 Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Mr. Speaker. Good afternoon, colleagues. Mr. Speaker, I stand to support the motion presented by the Minister for Finance in this debate on the estimates of revenue and expenditure. Before I do so, Mr. Speaker, I wish to join all my colleagues in welcoming back our colleague from Kastri Southeast and I also continue to wish him well and hope, Mr. Speaker, that his recovery will continue. Mr. Speaker, this debate is about the estimates of revenue and expenditure but essentially this debate is about the Minister for Finance and the Member of Parliament for Kastri East. When all is said and done, Mr. Speaker, the judgment about the performance of the Member of Parliament for Kastri East, when all is said and done, the scrutiny of his performance, when all is said and done, his own words will be what will go down in history. Mr. Speaker, though I don't want to quote him directly, he says very often that he's not a showman. He does not, he prefers to stutter the truth than to speak lies eloquently. That his duty is to make St. Lucia a better place and his responsibility is to lead a team of men and women who will ensure that we use the taxpayers' money properly, carefully and diligently. I support the Member of Parliament for Kastri East and our Prime Minister. And my presentation today speaks to his diligence and I applaud him, Mr. Speaker, for beginning the great job and very important job of digging St. Lucia out of the hole which we got it, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, this budget, the estimates of revenue and expenditure indicates that we have a primary budget surplus. And what is it, Mr. Speaker? Of $29 million, if you look at the budget summary, Mr. Speaker, a primary surplus of $29.5 million. And what does that mean? A surplus, Mr. Speaker, occurs when tax revenues are greater than government spending, excluding debt interest payments. This means, Mr. Speaker, that under the watchful guide of the Minister for Finance, the Prime Minister, we were able last year to collect tax revenues, our interest, our debt interest payments, and at the end of the day, we are left with more money than we spent in the amount of $29.5 million thereabouts. This has not happened in many, many, many years, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the Prime Minister has done, and he has taken all the money that the government has spent on this. He has taken all the money that the government has spent on this and he has taken all the money that the government has spent on this. And we are left with more money than the Prime Minister has spent on this. The Prime Minister has taken all the money that the government has spent on this. And he has taken all the money that the government has spent on this. What does it mean, Mr. Speaker? It means that our finances were effectively managed. The primary budget surplus, even though we had so many difficulties, Mr. Speaker, we still kept our social services. In fact, we improved on our locations and social services. More support with subsidies, whether it be for fuel or for flower, investment in businesses. Mr. Speaker, I applaud the Member of Parliament for Kastris East. And I will come back to some of these figures later when I speak on the agency which I was tasked to manage. If I go there, Mr. Speaker, I want to relate the estimates of revenue and expenditure to the constituency of V4N and to explain to honorable members how these estimates impact my constituents and how we are hoping the 23-24 budget estimates benefit the people of V4N and invest in them. Mr. Speaker, I want to take just two minutes or one minute to explain to you, Mr. Speaker, where I come from and why it is so important for me to connect the estimates of revenue and expenditure to V4N. And I want to tell you why I feel so passionate about the representation which I try to give to my people and why I'm going to continue to work hard to ensure that the provisions in the estimates benefit the people of V4N. I come from a very fascinating constituency, Mr. Speaker. It's filled with passionate people and punctuated by natural physical beauty throughout the communities of V4N. Whether you are in Greece, Belvi, Vijaykako, whether you are in Upiko or Savans Bay, whether you are in Peru, wherever you are, it's a beautiful place. The people of V4N, Mr. Speaker, gave me the glorious opportunity to represent them with the Senusha Labor Party in the parliament in December 2006. And that's very important, Mr. Speaker, as I connected to the estimates. In December 2006, I represented the people of V4N. And that representation, Mr. Speaker, was after the largest runoff which has ever taken place in the history of Senusha. In August of 2005, the Senusha Labor Party put me through a runoff with other individuals who were interested and I gathered over 1250 vuts in a runoff. That year, Mr. Speaker, we lost government. Even though the people of V4N and the Senusha Labor Party won the V4N seat. And listen to that, Mr. Speaker, and I want to connect it to the estimates why I'm so passionate about this thing. In 2006, the V4N seat, we won the V4N seat. By the largest margin of victory if you have to take into