 Good morning and welcome to today's briefing room where we get a chance to speak with the leaders of our country about their portfolios and the media gets an opportunity to ask pertinent questions about any issues which are currently associated with the portfolios or in the news. Today's guest is Minister for Local Government and Culture, Senator the Honourable Fortuna Belrose. Welcome Minister and thank you so much for being here with us today. On short notice I might add thank you very much for being with us. Thank you also to the members of the media in attendance today and of course to the solution public viewing us right now live on NTN. Thank you for joining us as well. We would like to get right into it like we normally do on briefing room. We start with having the minister or the representative to go through their portfolios, their responsibilities so that we can better understand what work you do on a daily basis. You handle the portfolios of local government and culture. Can you just give us an overview of what those portfolios entail? Thank you very much Nicole for having me and of course thank you to you the members of the media and of course the viewing public for this opportunity to share in terms of the work program of the Ministry of Culture and Local Government. The Ministry of Local Government and Culture of course was strategically designed to ensure that from a local government standpoint our people were empowered to be able to determine their own destiny. I think the thinking of the new government is to ensure that the local government councils across the country are deeply involved in the management of all the public assets of the organizations and everything that belongs to the jurisdiction you know fall underneath the town and village the town of village council that it represents. So the responsibility is a vast one and it's vast because there are a number of variables at play in terms of dealing with the local government councils across the across the country. We've been able to establish all the councils we've been able to establish chairpersons as well as the the mayors of the various towns and chairpersons of the of the counts of the of the the area districts and of course we've been able to put in a team of persons across the country who have been involved in some way or the other in the management or the development of organizations within the communities. So we're quite satisfied with the teams that we have working with the councils to be able to realize the goal that we want of ensuring that communities take greater ownership and are more actively involved in their own development on the ground. From the local girl from the culture standpoint we have been doing quite a bit of work within the cultural realm as it is now what we because culture is who we are you know and it's the it's the beginning and end of everything that we do really as a people it means that we have to ensure that we create the environment for the the the right type of solution you understand to emerge for the 21st, 22nd and 23rd century. We need to be able to do some fundamental things to get our citizens to understand that we are one people and we have to work collectively together to realize anything that we want but we want an environment where people are comfortable, where they are free to express themselves, where they can be a part of those organizations within those communities without feeling that there is any bias on on anyone's part. So we really want to create an environment that facilitates and encourages citizenship involvement in community and of course nationally. Thank you minister very much. I want to start by concentrating on the local government aspect of your portfolio. Tell us a little bit about the government's intentions with local government and how it actually works. Well with respect to local government the government is very clear. What we want is an empowered solution where citizens determine what it is that they want. As it is now there is some degree of that citizens already determine what they want they know where they want to go but I think to a large extent over time there's been some laissez-faire attitudes which has crept in and I and I say this because if you recall when we the new mayor came in let's look at the city of castries for example the mayor came in castries were swamped in a mess with old tents with old you know all kinds of things you could think of which didn't make the city what it ought to be the environment was just not right you know things were hanging loose in that city and of course understanding the vision of and being passionate about the city I think he and his team moved in to solve some basic problems for us and I think of the situation around the around the Ave Maria school a ticking time bomb waiting to explode youngsters going to school every day but have to traverse underneath old tents and meet all kinds of characters depending business around around the school premises so a deliberate action was taken to clean that up perhaps it was not a popular decision but people are now realizing the mess it was you understand now that it's out so it's doing those little things in communities to to regain the confidence of the people and the confidence of the citizenry that's yeah we can really make a difference and each and every one of us if we contribute to that process the society would be a much better place so what are they actually before I throw it to the media what are they actually in charge of when it comes to local government in the community oh I see what you're going as it is now they and maybe we should look historically at local government as well because prior to 1979 the local government councils had more autonomy and of course they also was a devolution of some power because the government they run elections and of course people were elected to serve in those positions and these people had the authority now to literally manage all the public facilities within their jurisdiction there was greater control by them by 1979 there was a change the administration of course decided to abolish the whole local government regime yeah