 National Television Network's live coverage of today's Senate sitting. It is the 22nd of June today, Thursday. Thank you so very much for joining us here at the House of Parliament on Labry Street in Castries from the Government Information Service. I am Alicia Ali. Don't forget you can catch our broadcast on www.govt.lc and also on the Government of St. Lucia's Facebook page and our YouTube channel. We had the House of Assembly sitting on Tuesday of this week where the Appropriations Bill 2017-2018 was passed in the Low House and that is on the agenda for today's upper house sitting. We are awaiting the arrival of the President of the Senate, Honourable Andy Daniel. When the House last met, there was a lull in the debate on the Appropriations Bill. The bill was actually at its second stage. As you know, there are three stages to the bill. The second reading is what offers the members an invitation to comment on the bill. And of the people who commented, we had Prime Minister of St. Lucia, Honourable Alan M. Shastney. He presented the bill and he was followed by Leader of Her Majesty's loyal opposition, Honourable Philip Peir. We had the member for Choiselle Salterbus, Honourable Bradley Felix commenting as well as Honourable Dr. Ernest Hiller, the member for Castries South. We had Honourable Dominic Fede, the member for Ancelore Canaries, Honourable Sarah Floodboeber, the member for Castries Central, Honourable Herod Stanislaus, the member for Souffre Forcezak, Honourable Guy Joseph, the member for Castries East, and the member for Miku North, a Honourable Dr. Gail Rigabert. And we also had Honourable Alva Baptiste, the members who did not give their contribution were Honourable Stevenson King, Honourable Leonard Montrute, Honourable Isikel Joseph, Honourable Edmund Estefan, Honourable Dr. Kenny D. Anthony, Honourable Moses Jabatis, Honourable Sean Edward. And as we look around the chamber here today, we can see that the independent senators in the persons of Senator Dr. Adrian Ojean, Senator Mauricio Thomas Francis, are ready for today's proceedings, as well as I do see the leader of government business in the Senate, the minister in the Ministry of Finance, Honourable Dr. Yubaldes Raymond. We also see Senator, the Honourable, Mary Isaac. She is here. She's the Minister for Health and Wellness, Honourable Herman Gill Francis. He is the Minister for Home Affairs, Justice and National Security. Senator Honourable Fortuna Belrose is here. She's the Minister for Local Government and Culture and Creative Industries. And we see Senator, the Honourable, Jimmy Henry, who is a Minister in the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Physical Planning, Natural Resources and the Cooperatives. The opposition senators are not present in the chamber at this moment. And as I said before, we are awaiting the arrival of the President of the Senate, Honourable Andy Daniel. And just a recap, the Prime Minister of St. Lucia presented the appropriations bill to the House of Assembly on Tuesday, the 9th of May, 5 p.m., it was when it was tabled. And in his address, he focused on projects and policies to build a new St. Lucia. He specifically laid out plans for this fiscal year and also for the next four years, which included creating sustainable employment as a focus, social re-engineering, tourism, agriculture, security and justice, energy and climate change. And Prime Minister Honourable Anandam Shasne said during his summary that these programs and policies are all geared towards stimulating economic activity. The Prime Minister proposed expenditure amounting to somewhere around $1.513 billion. The House resumed on Tuesday to continue that debate. In the estimates of expenditure and revenue for 2017-2018, the Prime Minister did announce a new fuel tax during the debate on the appropriations bill, Honourable Bradley Felix. He did make more comments on that matter in that he says the tax on the new tax on fuel will be specifically geared towards repairing and rehabilitating the Ireland's Road Network, because in his opinion, he did not believe that the amount of loans being taken to rehabilitate the Ireland's Road Network is sustainable. We see that chamber doors are opening and the sergeant at arms carrying the mace and he is followed by the President of the Senate, Honourable Andy Daniel, and his entrance signals the start of today's proceedings. We now take you to the chamber floor. Almighty God, by whom alone kings reign and princes decree justice and from whom alone cometh all counsel, wisdom and understanding, we, thine unworthy servants, hair gathered together in thy name, do most humbly beseech thee to send down thy heavenly wisdom from above to direct and guide us in all our consultations and grant that we, having thy fear always before our eyes and laying aside all private interests, prejudices and partial affections, the result of all our counsels may be to the glory of thy blessed name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the safety, honour and happiness of the Queen, the public well-being and prosperity, peace and tranquillity of St. Lucia, and the uniting and knitting together of the hearts of all persons and estates within the same, in true Christian love and charity, one towards another, through Jesus Christ, our Lord, amen. The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Ghost be with us all evermore, amen. Good morning, Senators. I beg to report that I have received correspondence from the Speaker of the House of Assembly, advising that the following motion and bill was passed in the House of Assembly and forwarded to the Senate for its concurrence. Finance Administration Act, resolution of Parliament of Horizon, the Minister of Finance to Borrow by Means of Advance, Appropriation Bill 2017-2018. Senators, I have also received communications from the Leader of Opposition Business and as informed me that all of the Opposition Senators will not be attending today's sitting and asked to be excused. Statement by Ministers, papers to be laid, Honorable Minister in the Ministry of Finance and Leader of Government Business. Mr. President, I beg to lay the following papers standing in my name. Statatory Instruments No. 28 of 2017, District Court Tariff Cost Rules. Statatory Instrument No. 29 of 2017, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court Sittings of the Courts Amendment Rules. Statatory Instrument No. 30 of 2017, Price Control Amendment No. 5 Order. Statatory Instrument No. 31 of 2017, Extradition Designation of Commonwealth Countries Order. Statatory Instrument No. 32 of 2017, Legal Profession, Eligibility, Nadia Nicole Yvette Aline Order. Statatory Instrument No. 33 of 2017, Legal Profession, Eligibility, Rohana K. Alfia Killen Campbell Order. Statatory Instrument No. 34 of 2017, Finance Administration Act, Resolution of Parliament to Borrow on Lending to the St. Lucia A&C Post Authority, Extension of the Bresting Dorthing Birth. Statatory Instrument No. 35 of 2017, St. Lucia Parliament Proclamation, Rouging Parliament. Statatory Instrument No. 36 of 2017, St. Lucia Parliament Appointment of Session of Parliament. Statatory Instrument No. 37 of 2017, Public Service Commission, Disciplinary Proceedings Regulations. Statatory Instrument No. 38 of 2017, Solution National Housing Corporation, Larissus V Fort Vesting Order. Statatory Instrument No. 39 of 2017, Solution National Housing Corporation, Larissus V Fort Vesting No. 2 Order. Statatory Instrument No. 40 of 2017, Tourism Incentives, Nicos Touring Services Limited Order. Statatory Instrument No. 41 of 2017, Tourism Incentives, Black Pearl Limited Order. Statatory Instrument No. 42 of 2017, Tourism Stimulus and Investment, Cabot St. Lucia Incorporated Order. Statatory Instrument No. 43 of 2017, Tourism Stimulus Investment, The Hamlet Limited Order. Statatory Instrument No. 44 of 2017, Tourism Stimulus Investment, Barricade Limited Order. Statatory Instrument No. 45 of 2017, Tourism Stimulus and Investment, Freedom Fund Incorporated Order. Statatory Instrument No. 46 of 2017, Tourism Stimulus and Investment, Flora Cottage Villas Limited Order. Estimates of revenue and expenditure 2017-2018. And finally, Mr. President, Economic and Social Review 2016. Motions. Mr. President, I beg to move the following motion standing in my name. By the order, by the Honorable Minister, sorry, bit resolved that Parliament authorizes the Minister for Finance to borrow by means of advances, some not exceeding $55 million from commercial banks for a period of six months from the dead hero. Which sum shall be charged upon and paid out of the consolidated fund? Honorable Senators, the question is that Parliament authorizes the Minister for Finance to borrow by means of advances, some not exceeding $55 million from commercial banks for a period of six months from the dead hero. Which sum shall be charged upon and paid out of the consolidated fund? I now put the question as many as are of that opinion, CI, as many as of a contrary opinion, Sino. I think the eyes of it, the eyes of it. Bills, Leader, Honorable Minister and the Ministry of Finance and Leader of Government Business. Mr. President, I beg to present for first reading a bill shortly entitled, Appropriation 2017-2018. Appropriation 2017-2018. Honorable Minister and the Ministry of Finance and Leader of Government Business. Mr. President, I beg to move for the suspension of standing orders 49-2 to enable this bill to go through its remaining stages at this sitting. Honorable Senators, the question is that standing order number 49-2 be suspended in order to allow the Honorable Leader of Government Business to proceed with the remaining stages of this bill at this sitting. I now put the question as many as are of that opinion, CI, as many as are of a contrary opinion, Sino. I think the eyes of it, the eyes of it. You may proceed. Mr. President, I beg to move for second reading a bill shortly entitled, Appropriation 2017-2018. But Mr. President, before I proceed, I would like to thank the Almighty God for His grace and mercy towards me and my family, the Government of St. Lucia, particularly the Ministers of Government and of course the People of St. Lucia. I want to also thank the Honorable Prime Minister for giving me this opportunity to serve in his Cabinet where I can serve the People of St. Lucia as Senator and Minister in the Ministry of Finance. I also want to thank the staff of the Ministry of Finance, Mr. President, for the wonderful work they are doing on behalf of the People of St. Lucia and the Government of St. Lucia. I also want to thank Mr. President for the many people who call, text and meet me in the streets and say to me, I'm praying for you, young man. I'm happy to hear the word young man. But even more so, I'm happy to hear that I have many prayers, prayers warriors around the country, around the world praying on my behalf. And I believe that when prayers go up, blessings always come down. And of course I want to thank the Cabinet Ministers for the wonderful work we are doing on behalf of the People of St. Lucia. We are working as a team and I like the way that we have taken on the mantle and taken on the task of delivering on behalf of the people, or for the people of this country, our lovely St. Lucia. And Mr. President, allow me to also thank my wonderful wife, Dr. Gilletta Raymond, Joseph Raymond. She has been on my side for the past 25 years. And it is only June 26th. Yes, June 6th. We celebrated our 18th anniversary. I said June 6th, Mr. President. This was a wonderful 17th wedding anniversary. June 6th of 2017. Apart from the love I received from her, the good Lord gave us or the people of St. Lucia back into the hands of the United Workers Party Government. And that is the best gift we could have received on June 6th when there was a change of government. Mr. President, I also want to thank and congratulate the public service for the work that they do on behalf of the people of this country. And today or tomorrow is the official celebration of Public Service Day. But I want to take this opportunity to congratulate all members, all public servants, civil servants, for working on behalf of the people of St. Lucia. But, Mr. President, in that very same breath, I want to regretfully speak on the, I would say, the unfortunate situation we have in the public service. Where you have an opposition government party, I should say, is soliciting and encouraging some public servants to leak public documents or government documents in the public domain. And sometimes, Mr. Speaker, or Mr. President rather, these are confidential documents. I will speak later on the DSH issue. But the public servants, public servants, Mr. President, supposed to serve the public are not any political party. And you have an opposition that is encouraging such behavior in the public service. So, I mean, whereas we have hard-working public servants, we have a few bad ones, I must say. But I want to thank and congratulate all of them as we celebrate, as they celebrate the public service day tomorrow. Mr. President, you see this book here? It's called, It is the Manifesto of the United Workers Party. This is what we told the people of St. Lucia. We will do, should they elect us on June 6, 2016. This is what we said to them. We will implement or we will be guided by this document. And I must say to you, Mr. President, I was one of the three architects of this manifesto, one of three of the main architects in this manifesto. And my wife behind me was one of the three ones, one of the third persons, and one of the person I would have mentioned. And I'm saying this to say, Mr. President, it was not a document that we just, or it was not just information we gathered from nowhere. It is a well-researched document. And we knew exactly what the country needed. We knew. In fact, I started working on this thing over two years or a year and a half or two years before, gathering facts, information, understanding what's going on in the country, what's going on in the region, and exactly what the country needs. And that's why we coined the phrase, five to stay alive. It has been criticized, but we knew exactly why we said it, why we came with this. Because at the time, Mr. President, the country was suffocating with taxes upon taxes. Now, I meant it was my intention, Mr. President, to work with a balloon. And probably I was looking for a red balloon. A red one. Yes, a red one. Because, Mr. President, I believe that that balloon had reached its maximum in terms of taxation, its maximum. And any increase of that balloon, any increase of taxes, the balloon would have exploded. And that's why, Mr. President, a lot of our, the five to stay alive, was one where we would have reduced, remove, and give some breathing space in that balloon, breathing space in the economy. And that's exactly what we did, Mr. President. That's exactly what we did. Instead of increasing taxes at the time, we reduced the taxes. We gave tax relief to the people of St. Lucia through the various measures within the five to stay alive. Not saying, Mr. President, that taxes are not important to run the affairs of the country. It is important. But we believe that if it is not done correctly, you can exclude the economy. And that's what we did. We came and we gave a relief, a relief, the five to stay alive. And now we are slowly building the economy. We are slowly building the economy. Not taxes upon taxes and taxes upon taxes and borrowing upon borrowing like the former administration did. But we are strategically implementing our fiscal and fiscal policies to bring life to the