account percentage, not numbers, obviously. So from day one, I have been struggling with my people five years in opposition from 2006 to 2011. Then in 2011, Mr. Speaker, we again won the seat with the largest margin of victory again, even though Sir John Compton ran the election. Go check it out. But four and a half years were spent in government between 2011 and June of 2016. Four and a half years. In 2016, again, we won the seat, but went into opposition. So when I speak about these estimates today, Mr. Speaker, you will understand that while I came into parliamentary politics in 2006, we've been in opposition from 2006 to 2011 and from 2016 and four and a half years between 2011 and 2016. Four and a half years in government and then 2016 to July 2021 in opposition. It means therefore, Mr. Speaker, that as a member of parliament, I have had the opportunity to be in government to represent my people for about six years now. Four and a half years and this period here. This is very important, Mr. Speaker, because I want to create the context within which I'm going to speak about these estimates today. And every time we were in opposition the first time, 2006 to 2011, the government of the United Workers Party ensured that the people of was squeezed, was squeezed and the evidence is there. I am sure, Mr. Speaker, my other colleagues can say the same. January North, Kastri South, View Fort South, Kastri East and the others. Squeeze, Mr. Speaker, in July of 2021 on the tremendous and deliberate targeting and I will show it to you in the estimates, on the tremendous pressure and deliberate targeting the people of View Fort North held firm and once again put their faith in me and the St. Lucia Labor Party, Mr. Speaker. So all of these years were spent in opposition, so all of the estimates of revenue and expenditure during those years in opposition, Mr. Speaker, we were deliberately targeted and victimized by the United Workers Party and just like the widening deficits of the budgets which they left, was the deficit and that is in the very same way, Mr. Speaker, I am going to work hard to ensure that within these estimates I work with my people of View Fort North, the prime minister of this country and the cabinet to close the deficit of development which is in View Fort North, Mr. Speaker and that is what I am going to focus on in the estimates. So when they come into government View Fort North is not part of the country. Mr. Speaker, these estimates of revenue and expenditure will assist me to report to the house and to the people on how I intend to close the deficit of basic physical development with the support of my prime minister and my colleagues. Let us look at infrastructure, head number 43. Our major roads, Mr. Speaker, I mean roads within our major communities that are in Grace, Canells, Vijay, Tupiro, Bamboo, Belvi, Vebasel, Zabo to Belvi and several farm roads and community roads. In several instances, Mr. Speaker, these roads are not even pot-holeable. They are not even pot-holeable. What I said to them, when we were in government, Mr. Speaker, we started the rehabilitation of at least some of the major roads. The last five years, projects which should have assisted us were stopped by the last government. The Q80 secondary farm roads project should have been implemented and the areas of woodlands and Bwadi Mang in Grace should have been built. That project was stopped by the last government and so, Mr. Speaker, in the last financial year, we started to close the deficit. Very small closures of the deficit in the constituency, but we started, Mr. Speaker. If you look at head 56 projects 0079 CDP, you would notice, Mr. Speaker, that the constituency development program is a number of small community concrete roads and so on. Again, I wish to, I want to refer to my days in opposition. When we were in government, Mr. Speaker, in 2011 to 2016, we started several roads under the CDP. We completed a number of them and by the time elections came, individuals had contracts in their hands, contracts to complete the projects. When the United August Party came to government, they stopped the projects. So, you have a concrete road and contractors have actual contracts in their hands and the government stopped it. So, for five years, you have the back street road, you have Mr. Nikena Road in Belvi, you have the Shobati Slain in Puro and so many of them for five years, these roads were stopped, just there. Started and stopped. I want to report, Mr. Speaker, that all of the roads which I mentioned, except Mr. Nikena Road, which is going to start soon, we have completed in the last financial year, on the head 56 CDP, we have completed the back street road around the Graceflane Plainfield, Mr. Speaker. Those who had their contracts in 2016, when UW came, they stopped it, I ensured that they got back the contracts, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, those who had started the government, the last government came, they stopped it. So, you estimated that, we have the money to continue this kind of work. But in the last year, we started with a good deal to finish this kind of work. I think that we have completed the back street road in the UW, we have continued with the