 Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if your permission before I speak on the motion before us, I would like to join others in congratulating the member for Mikunov on his ministerial position, Mr. Speaker. I am confident that the member will do us proud. He brings to the table much energy and enthusiasm, not for women's affairs. I just feel I want to say that the member has brought in his zeal and enthusiasm to his work and irrespective of the ministry that is sitting in, he is going to do us proud. Also, Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate a little member for Viewfort South is not in the chamber, but I want to congratulate our senior member for Viewfort South on taking on this position as our deputy speaker of this honorable house. Mr. Speaker, Dr. Anthony again has proven himself a worthy statesman and I want to express my thank to him again for putting St. Lucifer's. I also want to wish the member, my esteemed sister, the honorable member for Babono. I want to wish him, I want to wish her a continued progress on her recovery and I say let us continue to pray and give God thanks for her recovery so far. Mr. Speaker, I also want to add my thank to those of others to thank the First National Bank for the support and sponsorship of Island Strum and also for the support and sponsorship to Julian Alfred. I think this is important because the bank is showing us that they have prioritized our young people and the area of sports and as a minister for commerce I really want to thank the private sector, we have the banking sector, I know in Souffre we have Anshasne, Jade Mountain because as a government we cannot do this alone. We need the private sector so today I want to thank them. Mr. Speaker, I also want to congratulate the honorable member for Grosile and the member for Denrenov on the efforts in making sure that the Island Strum event in Souffre was a great success to the extent that I had to pose with view for comprehensive. So what I saw Mr. Speaker was an energy, there was no age limits. All persons were celebrated and that's the energy and spirit that we need in this country Mr. Speaker. So Mr. Speaker on the motion, the last thing I want to say before I get on to the motion Mr. Speaker, there was a terrible event that took place in my constituency today so I want to add my voice and express condolences to the Vitalis family and the entire community of Zeno for the death of Mr. Ferrad Vitalis. Again it's a family in distress. So Mr. Speaker, we have a motion before us and that motion is for the formation of a women's parliamentary caucus. Herring referred to as a women's parliamentary caucus of St. Richard. So Mr. Speaker, some persons would say why do we need this motion and why do we need a caucus? And I want to start by with a quote from the Pakistan parliamentary caucus and it says and I quote, no nation can progress unless women are equal partners in social, economic and political development. End of quote. So Mr. Speaker, what is our reality in St. Wusha? In St. Wusha we have women representing more than 50% of our population. We have women who are I would say playing an active role in our social and economic development. But Mr. Speaker, I believe it is correct to say that up to now women are not playing an equal role in the political development. If we look around us in this August body Mr. Speaker, we have a chamber with 27 seats and we have 17 seats, sorry, and we have two women. And with my little maths I believe two out of 17 is about 11.8% Mr. Speaker. And the minimum target is about 30%. So we have a deficit in this, a deficit and an imbalance in this August body. But Mr. Speaker, please also to put the other side of the coin to say that in the upper chamber, in the upper chamber, in our Senate, the situation is different. And I want to take this moment to thank your Honourable Prime Minister for his focus on gender equality and gender equity. In the upper chamber we have a total of six female senators, six. Honourable Alvina Reynolds as a president, Senator Lisa Jawa here, Senator Alison Jean, Senator Kejiana Toussaint-Charlie, Senator Dr. Pauline Antoine, and from the opposition bench, Senator Dr. Farah Polius. Six out of 11, Mr. Speaker, giving us 54.4% Mr. Speaker. So let us give our, yes, it's 54.5%. That's not balanced. It's just about. So Mr. Speaker, let us look at the motion before us and the member for Miku North has presented and articulated the objectives in the motion. But I would like to take an out of that. He read 10 objectives. Objective one, to promote solidarity among women in general and among women parliamentarians in particular across party lines, Mr. Speaker. And it's important that we have this. This happened to be in number one, the first one out. But I believe, based on the environment that we have in this country, and sometimes what we see happening in this auger's body, where we see sometimes members instead of supporting an issue of national importance, start debating it across party lines. So I believe that this first objective for us is critical and not only in this auger's body, because what happens in this auger's chambers then is copied outside. So it is an important objective for us as a parliamentary caucus of women to start speaking to John public to say that we are working together across party lines for the benefit of all women. It is when we are together that we are stronger. And Mr. Speaker, I want to tell you that the various meetings that I have attended, I want to commend the members of the caucus, because I have seen members working across the aisle. And it is something that I'm very proud of. I have seen it and I want to encourage members to continue. Mr. Speaker, I want also to speak on objective five. And that is to empower and support aspiring women parliamentarians to strengthen their leadership capabilities through mentorship, training and professional development opportunities. Again Mr. Speaker, in order for us to have the quota, to meet the quota that we are looking at, this particular objective is critical. And I must tell you that I am very hopeful because when I come in this auger's chamber and attend the youth parliamentarians when they have the sessions, I must tell you that we have quite a few young aspiring politicians. So I feel comfortable that I can retire because there are some