people would too I guess you know you want to have people but again it's a small society with limited resources and so when you're trying to devolve power to people one has to really be realistic in the scheme of things and so the councils are primarily responsible particularly in the seat in well I see the city areas within their jurisdictions they're primarily responsible for the administration of some government services on the ground in community and of course providing feedback really to main quarters you know on developments within the area and what needs to happen they also serve as agents on the ground for government or for other agencies trying to implement projects within those communities but to a large extent they are restricted in terms of their own ability to do things on the ground okay do we have any questions from the media regarding the aspect of local government my question is the I believe it was a previous UWP administration had indicated to return the voting where there was elections and so forth for the local government the councils is the UWP current UWP administration looking to go that route and if so how far along is that process yeah thank you very much that's a very good question the government of Senutia is committed to the process of elections for local government we currently undertaken a couple of studies and all of that of course is phased the first phase of the study is to provide the the the greater empowerment or greater power to them to be able to work through and be responsible for the various facilities and other public assets on the ground moving out from that stage it's about continuing to build a capacity to be able to realize the elections later down the road it will happen within this within this regime of government the elections of officers will happen within this regime of government but I think what we need to do is to ensure that we we graduate to that level as opposed to just doing elections at random so that persons can just take on ownership we need to build capacity and ensure that when the leaders take on that responsibility they know exactly what it is that they're doing and how to offer leadership to the communities so that they are better we need a clear understanding of that process and that's happening at this point in time what sort of systems are in place to ensure the accountability of these councils well if there is in in some areas but across the board as it is now the councils are governed by the finance act which is what the government of sinusia utilizes uses so that the various councils all report to central government on all the resources that comes into the coffers in the case of the castry city council it is a bit different but they still have that responsibility to submit all the information to the government by the end of the year do an annual report to the government at the end of the year in terms of the the accounting to the public every town and village council has a responsibility to engage the public and to do the public meetings and of course respond to the request of the citizens within their communities for engagement at any point in time so the citizenry of the various communities can actually make a request and make a demand for you know the meetings and accountability of those councils on any matter that is there for them what would some of your suggestions be to engender a renewed community spirit through local government as a means of mitigating sorry crime in sinusia right i think the the the beautiful thing about local government it's about people taking ownership of the various communities or the various assets and everything else within their communities but being engaged and being involved in your community to the extent that you know what's going on in years gone by we we had the the the communities where you had the watch the watch groups you had development committees you had mothers and fathers groups people were looking after each other they were looking out for each other and in those days of course the local government regime was stronger you know people people accounted the development communities were vibrant the mothers and fathers groups were vibrant today there seemed to have been a breakdown today there is a breakdown you know of the systems with respect to community organizations while you do have a number of groups that function you still don't have to my mind sufficient activity on the ground in small communities in terms of keeping people engaged on on you know on the on the issues and so we need to look out a lot more for our neighbors we need to look out a lot more for the people and what comes into our community some of us are very active on the ground in our communities so we know what's going on at all times but people generally need to be more vigilant and that is what local government you know affords really to be conscious of what's going on in your environment participate in your environment and being involved in making decisions and finding solutions to issues and so if people are that inclined then we could see you know the crime issue being diminished significantly because people would be would be trusting each other a lot more and of course you would know how to respond to the issues that come that you know that come come to play we have a number of persons who facilitate crime in some of the communities and people know who they are but again because of the way the system flows of justice within the country it's not as swift and smooth as we would like you do have people being not being receptive to providing information as quickly as possible to to the powers that be I don't know if I answered the question but I think we really need our people to be involved in the process but people need to feel safe and secure in so doing and community organization community togetherness can assist in making that happen. Do we have any other questions on this issue? I wanted to ask as Tony brought up the question and general as well in terms of training for persons who join the local government movement is that ongoing because yeah I mean you would want a lot of young people to understand the process