head 56 CDP, Mr. Speaker. Also, Jabatislen is currently being constructed using CDP allocations and several other drains in the constituency. Mr. Speaker, in 2022-23, head 43, a number of community roads were also constructed. Belvi Vebasel, Perino, Aldonzelein and other roads. We also have the Teva Road on the head, 52, Mr. Speaker. The Teva Road at Grace, which was stopped again by the United Workers Party. And what was very interesting, Mr. Speaker, that is, well, the leader of the UWP, former prime minister. That's where they started the campaign, here from North. Because they said that is where my family is from, so they deliberately stopped the roads. And that is where they went to start the campaign. Say, no, that's where my family is from and I didn't finish road for them and everybody is voting for them. They give everybody yellow shirt and they have been a big party and so on. They forgot the thing about blood is thicker than water. So what did we do? If you go to Teva now, Mr. Speaker, you will see that this concrete road has been completed under head 56, Mr. Speaker. Asuka Air Road, if you go there today, you will possibly see tractors and so on. We are completing the Asuka Air Road at Grace. Opiko Community Roads, most of them have also been completed. So Mr. Speaker, this is what I talk about when I speak about closing the deficit of development in the constituency of V4 North. I moved to head 56 which has to do, Mr. Speaker, with the 10 million MSME loan, grant facility, head 42 and also head 42 small businesses, commerce. I welcome this, Mr. Speaker, the 10 million dollars and we have over 150 small businesses in our area, several of them you already know, Kenya from Belvedere. People are pure doing crafts at Grace, at VJ. Several small businesses, I don't want to list all of them, but there are several of them, Mr. Ins doing mixology, all of these people, Clint Mitchell and a number of them into studio and so on. All of these people are looking forward to accessing these facilities and they are already applying for these facilities. So this will benefit V4 North. Digital enhancement program on the head 42 and this is a very important program Mr. Speaker, because we need to incorporate the digital economy into the small businesses as we move forward because there is no other way to go. On the head 46, culture and creative industries, tourism, community tourism is very important to us Mr. Speaker. I know that there is still a lot of work to do but I have spoken to the Minister for Tourism and hopefully we can start work on the construction of two performing areas in V4 North. We know the history of Belvedere with the performances and also Mr. Speaker I am in discussions with the Piero Combined School to use the yard as the first open air performance area in the Piero area Mr. Speaker and just to tease you a bit we are going to start this off with Piero Combined School jars and you will hear a lot more about that in the next few days. No solar. So Mr. Speaker we are looking to build two open air performing areas at Belvedere and at Piero to begin and the others will come afterwards Mr. Speaker we are very fond of arts performances in the arts our tours to waterfalls the nature tours Agritourism there are several farmers who are interested in Agritourism and we have come venture at Belvedere for example a young lady who has a nice product and is developing you can go there to camp and Nina Compton Chef Honourable is she excellency Nina Compton was there not too long ago so we have these facilities and I know that the community tourism on the head 46 will assist we also have the first honey the first solar honey factory in St. Lucia by the Horizon Brothers of Grace and we have groups like Yelp and other organizations I know they will certainly benefit from the community tourism the establishment of other activities like mini festivals I spoke about jazz in the Piero school support the reestablishment of the Belvedere Carnival in a very unique way the Vizier community had a wonderful cassava industry they have a wonderful cassava history and even there Mr. Speaker this community tourism to revive this and also emancipation Mr. Speaker head 54 speaks to sports and the people of there for north as you know we are well known for for sports whether it be soccer cricket and athletics and head 54 Mr. Speaker speaks to community playing fields and I know that the people of Belvedere have been waiting for the community playing field they would I'm sure many of them know the funds were received in late February and the minister of youth is now mobilizing to do the surveys and to get the Belvedere playing field organized it is late but we got the funding very late but this project is still on stream the other community playing fields we have been working with the department of crown lands to ensure that we demarcate the boundaries of these playing fields like the vizier playing field the mongain playing field and investment for the grace playing field we find Mr. Speaker that over time individuals start to encroach on the boundaries of the playing field they begin to plant dashin and yam and everything around the playing fields we want people to grow food but at the