 Mr. Speaker, let me take leave to express my condolences with the family of Wayne Whitfield, owner of Choice and senior police officer Deterville, the family of officer Deterville as they mourn the loss of their loved ones. Mr. Speaker, I rise to give my full support to the bill to amend the constitution of St. Lucia cap 1.101 to modify provisions that allow for appeals to Her Majesty in Council and to allow for appeals to the Caribbean Court of Justice, the CCJ. Mr. Speaker, I was wondering if I had anything to say here this afternoon, having listened to the grandmaster, my learned friend, former Prime Minister, Kennedy Anthony, and having listened to his junior Bruce Lee, the mighty karatika, who landed that blow of ensuring that we create history today, Mr. Speaker. And I speak to our Bruce Lee of Honourable Prime Minister who has presented and taken this challenge to bring this bill to the House. Yes, it's Bruce Lee and the grandmaster. And when the opponent saw this alliance, they had no choice but to retrieve to safety. Mr. Speaker, I will make reference to the manifesto on page 28, which the Prime Minister quoted earlier. And what I want to reference in the manifesto is that the quotation said on page 28 under the heading Good Governance, Anti-Corruption and Constitutional Matters, point number four says, commends the process for the accession to the Caribbean Court of Justice as St. Lucia's final appellate court as the replacement to the previous council. The promise was to commence the process and we are seeing that mighty Prime Minister is not just commencing but he is bringing it to fruition and we will see that ascending into law. Mr. Speaker, I have listened to the Prime Minister and there is one famous statement that resonates with me and he always said, I have nothing to lose. I will do what I have to do for the people of St. Lucia. And what he is doing today in terms of looking at ascending to the CCJ is basically living up to his statements that he has nothing to lose. Whatever he has to do, he will do it. And it means if he has to change the constitution, he will change the constitution. Mr. Speaker, as one who advocates for human rights, having struggled with the trade unions over decades, promote social justice, I see merit in this bill. Mr. Speaker, as one who advocates for human rights, having struggled with the trade unions over decades, I see merit in this bill. Mr. Speaker, as one who advocates for human rights, having struggled with the trade unions over decades, I see merit in this bill. This is what the Prime Minister said about the people of St. Lucia. He said that he has nothing to lose. I tell you, Mr. Speaker, it has been 44 years since we were independent and we were there from the start of this CCJ. And it's only now we are actually making that deliberate effort under the leadership of the prime minister to be a member and to make it not a member but to make it our final appeal. Mr Speaker, the talk out there, I know the talk on social media because we have to be aware of what's happening in our surroundings. And there are some who chose to march against the amendment to this bill. But Mr Speaker, I will tell you they came one day too early because march starts tomorrow. So they cannot march today, they cannot march yesterday, they had to wait for tomorrow. So instead of staying in this house and represent the people, the leader of the opposition decided to go out there and spin the debate on a radio station. Our people deserve better than that. And we expected the leader of the opposition to be man enough to sit there and represent the people of St Lucia. And this is what I'm doing and what my colleagues are doing that we are representing the people, thick and thin whatever it takes. And Mr Speaker, I was very disappointed with a statement made by the leader of the opposition about his lack of confidence in you as Speaker. I hope he does not come back here because you will still be there as the Speaker. Mr Speaker, although many of us believe that the constitution of St Lucia amendment bill was long incoming, we are nonetheless happy that it is here today. In your shaitan, you can spare a bill seller per se. If a body fair or the assay, you are for ten, you can discuss a bill seller and a houseler. A bill seller can pass a law who set the sea. Mr Speaker, there are many reasons why we have to pass this bill. And these include one as part of the regional effort to build the capacity of the people in St Lucia and the Caribbean. Many times we express doubts about our own capabilities and people outside of our jurisdiction celebrate us. But we do not celebrate ourselves. When we clap, we normally clap for others, but we do not clap for ourselves. I think today is the day for us to clap for St Lucia, clap for this government and clap for the future that we are going to create for the next generation. Mr Speaker, St Lucia will be proud to join his fellow countries in the region to make the CCJ his final appellate court. We will be joining Barbados, we will