 Mr. Speaker There's two tales to this story. I'm contemplating which which end to start with first so let me maybe start With the kumala that we're all having so I can join in To say I too Welcome any investment that we're going to do in the field of Again like what I said in tourism Mr. Speaker I welcome now this enthusiasm and all of a sudden this resurgence on This need to invest in quality playing facilities by the government because while I was in government mr. Speaker I was wondering for a moment When we were putting in Astro turf facilities putting down world-class tracks Improving the quality of sports in this country you would have thought that we were committing the biggest sin I'm still hearing it today, so I'm not understanding this. I think the member from View for itself spoke about this Confusing personalities so on one hand We're here today To come and approve 80 million dollars, but on the other hand when we were spending 33 million dollars It was bad That you're going to put down Astro turf facilities in Miku in Denry with lights Then you're going to put down facilities in in Denry That we forgot about we forgot about the Grosally Sports Academy we forgot about the lights throughout the length and the breadth of this country and I am ecstatic At the champions tournament Because it's always been our aspiration that sports must be in the community that we must bring sports to an organized level To be the equivalent of what we have seen on the aquatic center, mr. Speaker That is the example of clubs of being able to have one swimming facility with six seven clubs primary secondary and At the primary level three levels into beginning beginners intermediate in advance and The idea mr. Speaker that it's competition that is going to create excellence and Every time that they were bringing International teams from a broad at the aquatic center the six or seven clubs now could create three teams of the best of the best Want to see it with basketball and we said where do we need to begin because I think it's accepted around this table That is with the best interest of all of us given our resources We have to choose which sporting disciplines we want to go to and again. I welcome the debates In our government we said the disciplines that we want to support are the disciplines that are gender-neutral boys and girls Discipline that offers the greatest opportunity for scholarships and that happens to be in the states and Thirdly a discipline that offers young people who succeed at an international level the opportunity to go professional And I think without a lot of discourse we can have it That football is a number one sport boys and girls Scholarships at division one division two division three and the most professional leagues around the world Huge opportunity for young people and if you're going to build a football field It's obvious that you should build a track and Again track is what gender-neutral lots of scholarships at multiple divisions in United States of America and a lot of professional leagues Whether it's basketball whether it's volleyball we have to choose those and we have seen success in swimming So I'm hoping mr. Speaker Like what some of the members have said here that the 80 million dollars is Going to be spent with some level of thought and strategy and to appreciate How expensive this money is because one thing to consider for a moment that it's a 15-year loan at 4% may be easy to fool ourselves that this is cheap money. This is expensive money There's also something that we must do ourselves if we're going to be honest with each other They're in Sammy Stadium How much is a sufficient amount of revenue that the stadium ought to generate in its own upkeep and I put it word we collective Over the years if we have not been able to find that formula as to how we can utilize that Facility because again, that was a big part of World Cup cricket the first time around is Not to build these monstrosities and that there was some life after them that they would be able to generate revenue So where did we get it wrong? How come we're not able to generate sufficient revenue at the Darren Sammy Stadium? To do so and Hopefully if we're going to be making improvements to the facility It is with that in mind that we're trying to improve the sustainability the viability So we don't have to keep having good money chase More good money meaning that the facility can generate some level of resources for its own maintenance so mr. Speaker sports is in very important and Holding ourselves accountable is equally important. So mr. Speaker, let me get to the flip side of This discussion the member from castries east in his presentation and again, I want to say I pointed out that trust is Important so the first presentation of the house I question the truthfulness in the information I leave it to the public to determine for themselves the truthfulness about the deputy speaker and what really transpired And what the intentions of the government and I'm going to speak today again about the truthfulness of this presentation Because the truthfulness of this presentation is It we're seeing history repeat itself again Remember from castries east and some of the other members alluded to it Darren Sammy Stadium That we borrowed money for Darren Sammy to build Darren Sammy's dear and the assumptions that were made in that loan did not Manifest themselves in fact The Bank of Nova Scotia came very close mr. Speaker So foreclosing on that book and what happened mr. Speaker Republic Bank almost foreclosed on it and what happened mr. Speaker in A contract was signed with the then Lottery from Canada Where they were given? the rights to do a lottery in St. Lucia and The money that the lottery was collecting they gave the guarantee to pay to him in fact so much so mr. Speaker What happened was is that the NLA? Was left with a subvention of about $25,000 a month mr. Speaker of all the money was hurt And therefore the NLA and what it was intended to do to be able to help the young people of this country Could not do so because it had inadequate resources And in fact mr. Speaker it is when the deal with cage came in and that was renegotiated