same time food security but at the same time Mr. Speaker we do not want when we are ready to build our facilities we do want that we are in conflict so we are working on this I see an increase of 30% for elite athletes on the head 54 Mr. Speaker and 1 million for the semi professional league Mr. Speaker I am very happy because we have many athletes in VA for north but one stands out Naomi London who is an elite athlete and I am hoping that we can get even more support for her she is about to travel very soon even more support for her and her family so that they can this young lady can reach her full potential there are others there are cricketers and so on so this head excites me Mr. Speaker I have 52 education, innovation vocational training I am excited about line item 0328 the human capital resilience project Mr. Speaker that is very important transferring the secondary schools into technical vocational institutions I think Mr. Speaker this is important not only for my constituency but for the whole country we need a push in that direction to get more skilled individuals young people to go into into these skills and I look forward to my constituents benefitting from it Line item 0251 under the same head 52 Mr. Speaker major repairs and rehabilitation of schools it is not there this time Mr. Speaker but you will crave my indulgence Mr. Speaker for me to just throw in a little early word maybe for the next year or two so that my colleague can remember the Piro Combined School well we have spoken about it he has gone there several times unknown to me Mr. Speaker to take pictures and so on so I know he is interested in the Piro Combined School so I thank him for that Mr. Speaker so yes he has several photos so I look forward to the repairs to our schools the Grace school is an aging plant and I know the minister will give us the support in sustainable development Mr. Speaker Line item 0073 integrated ecosystem management and restoration of the forest on the southeast coast the southeast coast also and view fort north has some stake to the southeast coast Mr. Speaker I notice we have what may be a very impressive hotel going up at canels this is really view fort north Mr. Speaker there have been a lot of confusion about whether this is view fort north and also the ecosystem on the southeast coast is very very important the mangroves in the savans bay area going up to canels this is view fort north and we have some wonderful ecosystem there dive sites and at the same time CMOS farmers and how do we manage how do we create a system Mr. Speaker which can cause farmers and divers and people doing kayaking and so on to coexist and we have the savans bay fisheries facility a perfect opportunity to get more employment a number of people are employed there because of the CMOS but it's a perfect opportunity for more employment if we have a sustainable system there and I like under the member for denry north the integrated ecosystem management is very important head 56 Mr. Speaker the department of economic development the youth economy extremely important and a number of young people from view fort north have been applying to the youth economy agency and we are from the level of the constituency Mr. Speaker we will be providing some support because a number of these young people yes they want to apply but they need people to help them with the business plans and I promise both the youth and those who are applying to the MSME that we will provide that support get a few professionals pay them and have them assist them with the business plans because we want our people in view fort north Mr. Speaker to become independent there are several of them they have businesses if you go around the constituency Mr. Speaker and you see the number of not just young people in view fort north so many people I have said before in this house as a place you get the best wraps the best fish wrap the best chicken wrap the best pork wrap in view fort north in the opiko belvi grass area to get the best food Mr. Speaker if you have not gone there Mr. Speaker I know you may not know view fort north very well Mr. Speaker but if you don't I invite you to the constituency Mr. Speaker you know Shuzel so we and he I invite everyone Mr. Speaker so we have a number of businesses in view fort north and I'm sure they will benefit from this from CMOS processing kwaft and there are some developments there which are very very important so the youth economy we look forward to the benefits of the youth economy and head 56 the department of economic development the St. Jude hospital reconstruction project the CDP as I said before but another very important one the street lighting and replacement project Mr. Speaker this one is a very critical one and I'm sure not just for me but for all the colleagues the street lighting issue is a very important one Mr. Speaker all around the constituency we have lights lamp poles the lights have gone bad and it's a safety it's also a safety issue and I know the government is trying the minister for finance is trying to get this resolved but my constituents are clamoring for improved street lighting some areas come to mind like when you live Zabo to Bellevue the area of La Ritwet going to