economy. So, Mr. President, over the years, we have seen many transformative leaders throughout the world, transformative leaders. And I am reminded as a student who got myself educated in the United States in economics, and I will talk about it later on, we always speak of Franklin D. Roosevelt because he was a transformative leader. He became the president at a time when there was the great recession, at a time when you had about 25% unemployment in the United States. And everything, the stock market had crashed a period of 10 years, you had a great recession, a great depression. And he came in as a transformative leader and changed the course of the United States of America. With bold, bold fiscal, monetary, and economic policies. Mr. President, I'm also reminded of Dr. Manmohan Singh of India, prime minister of India. Again, around the late 80s, when India's economy was in shambles, he again came with innovative, transformative, out of the box thinking. And of course, Mr. President, we can't forget Barack Obama, who inherited the presidency of the United States when the country, the economy, was experiencing a great recession. And again, Mr. President, this president had to undertake bold, transformative, out of the box innovative decisions. And we know what the result is today. And Mr. President, we are here, right here in St. Lucia. We have a leader whom I believe when history is written, he will go down in the annals of transformative leaders in St. Lucia. Because, Mr. President, his policies and his decisions are transformative, they are innovative, they are out of the box. We are different. We cannot and we should not walk the very same path that the last administration walked. It was a path of destruction. It was a path that led us into the deepest ocean, maybe the Red Sea. And Mr. President, the people of the country of St. Lucia elected us to change the course of this country. And that's exactly what we will do. Mr. President, I am not saying the journey will be easy, because I'm reminded, Mr. President, that mountains are not coated with sugar. We will get there. We will be bruised. We will be criticized, Mr. President. They will be walked out, Mr. President. They will be demonstrations, protests. They will be market step meetings. They'll be lies, propaganda. They'll be fake news, Mr. President. But we will not be distracted. We will not be distracted. And we will not apologize for being different. Because this difference, Mr. President, will bring change and a new St. Lucia. Mr. President, let me just read to you just a little quote from Dr. Mohan Singh but a speech of 1991. Just very brief. He says, I do not minimize the difficulties that lie ahead on the long and arduous journey on which we have embarked. But as Victor Hugo once said, no power on earth can stop an idea whose time has come. Our time has come. The time has come when we will build a new St. Lucia. Mr. President, what is the impetus? What is the force? What is the rising agent? What is the drive behind this new St. Lucia? It is embedded in the ideology, the philosophy of the United Workers Party. That's the driving force. It is the driving force because the driving force of the last administration and the Labour Party is one of building a welfare state. That's the impetus. That is the driving force. That's what drives them. Building a welfare state. Everything that they do, it's about building a group of people that will stretch their hands to them and call them master, boss man. Give me a break. Give me a job. Give me a contract. That's what they want. They claim they love the poor. Yes, they do, but they like the poor to be in poverty. They love the poor, but they love even more when the poor is in poverty because when you build a welfare state, you are perpetuating a cycle of poverty. That's why, Mr. President, they are very upset when you touch programs like NICE because they knew or they know very well why you have such programs, people getting paycheck upon paycheck, handouts upon handouts, and just remaining on the same or even below where they were. None of these individuals who are on the NICE program can go to a bank and ask for a loan to send the kids to school or to buy a piece of land or to get a piece of property. None of them, the bank will not, is that fair for the people of this country who elect a government to improve their lives. Is that fair? So the ideology of the United Workers Party, Mr. President, is different. We believe in empowering people. We believe, Mr. President, that we're supposed to create the enabling environment, give the supportive environment to improve the lives of individuals and that's why we have a private sector approach and focus, relieve the pressure of government and put it in the hands of the private sector. And when I speak of the private sector, I speak of individual entrepreneurs, people who will have to go and cut grass, but they can what? Own a business, a small business, empowerment, but this was, this is different. What we're doing here is different from what they used to do. I said we, we are innovative, we are different and we are not apologizing for being different. Not for one minute, we will apologize for being different, Mr. President. So Mr. President, our broad policies, our policies, I get towards three major things here. That of economic growth, that of debt sustainability and that of job creation. I said job creation. I said job creation is not buying jobs but creating jobs. It's not government boring money. And putting people into offices and everywhere else and say that they have created jobs. That's not job creation. You're buying jobs at the expense of the public because you're borrowing the funds to pay salaries. Mr. President, we have kept a nice program and we have changed it a little. We have tweaked it. We have put in such a way that people will be empowered through the various training programs that we have started. These very same people who have been trained after year or two, they don't have to depend on government for the job. They can go elsewhere. In fact, there are some short term training programs immediately after the training they're getting jobs. It's not a situation, Mr. President, where one year comes and you are the most year of the government after whether or not your contract could be extended or renewed. And that's how they want you. That's how they want you. The other side here, that's how they want you. They want you to keep shaking in your boots and your shoes or whatever it is. Shaking. And you see them as, they want you to see them as the master. I remember clearly big meeting up in Dunpelat auditorium. Do you remember that? When the former prime minister, a bunch of nice workers. I wasn't here. I saw it on television. Did you comprehend it? Yeah, someone went to the school. And they are waiting. That's how they want you. They want you at the knees. That's how they want you. And then come. And then, you know, coming through the crowd was the savior. Come in. Savior coming. And then, well, I'm not to show if you will be able to continue the nice program. I'm not to show. But I will see what we can do. We'll see what we can do. He knew very well. It could be renewed. He knew that. What he wanted, when it is renewed, they will say messy. Kenny Antony, Aguta Munkadi, messy born. They want you. You don't want that in this country. It's a different thinking altogether. Different thinking. Mr. President, speaking of the private sector, the biggest scare that the opposition has is what we refer to as the DSH. They have nightmares on that. Nightmares. That's why they're busy. Busy bodies parading all television stations, all radio stations, north and south. They come by pairs, black and white. Come by pairs. They come by twos. Matches. DSH, DSH. Mr. President, I remember in the economic development class, I remember when you were developing a city, you always tried to look for an industry that will attract businesses, attract commons. Always tried to do that. And we see what happened. We have seen what happened in Cat Street, the harbor. We have seen what happened in the north, Rodney Bay, strategic thinking, strategic planning. We have an international airport in V Fort. An international airport. We have a deep harbor in V Fort. What has these two entities attracted? What have they attracted? What have they brought to V Fort? Absolutely nothing. You have people living in the South Chosel. How much they pay for transportation from people? $850? About that? About $850. That's with $9. So $18 every day. $18 every day for five days a week. And sometimes the household, not only one person living, not only one person in the household actually transports themselves to Cat Street. Maybe three or four people. So you have a job here in Cat Street making $1,500. Almost have that money in the transportation. So you have a lot of working poor people in the South, working poor. They are working but they poor. So what is wrong with V Fort? Why hasn't there been any serious development in V Fort? And when I speak of V Fort, Mr. President, I speak also of the surrounding communities. I include Denry and Niko. She was their library. Dead, dead, dead. I remember it was okay back then when we had the bananas because the bananas farmers were doing very well. The families were doing very well. In fact, the banana farmers used to support a lot of the commerce in V Fort. A lot of commerce. But as you know, Mr. President, there was a transition. There was a structural change in economy when the Labor Party came in 1997. We moved from an agricultural-based economy to that of a service-type economy, more specifically tourism. And what happened to the farmers? What happened to the farming communities, Mr. President? What happened? Poverty. Poverty. And this had a direct impact on the commerce that used to take place in V Fort because the farmers of the South, Niko, Denry and other places, they used to support the businesses in the South in V Fort. I'm speaking here of strategic planning. There wasn't any, no thought was given when we moved and we changed the economy from that of an agricultural-based to a tourism-based. Absolutely no thought. So what happened, Mr. President? What happened? What did we see? There was a mass rural urban migration. A mass. The children of farmers and even farmers themselves. In fact, just this morning, I saw a farmer growing up in Millet. It's a taxi driver now. Mass migration from the rural areas to the urban centers, castries and the surrounding areas. And what we saw immediately, Mr. President, of Surgeon Crime. And you had what? High unemployment, especially in the castries basin. So the poor, I mean the rural areas of farming communities now have become poor and castries now have become haven for crime. No strategic planning. Absolutely none, none at all. And what we saw here in the castries basin alone, we had the government had more pressure on their backs now because they had to ensure that public facilities are available for an expanded population. So more schools, more maintenance on roads, some places more roads, pressure. And because the pressure is now in the castries basin, the other areas got neglected. And that's why, Mr. President, I am saying to you that the DSH is not just a project, but it is a marvelous project. It's a marvelous project. It will change the cost of things and the way and the livelihood of people in this country for a very long time. And that is what the opposition afraid of. They're afraid of that. I mean, it is so ridiculous, you know. You have a private sector, a private investor or investor rather, foreign investor. They had negotiations with the government for 15 months, they're about. No one knew anything about it. Absolutely nothing. It's okay. Because in the agreement, you have what? Confidentially clause. You should not be discussing a project that is still in negotiations in the public. It's not okay for them. They want us to say everything in the, what's the objective? What do you think the objective is? The objective now is to stall the project. But let me tell you something here. When people are hungry, when people need jobs, when people have their families to feed, when people have their kids to send to school, when people have their mortgages to pay, they will not allow an opposition to stop them. The people of the south will revolt against the opposition. Because the opposition is about taking away the bread, the bread from the mouse. That's what it is. We are here to create jobs. And that is what we will do. We are not into the empty mansion of jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs, jobs. We are not into empty promises, empty mantras. We will deliver and the opposition will not prevent the government from delivering. That's why we don't pay them attention. We don't pay them attention. We just, you know, as I said to my prime minister and my colleagues, you know, let them talk and let the brick and mortar go up. Let the BRC and the cement, and what else, quarry race, to bagai, let us build and shut them up. They will not prevent it. It will not be prevented. We will transform the south and we will transform the lives of the people of St. And guess what? We do not apologize for doing that. All the other things we can discuss. We can have a discussion. We are still in negotiation. Miss Chivas opposition. Miss Chivas opposition. Very Miss Chivas. Trying to discourage foreign investors from coming to this country to invest. Even when they, it's quite interesting, you know, very, very interesting. In the previous opposition line, they tried the very same thing. The prime minister or the leader of the opposition then said he was threatening to write to investors not to come to St. Lucia. Is that a responsible opposition leader? I'll say prime minister. Responsible person? Does he like St. Lucia? Does he like St. Lucia? To say that you're discouraging, you want to discourage investors from coming to St. Lucia? That sounds like selfishness. That sounds like vindictiveness to me. Yeah. They like you that you're right. Yeah. They are victimizing the people of St. Lucia. When you are trying to chase away investors, it's about victimizing the people of St. Lucia. That's what it is. That's what it is. And guess what? They want the people of St. Lucia to cry. Cry. They like to cry. That's what they say, right? And Mr. President, we have serious business we want to take in this country. Very serious business. And nothing. The people of this country gave us a mandate and we will fulfill this mandate. Mr. President, I turn to one of the areas that we are placing lots of emphasis and focus on as a government and more specifically within the ministry of finance is that of debt management. Just going back six years ago, just going back six years ago, the interest on our debt was only about a hundred million dollars just below a hundred million dollars. When the last administration left, it was close to a hundred and eighty million dollars in interest payments alone. Interest payments alone. In four, five years, the interest payments alone moved up or climbed by eighty million dollars. You see, that's the modest operandi of a St. Lucia Labour Party government. They cannot grow the economy. They have not demonstrated that they have what it takes to grow the economy. We were the worst performing economy in the OECS for the last five years under the last administration. Three years of negative growth, negative growth, three years, consecutive years, and this was during a period of prosperity when our neighbouring economies were doing