr. Speaker, the farmers there the ATV riders go into Brantans all these are areas that need them and Mr. Speaker, there are many other little roads but notwithstanding that I need to commend the Ministry of Infrastructure right now, as we speak they are working on the Lakwa Hill that hill has been a problem for years every two weeks a pipe from Wasco boasts in that hill and there was once the pipe boasts and it actually pushed a vehicle it has so much pressure it pushed the vehicle down the hill and right now as we speak I drove there this afternoon and I saw they are resurfacing that road I need to thank the Ministry of Infrastructure and Wasco for bringing great relief to the people in Babylon Mr. Speaker, as we move quickly we speak of housing and the housing repair program has been going on very well and I'm hoping that in the future plans of the Ministry of Local Governments and Housing that we will get one of the high-rise buildings that will be going up at Boseju that will have a few in the Babono constituency because Babono is a rapidly growing constituency in that it finds itself between Grossile and Castries and because Babono has so many outlets into Castries it is becoming an area of great interest for residents Mr. Speaker, agriculture I have a passion for agriculture and sometimes I said maybe that is why I challenged the last Minister of Agriculture and I had to debate what we do with agriculture and Babono the livelihood of the people in the constituency of Babono is agriculture and therefore I'm appealing to the Minister of Agriculture that in this budget item 41 that we will get support for the farmers one, I think Minister of Infrastructure will assist with the roads but we have issues of drainage and other issues and during the course of last year Mr. Speaker from the CDP funds I had to assist the farmers to give them some relief with regards to irrigation because the plants were dying the pumps it was and I gave them some fuel vouchers to assist them with irrigation and I need to thank the Minister of Agriculture for providing the fertilizer for the farmers so that they can continue their production and we have some new initiative as we speak Mr. Speaker I am hoping that the agro processing plant which was closed down or rolled out by the last administration will be reopened to create outlet for the farmers to sell the produce it is a very important component in terms of the high end of agricultural produce so we want that agro processing plant reopened to sell the people in the Babono constituency Mr. Speaker as we look at Ministry of Youth and Sports line item 53 and 54 like all other colleagues I am coming with my shopping list for youth development and sports and as we speak of youth development and sports Mr. Speaker I don't want to compete with any other parliamentarian but the records are straight that Babono has produced a young strong cricketer in the positions of Kimani Melius we have Laverne Spencer who blazed the trail with all the challenges now we have seen Julian Alfred following at the top levels representing St. Lucia we have Albert Renois in Javelin and interestingly we have an 85 year old gentleman I know he is a fun of Minister of Education Parliamentary Rep for Denrenoff who in fact this year in May he wants to do his last walk which he is 85 years and he walks around St. Lucia he lives in my community and he gives my life miserable because he wants to put that on his record but he has walked around the island about four or five times Mr. Speaker so he has great endurance and that's a lesson for all of us but Mr. Speaker as we speak on sports we need to add some humor to the sporting with the semi-professional league Mr. Speaker Babolo versus Marsha was the first game in the semi-professional league I will not tell you who represents Marsha but Babolo won Babolo won Marsha and therefore the Prime Minister the Parliamentary Rep for Marsha has promised to give Babolo greater support for having done such a wonderful job in competing it doesn't matter the goal so we are low support and Mr. Speaker as we speak on football I have some clear records there is a team in Fawasaw called New Generation Mr. Speaker and that team I understood has been producing some of the top players in some of the football teams so when I will bring out the parents ID card I will let you know where these players are from but I know ministers must step out the gentleman that scored the goal for Grozily is from New Generation so I did some homework and I think we just have to continue the team spirit but we need support to give that team that is producing some of these top players in the Fawasaw community and Mr. Speaker as I speak of Fawasaw we are actually working now in creating almost a little sporting village in the Fawasaw community by one we have already done some work we started some work under the refurbishment of the community center we are actually building a toilet for spectators there and we have to do some major renovation to the seats and so on so we are already taking the lead with the hope that the ministry of youth development and sports will come to our rescue looking at the figures in this estimates of revenue and expenditure Mr. Speaker as we deliberate on the estimates of revenue and expenditure I want to reiterate that the Babono constituency is alive and well and the people in the constituency they are determined what we call a new