Miel a place we call Miel where Anderson Reynolds is there he had a lot of beehives there so this whole area is dark and many areas in view for north so I think head 56 street lighting replacement project is very critical I move to head 51 Mr. Speaker the department of equity social justice and empowerment the human capital resilience project where we are looking at the public assistance program coverage of the poor and I'm sure this is not just for view for north when you go around the country Mr. Speaker you get so many more elderly people who need assistance so many more elderly people who want to go to comfort bay that the relatives can take care of them some people are overseas and so on I think this is critical and our government putting people first Mr. Speaker care for the elderly and care for the people who are challenged is very important and I'm impressed by this allocation here Mr. Speaker the home care program $7.8 million on the head 51 I just wish Mr. Speaker we had the funds to employ more home caregivers and I have said before I know the prime minister agrees to that maybe not this year maybe next year maybe when we can afford it we can just continue training home caregivers we may not have enough we may have too many in a year period but Mr. Speaker this is becoming a demand not just in St. Lucia but around the Caribbean and around the world I know several individuals who got trained as home caregivers in St. Lucia and they are now working in Canada they are now working in the United States of America look two of them told me they are going to Miami because they have certificates and so on I'm not sure the last government did it like us proper training CVQs and all that kind of thing but Mr. Speaker that is very important the home care program is very important is a flagship of the Labour Party and we must continue it line 0466 crime and violence interruption $150,000 Mr. Speaker very important so the Minister for Finance $11,000,000 in social and economic support on the head 51 that is a this is a government which cares Mr. Speaker the Member of Parliament for Cassries is again demonstrates that despite the challenges we will allocate $11,000,000 in social and economic support Head 58 Department of Housing and local government Mr. Speaker again the recurrent issues the proud program at Opiko I am pleased Mr. Speaker that we have a little more speed because I note that the surveyors are on ground in Opiko they have been in Opiko for a while doing the surveys and so on and I continue to encourage the people of V4 North to refrain from squatting Mr. Speaker we are trying to rationalize so that everybody gets the pegs and the lot your land paper however you can pay it go to the bank and however little you can pay it but the squatting the continuous squatting is a problem I understand Mr. Speaker many years ago we had a serious issue people there were no systems in place but now we have a system in place okay with proud and the ministry so the squatting issue is a serious one and I want to say this in the house because the people of V4 North were listening to me the hill Mr. Speaker above Opiko many people believe this is government land and so people are starting to put little plywood houses there over and over again this land does not belong to the government and the owners of that land when they come to claim their land people come to my office and tell me I want to take a bite I want to take a bite Mr. Speaker I want to take a bite what we are trying to do is to assist those people who squatted some time ago on government land rationalize the land so if you want to take a bite the committee will help the youth but we do not want to take money from Opiko and say this is the government mama say let's say muna gaivin pwantayo nukai ni poblem no I want to say this Mr. Speaker because this will create a problem so because they are rationalizing those quarters were there before people believe they will also get the land no so I want to make that plea let us hope with those who are there already and the member for Kastri Central and his ministry they are working to cause that to be achieved the national housing and assistance program in 2022 Mr. Speaker we were able to build a few houses for some elderly people some people who are sick and so on and the people are here for no woody supplier I don't need to go through it and we are able to assist many people with housing repair the demand is very high I don't know what we are going to do this year but the demand is very high but we are going to focus on assisting the most vulnerable nupania shaya shayila jabu wajie tutsekaila nukai fe konupi nanisala I am very pleased Mr. Speaker with the 0086 HEAD 51 local government and community projects 1.5 million the councils Mr. Speaker I know the councils will be getting some assistance and the view for now constituency council they have many programs and they really looking forward to the support and the caretakers program Mr. Speaker project I see 2 million for the caretakers project I am very pleased to see the return of the caretakers project because anytime we have a stimulus program a lot of our time is spent cleaning along the roadside and so on so the caretakers