how they can join in the process how do you get that going? Well well many of the communities do have the social transmission officers youth development officers who are responsible for providing the opportunities for training and strengthening the capacity of our young people in various areas leadership training finance management you name it and the opportunities are there and you do have a number of organizations still that exist that provide that on a continuous basis in the case of our ministry we do have now we have a number of after-school programs that are currently ongoing equipment youngsters with the skill sets to be able to take on the leadership of organizations you know as well so that's an ongoing program within the ministry perhaps we need to be more vocal and and of course air what is happening a lot more but there is a lot of that going on at the moment as we speak. Yeah I also think since we're on this topic we should also take the opportunity to commend the mayor of Castries you mentioned who's been doing phenomenal work and I'm sure there are other people who are part of the local government movement who are doing work in the communities and we maybe don't hear about them enough so it's definitely a good thing for our community we should move on to the section of culture me and you talk a little bit about what culture is what we're trying to do or what it represents before we throw it to questions I wanted to ask how do you manage culture because that's basically the task that you have is it something that can be managed? Well yes it can be managed I think basically what we want as a country is to ensure that St. Lucia emerges as a major culture player in the region and we do have that ability to be able to do it. Culture is at the beginning and end of everything that we do so as a citizenry what we sell who we are you understand is really the culture you know so it's yeah it's big can it be managed yes it can be managed and there are those moments in our history I reflect which have really been defining for our culture as a people and I think over time this country has been I don't want to say I don't want to say we've moved from where we were as a friendly loving engaging warm person who looked out for the neighbor consistently we've moved from that you understand in the last 17 years 17 18 years and for me as a person who worked in the field of view of development sports and even culture I saw the degradation when it was coming and it's sad to say that but I think when when you have a government who or a political party because the parties influence what happens with respect to our culture and so when you have a government or political party that pushes an agenda of only providing for its membership you understand and looks out and tries to ensure that that is entrenched within a system of affirmative action it means that the society is disenfranchised because only a select few would be able to get that attention and as I go around the community in my new state as a politician it is so sad that this is very evident so you walk in a community you see a drain started here and it ends right in front of another person's house because the person does not support the party you understand and this is not good because for relations between the the two neighbors we need them to agree you understand to mutually agree with what is happening around us so if the drain is flowing into my yard you know by a problem created by the you know the party are you saying that are you saying that politics has infiltrated our culture in a very negative way it has destroyed our culture and and you know and and this is the thing and solutions need to recognize that we lived harmoniously as a people before and what this government is trying to do now is to begin to rebuild and use our culture to heal the wounds in our country too many people are divided for political reasons too many neighbors do not talk to each other for politics you know too many of the projects that we do in the community are political so people cannot connect to them or they impact them negatively when they should not and so the honest is on us now as a new government to ensure that we pull our people together so they understand that we all matter we all are part of this beautiful country called St Lucia and so we will use the culture in whatever we can for economic gain for our people but more importantly to continue to build peace and social cohesion within our society okay and that's what we have to do to move our country well said I will now turn it over to the floor okay Madam Minister in a previous conversation I had with you we spoke a bit about Cairo Festa when the team returned from Cairo Festa and you suggested at the time that possibly through your ministry that there will be some sort of national symposium if I may call it that whereby we begin to look at how we fund such processes it's not a matter of individuals coming and expecting something but there's an actual process because prior to Cairo Festa you know there's some sort of controversy about the government not supporting the team and what have you as well as just recently we had the participation of a solution at the Miss Universe pageant what see you to the fact that the time has probably come where we really need to sit down and look at all of these activities these cultural activities the arts and entertainment what have you to the extent that we could begin to prioritize what government actually supports yeah well government supports its people and culture I must say that but there are some peculiarities of certain events and one of the things I want to emphasize here is that Saint Lucia the number the people who support the arts in Saint Lucia to a large extent do not have the disposable income you understand to support in the way that they would like to and because a number of our people are poor you know and so they're not able to go out and give that support however if we use the the cultural assets that we have in terms of our kudmei our susu you understand if we if we look at our history and the way we've been able to achieve and make progress in times