well. No financial crisis, no oil crisis, no disturbances in the financial markets, and yet still the last administration failed to grow this economy and they left us with 25% unemployment rate. 25% left us with a youth unemployment of close to 45% and a level of unsustainable debt. That's what they left us. Mr. President, not only that, in terms of debt, when the last administration of the United Workers Party left government, when we look at the structure of our debt portfolio, the debt portfolio, we had more long-term instruments than shorter term, what do you mean by that? Shorter term instruments, debt instruments carry higher what? Higher interest rates and it puts the country at higher risk and more pressure on your cash flow because yes, the country receives revenue, but the revenue has to be turned into paying the debt down and of course the reverse is true. With longer term instruments, you have lower interest rates and of course a longer term to pay. That's what they inherited in 2011. As we currently speak, Mr. President, the reverse has happened almost half of our debt, but almost half of our debt instrument is in short-term, short-term, high-risk, high-roll-over-risk and Mr. President, the last administration actually failed so miserably to grow the economy because in growing the economy, Mr. President, in simple terms, you are creating more economic activities, Mr. President, and the government in turn should increase their revenues, but it never happened, never happened. So the only option they had was to borrow my money, the only option and Mr. President, something happened during the last administration. The finance act gives you guidelines or stipulations as to the level of short-term instruments, debt instruments you can borrow as a government. It used to be 30% of the previous year's recurrent revenue, 30% of the previous year's recurrent revenue. You know what they did? They amended that section of the act and they made it 50%. It was amended, but Mr. President, when we took office in June of last year, we saw something happening in the market, financial market, the original market, financial market, the RGSN, RGSN. There was a rush, a rush for bonds, a rush, I say a rush. And why was there a rush? Because there was a level of confidence in the new government because they had, you see, let me tell you something here. Don't think that regional bodies, financial institutions, don't pay attention to these things. I know that very well, I know that and that's the reason why I was part of this. That's the reason why, that's the reason they paid attention and I mean immediately they came rushing to our door and they were providing longer term bonds. That's a sign of what? Confidence and we had to let them look. Enough. I think if I recall, the last budget had like 97 million dollars for bonds, we got like 125 there about. Because of the thinking, the thinking of this new administration, we are seeing signs of recovery, slow signs, but encouraging. So the Ministry of Finance has is working very hard to see how we can restructure our debts or to restructure the portfolio of our debts and we have engaged a number of bodies, I should say, a number of, for example, we have spoken to a company named White Oak that have done great job, a great job in Grenada and Jamaica and if you look at the debt portfolio of these three countries, they are doing great and there's no risk, no risk in this, no reputational risk in this. And just last week or week before, we have engaged another company called, they are interested in buying back our bonds and at the lower, at the discount rates, of course, we count interest rates and the savings from that will be used to conserve our marine life and we have engaged the various Ministry of Departments, Ministry of Ministry of Fisheries, Department of Fisheries, Department of Agriculture and they are very excited of a win-win situation. They are buying back the bonds at a lower interest rate, the savings from that bond will be used over a period of time to conserve our marine life. So, we are busy, we are busy, you know, they are shocked, they are bamboozled, things, things have been done differently. They are confused, all they have to do is come to us and ask, you know, come ask, we will tell you what we're doing, not without them making noise and no noise, you know, creating a lot of chaos, a lot of anarchy, an atmosphere of fear, you know, you know, making noise among themselves. But, you know, the members on this side, we are focused, aren't we? We are focused. We are not perturbed, we are not disturbed. The people of this country give us a mandate and we will fulfill that mandate. So, the opposition can make all kinds of noise, they want, they can work out how they want, but we will do what we have to do for the people of this country. Mr. President, another area we are focusing on, may I ask you how much more time I have with the President? You have 16 minutes left. 16? Yes. Okay, that should be sufficient. If not, I will ask my colleague for additional time. Mr. President, we are also focusing on our tax system, the tax administration. We are working hard with the Department of Internal Revenue to see how we can simplify the system and the administration of taxes in this country. Because we want a tax system administration that is very simplistic but yet still efficient. And we believe that what we have currently is not simplistic and it's very, very inefficient. So, we are working on that, Mr. President. If I have more time, I'll give you more detail as to what exactly we're doing, but I'll move on. Now, I'm sure probably, Mr. President, you have heard it from this side and on the airwaves by the opposition and on the platforms. Oh, we avoided going to the IMF. We avoided the IMF. We avoided the IMF. But they have never said to us, the people of this country, what did they do to avoid going to the IMF? You know, you can say anything, you know. I realize in solution politics, you can say anything. And you'll hear the supporters, yeah, hear to what? What did you do to avoid going to the IMF? In fact, you should have gone to the IMF or the IMF should come to you because of the states you left this country. The worst performing economy in the OECS, the highest level and perhaps the highest level of unemployment in the OECS. Now, if they had probably put on the secret 5%, maybe they would have said, boy, we have to do that to avoid the IMF coming here. But this senator caught them as a CSA president. I mean, you're going as far as trying to secretly put in the budget a 5% cut. That's desperation. That's desperation. It shows that you had exhausted all avenues of taxation. So actually, in the public, because you have to come, you see, certain things can be done in secret. Certain agreements can be signed in secret. Certain agreements could be done by one person. But when you have the appropriations bill, you must come to the cabinet, you must come to parliament. And that's where this iron lady caught them. What's the big thing about we avoided, we avoid going to the IMF? That's a lie. If any country had to be in the hands of the IMF, was St. Lucia the worst performing ever? I talk about we avoided going to the IMF, asked them what they did. Asked them. This is absolutely nonsense. Another little snippet they put out there. We had a very good primary surplus. We had a good economy, primary surplus. Absolutely nonsense. I don't want to be too technical here. But the primary surplus, Mr. President, if you are not able to borrow the amount of money you wanted to borrow for capital expenses or you have not been able to implement your capital projects, it will affect your primary surplus. It will. And this government, they could not have actually borrowed the amount of money they wanted to borrow in the financial market. So that affected the implementation of the capital projects. So what they actually budgeted for, they actually spent way below that amount because they were not able to to expend anything because no money actually were not able to be borrowed on the financial market. I wouldn't say no but very little because they had lost faith. The original body had lost faith in this government. So when you talk about primary surplus. A lot by Yocati, Mr. President. Another thing they kept saying is that, hey, we have a large budget deficit. This, among all this thing here, the most important page or the most significant page here is Roman Numero 3. Summary. And they will say to you, Mr. President, that, what class is mine? They will say to you that we are borrowing or we intend to borrow $346.5 million. The highest ever. The highest ever. Just remember, Mr. President, this is the very first time we are presenting a budget. This is our new budget. So we are just transitioning from one new government to another. So there are lots of carry over. A lot of carry over, Mr. President. A lot of it. A lot of the debt and the payables of the last administration. It's now on the backs of this new administration. And not only that, Mr. President, added to that, we have our own initiatives to move forward with. So almost naturally, you will have a budget deficit. But, Mr. President, it is not the worst we ever had. If you go back to 1415, if I'm right, 1415, Mr. President, actually, our budget, our current budget here, 1718, it is 345, the financing amount is 345 million. And in 1516, that was about three or four years doing government. They had a budget deficit. They had a financing requirement of $346 million. And a budget deficit of $227 million. I am talking about two different periods, you know. As a new government, you come in, yes, naturally you'll have some serious budget deficits. But over the years, you'll be able to stabilize your finances, right? You're boring. But in the third, fourth year, that's when they came up with a budget deficit. And the highest level of boring. Talking about performance, talking about performance, every aspect, when you look at every aspect of the social and economic review, a performance of the land administration, it's just, oh my goodness, I'm looking forward for it. This one is not good enough. This one is not good enough. So, Mr. President, I am very, very, very hopeful. I am very, very, very excited that we are on the right track. But before I leave, Mr. President, I know that in the policy statement of the Prime Minister, that he made mention of reviewing some statutory bodies and assessing their performances to see whether or not the government will privatize them or restructure them. And that is not new, you know, Mr. President. It's not new. I know exactly what's inside of here. It's not new. Look at this, Mr. President. The Manifesto United Worker Party 2016, on page 10, it says here to achieve this goal, well, we said that we will assess the efficiency of government statutory bodies and where applicable, eliminate or merge them. We said it here. Page 10 of the Manifesto. I'll read it again. We said that we will assess the efficiency of government statutory bodies and where applicable, eliminate or merge them. We said it there. We said it. And guess what? Guess who else said it? About 20 years ago. Guess who else? Who said it? The former Prime Minister. In his 1988, 1998, 1999 budget speech. He said it. I was so happy when I stumbled upon this book in my office. So happy. In my words, I said, wow. So the very same thing he said he would do, he never did it. Now we said we'll do it and they're crying foul. I'll read it, Mr. President. Page 17, it says, in respect of privatization, government policy is guided by three major priorities. I'll just read one. The first priority is to withdraw from areas of commercial activity, in which its presence is no longer needed, and which are better managed by private sector interests. Who said that? Kennedy Anthony said that. The very same thing he said about having people as a new frontier. I think it's a back tier. Right now, not front, it's a back. Did the government business, can you identify this? This is the 1989, 1999 budget speech by the Honourable Dr. Kennedy Anthony, Prime Minister of Central Asia, and Minister of Finance. Page 17. I continue, Mr. President. It says, the long term objective here is to create space for new dynamic businesses to emerge and flourish. Where this proves feasible, government may divest altogether to retain a minimum equity position while passing management, operational control, and majority ownership into more efficient private hands. Mr. President, he didn't do it. We're going to do it for him. We're going to do it for him. Mr. President, I had not even seen this before when I entered this here. What I did, I did my research, and almost all IMF reports speak about these statutory bodies, the inefficiencies of them. Almost all, CDB reports likewise. And even without a report, the common man will see, even the common man will see that our statutory bodies, most of them are inefficient. So we decide to undertake this assessment, and the government will do what it has to do for the interests of the people of this country. So Mr. President, I want to thank you again for your time. I want to thank the people, the Prime Minister, for giving me this opportunity to serve in his cabinet. I want to thank the Ministry of Finance or the Department of Finance for the marvelous work they are doing, and of course, I want to thank the Almighty God for the strength, the wisdom, the fortitude, his grace, his love, his mercy, his compassion, his forgiveness that guide me and keeps me every moment and every single day. Thank you, Mr. President. Honorable Senators, the question is that the Appropriation 2017-2018 bill be read a second time. Honorable Deputy President of the Senate. Mr. President, Honorable Member, I am obliged for the opportunity to share my perspective on the appropriation bill for the fiscal year 2017-2018, tabled in this Honorable House by the distinguished leader of government business. Mr. President, I would like to start off by thanking the Almighty for blessing us with life and getting us here safely today to attend to the business of the people of St. Lucia. Mr. President, this being my maiden budget address or budget debate, if you like, I must state that this is an opportunity which I value profoundly and would like to take this opportunity to once again express how appreciative I am for the opportunity to represent the interest of the nation. Mr. President, as you are aware, the role of an independent senator is to bring perspectives which are not politically color-coded but rather perspectives that are of national interest. Of course, I must say or mention that this being my maiden address, my maiden contribution to the debate and I believe the position is the same for all of us in this room. I would have been delighted to have had our other colleagues here today to give their perspectives and their contribution to the debate but I shall comment on that a little later. In my presentation, Mr. President, I think it is opportune for me to start my contribution by quoting from this year's thrown speech which was eloquently delivered by her Excellency, the Governor-General, and I quote. Real growth and development are distinguished by a government's ability to meet the current needs of its people and industries without compromising the opportunity for future generations to meet their needs. I will also quote from the Prime Minister's budget address which states and I quote, we want to build a St. Lucia which instills pride, a place where businesses can flourish, where people can get jobs not