project will help lemagareli moakila is the submesis a caretaker and I know many of you are looking forward to that HEAD 41 agriculture and fisheries very important to the constituency of Vifonoff I know the expansion of food crop production the cocoa sector enhancement we have many people from Vifonoff who are into cocoa processing cocoa production there are so many of them from Belville, Peru, Greece everywhere we have people munkika fekako, penkako puhue matinik, penkako puhue lotpe yogave ti penkako, go penkako jen penkako yogame de penkako ek kanel tutseba isa ek miskad tutseba isa a sort of Vifonoff and they are creating those beautiful packages to export Mr. Speaker we are going to give this people support to push we are going to give them support Mr. Speaker I am excited about the primary tillage equipment mechanization by the mission of agriculture this is going to assist farmers with the cost of production and so on and I love the banana management unit project I know there is an increase this year many of our farmers in Vifonoff we still have many banana farmers in the grace area the belvi area and canels just to name a few areas we have many farmers there who require assistance and as the minister of agriculture said Mr. Speaker our bananas are in demand and if our bananas are in demand what we need to do what the minister is doing is to help our farmers so that the cost of production can be lowered Mr. Speaker I want to spend the rest of my time which is about 45 to 50 minutes I think Mr. Speaker by my watch and just joking I want to spend the rest of my time to speak on head 53 which is the ministry of health, wellness and elderly affairs Mr. Speaker in 2022 23 our recurrent budget was $182,808,400 there's a variance Mr. Speaker of $1,000,000 over the approved estimates why is this so? why did we come out with more money than the revised sorry than the approved estimates Mr. Speaker it is because $296 was provisioned for the payment of salary increases to the staff at the St. Jude hospital we didn't leave them out $296,381 $296,381 we also assisted the procurement unit with $100,000 and the ministry of finance assisted us with another $700,000 to the office of the chief medical officer for the payment of medical assistance to the public Mr. Speaker we wish to thank the ministry of finance going forward Mr. Speaker but note that our recurrent recurrent expenditure in 23 24 in the coming year will show a $10,200,000 decrease and why is that? it's because Mr. Speaker the COVID-19 project actually took a big chunk of the estimates and this year the COVID-19 project would not occupy so much room in the estimates so to speak and when I speak about COVID-19 expenditure we're talking about supplies, we're talking about provisions, we're talking about stationary and so many other articles Mr. Speaker you would note also Mr. Speaker that in 2023-2024 we are increasing the consultancy votes to $29,319,762 a 234% increase because Mr. Speaker we are providing for salaries salary allowances, wages and so on for the respiratory consultancy votes to transfer personnel to the Owen King A-Hospital and the new castries the new polyclinic but I'm just listing them during the policy debate Mr. Speaker we'll say a lot more about that we are moving ahead with the transfer of the castries wellness center to the urban polyclinic at Victoria hospital as the minister for finance indicated we are also making provisions for 4.5 million dollars for the employment of Cuban nationals to assist us, nurses and doctors and so forth I'm extremely excited Mr. Speaker that provisions for the new universal healthcare project maternal and child services provisions were made in the amount of 1.8 million dollars and I am so excited about that but not the excitement will not manifest itself today Mr. Speaker I will explain all of that no I'll explain all of that in the policy debate Mr. Speaker we also made provisions for consultancies under the San Jude reconstruction project and also for the transition of the San Jude facility so we are not just talking the talk we are putting money because we know that there will be costs which will be incurred to transition San Jude so we have allocated for that Mr. Speaker and here is another exciting thing in the estimates a 10% increase or 7 million dollars increase in grants contributions and subvention over the revised period in 2022-23 a 3 million increase in the subvention for the San Jude hospital a 3.6 million increase in the subvention to the Millennium Heights complex OKU and so on 10,000 dollars increase for Diabetic and Hypotensive Association 20,000 to cater for the Childhood Development Center 10,000 to the autism society 20,000 to the cerebral policy association 300,000 increase to cater for additional medical assistance for individuals who are challenging circumstances Mr. Speaker at this point I want to say we note the request for others for increases like the Planned Parenthood and elderly care homes and so on but these we will continue to discuss but we want to assist all organizations who do their work in the communities Mr. Speaker I want to speak again to Head 53 the capital the job estimates Mr. Speaker reflect a positive variance of 10.5 