 Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, to be honest, having heard the Prime Minister delineate all the plans that the money would be used for, and I listened with utmost attention to the Minister of Education, and of course, the wealth of knowledge came from the mouth of the member from Vuefort South, experience, you know, I think we got Lysition in experience. It was never my intention, Mr. Speaker, to cause any kind of unintellectual indentation in those presentations that came before me. But you know, Mr. Speaker, I was awoken by some noise. Some noise, Mr. Speaker, I dare say that came from an empty vessel, and it provoked the compunction to at least set the record straight in a few regards. First and foremost, Mr. Speaker, I want to compliment the Prime Minister and member for Casteries East for having the foresight and not taking the cue of the former administration because he knew there may be difficult times when the Speaker may be absent and the business of the people have to continue. And in that regard, he said he's not conducting the business of government without a deputy Speaker, and today we are able to proceed. So, Mr. Speaker, that is at least one lesson that the leader of the opposition ought to learn. Then he said he reminded us that tomorrow is Valentine's Day. And guess what? I want to send my love to all the beautiful women in St. Lucian. But the member of the view for South, meaning the folks that he is, said to all women, and you know, in a very conniving way, the leader of the opposition would say now, all women are beautiful, so he meant everybody. But that was not his intention because he is the very one who on radio, national radio, blamed single mothers, the very women to whom he wants to send love today, he blamed them for the state of criminal activity in St. Lucian, even threatening to dispossess them of their children. Now, Mr. Speaker, I'm not the best of orators. I am no English teacher, but I've never heard any word called, what's it, mythology? I have heard of methodology, so I don't know if that's what the leader of the opposition wanted to say. Neither have I, I know of any word verification. I know of verification. Tomorrow is not Valentine's Day. It is Valentine's Day. So I just felt I needed to make those observations before I go to the gist of my contribution. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition has the audacity to say that this government has no plans and anything they touch, nothing happens. I am indeed amazed, Mr. Speaker, that that kind of claim can come from the mouth of a man who in 2016 took the economy of this country as the best in the OECS and when he released it in 2021, obviously against his will, it was the worst in the OECS. He took it from best to worst, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, he took amidst difficult time, amidst difficult time, Mr. Speaker, our rental expense as a government was about $30 million a year. He doubled it, Mr. Speaker, in a five year stint. He took it from 30 to pretty close to $70 million a year. And in the interim, Mr. Speaker, renting five offices from his father when he held the chair of prime minister. You know, and this is a man who says nothing happens, Mr. Speaker. Nothing happens. Mr. Speaker, he alluded to the economic review of last year. I thought that the prime minister and the statisticians had disclosed an early copy of the 2023-2024 to him, but obviously not because I've heard him speak about that before. But never, he has never done it when he was in office because it served as a good, it served him in good stead. But today everything he tells you is that the statistics are just estimate or guesstimates. He spoke, Mr. Speaker, about us having no plans and he did not say this and he did not say that. I want to say this, Mr. Speaker. The last administration had absolutely no care, no favor, no general inclination to ensure that we had a more educated electorate, a more educated population, unless there was gain to be had by persons within the administration. And I'll explain. We saw, Mr. Speaker, that allocations under the United Workers Party government were made, allocations, Mr. Speaker, under the United Workers Party government were made for a private school, CHDTI, a private school run by the wife of a minister in government. That was the only time there was a semblance of emphasis on education in the same vein, Mr. Speaker. The University of the West Indies proposed to the then government that their desires of transforming Sir Arthur Lewis Community College into a full university and there was no reception on the part of the last administration to ensure that this transformation happened, which invariably would have redone to the economic advantage of this country. They told you we are not prepared to deal with that. You know what you did? They run to Antigua and Antigua embraced them. They gave St. Lucia the first opportunity because St. Lucia has the largest economy in the U.S. years. We have the largest economy in the U.S. years, so they came here. But because the last set of persons that run the country showed total apathy in relation to the education of our people, they let you go. Mr. Speaker, any establishment, any school, any learning center that brings with it the reputation of the University of the West Indies will carry with it economic advantages that are too numerous to mention. Taxidrivers, property owners, supermarkets, vendors, persons with apartments. In Barbados, I lived in one step and almost every house there, every house in close proximity to Cavill campus have apartments. Each and every one