handouts, where people feel secure, care for each other, can access educational opportunities, receive quality health services and enjoy a comfortable standard of living without imposing a burden on future generations. Senator, not wanting to interrupt, when you're quoting, can you please identify the page so that we can all follow you? That's it. Thank you. I shall be so guided for the future, Mr. President. Thanks for your guidance. Mr. President, as we all know too well and indeed this fact was highlighted in the budget address, St. Lucia's profile is characterized in the main by consecutive years of marginal growth, low productivity, high unemployment, a high level of public debt, and fiscal deficit, lack of competitiveness and high cost of doing business, escalation in the level of crime. Suffice it to say, Mr. President, that the prevailing socio-economic fundamentals of our country are a source of grave concern to many of our citizens. You only have to listen to the daily screams via the social media, radio and television talk shows, one-on-one group discussions. And while I mentioned talk shows, there's a popular one that comes on, I believe, every day. And I believe on two occasions, the people are invited to express their views on what makes them mad. So, Mr. President, if you want to get a perspective on what the people are feeling, what makes you mad is, of course, a talk show that one needs to listen to. And, of course, if there is any doubt about the situation, we just need to listen to the lyrics of some of this year's calypsoes. I've been listening to them and, of course, what is coming through there in the social commentaries are expressions of concern from our citizens. And when calypsoes sing, I believe they are singing and representing the views of a wide cross-section of the society. Mr. President, I will attempt to address each element starting with the issue of marginal growth. According to the Social and Economic Review of 2016, on the page Roman numeral 6, Senutia recorded a real GDP of 9% in 2016 following a revised growth of 1.9% in 2015. This, we were told, was influenced by contraction in the dominant tourism sector. We were told further, Mr. President, that the economy has been growing at an average rate of only 1.3% in the last 10 years. Comparatively, and I believe the leader of government business made mention of it, comparatively, global output was 3.1% in 2016. And when compared to our pairs in the OECS, Senutia recorded the lowest level of GDP. And when we talk about lowest level of GDP, we have to put that in the context of where Senutia came from. In my former life, I had the pleasure. I had a great sense of pride when I sat at regional conferences representing Senutia and speaking in terms of Senutia's performance, Senutia's profile vis-à-vis the other islands in the OECS. Senutia was the leader, Mr. President. Senutia was the leader. Mr. President, it is not a good place to be. This declines in our main tourism sector, both in terms of visitor arrivals and expenditure, by 7.3% and 4.8% respectively. And the financial and monetary sectors also declined. According to the same report, the social and economic review report, the manufacturing, agricultural, and construction sectors achieved growth of 60%, 4%, and a 7.2%, respectively. And Mr. President, I am still quoting from Roman numeral 6 for the benefit of honorable members. We have been fed with a buffet of strategies aimed at achieving sustainable economic growth over the next four years. Mr. President, I think it is opportune for us to look at the issue of marginal growth from the perspective of the tourism sector. And we will look at that from the perspective of other sectors as well. In the area of tourism, we have been told that the number of significant new hotel development projects are in the pipeline, which will boost economic activity. Growth in room stock is projected to increase to 2,000 in the next four years. This sounds very, very heartening given where we are in terms of our fiscal position as a country. Mr. President, also the concept of village tourism, in my view, if implemented effectively, and I say effectively because a lot of the time, I think the leader of government business has accused me of loving analysis. But when I talk about effectiveness, I am thinking that there would be a need to effectively analyze this particular thrust to ensure that it lands well and that we maximize the benefits in terms of creating value for the country. So the concept of village tourism, if implemented effectively, is one that can generate significant benefits to some of the economically deprived villages. We have been told that eight villages have been targeted under that concept. Greater economic output can be generated from this industry and in developing the village tourism concept. I propose that the government should conduct an in-depth assessment of what the visitors are looking for when they visit our shores and determine what gaps that exist and how these gaps can be filled. Why do I say so? Based on my interactions with some of the visitors to the island, you know, I get remarks like there's not enough locally produced crafts, locally produced souvenirs to be purchased. There is not enough nightlife in the villages other than the activities at the hotels. So you get those comments and several others that possibly later on I can highlight. Mr. President, we have been told that visitor expenditure declined. Do we know and understand like I asked, you know, why are the visitors not spending? To what extent are we reviewing and analyzing the exit surveys and visitor online reviews to determine those needs? I do know that in our port inventory there are exit surveys that are done when visitors leave the island. There are surveys that are done at the hotels as well to test the level of satisfaction with St. Lucia as a product and with of course the hotel, you know, where they reside while they are on vacation. There are also reviews that are being provided via the social media reviews that are being provided via the booking sites and these reviews provide adequate information which if analyzed properly we can determine what are the gaps that we need to fill. There are opportunities for us to generate increased output from the sector if we focus on repackaging our tourism offer as a country. So I am proposing that we focus on the government focuses on developing the arts and crafts sector by providing support, technical support and financial resources to our artisans etc. such that they can develop the products which the visitors desire to purchase. Backward and forward linkages between tourism, agriculture, manufacturing and construction was mentioned in the Prime Minister's budget address. Mr. President, as long as I can remember in my adult life we have been talking about linkages. We have been talking about linking agriculture to tourism but however we have not done a good job in terms of implementing what I believe is a very key strategy. We have not been able to walk the talk, we have not been able to add teeth if you like to such an important endeavor. Another area I think we need to be looking at is the incentive regime to hotels which would ensure that such linkage can be realized. Mr. President I'm thinking what is wrong with developing an incentive regime for the hospitality sector that will ensure that they commit. You know hotels on the island especially the large ones commit to purchasing produce from local suppliers to be able to benefit from that suite of incentives. In terms of the agriculture Mr. President again we're still talking about marginal growth. There is a diversification thrust and of course that diversification thrust has been spoken about for a very very long time. I think we have made some progress but we still have a long way to go so I would propose that we provide technical support towards this thrust and possibly develop some kind of guarantee funding guarantee through possibly development bank or other financial vehicles that can provide support to farmers who want to get involved in the whole diversification thrust. We need to also source export markets regionally and internationally especially for the non-traditional crops. Mr. President again I often wonder why do we not or why haven't we leveraged on the solution and Caribbean diaspora in Canada in the UK in the USA to support that exports thrust. I'd like to use Jamaica as an example. I was very happy when I visited Canada some time ago and went into a supermarket and I was able to purchase lots of agricultural produce that was imported out of Jamaica and Jamaicans were flocking to that particular supermarket just to have the benefit of consuming produce that came from their country. I believe we can try to do that. We can try to add as tremendous value in implementing such a strategy. Like I said we will not only benefit from the solution diaspora but of course we have a huge Caribbean diaspora that will be able to support our goals. So Mr. head of government business I would like you to take note of this important what I consider a very important strategy. The government has also proposed that through the youth agrienter price facilitation program 150 young persons will be recruited as agricultural entrepreneurs and it is I hope that this first will materialize as I believe it is a great idea. It is an idea that would if successful will generate additional employment for our young people as well as inspire others who may for various reasons choose to shy away from the agricultural sector. So I do truly hope that this first comes to fruition. Mr. President let's look at the monetary and financial sector as I said earlier there was decline in that particular sub sector and again if I may quote from the 2016 social and economic review report on page 57 on the domestic credit and I quote in keeping with the weak economic growth and heightened levels of risk aversion in the commercial banking system the stock of domestic credit continued to fall for the third consecutive year. The decline was driven by 5% fall in the stock of private sector credit and lower levels of net credit to central government unquote. Mr. President page 58 of that report at caption commercial bank performance also states and I quote continued weakness in economic activity and restructuring of non-productive loans continue to impact commercial bank performance. According to that report non-performing loans in the banking sector as at the end of 2016 stood at 562.9 million EC dollars. Mr. President you may not be aware but a significant quantum of this amount represent loan secured by mortgages. Mr. President honorable members there is a direct correlation between the high levels of NPL within the banking system and of course the heightened risk aversion by commercial banks. Such high level of delinquency in the banking system is exacerbated by the antiquated foreclosure laws which hinder the bank's ability to recover delinquent assets through the court system. Needless to say Mr. President that this situation continues to threaten the viability of the local banking sector. Several years of prolonged and proactive advocacy to get successive governments to reform the prevailing draconian legislation to make it more bank friendly have been futile Mr. President much to my pain and anguish and that of the banking community as well as other stakeholders in the community who understand the implications. Mr. President the reformation of such law will ensure disposal of toxic assets which in turn will maximize efficiency in the banking sector. This is a matter of critical import as it does not only affect the safety of depositors funds profitability of banks and increased lending appetite is also affected. Mr. President permit me to just take a little time to explain for the benefit of the wider solution public how the bank operates. So when I talk about risk to depositors risk to depositors must be viewed from the perspective that banks do not carry stock banks do not own the stock that it employs and when I say stock I am talking about the deposits which the bank employs to lend to generate profits is owned by the depositors therefore we must understand Mr. President and the public must understand and the government must understand that when a decision is taken not to address the issue for closure legislation and we end up with such a large level of non-productive loan it is threatening the stability of the banking system and by extension it is threatening to derail persons who have earned you know their life savings and have placed their savings in the banking system for web days. This is a matter of critical import as it does not only affect the safety of the depositors funds like I said profitability of banks are under threat and when I talk about profitability miss for those of us who have been monitoring the performance of the banking sector we would realize that the bottom line of all mostly all the banks have been under tremendous pressure those banks that have not recorded losses they have recorded very very much reduced profits and that is a threat as well because they are shareholders that are requiring value and of course this situation is not helping in the context that we describe it would also mean that the capital structure of banks will be strengthened and there will be greater opportunity for private sector expansion through access to more flexible bank products and services at more enhanced costs to the clients. Mr. President by virtue of the fact that the banks are not able to realize profits and the banks cannot recover those non-productive loans they have to resort to charging higher fees to the consumers they have to resort to charging higher rates of interest and they have to resort to tightening the lending policies such that when that happens we cannot expand the economy as we should because as we all know banks play a very critical role in the development of any country by virtue of the services that they offer. Mr. President I was hoping that the appropriation bill would have made some mention of the introduction of a bill in this honorable house to address this important issue. If my memory serves me right I did raise that issue some time ago and I was promised by the leader of government business that this particular matter was under cards and in short order this matter would come before the house. Mr. President it's almost a year since we are here and we are yet to see the fruits of that promise so we are waiting because we believe that this is a situation that must be addressed immediately. But Mr. President why has there been delays or non-responsiveness to this important issue? I believe it is so because there is not the political will to address the issue. Like I said successive governments have been approached and still we have not resolved the issue there isn't the political will I believe we have heard arguments about a concern that if the legislation is changed the banks might indiscriminately repossess people's properties that I don't believe that this is a first step Mr. President. I wish to make two points on that argument. Saint Lucia is the only territory in the region with such a foreclosure legislation. All the other territories have legislation that is more user friendly more bank friendly and we have never had a case where banks have exhibited discrimination or unreasonableness in dealing with this particular matter. I would like to say that based on my experience and knowledge the banking sector has a very significant social conscience and exhaust all avenues