million dollars in the capital a 281 percent increase over last year why is this so Mr. Speaker why is this so this is so because the Minister of Finance has kept his promise and has indicated that our focus will be on security and health and therefore in the capital we see 1 million dollars for the establishment of the urban poly clinic 1.3 million dollars for additional rehabilitation of the St. Jude Hospital at the stadium because there are things that are breaking down all the time 1.8 million dollars for the upgrade of the deteriorated hot water system at the mental wellness complex 500,000 dollars for the reconstruction of the Law issues wellness center 500,000 dollars for VA Bati Law issues wellness center under the health system strengthening project refurbishment of the oxygen plant and also equipment we also providing for 1.7 million dollars for the purchase of equipment and that is health centers throughout the country and also 3.9 million dollars to finalize some payments for building an infrastructure under the COVID-19 project and so forth Mr. Speaker I'm very pleased with the allocations that have been made by the minister for finance to the department of health wellness and earlier affairs if we are to take a cursory look at some of the performances Mr. Speaker the estimates of revenue and expenditure would normally speak to your rate of implementation and some of our areas which we have responsibility for for example the OECS regional health project and the implementation rate so far Mr. Speaker is at 44% the health system strengthening project last year when we came the implementation rate was 7% this year the implementation rate Mr. Speaker is at 95% 95% put with change in structure and management and so on and I wish to thank the officers for the work the same jude hospital in relation to monies which were allocated early last year for some changes at the hospital in some equipment not equipment but infrastructure and so on that initial sum of 1.5 million dollars 100% technical cooperation and the COVID-19 response the implementation rate 98% Mr. Speaker it is very clear that head 53 ministry for health wellness and elderly affairs there are several bright areas we have our challenges Mr. Speaker but I really want to thank the public secretary and the staff and my secretary and all those in the hospitals it is very hard to ensure that we reach our targets and go for 10 minutes left that's fine Mr. Speaker thanks Mr. Speaker I just wanted to say to you that under the economic development portfolio the St. Jude hospital reconstruction project it falls there but I want to tell you Mr. Speaker that a number of achievements were had we had many achievements at St. Jude in terms of the expenditure and for example the removal and reconstruction of the east wing canopies costing 126,000 the rehabilitation of the inventory warehouse costing 384,000 redesigning and rehabilitation of the triage triage sorry triage boost and so on another 33,000 and work sound growing Mr. Speaker to complete the rehabilitation of the emergency room resuscitation bay and a lot of other things Mr. Speaker our patient walking clinic the security office the eye clinic, bacteriology department supply and furniture to the department at St. Jude and so forth we can go through this Mr. Speaker and you can see in every department the health system strengthening project supply of vehicles supply of essential medical equipment supply of equipment for communication supply of universal transport medium medium kits supply of pharmaceuticals supply of lab equipment all of these were successfully achieved Mr. Speaker universal healthcare is moving forward moving forward very quickly very quickly Mr. Speaker I wish to thank Dr. Alicia Eugene Ford the permanent secretary her whole team and all those other ministry who are pushing the CMO the strategic team and I just want to tell you just a few things we are currently drafting the white paper and this white paper will give us a roadmap and there have been white papers draft white papers and so on they have been documents before but we have included professionals from St. Lucia Mr. Speaker many of the professionals who worked on UHC before we have included them in our health financing discussions so what have we achieved a number of them drafting of the white paper the health financing policy we had a world bank group and a Korean partnership agency we had a very important workshop on the international knowledge exchange in health financing a team is leaving St. Lucia very soon to go to South Korea to continue this work the essential package of health services Mr. Speaker it has been reviewed and final work on it is being done by an actuarial consultancy firm mental child health services sorry maternal child health services will be launched in May and we have provision in the budget for that and what does that mean our dream Mr. Speaker is that when we launch the maternal and child health health care services that any lady who becomes pregnant will get a number of services without paying upfront or without paying out of pocket so the ultrasounds and so on a number of them will be part of the universal health care initiative trading has been done