gone by we have some wonderful attributes that can assist us in making it more sustainable than it currently is for the carifesta for example I and I still believe how the government's position was the right one if we look into send a team overseas to represent us that team must contribute to the process you have to participate Saint Lucia's have to know who they are you understand and there's nothing wrong in that team putting on that production across the country generating revenue raising funds for that process that is how a small poor country survives it cannot survive by just you know government just giving it everything we have to contribute to the process and that's the only way we can take ownership when we are part of that process we take ownership for it we must be prepared to make that commitment the footballers do it the netballers do it the table tennis players do it that is how our country moves we have to be a part of that process and anyone who is saying to us we cannot do it we have we cannot do the kudme we cannot participate we cannot run the susu we cannot organize ourselves in that way and we should not do it I think that person is against the culture of this country we are people who believe in networking and working together to realize the goals that we have and we have to use the systems we have to use our culture we have to use our history to be able to get us there and that's that's the way we see it from the government of sinusha's perspective you just returned from a conference on cultural preservation and sustainable development what are the real plans for the cultural center and the walk at house the the the walk at house I think the the the plans remain I think we just working now to realize the resources to be able to do the tours and continue the work that has been that that the national national troughs um begun um a while back so that is very much on the cards um in terms of what's the other part of your question I lost it the cultural center and you know I want to say something again to the cultural center from all indications is limited in terms of what it can offer us as a citizenry if we are looking to ensure that culture and the creative industries become a greater part or contribute a greater amount to the GDP of this country we need to find a space that can work for us we need to find an avenue where young people will be excited to come and participate in the events that we're doing we need to find a space to give young people that opportunity to be able to explode yeah currently we were restricted with what we have we need to find that space and that is the essence of the government's position we want to find a space that young people can come to and be excited the older folks can come to and be excited as well but we need to find a space to give them that opportunity to breathe and ventilate and we clearly restricted in terms of what we offer at the at the national cultural center and that's the position of the government was in motion but that's something we've been hearing for years yes you know um to date we're yet to see any um serious action take be taken as well as when can we see the recommissioning of the work at house since you said there are plans to to get it up I think yeah I think with respect to the work at house perhaps in the middle of next year you should see the the the plan coming through vision in terms of the tools etc that's that's that's happening with respect to the building itself for the cultural center of course it's a matter of resources we have to wait till we get it that's why I've not been speaking too much about it because we need to find the money to make it happen to realize the dream in the meantime what the government is doing is we've been working with some Jamaican companies to try to assist us to provide the space for the young artists the young musicians who are so creative about their music who are so you know good about the music we want to be able to provide the opportunity for them to develop their own music locally and that's where we are in terms of trying to work on building some studios for these young men um and women to be able to excel in the music that they're creating okay um what's good the water supply um had the darn Sammy cricket grounds that's got you from from what from my understanding um Lucilleck is as well on the verge of disconnecting power at the facility or in within the range of about $300,000 there about um as well as the the bill from cpl has not been paid I think the government coming into office um July August last year borrowed money to pay bills at the facility um can you explain why so you're asking me that in my capacity as minister of culture not I'm not minister of sports huh why why are you but I think let me let me tell you the the situation with the the sports and recreational facilities um is that these facilities when they're built are built more from a social standpoint for the country you recognize that people must have areas for recreation for play to ventilate for health and well-being and so and also to the opportunity for mass exposure for your country because we do it for we use it for the international cricket for major events etc so you build those facilities not really in the hope that you would get any major financial benefits from them but you build them because there's a social cost you understand that the country knows that it has to absorb with respect to the development of these um of these of these facilities having said that though I think it's important that any government you know look to how it can make these facilities a lot more um economically viable so I mean perhaps the use of energy saving mechanisms um you know and just find in a team of persons who'd be prepared to be able to give you the service um at less cost yeah and and put in the facilities at less quality putting the facilities but your utilities and everything meeting them at less cost um but the point needs to be made that these facilities when they are built are not built to generate revenue they are built because the country recognizes that there is a an important aspect of human life