mr. Speaker and Cage ended up taking over the guarantee of the loan to bring in the slot machine Some persons here who said over their dead body, but I still see them alive today mr. Speaker said The lottery ended up increasing its revenue to somewhere between 400 and $600,000 a month now mr. Speaker Here's where now the purpose of the debate in parliament is important The question that was not asked and not even brought up by anyone is Is the NLA in a position to? Service this law or do we see that history is about to repeat itself again? I Also want to point out mr. Speaker That and maybe I'm confused as to what the member from castries he said is it the chicken or the egg is it a contingent liability Because we have the loan or is it that the NLA could not take this loan by itself and Therefore and therefore in not being able to service the loan by itself That it had to obtain a government guarantee and getting that government guarantee mr. Speaker is what created now a contingent liability and for the edification of the general public What does the contingent liability mean it means that this is a liability on the books of the government of solution This is debt that the government of solution now must put down So our debt to GDP has now increased by 80 million dollars Now mr. Speaker I've tried to get the more current numbers from the NLA I'm very happy that the minister of sports is here, and I'm very happy and I deliberately wanted to speak before him because I Certainly wanted to be able to hear the answer I want to hear the answer because I can't imagine mr. Speaker that he would have come all this way to say nothing So No, he came from his sick bed. He came from his sick bed according to the speaker So mr. Speaker You made an excuse for the gentleman, mr. Speaker Okay, you didn't say he was sick. No problem. I oh the Prime Minister did my apologies my apologies my apologies my apologies So When we left office, I? Knew that the NLA was making summer between 600 and 800,000 dollars a month If we take this loan mr. Speaker for simple math it says three and a half million dollars biannually Which means it's seven million dollars per year Which means we're talking about how much money? Just under 600 and 600 and something thousand dollars a month and I have been informed I don't know so let me put that on the on the table mr. Speaker I don't have the evidence to support it, but I've been informed that the revenue at the NLA has decreased So the question is Here it is on one hand the skirt of Kenya is that We're going to celebrate the youth We have an entity called the NLA whose main and prime objective in setting it up was moneys to be able to go to the youth Scholarships sports, etc We see a loan being taken And according to what has been told and I very much support what some of the members in this house have said That maybe there needs to be a greater spread of that wealth around the country And if the NLA is supposed to pay that money back and there's not an emphasis as to whether that where that money is going to be generated It's worrisome And I know that certainly when I was the minister of finance That we went out of our way to make sure that one third of the moneys that we were obtaining from the Taiwanese Which was about 12 million US dollars a year? One third of that every year was being spent on sports development. I remember that is moneys that we're getting that are grant So this loan has a Multiple impact one it increases the amount of debt that the country has two if in fact due diligence has not been done or maybe it has been done on the NLA and Maybe the members knew before they came to this house the reason why the guarantee was being given and So to put off the table that the government may have to come in and find resources to pay off this loan It's not an unreasonable question to ask It's not unreasonable because we've seen it happen before We saw it happen with the down Sammy Stadium. So this Schizophrenia that was being referred to is How on one hand when one government is in office and is trying to do things to develop sports? That can be perceived as being a bad thing the members have been in government for three years and Continue to threaten to bring all kinds of things to expose How illegal the things were I mean I even listened to my very good colleague from castries southeast The same gentleman who is involved in the The scandal administers account scandal from the NLA who received monies was paid monies through his company to build a Changing room facility for five hundred and fifty thousand loss has the audacity mr. Speaker to come to this house and want to talk about what? Accountability and transparency Really? That's what he wants to come in and convince us in this house mr. Speaker The same the same issue where members on the opposite side want to try to do what they've done all day today is Every time that you are hitting a nerve is to deflect and Not take account for what their actions were mr. Speaker This this idea of the ministers account was what? Funds that were coming that into the NLA that were being assigned by the board to allow the minister to make the payments on his own The NLA does not have that authority The entity that's in charge of and the custodian of the NLA money is the NLA board Maybe one of the good things that's coming out of this is that there is no money to put into a minister's account if that was to reoccur Because clearly there's a problem But maybe But maybe mr. Speaker by chance That the economy is doing so well and That people have more disposable income in their hands and the lot trees are actually doing better than they were ever before and There's a significant amount of new revenue that's being generated and I have it all wrong But somehow mr. Speaker I doubt that's the case Because this loan speaks to almost six hundred thousand dollars a month of revenue $600,000 a month mr. Speaker to pay this loan That is why the NLA had to get a government guarantee That is why and it's because this government is giving the NLA a guarantee that it has become a contingent liability Because I put it to you mr. Speaker If in fact the NLA could have paid for