a number of trading sessions for midwives and so forth we are also working on the registration and issuance of health cards and the advice is that we should do it in a phased way so as we are doing maternal and child health care you will see us going into giving health cards so when you go to the hospital and you can swipe it will say you are Saint Lucien and it connects all the IT services so the doctors can know what to do and give you your treatment Mr. Speaker cancer screening and early detection we are hoping that by September of 2023 we are going to announce a major a major initiative in there and the cancer registry Mr. Speaker we will know that one of our doctors ahead of the Saint Lucia Cancer Society Dr. Remy is very passionate about this and we are going to work to develop in a cancer registry we have our communication plan we have a universal health coverage unit and the activities are moving very smoothly in the time left Mr. Speaker in terms of the achievements I want to also tell you that we established our biomedical workshop at Victoria Hospital and I can also report to you Mr. Speaker that 31 different categories of biomedical equipment were repaired in the last financial year Mr. Speaker we are focusing on biomedical equipment which need repairs and biomedical equipment biomedical equipment which we are purchasing Mr. Speaker we want to ensure that the parts we can get parts easily and so forth because as I have said before a lot of the problems we have in equipment at our hospitals and health centers and so on is because we have expensive gifts and we do not have people who have the regular training to maintain all of them so what we are trying to do is to develop a cadre of we have a few one or two to develop a cadre of 10 individuals to take care of the biomedical equipment what can I tell you about the Millennium Heights Medical Complex the work that the board is doing and the team in administration it will take you 40 days and 40 nights Mr. Speaker to tell you all of the work they are doing we know that the Millennium Heights Medical Complex we have severe challenges especially in accident and emergency people go there and they stay there for a very long period of time somebody has a bus tour they are 240 them at midnight so they end up at the accident and emergency section of the Millennium Heights Medical Complex we are hoping that this will be cured or at least in some measure when we implement and institute the urban poly clinic and hopefully we can make it a 24 hour urban poly clinic eventually so that the pressure on Millennium Heights to be reduced Millennium Heights Medical Complex is reviewing all of its financing models without increasing the charge at the hospitals at the hospital without increasing the charge hoping to be more efficient they are working on the oxygen plant they are working on the backup generator they are working on having a 24 hour pharmacy service and they are recruiting pharmacies as we speak the St. Jude Hospital is recruiting pharmacies what I want to tell you is these estimates of revenue and expenditure apart from it demonstrating that the minister for finance knows what he is about he is not talking like he is a guru or boasting that he has the best management and he whatever he walks the walk he brought us a surplus on the primary account Mr. Spears he also paid all of our obligations the salary to the public servants that increases the back pay and we had a little issue at St. Jude Hospital Mr. Speaker nothing to worry about as such it had to do with the timing the St. Jude workers would have received the back pay in June and a number of them felt if the other staff members were receiving the back pay now why don't give them the back pay now and I know what it feels like when you don't have your back pay yet and so Mr. Speaker the board quickly met with them and agreed that let's do something let's give you half it's 4% let's give you half in April and half in June and they agreed Mr. Speaker so we can be vexed with them Mr. Speaker back pay is back pay and there's an agreement for June but the board I thank them for talking to the workers and getting things organized this labor party government we are workers government Mr. Speaker everything we do we come out of the workers movement we are workers government so we'll do all that we can all that we can to ensure that our workers get the due and the revenue of estimates and expenditure demonstrate what the Prime Minister intends to do my constituency Mr. Speaker have explained to you that I am confident that these estimates of revenue and expenditure will benefit my constituency so we will work at the department we will do everything to ensure that we get the activity from Sa'a Avifonov we will join the Prime Minister with Lotkaivini so I thank you Mr. Speaker I support the estimates of revenue and expenditure the motion has presented by the Prime Minister and I will give the Prime Minister my full support Mr. Speaker with the rest of my colleagues we are going to boost the health sector we are going to work together and this government will succeed is succeeding and we have put the people first and will continue to put the people first I thank you Mr. Speaker