that needs to be catered for through culture the arts programming whatever programming you need to be able to provide an area for your people to recreate ventilate um and so there is a cost to be born with that the challenge is for those managing it to be able to manage it and program for the payment of those bills those utility bills that will come to a large extent that is where the crux of the problem is because every five years or so they find themselves in that situation where it is ignored that's not the first time it's happening it has happened before we need to program and plan to pay our bills on time you know and that's something not only for the facilities but across the board solutions incur expenses and you're not able to pay them we need to plan our business properly that's a cultural phenomenon that we have to deal with them now I realized we kind of moved a little bit away from culture but I'm I kind of like the way um Sheffield was going with some of the questions and your answer to revealed a lot as a country I've found that sometimes we do enter into situations where we do build huge structures um for certain reasons of course like you said some of them are very important look at the situation the government is currently facing with regard to um the Owen King Hospital in terms of finding the funds to actually operate um that structure do you think and I know this is not really your hat but do you think we do have an issue with not assessing properly before we build things how we will make it sustainable you know and how we will because obviously the Dianne, Sammy, quick as they hit some major stumbling blocks in terms of getting the bills paid and we have more things to come that are kind of in the same boat yeah well that point is well made um Nicole and I think that's why I from what I know of the government's program particularly with respect to the sporting facilities there is a current review up review happening yes with a view to reducing on the number and those that are going to be maintained would be maintained with the within the most efficient um efficient means possible um but yes you're right with respect to the absence of data in our planning um and of course just doing things look at the situation in the schools currently we have what we we have quite a number of primary schools um and secondary schools in Zilusia but the population of students is now dwindling and so we still caught with all these huge structures that we have to maintain um and we have to ensure that they become useful you understand to us in the various communities so it's a major challenge for the government the government is aware of it um and of course now in the case of sports there's a review in the case of education there's also a review going on to see what we can amalgamate um what we can transform you understand um and of course what we can even do without and these are some these are some of the sometimes difficult decisions that government has to make that are not really received um well by the public but these are decisions that have to be made in order for us to sustain um those facilities absolutely wanted to know how is the government facilitating artists in accessing opportunities under the epa for export of their talents and cultural exports and so forth well one of the critical things I always like to mention with the artist is that the from an individual artist standpoint we do have opportunities for them to engage with our staff who can assist in directing them in the right way the other major thing for the artist too is that they need to be more organized and I think because again the culture they have been left for so long on their own without um I don't want to say direction but without being channeled into the right the right way of doing things um it's it's it's a bit chaotic for the artists at the moment I recently came back from the ACP ministers conference and it is very clear that organization is key if we want to access resources if we want to create any dent and access and receive anything of of significance we need to be organized and so we're asking all our artists the musicians the dancers the the the the the how do you call it the literary giants we need them to come together so that there can be an organization that represents them not when the cultural center has been moved for you to have a few people claiming to be you understand the representatives but we want a sustainable organization that can work with us over time through time one that is not political one that is born out of the people for the people to be able to represent them in the various sectors it's very important that we do that if we don't then we will continue to be languishing um the the way we are we need to be able to make the difference we need to make we need to be able to make the transition from me to us and our industry as a people that's where we need to go it cannot be individualistic it has to be a team effort for us to be able to tap what is out there so currently as it stands that the government utilize the economic partnership agreement for that purpose in um giving artists the opportunity to export their their cultures and so forth yes we've been doing that and in fact quite a number of the artists who have come through for assistance to the ministry we provide that support for them um we also provide support in terms of like I said grant assisting them in developing their own proposals um facilitating them overseas so there is a program of support um for for the for the musicians and all these artists who come into the ministry we do have a program for support but what we would want to see is something that is sustained over time with an institution that works and support the artists and provides that enabling environment for them to continue to flourish at what they do yeah what sort of tangible support did the government provide to miss louis victor who recently represented st lucha at the miss universe competition well i'm fully aware that she got a financial contribution um from the government of st lucha um one of the things with some of these agencies the the miss universe is