this loan by itself and the bank felt comfortable that the NLA could do so because it has its own Revenue stream mr. Speaker. It earns its own money Very easy for it to have done that If in fact it had taken the loan and did not need a government guarantee Would this be a contingent liability to the state the answer is no and This is why I'm speaking mr. Speaker when we come to this house and it's happening way too often That the members on the opposite side mr. Speaker are continuing are continuing Mr. Speaker I'm so accustomed to that you know mr. Speaker even when we had a session before on the CDB loan If I had if I had spoken all those people who had chosen not to speak would speak So I'm accustomed and then guess what mr. Speaker if the members on the opposite side because what I have said are Prepared to speak then I have done my job It is my responsibility mr. Speaker as the leader of the opposition to ask those questions The questions that they themselves have not been willing to answer That is what we call democracy and at the end of the day not about running is when not whether I'm here or not It's answering to the people not to me. You owe me nothing. You owe me nothing You owe as you all said you all owe me Alan Shastney nothing at the end of the day You are accountable to the people and I'm simply mr. Speaker Providing some of the questions that have not been addressed and need to be addressed No, that was your responsibility when you're in opposition All I'm saying to mr. Speaker we have to be able to stop speaking with fork tongues At the end of the day both political parties have had significant youth movements Both political parties have embraced this development of sports Both political parties should appreciate mr. Speaker How talented our people are and that we need to develop a level of competition in our country That does not allow them or cause them to have to leave this country to become better And I am looking forward to the day When we have the athletes that can go through the entire system So if you take a you say in both mr. Speaker And see that he that he all of a sudden went from high school from junior school to high school And that his coach in high school mr. Speaker was his coach professionally That is when you know that you have a sporting Discipline in which you are world class mr. Speaker Before I sit I want to address that because it's something that continuously comes up It's so ridiculous that I have tried my best to ignore it At the end of the day the entity that was giving Julian alfred I hate bringing this up because I don't want in any way for it to be overly politicized Was the nla so when I hear members on the other side say that the prime minister or the minister of finance stopped her allocation total rubbish The other nla board was a decision being made by nla and the minister at the time who was the minister of sports Knew that he was taking some of the money that was allocated under the minister's account And the issue the issue was the governance of the minister's account Not anything else. The fact is that he did not have the authority to do that That is that was funds under the nla and the nla board should have never set aside monies And to allow him to decide what projects to pick which contractors Some of them were sitting in this house mr. Speaker who benefited from that Who were running in government at the time mr. Speaker And want to run away from that and all of a sudden want to point fingers at other people mr. Speaker Let us fix the system If in fact he thinks that something went wrong with um the con the the the bexons community center remedy it Get it fixed Oh come to this house and pretend And only tell people half the story Because that is what is happening in this house too often mr. Speaker Half the truth not the full truth. So the end of the day. I want to know Is this loan going to significantly deplete the programs the nla has And what is the intention of the government to remedy that problem? And I also agree with what some of the members said here in this house That 80 million dollars is a lot of money. That's a lot of sporting facilities And i'm certainly hoping like the member from uh view for itself That we're going to see the wealth spread Because young people live everywhere in this country And so hope you have a program and I don't expect 80 million dollars to solve all the problems mr. Speaker By far it's not going to But certainly there needs to be a greater level of transparency The transparency not only in how the money is being spent mr. Speaker But the transparency on what is the strategy that we have And to convince the general public and young people in particular that this is not hop-shot This is not a politician sitting at a table trying to decide who is going to get what And that there's a clear strategy and a commitment to sports and disciplines in this country mr. Speaker So mr. Speaker, I have listened to the prime minister I've listened to many of the people speak i'm looking forward to listen to the minister of sports speak I certainly did not hear any of the things that i've brought up being addressed And i'm hoping now that i've brought them to your attention that they will do the right thing And account for the 80 million dollars To be able to now admit That the nla the nla by itself mr. Speaker Is not in a financial capability Capability of taking on this loan And that if it was not for the government guarantee We would not have to have a contingent liability and that this is now going to increase the debt of this country 200 million dollars from the saudis 100 million dollars that we got from cdb 100 million dollars we just got today mr. Speaker another 80 million dollars I can go back to the african bank loan development bank loan And I can go back to so many things to show that this government has borrowed in excess of 700 million dollars And we have very little to show for it mr. Speaker and I am I am concerned With what is transpiring and i'm hoping again that this government when they come to make presentations that they're going to be substantially more Transparent and truthful to the public of sanducia. I thank you