and persons actually live on the University. But here we had a golden opportunity. A golden opportunity and it was permitted to go. It was permitted to go. And today you want to come and talk about as though you have this passion for education. Mr. Speaker, how can a leader of the opposition have any passion for education when he being on a political platform rather than telling persons who intend to attract to vote for him? Rather than telling them, I will provide you with an opportunity to upgrade your education on that of your children. He'll say to them, I know you are good at taking care of horses. I know you are good at taking care of horses. So it was Mr. Speaker, that was the kind of, you know, the total disrespect and disregard that our people were seen in the eyes of the leader of the opposition, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I often say I really dislike liars and it reaches a point where I often say sometimes whether it's right or wrong, I hate liars. But for a man who has carried the mantle of prime ministership of this country to stand in this august chamber and to be lying so blatantly as we say colloquially, Mr. Speaker, say I crave chair. Say I crave chair. An 80-year-old building, St. Jude. Which 80-year-old building? Let's set this here. To build dinner, that St. Jude guy at 12 years old said building, no, he just fed. To let St. Jude be laid. Your quasi St. Jude guy at 12 years old said building, it is not true. And he keeps repeating it, Mr. Speaker. He keeps repeating it. He repeats it with a passion. 80-year-old building. Mr. Speaker, the question is, the question is, had this building, in fact, they are not, they were not one building, they were 14 buildings. If any building was 80 years old, why on earth did he got two of them that cost the government and people $7 million? He just destroyed them. He went in there and he put an excavator in two recently built buildings that cost the $7 million. You know, the same way, Mr. Speaker, he demolished custody suites. You know, he demolished custody suites and it's costing us over $4 million to build it back. On the eve of an election, whether he is smart, semi-smart or otherwise, he demolished a bridge in Souffre. On the eve of an election, well, the Souffre people had him to pay for it. He paid the price and then did his political purchases in Miku South. He bought what he had to buy to ensure that he found himself in this chamber. He demolished it. He demolished police headquarters and it hurts me. You know, Mr. Speaker, you used to be on Bridge Street and you would hear the melody of the police band. And once you walk in, you want to dance, oh how sweet they sounded. Today, I'm not saying if the building needs to be demolished. You don't put preparatory mechanisms in place. They demolish and rebuild the man. They demolish police headquarters and up to today, we don't have the semblance of a real police band. They are all over the place. Guess what? Some of them are his father's building. You know, how can we do something like that? You are not ready to rebuild Central Police Station. You demolished it and have a police station on Bridge Street that is logistically inconvenient. How can you have a Central Police Station on Bridge Street? That is the main thoroughfare in the city. You know, and today this is the man who wants to talk. This is the man who wants to talk. Well, I'm using where he demolished the thing as a carpark now. That's the only use I could put it to. He has absolutely no moral authority to speak on anything. When you talk about crime, Mr. Speaker, and he went down that road so I have to speak on it a bit. You compare what this government has done for the police vis-à-vis what he did, any little piece of equipment that the police needed under his reign. His wife would hold balls. They would hold balls to generate the relevant revenue to buy stuff for the police. And I can say this, Mr. Speaker, because I saw it overtly. The member from Swaz El-Sultibus had to be modeling. He modeled, Mr. Speaker, to raise funds for the police. You know, taking ministers of government to go and model. Member forecast essential. Yes. Can we redirect your contribution to Mr. Speaker? It was the member, the leader of the opposition. It was the leader of the opposition, Mr. Speaker, who spoke about crime. He spoke about crime. So I am telling you and he was the one who said everything. There is nothing we do. That makes sense. Oh, the modeling. Yes. Oh, the modeling. Yes. You have to raise funds for the police. Your wife holding balls to buy stuff for the police. She was holding balls to raise funds. Having the member. I remember the member for Grozile at the time, you know, in Hills, in Hills way as a minister modeling. But today we treat the police with respect. We treat the police with regard. And the police, since the assumption of governance by this administration have received over 50 new vehicles, Mr. Speaker, from motorcycles and we held no balls. No balls at all, Mr. Speaker. So don't come inside of him, Mr. Speaker. Don't come inside of him and pretend you have the moral authority to speak about anything. You know, you don't have the moral authority to speak about anything. Mr. Speaker, a lot of the money's of this country and today we have to borrow because if our money's were not squandered, if there was less corruption, probably the prime minister would not have had to move that motion. Mr. Speaker, in 2017, in 2011, sorry, 2010, St. Lucia enjoyed the highest rate of freedom from corruption in 2010 under the member for Castries North. We were 71 out of 108. The member for Viewford South took over in 2011 and he kept it at 71. It was kept at 71 throughout the five-year tenure of the Labor Administration between 2011 and 2016. Mr. Speaker, when the United Workers Party came in in 2016, our freedom from corruption index stood at a high of 71 out of 100. But guess what? In 2017, it plummeted downward to its lowest low, 40, making 2017 the most corrupt year in our history. Let me repeat that. 2017, under the leadership of the leader of the opposition as prime minister, we dropped by 31 points. 