in dealing with customers and take into consideration all critical factors in determining the way forward in dealing with a particular debt. So I do not believe that argument holds water. The second thing is that I believe there is the lack of political will is sort of myopic if you like. It appears that there is no regard for the safety of the depositors funds like I said we shall address. For the banking sector to be stable the depositors funds must be safe and of course banks must have the where we fall to be able to expand such that they can provide a requisite support for the social and economic development of the country. Mr. President as I already mentioned the financial sector will help or hinder a nation's economy. A stable financial system provides an environment that is conducive to economic activity and growth. Just to borrow a very apt quote from page 62 of the social and economic review report I quote having credit opportunity is a means of generating financial power. So if therefore we are implementing economic and social programs in this fiscal year and we want to attain financial power we want to attain fiscal stability we want to attain sustainable develop social economic development we need to address this important need. Mr. President let me hasten to talk about the manufacturing sector. The report on page 28 states that there are five impediments to growth in the manufacturing sector name high cost of utilities and upfront payment on that and a version to some manufacturers to take advantage of export opportunities use of low level of technology lack of standard certification high dependence on importation of raw materials and packaging and inadequate technological skills and low productivity among workers. Mr. President I'll harken that there is a proposal by the Minister of Finance for the development of a new tax regime to effectively tackle the issue surrounding that however the areas the other areas are equally important and I propose that the government goes a step further to provide additional support to that important sector in order to maximize the contribution to GDP. There is there are tremendous untapped potential in agri processing and this can be maximized through the linkages with the agricultural and tourism sector that I mentioned earlier. Mr. President as we might be aware hotel sector consume tremendous amounts of products such as coconut cream, juices, aromatic oils, massages, desserts and we have an abundance of fruits and vegetables that can be processed to meet those needs thus creating much needed employment in the sector. Mr. President I now turn my attention to the issue of low productivity. The issue of low productivity seem to be a chronic one in that it is less prevalent in the although it is less prevalent in the private sector it is an issue nonetheless. The direct correlation between low productivity and the fiscal health of the country cannot be overstated. I noted there are proposals to address this critical area and I am heartened. However I would like to state that we can start by ensuring that recruitment of the right talent and ensuring also that there is job fit and empowerment within the public sector can assist with productivity improvements in productivity. Mr. President what gets measured gets done and I believe I may have mentioned that strategy before we believe performance management is key in ensuring increased productivity and when we talk about performance management we're talking about setting smart objectives and specific objectives measurable attainable realistic and objectives at a time bound. Also conducting regular performance reviews as regular as every quarter and providing coaching training and rewarding recognition can improve productivity. Consequence management is important as well when objectives are not met and of course Mr. President this speaks to accountability. Mr. President on the question of productivity which would be useful if the report of the productivity council would be tabled in this honorable house as there may be proposals in there that may add some value and the leader of government business isn't here but I would like to think that he will give us some information about that in his rebuttal. Mr. President unemployment continues to plague us. There's a direct correlation between unemployment and the level of crime in the country or in any country for that matter. It is happening to learn that our unemployment rate has reduced from 24.1% to 21.6%. However it is of concern that youth unemployment rate is at 43.1% and 21% in terms of overall employment is still considered significantly high. It is hoped that government in its growth strategy will result in significant improvements in this critical area. The minister of finance articulated is for us to reduce that rate to 15% in the medium term and I honestly and I believe a lot of solutions honestly hope that this objective can be met to inspire some hope to our young people especially. Youth engagement and empowerment are critical in ensuring that we understand the aspirations of the youth and get thereby in the job creation trust because the last thing we want is to venture into creating jobs for our youth and at the end of the day these are not the jobs that they're interested in doing and again I assume that some level of analysis has been done to ensure that we understand clearly what we are about to embark on. Mr. President there's an issue of underemployment I will not spend a whole lot of time on underemployment but underemployment speaks to where you have skilled workers in low paying jobs or skilled workers in high high skilled jobs and we do have some of that because of the unemployment situation people apply for jobs that you know that are below their skill set but they are trying to make ends meet so it is an area that needs some attention Mr. President because of course it has implications for motivation it has implications for you know how people behave it has implications for the social and economic situation of the country as a whole. Lack of competitiveness the decline in the ease of doing business ranking from 34% to 86% tells the world that Sanctucia is not ready to do business or Sanctucia is a very difficult place to do business. I agree with the Prime Minister when he states in his budget address that we are on the wrong path and need to reverse this trend. A country's openness to trade and ease of doing business exerts a powerful impact on economic prosperity and one of the strategies proposed for achieving sustainable economic growth is to attract foreign direct investments through the CIP and the proposed foreign residency program and the like. How can we achieve success in this trust if with the disjointed ineffective and bureaucratic system which currently obtains in that regard I am hoping to have some concrete strategies which will be employed to address this critical area Mr. President. Strategies such as the establishment of a one-stop shop approach in terms of applications for various licenses centralization of the many fragmented agencies will render process of doing business much easier thus attracting more persons to establish businesses especially micro and small businesses which bias extension will boost employment and generate economic prosperity. The issue of crime Mr. President it will be remiss of me if I don't speak about the issue of crime. Proverb 16 chapter 15 verses 27 to 29 states that idle minds are the devil's workshop. Mr. President we are witnessing in Sanctucia the escalation of crime especially heinous crimes. Access to social media has contributed significantly in that regard and we have we have been witnessing crimes such as cyber crime and in that space we're talking about identity theft, defamation, you know cyber robberies and so on. Efforts aimed at solving crime is applauded and I am sorry the Minister of Home Affairs is in here but I applaud the efforts however there is still some work which we must do as a country to cope with the situation. Other root causes of crime need to be examined. We have a situation where we have a degeneration of our core values Mr. President. We have a degeneration in our ethical standing in the country all these need to be examined to determine how as a nation we can deal with that situation. In the area of high level of public debt and fiscal deficit Mr. President fiscal capacity determines a country's ability to finance larger fiscal deficits without jeopardizing macroeconomic stability and debt sustainability and I am quoting from the World Bank report of 2009 the Mr. President if a country has adequate fiscal capacity it can maintain public spending even adopt fiscal stimulus packages and consequently be more resilient in the face of economic shock. The last IMF report of 2017 on the Article 4 consultation on St. Lucia painted a picture which suggests that we need to be acutely concerned about the state of debt in this country. Indeed the social and economic review report and by the admission of the Prime Minister we are approximately almost $3 billion in debt as of 2016. The situation should be of concern to all citizens and indeed I know that it is of concern to many. Of more critical concern is that the level of debt further increased by 2.6% or $75 million for the same period. Mr. President the level of debt that we're talking about equates to $17,600 of debt for each citizen in this country based on a population of 170,000. So each one of us is burdened by a debt of $17,000 in the main. Mr. President like other solutions I am concerned that this bill speaks to an expenditure budget of $1.3 billion which will be funded in part by further borrowings of $342.28 million. Mr. President when we talk about a debt of $3 billion sometimes I reflect and sometimes in conversations with the citizens with some members of the citizenry the question is what tangible value can we attribute to such a large level of fiscal debt. By the government's own account the road network in the country is in a deplorable state. The health sector is not delivering value to the citizens. We have a number of educated citizens as we mentioned who cannot find gainful employment. A number of state-owned properties namely schools. Senators the question is how many minutes are you proposing sir? Senators the question is that standing order 453 being booked to allow the minister for the senator sorry for the five minutes in which to complete her presentation. I now put the question as many as of that opinion CI as many as of a contrary opinions you know. I think the eyes of it the eyes of it. Thank you Mr. President. Senator you have an additional five minutes. Thank you Mr. President. Yes Mr. President just to continue the list the judicial system is understaffed our water sector is inadequate Mr. President the list goes on and on. A number of statutory bodies have recorded losses as reflected in some of the reports that have been tabled here in this honorable house. There are strategies in the budget to address a number of these issues and it is hoped that these strategies will bear some fruit. Mr. President we must however conduct a critical and detailed analysis as to how we got where we are and what we need to do to address inherent causes in a sustainable way. Please allow me Mr. President to show my perspectives on what could have attributed to our current debt plight. Low productivity and lack of accountability and we spoke about performance management systems. No code of ethics and so on. Ineffective resource allocation and human and physical. Mr. President we are aware that there's been a plethora of commissions of inquiry where we expend significant sums of the state funds to find out you know how or to determine the level of accountability by successive administrations and nothing has happened so that contributes as well to the debt level. For implementation or no implementation implementation of projects we have consultant reports on shelves that are not being implemented. Politically experience over economic and social experience I believe contribute to a large extent some of the issues that we have that impact our debt levels. Mr. President there are some strategies on the health and education that I believe will serve us well so I extend best wishes to the government in terms of the implementation of those strategies such that we can achieve the objectives set. National insurance national health insurance is one that is very dear to my heart so I'm asking the minister of health to ensure that this is implemented speedily. In terms of the roads we do know that we have significant issues with the road network in St. Lucia and I saw some allocation there to address some of those issues so I'm heartened by that. This is even more critical Mr. President as these days St. Lucia has recorded significant growth in the sharing economy. Sharing economy from the perspective that a lot of people booked via Airbnb booking dot com and so on and they live in all parts of the island and these people actually access roads they access services in these communities and we want to make sure that our product we want to make sure that the country reflects a level that would ensure comfort by these people such that our reputation will not be at risk through bad publicity and negative reviews. Climate change adaptation I'm passionate about this one too and I'm heartened about the thrust to ensure that we take this to a new level. However I'd like to say that water sector reform is very important because as we are government is proposing to expand by including additional hotel rooms to the extent of 2,000 in the short term we need to ensure that we have a water supply that supports that thrust not to mention the electrification of the country to make sure that our electricity company has the capacity to be able to support that trust. Tax reform St. Lucia will welcome any reform which will provide them with some relief and the strategic intent to reform that and income tax is welcome. However there's this comfort around that the increased fee well tax from 2.5 to 4 and we would welcome some conversation about that as it relates to increased license fee which was introduced some time ago to achieve the same objective that that increased 6 to address. Mr. President on this note I would like to thank you immensely for your indulgence I'd like to thank all of the members for their support and I extend best wishes to the government with the implementation of the fiscal and social programs of the country such that we can create much needed value for the citizenry so that they can enjoy a better quality of life in this country I thank you Mr. President. Could I use your case? Senator Adrian Lucia Senator, before you commence, very well senator. I'll try to be economical sir. I wish to thank you for the privilege of addressing this honorable Senate. My intervention will focus on policy issues and matters of good governance. Specifically sir on the business of investment we understand the heavy reliance on foreign direct investment FDI in the government's budget strategy as expressed in the estimates of revenue and expenditure and the Prime Minister's budget address and related presentations. We understand also the need to jump start the economy using this particular approach. We understand also that in the short run foreign direct investment is probably the fastest way to make a major impact on employment and revenue both of which should have positive fiscal impacts providing of course you can accelerate the implementation process which continues to be a major