a franchise owned by somebody here locally it's not owned by the government the government is not a partner in the in the in the miss universe franchise that is owned by a private person so the government of st lucha was not in a position to be tipped you understand to that institution um that owns the franchise but the government was in a position to make a contribution and we would expect um having made the contribution that the individual who is responsible for the franchise would come back home and of course give us a transparent account of what transpired over there and an account of the funding that we that they received as well so so we expect that but it's not it's not owned by the government of st lucha this is the nature of these major major events jeffield going back to my question of the darin sanmi cricket grounds if moneys were borrowed last year to pay outstanding bills why are we currently in a situation where you know there are still areas on both the electricity and motor utility well you're giving me information i have no idea how the bills were paid last year but all i could say to you is that it's the responsibility of sports in lucha really to ensure that the bills are paid but i really wouldn't know the details of how those bills were paid last year i i would that's not my domain i'm in the culture local government ministry that's a matter for the ministry of sports to to clarify um to you yeah but as a sports person i would jump at the at the at the fact that the facilities yes we need to manage them more effectively um but more importantly there is a social course to be born when you establish those facilities correa good morning minister um you've given us some insight on the plans of your ministry for the cultural and creative industries um as the year comes to a close can you give us an overview of what your ministry has accomplished so far and what you most proud of well i think there are several things um the year has come to a close we had of course a successful completion of the the the soloi event and if you recall last year we began with soley um it didn't go down too well with people because we changed the name and that's another thing with our culture we're not flexible we're very rigid we like to see things one way and if it's one way then you know if it's that way then a lot of us would would support it but we live in a very dynamic environment and um we have to be able to respond to the needs of our society um as well as respond to the demands out there as well and so the government of sinusha felt it was necessary to create the events company to be able to assist us in realizing even better returns on our events that we do locally um so so we were able to achieve that and i think now that they've gone through the year um they'll be adequately prepared for next year because you would have had the experience of doing last year's events so i'm very confident that in the next year we will witness um better better better programmed events um and of course greater levels of participation because now people know for certain that it's happening it's going to be an all exclusive jazz festival it's going to be exclusive roots and soul so we know exactly what we're talking about um over the over the over the over the next year um with respect to the creative industries what we've just done as a government is we have approved the framework for the creative industries um if you recall the the other service sectors ict as well we've approved the framework for the operations of those industries and of course what we'll be doing now is finalizing the incentives for them because a number of the artists a number of the persons in the business have been indicating to us that they know incentives for the sector but we first had to approve that framework that broad policy framework for the for the creative industries we've done that now and of course as part of the entire service sector in silocia we'll be working now with the government to ensure that we have the incentive regime organized so hopefully that can be there by march april next year and so we're looking towards great things for the artists in terms of more support but again it's all structured support it's not just support that will come just like that but it's support that is within a framework and of course people have to leave the standards to to begin to realize you know what is in there for them another critical thing that we've done is at the end of the month of december we are waiting the the review of the cultural development foundation because i've always said that the cdf should be an institution that young people should gravitate to young people should see that institution as an institution of hope you know and the dreams coming true because of this institution called the cultural development foundation so we are waiting for a review a strategic review of this organization to assist us in ensuring that we make it more accessible to all sin lutions across the country and any young person with talent being able to see that this institution is there for them to be able to help them propel them to realize what they would want to within within the um within the institution also you were recently featured in new literature called running in heels both politics and literature are important to our culture i would like to know how you feel about being featured and how do you think the book will accomplish his purpose of encouraging young women to participate in politics well i was actually blown away when we went when i attended the the the running in heels um and blown away because of the the the statistics and the way solito odlam who is one of the authors of barbara jacob's were able to share and present the information on women in politics um and about 42 women over the last since 1951 or or they about have been involved in politics in sin lucha and i'm honored to be one of those women um i must say i got into the politics really by by chance the community came and asked um and i got involved um but it's something i'm enjoying because it gives you the opportunity really to transform the lives of people and to get