2017 was our most corrupt year in the history of this country. And in Kenpip, in Kenpip, in 2021, we took it up at 45 in 2022. Member for Castries Central, you referred to the member as member of Castries East. I guess I have been colloquial and I permit me the latitude to at least be a little colloquial in the honorable chamber. Member, you referred to the member as member for Castries East. Very well, Mr. Speaker. Yes, when the member for Castries East came, he took it from 45 low in 2021. In 2022, it went up to 58. And in 2023, we are now at 59. We are an upper trajectory, Mr. Speaker, in terms of freedom from corruption. We are going up and up. And I'm hoping by the end of the term for us to get back to 71 where we once were. So when you see, and you know, Mr. Speaker, we are doing this for schools. We are doing this for students. We are doing this to better the lives of people. And a sore point, the leader of the opposition will mention Ojo Labs. So point, I have my difficulty with that. I have my difficulty with that. A foreign investor comes here and we spend five million dollars to retrofit a building for him. We are paying his workers and he repatriates his profits. I have my difficulty with that, Mr. Speaker. I have my difficulty and guess who's the lawyer? He wouldn't say. What is your point of order? The member is misleading the House. The member is suggesting that the government was paying the entire salary of all of the Ojo Labs workers. He said that we paid for the retrofitting and we paid for their salaries, which is not true. We only paid a very small portion for a year and a year. So I'm just going to say that please happen to do it correctly, Mr. Speaker. Member, member, member for Castro's south, members, members, members. If my memory serves me well, the member for Castro's central said that we paid five million to retrofit a building and we paid salaries, we paid salaries for. He did not say, I did not take that statement to mean that we paid the salaries in entirety. So he's saying that we paid salaries. I don't think it to mean that we paid the salaries in entirety. And by your own admission, member for Castro's central and by your own admission, I think it's fair to say that we paid part of the salaries. Go ahead, member for Castro's central. You see, Mr. Speaker, what is good at doing is qualifying and quantifying and coming under the guise of a point of order. If I were to be repetitious, I said he spent five million dollars to retrofit a building. He was paying salary for workers. I will not even say who the lawyer was and all profits were repatriated. That's what I said. That's exactly what I said, Mr. Speaker. I know what I'm talking about, you know, Mr. Speaker, because you see there was this thing about foreigners in this country. You come here without anything. Today we have to borrow money for our people. And that's a just cause. It is a just cause. We are borrowing money to elevate our people. But foreigners came here. Look at thousand acres at a dollar and acre. And even in an agreement, you know, the audacity of some people, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the leader of the opposition asserts that we are using CIP money to fix our roots. The intention of the CIP proceeds, Mr. Speaker, is to elevate the standard of living of our people. That's what the intention is. That's what the intention is. But guess what? We are using it to fix our roots. But you agreed. You signed an agreement together with your compatriot to permit you working, to sell passports, to put the money in an overseas account to which he alone had access. You know, if it's not worth it, we know who it is and what our problem is. It is a problem for us who serve the people who don't pass the CIP to save money. Let us sell passports to see what our CIP has done. But you agreed. You signed an agreement together with your compatriot and you signed an agreement with your compatriot. You know, Mr. Speaker, honestly, and this is the man who says the government has no clue. The record of this government, Mr. Speaker, in education, in education, in the first two years, Mr. Speaker, this government gave more scholarship than the last administration gave in five years. God, that is our record. Laptops, we brought it back. You know, Mr. Speaker, not too long ago, again, the hypocrisy of this man, and I couldn't go through the computer, Mr. Speaker, because something held me back. But again, artificial intelligence will cause me one day to go into the computer because I saw the man showing off educational supplies, educational supplies, and to say the future of our children must be protected. The future of our children must be protected. That is the same man. And you know what, Mr. Speaker, the benevolence of the member for Castries East is what has him now behaving the way he's behaving. I have brought that the member for Swazel one time saying, I get 100,000 a quarter. So that's 400,000 for the year. That will equal to 2 million for the term, 2 million for the term. How much did you give any of the persons who were in opposition then? Zero. You