hindrance to both the public and the private sector in terms of growth and new investment. However Mr. President when foreign direct investment is linked substantially to the sale or transfer of national assets strategic national assets held in trust by the government of Senusha for the people of Senusha including generations yet unborn I believe there must be a significant and appropriate level of prior consultation and meaningful engagement of citizens and stakeholders to build consensus. That consensus I believe is in the long term political and democratic interest of this country and its leaders and it should address the quantum of resources which we wish to surrender and I use the word intentionally the transfer processes along with the terms and conditions of such transfer the anticipated benefits and most importantly where those benefits will accrue. This requires a clear level headed analysis of economic and social costs and all major projects should I believe have this process as part of their gestation and the discussion should take place in the public domain. It is incumbent on governments including this one to observe principles of good governance and I would like to refer to the charter of good government principles established by the United Nations. There are five or seven major points that need to be I think held in mind as we go about the business of the development of this country. For reference so if you wish I can I can highlight the source but generally the principles of good governments are available on the net if you look them up the United Nations principles of good governance. Particularly in that regard my appeal to government is to trust the wisdom of the solution people do not treat them as casual bystanders who are hungry and therefore without principle or dignity and by your own vigilance and dedication to such principles do not allow our people to cast themselves sometimes we are often willing to do that to cast ourselves into the role of adversaries in the development process our economy cannot afford this climate of constant warfare our democracy cannot tolerate this climate of constant adversarial politics. Mr. President let me refer briefly to just five of the major principles of good governance legitimacy and participation which means that citizens should have a voice in decision making either directly or through legitimate intermediate institutions. Shared vision number two leaders and the public must share a broad and long-term perspective on good governance along with a sense of what is needed for such development. There must be an understanding of the historical cultural and social complexities in which that perspective is grounded. Three responsiveness institutions and processes must try to serve all stakeholders and produce results that meet the needs while making the best use of resources. For accountability and transparency decision makers in government the private sector and civil society need to be accountable to the public as well as to institutional stakeholders transparency is built on trust and the free flow of information. Finally fairness and equity citizens must have the opportunity to maintain and improve their well-being development without this is not really development it is something else and supporting this must be the principle of the rule of law that there is a legal framework that is fair and impartially enforced. Mr. President we are a long-suffering people we know temperance we know patience we know sacrifice that is the only reason why we do not have anarchy in the streets given the level of frustration that many solutions are experiencing in their daily lives how to feed their children how to pay their cell phone bill how to pay the electricity bill without prostituting themselves in one way or another. We are long-suffering people but be warned that while we talk a lot and some things we forgive and some things we forget we know exactly how to determine the outcome of an upcoming election and how to wait three four or five years to bring about that change. It is my view that many elections are lost in the first two years of a new administration. My advice which I have mentioned before is not to squander the political capital which the solution public has invested and reposed in your part. I recall Mr. President if you allow me the experience of Sir John Compton who upon gaining a one-seat majority returned to the electorate to ask for more they gave him exactly the same result and said work with that and I believe the solutions are increasingly aware of the power of their franchise and are not prepared to compromise it. So my advice again is to invest wisely the political capital which has been given to the government. With regard to unemployment Mr. President a major policy objective of this budget the scourge of unemployment continues to be the number one evil addressing our society particularly among young people we know the statistics 25% roughly on average 50% roughly on average among young people. In addressing this issue we must also remember that some of us would like to be more than employees and when we hear references to jobs jobs jobs we have to remember that even if we start as employees working with a business that is not necessarily owned by a solution someday we would like to be owners of our own businesses as well. We would not like to be cast in the light of forever as employees and to have our patrimony sold in the name of jobs jobs and more jobs. Employment is wonderful ownership is better and I believe that is where we should be focusing our long-range strategies to ensure that solutions continue to be masters of their own destinies. In the lead sector of tourism where much of the foreign direct investment emphasis has been placed in this budget I would like to mention that we look forward to being the owners of related businesses service providers suppliers subcontractors we want our government to remember this and to make sure that there is economic space for our businesses our people young and old mid-career entry level and thereafter to participate meaningfully in the country's future. In that regard Mr. President foreign direct investment policy must anticipate in very specific ways the economic space that is being created and being left for solution businesses and solution entrepreneurs while we are busy creating wonderful projects we cannot have a business a situation where there is incidental space because that incidental space will be occupied by others we have to make specific provision for the participation of solutions in the development of their country and what we are having a lot of the time is that because certain sectors are incentivized and certain types of investors are incentivized their economic leverage is greater than the rank and file citizen and this should not be a facet of our economic development policy we have to make provision for specific space so we have to ask ourselves when will shares be offered to the public how will local businesses be included what is the impact on the labour market these what is the impact on the banking system how can reserves and resources within the economy be embraced and be in deliberately included in our foreign investment strategies we are seeing a significant possibly unhealthy horizontal and vertical integration within the tourism sector in particular this is very worrisome and needs to be rebalanced tourism investment is no longer just about accommodation it is no longer about the provision of room nights large tourism investors are also engaged directly in travel tours transport water sports boating boutiques entertainment hortic culture procurement distribution photography weddings and the list goes on and these are areas which used to be specifically reserved for nationals both formally and informally in legislation which has become largely I think ignored we have to rebalance this and make sure that when we are encouraging lead sectors like tourism but there are others to the major beneficiaries of our incentive and tax policies that specific space is made available and result for national businesses and nationals of this country we need to create new space for the very people we now see as employees to grow into new roles not incidentally we need to have proactive strategies for them to learn and grow and become equity partners in the development of the entire economy we cannot design an economy or a society where the commanding heights are resolved are not accessible to current and future generations we understand business is business we understand cash flow is king we understand that tourism business needs to diversify its revenue base away from just room revenue but we also have to make sure that there is economic space for local businesses who do not receive the same level of incentives that others do under the rubric of foreign direct investment and I would like to suggest Mr. President that we pay specific attention as we try to grow the economy to legislation that is clear easily accessible and transparent for domestic businesses intending to grow not just to maintain their current operations but to grow and I would ask the leader of government business in this honorable house to consider how we can incentivize established medium-sized small businesses who are already on a path how we can incentivize them to accelerate their growth so that they will be well positioned when the turnaround if the turnaround comes along yes sir um meanwhile those businesses those small operators um and even large domestically owned businesses are facing harsh economic environments and they're left to sink or swim in the high waters of competition where we are bending over backwards to accommodate others I am appealing here Mr. President for a review of the incentive regime available to an accessible by small and medium-sized enterprises which are driving or capable of driving growth in this economy we need to enhance their economic contribution to the recovery and to the tourism sector in particular in that regard Mr. President I would like to mention the draft incentives bill for the creative sector Madam Minister may be able to inform us at some stage that bill was drafted at least two years ago and it has not seen the light of day as far as I am aware but the creative industries is supposed to be a major policy a major pillar of the economic strategy at least it was under the last administration a lot of money was spent I'm not sure there's any visible progress to show for it so many years later and we now need to see where is that incentive bill and how is it going to help to liberate the tremendous potential of the creative sector which has been languishing for some time and we would be aware of recent uprisings in the sector where people are objected to having their futures determined outside of themselves and voices were heard and meetings were convened again on the defensive a little bit too much of that I would say but we need to look at that sector moreover about four years ago maybe three there was a harmonized incentive regime drafted by CARICOM proposed to governments adopted by governments which looked at a harmonized system of incentives for the creative industries and as far as I'm aware this has not seen the light of day either certainly not in Saint Lucia Mr. President I would like to also mention that there seems to be a plethora of overlapping agencies in this new dispensation there are agencies there are foundations there are ministries there are state companies private companies operating in the creative industries sector and there is confusion in the institutional landscape I would like to recommend that mandates be clarified products and services need to be redefined and redesignated funding priorities need to be clarified and streamlined and the training and development agenda in particular needs to be given new emphasis with regard to the new suite of festivals within festivals there is urgent need for clarity of product and market I don't think we have got it right yet and I would like to recommend a consultation a broad consultation to get this thing right because a lot of small businesses suffered in the months of May and June that should have been prospering the intention is good but implementation needs some clarity and we should not be afraid to say so it would be useful for us to also mention here so the lack of debate in the lower house Mr. President I think it is fair to say that a considerable portion of solutions are still waiting for presentations and explanations of details particularly at ministerial level regarding the policy and expenditure priorities of the government and while parties may not feel that they are accountable to each other we are all accountable to the people of Saint Lucia and this should not be a feature of our small island politics that we omit a debate a presentation and explanation of what we are going to do and how we are going to do it so that the people can be engaged in the business of government we have been left waiting and wanting for this conversation to be initiated by our elected leaders for many it is the only substantial interface that they have through radio television internet talk on the street corner thing debate on the block this is what the people need so whether some are here or some are not here do not fail to tell us what you have in store in a related question Mr. President um I would like someone to enlighten us on the appointment of members to the integrity commission and to the public accounts committee I believe that some enlightenment would be useful these are both checks and balances in our democracy and I have not heard anything to update us on that um on the business of liquidity in the domestic financial system Mr. President um I would like to refer to the comments by my colleague independent senator and note in that regard that while we are in a tight economic situation driven largely by fiscal constraints within the public sector there is something of a dichotomy in our economic profile because there is in fact excess liquidity in the banking system so there's money in the country um and it's lying idle for one of better projects it's at very low interest rates and it requires a better fiscal environment for it to be deployed but there is two percent money sitting around in the banking system doing virtually nothing at any rate Mr. President that money belongs largely to St. Lucian's and I would like to stress that we may well have the means to finance some of our recovery some of our own recovery let this be remembered when government is contemplating um that's foreign direct investment when it is contemplating um its sale of shares um its sale of public assets and in that regard I want to mention specifically the banking sector government has significant interest there which may or may not be liquidated uh the private citizens of this country may well be in a position and should not be left out of any share offer um I wish to suggest Mr. President even more specifically that um the honorable leader of government business consider convening a domestic growth and investment forum or conference so that both the public sector and the private sector can share information on upcoming projects and objectives investment etc that way we can make sure that public and private sector agendas are compatible and they are mutually supporting and reinforcing it would not be to anyone's benefit to have government and the private sector investing at cross purposes so I would like to suggest that sir and if there is a way to