look the development of Babono is to create Babono central as a little hub a little town a little village and with that Mr. Speaker we will require some basic facilities in Babono central and I will be seeking the support of ministry of local government the support of ministry of infrastructure the support of ministry of tourism and the support of ministry of education all these ministries have a role to play in what happens in Babono central one we are actually looking at repurposing the library so that we create some ICT center as well as providing some government services in that building the ministry of infrastructure has to assist with redesigning the roads in Babono central and the ministry of local government and ministry of economic development will assist in refurbishing and modernizing the Babono multipurpose center that will provide some key government services to the people in Babono so with that Mr. Speaker we will see a transformation we have started some work through the CDP and some extensive work has taken place in the constituency but with the support of the relevant ministries we are going to achieve a lot more Mr. Speaker part of the plan is to ensure that at least nine of the communities in Babono we have established structure we have a plan for development and with that structure we established about 18 development committees each community has their development committee and with these development committees we are going to establish what we call some signature projects so in Forasaw Mr. Speaker we will have the sporting village in Forasaw in Lager we have to improve the sporting facility and Mr. I want to address minister of education we are yet to commission officially open the Lager combined school that is a big project in Babono that is completed but just waiting for the CDP for the official commissioning and handing over of that it's a state of the art it's a smart school and it's one of the most modern primary schools in the plateau area I know ministry of tourism is looking at some tourism project there and some areas in Maki in Bogis we are actually building the community and creating that level of awareness and support for the people of Bogis Debarra the minister of youth and sports has promised to help us with the playing field at Debarra in Gara we are still waiting for that early childhood center this is a community that really needs support in Balata we have the market in Timon we have an unfinished project at the Timon Human Resource Center that is under the court and as I said in Babono Central we will have the little town and the little village Mr. Speaker all I do now is to continue to work with my cabinet colleagues I believe heavily in the number for castries east and prime minister who uses a calculator which I believe is fair it is fair and just and when he applies the calculator I am reassured that Babono will get his fair share of this budget and that is why Mr. Speaker among our cabinet colleagues we do not fight each other we cooperate and we support each other and when a flight of geese is moving to a destination the leader for the weakest one the one that is left behind and will put his wings under it and help that last one until all of them make the flight we are not the ones that say the weakest ones stay behind and let us fly with the strongest one and I support that principle in this government and as I face the challenges I had I can make it clear in this house that the prime minister make sure he check on the weakest one and he put his wings to make sure we fly together and today this is why I am here to speak so that the entire flock of geese get to the final destination Mr. Speaker the estimates of revenue and expenditure I came here hoping that we would have a debate but I realize we are having a discussion because the budget is so good that there is nothing to debate about and therefore some persons who should have challenged certain things in the debate have refrained from doing so therefore I do not want to engage in any item or any activity that is a non-debate but I have presented the case for the Babodo constituency and I hope during the policy debate Mr. Speaker I will be able to speak a little more eloquent on the ministry that the prime minister had assigned me in terms of a number of policy decisions that are taken in that direction and I will speak to that so Mr. Speaker I want to reassure you that I am committed to the ideals of this government the realistic and practical budget and I understood from the other side that there was a surplus of 100 million Mr. Speaker if you have a surplus of 100 million I can assure you that you are starting with something at least you don't have to go and borrow this 100 million if there is a surplus of 100 million so with that Mr. Speaker I believe the government is on the right track we have understand Lucian people are listening they are following and they know what is fact and what is fiction they know what is right and what is wrong and what we have to continue to do is to ensure that we keep them on the right track we give them the right information so that they can take the right decisions at the right time in their own interest and in the interest of St. Lucia with this Mr. Speaker I lend my full support to the estimates of revenue and expenditure as presented by the member for Castries East and the Honourable Prime Minister of St. Lucia Thank you Mr. Speaker