know, you should be ashamed of yourself, man, because the resources of this country do not belong to you. They belong to the people of this country and they must be equitably shed, man. Your minister, your colleague, he's bragging how he's getting 2 million dollars for the term. Absolutely nothing to opposition members, you know. And today, today, and when I saw those educational supplies, I said, oh my God, that member for Castries East, because he made an allocation. He made an allocation to him as well. And Mr. Speaker, when we came in, we started the housing program. Again, we didn't have to go and borrow money. We started the housing program and guess what? The leader of the opposition's letter was on point. He allocated every single penny and the first set of checks that left the treasury were checks for the leader of the opposition under the housing allocation. You know, putting people first, and then you will open your mouth and say that nothing is happening. Nothing is happening, but you can show a road. You today, you can show a road in Tiroche Miku. For five years, you were prime minister. You never did the road. You awaited the benevolence of the member of Castries East to give you an allocation and then you do the road and you post it on your page. You post it on your page. I showed it. I have it, you know. If you want me to start showing screens of of only education, they gave you an educational supply. You know what he did, Mr. Speaker? He took his educational allocation and buy laptops and the children are bragging, oh, Mr. Shaft, they buy his laptops. I'm quoting there, Mr. Speaker. You know, not realizing it is the member of Castries East that gave him an allocation, something he never did. You know, at some point, Mr. Speaker, I dare say I'm a sinner. We all are. And Romans 3.23 says for all of John 3.16, sorry, for all our sin and come short of the glory of God, I will, I will face the maker one day. But there are some people when you face the maker, he will ask you just disappear in front of me. The wickedness that you have shown to the people of this country, the wickedness that you have done to the poor people because the constituencies did not support you. You shall pay the price at some point in time. So, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, you know, I could go on and on about squandering our monies and if we had those monies, we came in, came here to borrow money to pay who came and group, you know, came and group to move from one hospital to another over two million dollars, over a million dollars a month, sorry, it was 25 million dollars for two years. And if I'm wrong, the minister of health can tell me, you know, why are you doing that to our people? We do have resources bringing a came and group and put in 25 million dollars for two years, man. Why? Why did you take our 7.3 million dollars and give it to the man for vaccine? Why? Why? And we've not received all of it back yet. Why? Don't you have a conscience, man? Don't you have a conscience? Isn't your conscience talking to you? Why would you take 32 million dollars and give Locobee? What did you bring Locobee here for? We did not need Locobee. Same way you brought Hepple. We did not need Hepple. We can run our affairs. And today, you pretend you have authority, you go to England, and because the taxpayers paying the money, you stay in a hotel for 2000 pounds a night. You think that's just this man on poor people? You think that's just this of poor people? You come here or anywhere, take the government vehicle, you start it from the time you leave your home until you go back home because you're not paying the fuel. Do you do that now? Do you do that now? And he's only facts I'm confronting you with. So you have no moral authority to speak on anything. He said, oh, it's skin. It's skin. You know, you ever hear the member of the castries is unless it's a call of utmost urgency, how outright as we want, we want, we don't if you don't know anyway. So, you know, those things hurt because it just says, Mr. Speaker, that once we are here, borrowing and fighting the cause of our people, our average people, some of them, unfortunately, we are fighting it in vain. We are fighting it in vain because you know what, Mr. Speaker, some of them, you know, when they swallow that yellow kool-aid, they lose their ability to rationalize. They lose it. And so, Mr. Speaker, I will wait for another tune because, you know, and look at the rates we're getting at that. Before you come in, you know, if I was a golden airport loan, over 15% on the airport loan, one man making all the money, he said, just send me the bills and he had in 7% on it. The country was bleeding, bleeding for the first time in history and I want you, I want a member for Miku North, for Miku South to tell me, when else has any commission been paid on a loan? And if you want to talk about transparency, tell the people of St. Lucia who got that commission and who authorized the payment of that commission, you are minister of finance. You know, these are the egregious deeds, financial deeds that the people of this country have had to undergo. And sadly, Mr. Speaker, even if they dealt him the little political blow on July 26, 2021, the remnants of his behavior are still being felt throughout the length and breadth of St. Lucia. Mr. Speaker, I'll take my seat without forgetting that I need to endorse this loan. If I could endorse it 40 times, I will endorse it 40 times, because this is truly in the interest of our poor people. And that means we are indeed putting people first. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.