consider the drafting of this growth oriented incentive regime which is available particularly to small and medium scale businesses in our own economy try and get those businesses moving because the economic landscape is constrained and I would not like to see a situation where we don't think our own people are capable of financing themselves out of uh of economic depression in reference to my earlier comments on good governance principles I think that such an approach is is participatory it breeds transparency responsiveness and brings people to the table who may not otherwise have a voice and to conclude Mr. President in pursuit of our own development where we will also seek the assistance and support of friends and colleagues elsewhere beyond our shores and we look for bulk responses um sometimes we look for elusive messiahs who turn out to be fraudulent but we must first rely on ourselves and on each other to do for our nation things that we can and must and should do for ourselves if we are to preserve our nation our sovereignty and our dignity thank you very much Mr. President Senator the minister for home affairs justice and national security good morning Mr. President good morning um fellow colleagues it is indeed a great pleasure to be here this morning although I'm not feeling um 100 percent um so I wanted to bear with me if I make a few mistakes now and then but I'd like to thank the Almighty Father for his guidance um during the past year I also want to thank the people of this country for the interaction which we have had the Prime Minister continues to show confidence in my ability to perform in the ministries that I had and I also want to thank my cabinet colleagues for all the support and encouragement that they have extended to me it is unfortunate Mr. President that I have to start my presentation by referring to the unusual amount of fake news being disseminated on a daily basis that's what technology does that's that's what that's what it does apparently somebody has hacked into my my apologies I want to say that the individuals organizations that take pleasure in perpetuating that activity may believe that they are hooting the united workers party but let me state categorically that some may affect the party but invariably it is our beautiful Saint Lucia that will bear the brunt of any fallout the Saint Lucia Labour Party is referred to Mr. President as the Malawi party and it thrives on this nomenclature it is therefore necessary for the Labour Party to oppose any sort of development which may change the plight of the so-called Malawi Mr. President you must never forget in our history that it was the Honorable Kenny Anthony Prime Minister at the time who said that he was going to write to investors for investors not to invest in this country this Labour Party has always been pregnant with opportunities and plans for Saint Lucia when they're in opposition but when in government they cannot deliver unlike the Prime Minister said they seem to have what you call Labour pains I just want to give you just a few of the projects that they attended to attempted to do but weren't successful the Black Bay development the Sabushar development DSH and yes DSH Mr. President all members of the association of the opposition are also full of song and fury but then signifies nothing when you had a leader of the opposition the member for Kashi South and of course the member from Labour we understand how angry and empty they sound they portrayed themselves Mr. Speaker Mr. President as bastions of morality and honesty but time I can assure you will inform us soon enough let's look at the history of the Labour Party when it comes to the development of our country there are some of the developments implemented by United Rourke's party that were opposed by the Saint Lucia Labour Party and I just name a few the heaths development in Kaldisap the marina had gross delay because we are pigeon point the John Compton Dumb the Sanctusie housing development the Ranora international airport development the Cassius redevelopment project and the pointer of in development with the first five mentioned programs Mr. Speaker the government at the time remain resolute and the fruits of those projects are now being enjoyed I can inform you that like Sir John Compton when he moved it for liquidity this government will not be deterred from our development programs Mr. President Chucks the post the above mentioned initiatives and the actions of the Labour Party when in government Ruchamel, Grindberg, Le Paradis, Fenrell, Kosta Voron on the highway from Viewport to Souffre, Lombards by the one British thank you colleague the government has spent over two million two hundred thousand dollars on students the Lombards students thanks to our present DPP we are able to deal with this matter in a manner where the students were able to be compensated I am adamant that the former minister of commerce must be made to compensate the country for the money spent on taking care of the students it must be remembered that a senior officer who was leading the investigations at the time was unceremoniously removed from the investigations and transferred what do you call that sort of behavior by a government Mr. President I am presently studying a case in one of our Caribbean countries where the previous council has stated that the attorney general of a country can take action in thought against former ministers of government who caused the state to spend money uselessly to recover that amount the former minister of commerce and the prime minister former prime minister should take note Mr. President they describe persons who oppose them names like media terrorists Tuzu Suu the most frightening development in the politics of this country today they embrace the ones frightening individual as the best thing to happen to Saint Lucia this is the modus operandi of the Labour Party Mr. President they know how to oppose and I would like to advise the people of this nation to keep them in their comfort zone this is where they perform that's right Mr. President we talk about victimization but it appears that they have very short memories as a member of the Labour Party I was made chairman of sports incorporated I worked hard without any remuneration but as soon as I decided to join the united workers party I was immediately dismissed along with other members perceived to be flower supporters the workers of the Cassius City Council were dismissed because they were perceived to be flower supporters the Labour Party went in power sidelined the caressive of servants and brought in the chosen permanent secretaries lately one of those chosen permanent secretaries have decided to take the government to court he was taken out as cabinet secretary and sent to the ministry of Labour no pun intended Mr. President today he is taking the government to court and we need to ask the question but we need to ask the question was he given tenure of office as a cabinet secretary again technology is forsaking me Mr. President it is a disgrace Mr. President to the intelligence of the populace when a sitting parliamentarian and no lesser person than the leader of the opposition can stand in our house and say to the world that the united workers party promised the police that they would make the impacts report disappear but looking at the estimates of expenditure of 2016 2018 we will see in page 447 recurrent expenditure grants and contributions you will see that the impacts is a regional organization where a sum of $266,251 is made to that institution on page 449 Mr. President you would also see the regional security system which is given $2,551,349 so this is just a regional institution and the government is duty bound to deal with it impacts is a regional entity the acronym impacts means implementation agency for crime and security and it is similar to other regional entities like the University of the West Indies and sub-regional entities like the RSS Mr. President a few weeks ago the honorable prime minister presented his budget with a deficit budget it is important to know that all cabinet ministers when discussing that budget had to take a cut the ministry of home affairs justice and national security were not spared I will be having discussions with the head of the department to formulate strategies as to how we would be able to deal with the amount of finance that was given to us Mr. President during the last election one of the most dominant issues was the impact report this report was prepared by officers appointed by the director of impacts Mr. Francis Forbes that report was handed directly Mr. President to the honorable prime minister Kenny Anthony and as I have indicated previously that this government forget about what he did but this government has to deal with this issue as a consequence we appointed a director of public prosecutions and a deputy director there were persons who questioned the appointment of the DPP on a one-year contract but this was a mutually agreed contract and we expect that at the end of the first year we negotiations will take place Mr. President we also want to inform the public that the independence of the DPP is absolute understandably there will be discussions between my office and that of the DPP on administrative issues I will not get personally involved in the day-to-day running of the DPP's office neither will I attempt to nudge him in any particular direction I know that all parties involved in the impacts report are anxious for closure so I implore my people Mr. President to give the DPP the time he needs to make the correct and proper decision I now move on to the to deal with the departments of which I have so bring them over the fire service department these men and women Mr. President have been performing the duties on the heart wrenching conditions I want to thank those officers for the invaluable service to the country in my discussions with the hierarchy hierarchy hierarchy and the welfare association there is a distinct belief that they have been treated as second-class citizens when you compare them with the police and the prisons these officers risk their lives every day to attend to fires and accident scenes there is no major changes in the service from timing memorial and these changes have to be made now and I intend Mr. Sweet Mr. President to do just that in that my in that regard my department will will work with the honorable attorney general to look at the fire service act to make the necessary changes that reflect a modern fire service Mr. President some of the voting issues again look for intended as follows promotions we are looking forward in developing a promotion policy similar to that of the police I've indicated that the imbalance in the hierarchy of the fire service must change there are too many male persons dominating the hierarchy of the of the fire service and I want to make it look it has to be more transparent and more representative similar to what happens in the police force and at the prisons we will look at the stunning operation procedures we look at staffing issues we just recruited 40 officers last November but these 40 officers were just there for replacement so they really don't have the numbers that we are looking at so we're looking to see where we can recruit a few more of those officers policy on driving with the fire service I know this is a specialist area persons drive the ambulance they have to drive at excessive speeds they have to go in and in between traffic and all that causes problems in them I'm sure that we will remember the incident where a young man lost his life because of an accident with a fire plant unfortunately the police has had to charge him from what I'm on slaughter we need to we need to look at the conditions of the fire stations we are in the process of looking for a location and within castries so we can build a new fire headquarters for those officers we want to re-institute grading Mr. President that means you enter the police force the fire service and after five years you can get an increase in your salary as a senior fireman because when you just join on your two-year service you get the same amount of money with an officer who has been there for 10 years who hasn't been promoted and I think that is unfair we have to look at the security of the stations and I'm sure that you would be happy to know that the Babano fire station will be commissioned in the very near future the Prime Minister and his budget made an allocation of 1.9 million dollars to purchase ambulances and fire trucks so this opening will be done this year in November of 2015 Mr. President a team of consultants business and Lucia and to review the fire service there are a number of recommendations were made namely one the fire service to be classified an essential service within the meaning of the labor code so what we saw before these wildcat strikes and so on will be something of the past recruit and train retired fire officers local to the fire stations to support and augment full-time professional staff again the staff members at the other stations different stations are not sufficient and if there is a fire this gets trained officers can come in and support and will be paid every time that they assist the public service commission will delegate authority for discipline and give me answers to the fire chief similar again to what the commissioner police are commissioners powers of discipline and promotion from the rung of constable to inspector the fire chief has nothing left he doesn't hire he can't fire he can't discipline he can't do anything and so we realize that there's a lot of indiscipline within the organization and I'll be looking forward for the public service commission to give some of that power to the fire chief at this juncture I must thank and officially congratulate mrs. chair will Francis who is our councillor in Canada for the amount of work that she's been doing in that regard looking for all sorts of stuff for the fire service the police and the bodily bodily correction again I think that the management of the facility must be commended and congratulated for the money in which they have been able to deal with the myriad of issues which confront them on a daily basis some of those issues are overcrowding illicit drugs staffing issues transportation dilapidated kitchen etc. Mr. President despite those challenges the management team and officers have been able to keep peace and tranquility at the facility a number of social activities have been organized and successfully implemented and I'm sure that my colleague here independent senator mrs. Francis will be happy to hear that some of the ongoing education programs are literary nights football combination and a family day the management will be looking to acquire some more land to augment what they are doing on the present farm project you would like to encourage the team to continue the good work Mr. President the budget makes provision for the facility to get a few vehicles and it's free potency does to transport the staff and we're also looking at overseas training for some of the senior officers that has started but we want to continue a little further the Royal Central Police Force Mr. President I can remember in the year 2002 as the acting commissioner of police with responsibility for crime I wrote an article in the police week magazine and I was only reading it yesterday and it sounded like I wrote it yesterday so with your indulgence and I can always make the documents document of the house that I can be given an opportunity to read it so that you see how