firebrands coming up. Our responsibility, my responsibility and that of the caucus is to ensure that we work with them, we encourage them and we put the structures in place for the training to take place. A lot of mentorship and training. And for this I also want to thank Madam President for the effort that we have made in that direction. Mr. Speaker, when I look at objective nine and that is to advocate for legislation and a national women's policy, Mr. Speaker, we have seen what has happened with our member for Barbara Ngo when she was in the house. We have seen a revolutionary domestic violence bill. So far maybe one that is more progressive in the region. And it is telling us that we have a lot of work to do, but it is telling us that we have within this august body and within the caucus members who are bold enough to take the right step. I also want to say, Mr. Speaker, that we could not have done it without the support of our bill counterpart. So I really want to thank the members for ensuring that we pay attention to the needs of our women. Mr. Speaker, in the area of the national women's policy, I believe we have women in our caucus capable of preparing this policy. And to this end I want to recognize the members of the Parliamentary Caucus present in this August chamber. So I ask members to give them a round of applause. Mr. Speaker, a short roadmap of what has brought us to this point so far. Following a Commonwealth Women's Parliamentarian, Caribbean, America's and Atlantic workshop which was hosted in this Parliament, a meeting was called on the 29th of December 2021 where six members were present as well as Parliamentary staff. That is the beginning of what has led us to this caucus today. Where a review was done of the meeting, presentations were made by the Director of Gender Relations. We also had presentations by the Pal America's representative who is one of ours, Ms. Yasmin Otlam. This was followed by a second meeting in February 10th 2022 where the requirements for caucus were reviewed, a calendar of activities set. The first step for us Mr. Speaker was in October 2022 we had the appointment of our new female presiding officer, Madam President Senator Alvina Reynolds. That I believe gave us a shot in the arm and there, Madam President, I'm back on the following. She reached out to female presiding officers in Guineda, Belize and Antigua. She completed an online CPA course on Women's Caucus and she began collecting information on all past and current female MPs from 1979 to present. We had a fourth meeting Mr. Speaker on December 8th 2023 where and that was following 16 days of activism to end gender violence. At that meeting Mr. Speaker, members discussed the purpose of the caucus. We discussed the mission and objectives that we have today, but more than anything else an executive was elected. And the members of the executive Mr. Speaker, Madam Alvina Reynolds who's our president, who's the chair, our vice chair is Madam Lauren Williams. Secretary is a staff from Parliament, Prishama Sylvester. You have yours truly as a treasurer, communications officer, Miss Mary Polius and floor members, Mrs. Leon Theodore John and Dr. Alison Kajada and the ex-officio member being the minister for gender affairs, the member for Babuno. Mr. Speaker, I'm pleased to report that Mrs. Petra Nelson-Deffrey was accepted the responsibility to draw up the Constitution and Chatter. Yes, women's power for the caucus, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, again earlier on I heard the Honourable Member for Cassie's East, lamenting the fact that we do not record our history. So, for the record I think it prudent for me to recognise the women who have served in our Parliament from 79 to now. And we have 35 and they are current and past presiding officers, President Alvina Reynolds, Mrs. Janine Jirodi McEntire Mrs. Gail Philip Jaurahere, Dr. Rosemary, husband's matron, Madam Justin Lauren Williams, Mrs. Leon Theodore John and Mrs. Sarah Floodboebrand. Current ministers and senators, yours truly a mahipulite who have served Upper and Lower House, the Honourable Dr. Virginia Poyatt, Senator Dr. Pauline Antoine, Senator Lisa Jaurahere, Senator Kejiana Toussaint-Charlie, Senator Alison Jean, and Senator Dr. Farah Polius. Past members and senators and MPs, Mrs. Janine Compton Antoine, Dr. Gail Regobot, Ms. Manisa Rambali, Ms. Charlotte Tessa Mangal, Mrs. Mauricia Thomas-Francis, Mrs. Petra Jeffrey Nelson, Ms. Mary Francis, Mrs. Agafazia Panel, Mrs. Deborah Tobie, Mrs. Charmaine Gardner, Ms. Mary Isaac, Mrs. Portuna Bellarose, Ms. Mary Polius, Dr. Morella Joseph, Dr. Alison Kejada, Mrs. Bofia Pearl, Mrs. Lilia Haraxing, Ms. Laurence Laurent, Ms. Bernadette Maxwell, Ms. Posita Theodore, and Ms. Merlin Comby. Now for the record, Mr. Speaker, for the record to be complete, we need to add all the women who have served in our parliament, but some of them have gone to the great beyond. Persons like Mrs. Haroldine Rock, I have Ms. Grace Augustine, Ms. Daphne Marais, and I would really like us to do the research to ensure that we have that complete. So that's what I have at the moment, Mrs. Speaker. I believe we are the dawn of a new beginning. Women agreeing to work across party lines, to work together for the benefit of women. I want to thank Madam President for her leadership in the formation of this Women's Caucus. I want to thank the Honourable Member for Babono, for her passion in improving the lot of women. I want to thank the staff of our parliament for the support provided so far. I want to thank all our members across party lines who have actively and passionately been involved in this journey so far. I want to thank our America's for their support and training, helping us to reach this milestone. As I've said, I want to thank our Prime Minister and the Cabinet of Ministers for embracing gender equality and gender equity. Mrs. Speaker, I pray that the establishment of the Women's Parliamentary Caucus of Centrusha will achieve, among other things, two things. The dismantling of barriers for women in participating in politics and for our younger women to feel encouraged to enter political life. Mr. Speaker, the establishment of the Women's Caucus of Centrusha is a good thing. So let us just do it. And may God continue to guide and bless us on this journey. I support the motion before us. I thank you.