them to see a different perspective and it was not until i really got into the politics i realized the impact of the negative policies that the the the regimes regimes of government you understand have imposed on people um and so and i say that in particular with respect to what you see in communities the the the division you know the division even in terms of the way the footpath is done you understand it's not for the whole community it's for some of the community you know so having visited the communities and picking up those simple issues that create trauma in the lives of some people i think i'm in it to stay so i'm quite happy to be here and um i look forward to continue working with the people of sin lucha to ensure that we can make a difference and get people to understand that the culture is all of us and is what we do how we do it um and it's really nothing can happen if there is no culture culture is our future and it's here to stay and i'm here to be a part of the process with my people since we're talking about women i felt like i should also ask this question how do you think women being in politics differentiates really from men being in politics i think women bring maybe it's because of our maternal instinct or you know the women bring that dimension where we are more concerned about the human component the human element i think a man would be more on the physical side of things yeah okay the chair needs to change then it will move you understand but the woman would look at the processes in moving that chair you understand she'll probably need to get you know the the the best fit the right fit the right color there's so many things that go through a woman's head in doing one simple task whereas the man is more you know um how do i say now more rigid in terms of trying to make it happen but yeah we take time um we listen and we hear beyond just what is being said i think that is really the difference between the women and the man we bring that human side you know and a greater level of feeling um an understanding of the issues and plight of our people to the dimension and i'm telling you i've seen that every day you know people say yeah you actually came on time you know you actually you know it's amazing the simple things the simple things that make a difference yes you know you take their call when they call you you know you listen to them you hear their stories you hear they cry you may not be able to help them in terms of making the the big difference but just the understanding of the emotion that they're going through you know sometimes makes a difference and i think that's what women bring i'm not sure if claudia was asking for herself but she also asked you about young women entering politics and how um that would inspire them yeah and uh yeah and but but what was interesting about this study um claudia was the fact that there are many more women at the base of the politics you understand many more women at the base but the men are portrayed to the front the men are at the front but when you look at the strength of the man if you look at who is behind him you see the women rallying and what was good about the book too was that it recognized some of those stalwarts in terms of the women who stood you know through thick and thin who were the mami's heirs you understand all the politics in this country um so it's good reading for young people and i think it can only serve to inspire i was inspired by just being in the setting with some of those women you know like go through george and um the former prime minister's wife um chanice cumton you know you listen to the story of mrs marie you know there are lots of persons in there who really made a difference not in terms of the big picture but in just the little things they did you know to support the processes so i think it's good reading for young people and i think it can only serve to inspire them to be able to to get to the top and i think based on that book i could see perhaps another 50 women getting involved in a short space of time in the politics of this country not just politics but in the leadership um of the of the politics in silmousha 45 minutes really goes fast um we need to wrap up um minister thank you so much for being with us um we have to wrap up cheffield you need to make it really quick 30s and notes for the purpose behind the rebranding of the festival of lights to the december festival okay yeah well december festival it's it's christmas time in silmousha it's um december when we celebrate we celebrate lights i i you know it's rebranding and rebranding is all about sometimes just appealing you understand to the new generation a lot of us grew up with it as festival of lights but i think now what you want is a is a is a wide across section of people becoming involved um and festival of lights in the past was primarily focused in the city we want now the entire country to embrace it you know so the december festival is for silmousha includes lights includes lanterns includes music and that happens across our country we want to embrace everybody and that was i think the prime purpose of making sure we transform it inclusiveness is the focus and remember we are government of inclusiveness and bringing in all solutions because we believe that is the only way we can thrive as a country people need to come together people need to feel apart people need to be engaged in the process we cannot do it one on you know by ourselves both parties political parties must be all parties must be a part of that process people living in communities first the politicians will come and go but our people will always be there on the ground in the communities living together working together and we must recognize that and as a government of the people for the people by the people that is our philosophy okay a great note of unity to end on thank you very much honorable minister for being with us here today and being so frank and open in your discussions thank you to the members of the media and thank you to those listening to us live on ntn and on youtube until next year when we will have another briefing room thank you very much everybody