relevant it is even now and I said in Emil Dukheim's classical study on crime he states that crime is both functional and inevitable he goes further to indicate that crime becomes dysfunction dysfunctional when incidents of crime are either too high or too low Dukheim never offered any reasons for the causes of crime but he did talk about punishment which in his opinion must be swift appropriate and the individual should be fully aware of the reasons for imposing that punishment Dukheim seems to be suggesting that there will always be a level of criminality within our society and our approach to controlling it will be of paramount importance Abraham Lincoln has been credited by saying in order to know where we are going we have to know where we've been from timing memorial the police force has been tasked with the responsibility of maintaining law and order in our society in the past we were understaffed in adequately in adequately trained and extremely short on equipment thankfully today I can say that some of those ills have been addressed by the government but we have a long way to go in the old days although police suffered from the aforementioned difficulties they had one important asset which was public support an asset which today public officers do not enjoy many reasons have been forwarded as to why it is so I do not intend to dwell on those reasons but to look at what is needed to rescue our society from the effects of criminal activity the commission of gazada officers and the community relations branch are working as seriously to improve the relationship between the police and the public the basic mission of the police is the prevention of crime but when it occurs there is need for the police and the community to work in partnership the community needs to remember that the police are the people and the people are the police every law by the citizens should embrace the idea of a partnership the police are the ones paid full time to do what is incumbent on every law by the citizen as crime prevention is everyone's business in the old days the quotation from the bible which implies us to be our brother's keeper was practice and people looked out for each other's property and were very willing to inform others as to who interfered with their property the real test of police efficiency is the absence of crime and disorder not the visible evidence of the police action in dealing with them the police needs to be more practical police officers must have all-time shared knowledge and resources with other police officers and the general public the police must learn that crime prevention means modern locks lights and alarms community-based programs need to take precedence George Bernard Shaw summed up his feelings about community involvement by saying I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the community and as long as I live it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can I want to be thoroughly used up when I die for the harder I work the more I live I rejoice in life for its own sake life is no brief candle to me it is a sort of splendid torch which I've got to hold up for the moment and I want to make it burn brightly as possible before handing on to future generations on good therefore my advice to police officers is to remember that our duty to serve mankind save god life and property protect the innocent against deception the weak against oppression or intimidation and the peaceful against violence or disorder we need to respect the constitutional rights of all citizens for liberty equality and justice we must enforce the laws continuously and appropriately without fear or favor malice or ill will never employing unnecessary force of violence we need to recognize our badge of office as a symbol of public faith we should accept it as a public trust to keep as long as we are true to the effects of our organization the crime problem that we are presently experiencing can be brought on the control if we embrace this idea of a partnership we in the force know that there are problems but these can only be fully fully addressed if we get the help that is needed from the general problem there will be hope if that partnership is allowed to develop 2002 sounds like only yesterday that it was written Mr. President I want to start with the police by congratulating Superintendent Ronald Phillip who was awarded the prestigious accolade at the conference of commissioners of police has been the officer with the best academic achievement for the year I also want to congratulate Corporal Alvin Prospe for being awarded the second prize for intelligence and the intelligence officer in the Caribbean so it tells us that we have the capacity and capability within our police force but we have to give them the sort of support that they need Mr. President the safety of our citizens and visitors is paramount duty of our department but this organization has been on the sword for a while Mr. President the emergence of the impact report has which was commissioned by the solution of the party and the circumstances have been having a very dire tool on our officers we expect that this issue will be dealt with expeditiously as possible as a consequence of the impact report members of the force have been have not been as confident in the ability to perform in an atmosphere of mistrust against this background Mr. President I must publicly thank the hierarchy and file of rank and file of the police force for the invaluable work that they have been performing they have been denied a lot of training because of the lay-healer which prevents the US government from giving them the necessary assistance other countries have recognized the plight and have come into assist and we thank them for that during last week Mr. President we did have discussions with the European government and told them exactly what the government was doing with respect to the impact report and I think that they didn't they were satisfied that the police are actually doing what they're supposed to do the constitutional solution Mr. President page eight of the constitution paragraph two protection of life and property right up to life and property a person shall not be deprived of his life intentionally saving execution of the sentence of a court in respect of a criminal offense under any law of which he has been convicted a person shall not be regarded as having been deprived of his life in contravention of this section if he dies as a result of the use to such an extent and on such circumstances as permitted by law of such force as is reasonably necessary and it gives you the reasons when you can use force a for the defense of any person from violence or for the defense of property b in order to effect a lawful arrest or to prevent the escape and to prevent the escape of a person lawfully detained c for the purpose of suppressing a riot insurrection or mutiny or d in order to prevent the commission by that person of a criminal offense or if he dies as a result of a lawful act of the law there is always a right and wrong way to execute your duties Mr. President but my advice to the police officers is to follow the proper procedure and establish protocols and the actions will be justified the rule of law must always be paramount in our minds the rights of the individuals must always and I insist must always be respected Mr. President regardless of creed color religion belief or political affiliation the government is in the process of dealing with the following initiatives one the OECS court of appeal headquarters I'm sure that that's music to you as Mr. President to the temporary court of justice building which is causing a firestorm but I suspect my friend next to me will explain a little more when she comes to the culture aspect of removing the cultural center and placing a temporary court of justice in that area the forensic lab as we know has reopened partially the prime minister has promised me that he's going to get some money for me so that we can rebuild and to open it fully by the end of this year there's also a project on with the OECS governments in looking at the lab in Antigua and partnering the lab in Antigua so we will be doing some of the analytical work and the lab in Antigua will be doing some so it's going to be an OECS and original lab so this is good news for us the training of senior officers they have missed that sort of training and so we're looking to make sure that we can do that and that includes having exchanges so our senior officers the religion maker and spend some time with the senior officers there seeing how things are being done so when they come back they would like to put there we also now looking at border control which is going to encompass the immigration department the marine unit the quarantine division of the ministry of agriculture and the marine and customs I just want to refer Mrs. Speaker to the statement by the prime ministers in his budget which can be formed on page 28 improving security and justice Madam Speaker this government will work to improve the administration of justice and the security of our country Sen Lusia. Sen Lusia courts have been without a home for some time which has resulted in delays in the herring of cases and the rising demand population in the prisons and continues on page 29. The courts will be temporarily relocated to the grounds of the National Cultural Center a temporary structure will be erected to house the family court post district court the high court by district court and the offices of the director of public prosecutions while the national cultural center will be relocated to an alternative location and we are in the process of discussing that location. Mr. Madam Speaker the office of the director of public prosecutions have been short on resources for some time this has hindered the pace at which cases can be handled. We will strengthen the office of the director of public prosecutions through advocates staffing and the provisions of other enabling services as proper equipment. This will further assist with the reduction of the backlog of cases. Madam Speaker we can report that with the appointment of the new DVB sufficient progress significant progress has already been made in reducing the backlog of cases and I would like to publicly congratulate him on his department on the success thus far. Madam Speaker I am pleased to report the forensic lab reopened during the financial year we expect this to assist the Royal Central Police Force in the crime fighting efforts. In addition we will increase the resources of the Royal Central Police Force by training 46 recruits and providing additional vehicles and other much needed equipment. We cannot keep expecting our police to perform better if we do not give them the necessary support and tools to perform. Madam Speaker through our intelligence driven crime fighting strategies we aim to increase surveillance within the city of classes with the installation of CCTV cameras throughout the city particularly in areas prone to crime. The government will be partnering with a private sector in the supply and maintenance of cameras. Madam Speaker there is need to improve organizational effectiveness within the Royal Central Police Force. A number of senior officers have retired and it is the intention of my government to establish a leadership training program to ensure proper succession plan and to provide effective leadership at all levels of the force. Our government is committed to ensuring that officers are kept abreast of new and advanced crime fighting techniques. Honorable Minister let me inform you you are 15 minutes ahead. Strengthening border control. Madam Speaker permit me to turn my attention to the issue of security at our air and seaports. At present four agencies perform border management functions in Saint Lucia. These are customs and exercise department immigration department marine unit and the quarantine division of the department of agriculture of the culture. Collectively these agencies have responsibility for overseeing the movement of people animals and plants the imports and exports of goods and services and the securing of Saint Lucia borders. Madam Speaker these agencies are facing elevated security threats increase global trade and scarcity of resources. Other challenges include a cake data storage and retrieval practices inadequate sharing of information non-transparent legislation and increased procedural requirements as well as a greater demand against debt resources due to increased travel and trade into and out of Saint Lucia. These factors have placed an immense burden on these agencies and on resources of the government of Saint Lucia. Madam Speaker there is need to rethink our approach to securing our borders which would bring about greater efficiency and effectiveness in the dispensation of border control and management. To this end we will develop a border control service. This agency will be responsible for border management and the processing of people goods plants and animals at all parts of entry customs and immigration services enforcement of relevant legislation protection of Saint Lucia's borders. Madam Speaker we expect that the formation of one agency with responsibility for border management will correct many of the existing efficiencies. To this end the committee has been set up with representatives from key agencies to examine the options for the establishment of border control service. Mr. Speaker there is only one more thing that I would like to talk about and that is the cannabis committee which was set up and they are working so by year end we will be getting a report as to the pros and cons of that development. In conclusion Mr. President I want to inform the opposition that we live in a democracy and the words that you use in public domain may be such that you do not that you do not convey or allow for interpretation by the general public that will come back to haunt you. As the minister of responsibility for peace and tranquility in this country I can promise that the law and order will be maintained about that. Leader of government business. Mr. President I beg to adjourn the senate for one hour so that members can have lunch so we should be back here by 2 35 p.m. Senators the question is that the sitting of the senate be a suspended until 2 suspended until 2 45 and I'll put the question as many as of that opinions here as many as of our country opinions you know I think the eyes of it the eyes of it senate suspended until 2 45. Let me close the morning session of the upper house of parliament of St. Lucia which we more commonly know as the senate the bill before the house the motion that is on the floor is actually the appropriations bill 2017 2018 so far we have speakers in the persons of the leader of government business and minister in the ministry of finance honorable Dr. Ubaldas Raymond who presented the bill before the house and he was followed by independent senator honorable Mauricio Thomas Francis and then honorable Adrienne O'Shea who was also an independent senator we just heard from honorable Herman Gil Francis who is the minister for home affairs justice and a national security he spoke on the reforms for the fire service the proposed reforms for the fire service and also to the Royal St. Lucia police force and the judiciary system we do expect a quite a few more contributions this afternoon so please stay with us we'll only be gone for about an hour we are to resume at 2 35 p.m. as indicated by the president of the senate honorable and Daniel so please stay tuned to the national television network