 On February 28, the Lower House of Parliament will debate and vote on a proposed constitutional amendment to move away from Britain's Privy Council and instead, accede to the appellate jurisdiction of the Caribbean Court of Justice for criminal and civil litigation. The move has the backing of Prime Minister Hon. Philip J. Pierre and his Cabinet of Ministers. Because we cannot allow ourselves to have, to be so, to lack so much confidence in our own selves as a people. We are so afraid of ourselves, afraid of our history that we are saying that the final court, the final appellate court cannot be within the jurisdiction of the region. And I'm very proud that tomorrow, when we go into Parliament, the members of Parliament, the right-thinking members of Parliament, the progressive members of Parliament are going to vote yes for the Caribbean Court of Justice. And tomorrow, St. Lucia is going to take the final huddle in terms of our judicial independence. St. Lucia's transition to the CCJ began more than two decades ago in 2001. Former Prime Minister Dr. Kenny Antony joined 11 other CARICOM member states and signed the agreement establishing the CCJ. Under Article 25 of the agreement, St. Lucia, as a contracting party, agreed that decisions of its Court of Appeal will lie to the CCJ. Ascension to the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ will ensure that St. Lucia falls into full compliance with its solemn international obligation, completing the groundwork carefully laid by St. Lucia's former Prime Minister. St. Lucia's ascent to the CCJ's appellate jurisdiction will broaden access to justice for the average citizen by eliminating the fees associated with the cost of litigation heard by the Preview Council. We'll allow no distractions. We've done all the legal processing. All the legal processes have been followed. Our constitutional allows it. The Supreme Court has ruled that our constitution allows us to go with a majority in the Parliament. The people of St. Lucia voted for us in 2020-21 by a majority of 13 and 2, 15 to 2. That is overwhelming. And in our manifesto, it was stated clearly that St. Lucia is going to use the Caribbean Court of Justice as its final appellant court. It was stated clearly. The Governor-General in his speech, his full speech, has consistently said that St. Lucia is going to be using the Caribbean Court of Justice as its final appellant court. St. Lucia will become the fifth Cair Khan member state to accede to the appellate jurisdiction of the CCJ from the office of the Prime Minister, Rihani Isidou.