be joining Belize and Dominica. We are going to say bye bye to the Privy Council after 44 years of independence. Mr Speaker, 44. And if we put the 44 in our Creole language, four means strong. Four means strong. That means we are strong and stronger. We have West Indies Crickets. We have the University of the West Indies. We have the CCJ. We have Nobel Prize winners. We have Lavin Spencer. We have Julian Alfrend. We have Darren Summing. They said shown her words. We had Honourable Julian Alfrend, who headed the Cricket, West Indies Cricket Board at the same time and Summing was captain of the West Indies. That was a trio and that was a top in the region. We have the right Honourable Kenny D. Anthony, constitutional lawyer. And today he had a field day in the house. And we have the little boy that came from Masha, who is our Prime Minister today. Mr Speaker, St. Lucia is the home for many regional bodies, like the OECS headquarters. We have Ectel. We have Karelik. We have Kawasa. We have the Caribbean Union of Teachers. And for your information, Mr Speaker, we had the Regional Office for Education International, of which your humble servant was the one that introduced this office in this country. And when we speak of education international, we are talking about an organization that represented 34 million members worldwide. And your humble servant was the regional coordinator in the North America Caribbean region and the regional headquarters was located right here in St. Lucia. So Samukwadi, Mr Speaker, Lanyo Baghaia set lisi, mun kota. Set lisi have a ex-op by Lester Kawa eblan. If you are a CCJ, you can tell my web. If you are a match, you probably CCJ, the CCJ that we are talking about is for the ordinary man to get access to justice in this country. The CCJ that we are talking about, Samukwadi as a CCJ, set pufer nepot mun, nepot mahle we, ki vle jistis yosashwen nila. If you are a CCJ, you probably CCJ, you probably CCJ, you probably CCJ, you probably CCJ, you probably CCJ, you probably CCJ, and many people have suffered injustices because they cannot afford it. And this is not what this government is promoting. That government is promoting the rights of all, whether you are rich, whether you are poor, regardless of class, color, religion or creed. And that is why I am here to support this bill so that we can give our people access to justice, access to defend their rights and to enjoy the freedom. Mr Speaker, tending to the CCJ is part of the decolonization process. For many years, this country was around the shackles of colonialism. We have sought our independence. And that we are actually charting our way. Independence is not a one-day affair, it is a process. We are looking for our own court of justice to ensure that our people get their rights. Their rights are protected. This is what we are speaking to. Mr Speaker, for your information, and I like to speak to these issues, we have over 300, about 341 inmates at Bodleley and Raymond. They haven't had their day in court to decide their fate. And I understood there is one inmate who has appeared before the court for 30 times and he has not had a judgment. So with the CCJ coming closer, even to the field of justice, we will see the wheel of justice turning faster. And I recall I asked that question of the president of the CCJ to ask what support will the CCJ give our local justice system here. And he said the possibility exists. They can give support, they can give guidance, they can give training so that our justice system moves a little faster. So I applaud our decision to move closer to the CCJ. It is an institution that we have been making contribution towards and we have not been making full use of it. And by going across now to make it our final court of appeal, more solutions will benefit from the services of this institution. Mr. Sika, I regard this move as reinforcing the philosophy of a caring government putting our people first. A caring government that wants to ensure that all solutions have equal access to justice. As I said, not for the rich only but for all, whether you are rich, whether you are poor, regardless of your colour, regardless of your status, regardless of where you live in St. Lucia, this government is creating that opportunity for our people. And Mr. Sika, as a caring government we want to dispel the view held by some of our people that justice is for the rich among us and not for the poor and the marginalised. With the help of the government and the support of the people who work in St. Lucia, Timalewe, Setifama, Semunaukawai, Bolawia, Yoni rights too. And therefore we have to ensure that we put systems in place to defend them and to protect them. Mr. Sika, I have no choice but to represent the interests of those who place their confidence in me. My duty is to give them the level of representation they duly deserve. I pledge my full support to the constitutional amendment to make the CCJ the final court of appeal for St. Lucia. I thank you Mr. Speaker for giving me your listening aid. I rest my case.