 In the practice of politics, there ought to be some level of truth, some level of trust, some level of confidence that you can place in the woods that come from the mouth of a politician, more particularly a politician who has had the privilege of being prime minister of a country. So when a prime minister, either a sitting prime minister or former prime minister gets up and speaks, everyone listens because he would be speaking from experience, he would be speaking from knowledge, and he'd be speaking from an informed position, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, when the member from V. Ford South gets up to speak, there is great anticipation because everyone wants to hear what he is saying, his ideas, even his criticisms and his concerns, and this is appreciated by everyone, including me, Mr. Speaker, who has worked with him for many years. When the member from Cass Street North gets up to speak, again we have sparred in different sides of the coin of the table, we've had our sparred, we've criticized each other, and all of us have done that, but we did it with dignity, sometimes we got rough, this is the nature of the politics, you have to get rough sometimes, but there was a level of dignity, and I remember when I went to the member from Cass Street North and I said to him, listen to me, what we're doing about this winner takes all and opposition politicians get nothing, Dr. Robert Wilson and I, I said to him that there is this money coming from the Taiwanese, why don't you share it, why don't you do something if it's opposition politicians can get something, he agreed and then at that time we in the opposition got some allocation, another matter is when there was a hurricane, he called me in his office and we agreed that there will be some allocation between opposition seats and something happened with the speaker, so when he gets to speak we listen and the member from the north always makes a point that he hasn't got a bad o cement, it's from the government, it's really no position, not the same and not the same thing I can see from the member from the north for Cass Street North, but Mr. Speaker, when the member from Microsoft gets up to speak he cannot help himself, it's either he suffers from an illness that I can't describe or he suffers from some sort of complex, Mr. Speaker, the things that the member from Microsoft speaks about, you can't understand why a man can say these kind of things, when he knows very well these things can easily be disputed and can easily be shown not to be true, but he insists in saying it and he insists in allowing some people and some people follow him and repeat it and when they know very well it's not true, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, in my rebutter toward the minister, the member for Cass Street North, Mr. Speaker, I want to start from where my colleague, the Deputy Prime Minister began and I want to quote what he said, you can have a piece of land that is on the harbour, the piece of land is on the harbour, so everybody is clear that this is a piece of land by the end of Bannans on the Neef Golden Hoop, on the Neef Golden Hoop, 100,000 square feet on the water. Now, land in Cass Street, Mr. Speaker, goes from anywhere between 500 to a thousand square feet, so a thousand dollars a square foot, so land at Golden Hoop now is land in Cass Street. In Cass Street, that is what land is going for, so the right is when you talk about waterfront land, so I want to say this, first of all, Mr. Speaker, to have sold the land to a non-entity, nobody knows her, who is she, has she done any work in St. Lucia? Okay, Mr. Speaker, I said Lucia, so a person who has no track record of doing any development in St. Lucia, unless you want to go and study her lineage and then say her father is a person who is a developer, Mr. Speaker, there is a dirty trend in St. Lucia politics perpetuated by the united workers party of bringing people's families into politics, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, it's heartbreaking, people's children are being dragged into politics, Mr. Speaker, in the nastiest and most demeaning and the most untruful way, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I've been a victim, I am a victim, but I'm not going to that now, but what I must see is when the leader, when the member for Cass Street, for Mikusov gets up and he says that we celebrate what is best being St. Lucia. We cannot ask Mr. Speaker for other persons to hold us in the highest esteem if we allow ourselves to go or to allow ourselves for politics to do that. So, Mr. Speaker, I felt very strongly about the content of a meme and I know it has happened in the past and I'm saying it, we need, we need to do better. I said it from the get go. Mr. Speaker, I love to see Mr. Speaker, the members come always to the house saying today is a new beginning. So again, Mr. Speaker, I just want to make it clear whether the members on the opposite side accept the apology, accept the statements, it, I hope that they will in good faith, but the reality is they want, we want to disassociate ourselves from one and any and any other one that may put solutions in the disrespectful light in a disgusting position. We are better, we are better. And in fact, if in fact we are going to fight crime, Mr. Speaker, these are the little things that make a big difference in terms of how we see and portray ourselves. So, Mr. Speaker, on the note, I thank you for your indulgence and I'm hoping that we all, every single society takes up the mantra that we are going to collectively listen to ourselves condemn and ridicule anybody that does that. That was on the 22nd of March, Mr. Speaker. That's on the 22nd of March. And then on yesterday, less than 10 days later, he called somebody an entity. Nobody knows her. Who is she? Mr. Speaker, this is where the politics Mr. Speaker has got. And then you go on in social media and you denigrate people's children. You put their pictures up. You put an arrow directing to them so that they can be easily identified, Mr. Speaker. I mean, Mr. Speaker, you know how emotional the politics can get. You can easily identify them. That's the second time the picture of that of that young lady was put on the, on the social media, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, what kind of example are we setting in this country? What kind of example are we setting in this country, Mr. Speaker? When a former prime minister can be on, can be, can put on the public record, a non-entity, nobody knows her. Who is she? When we're speaking about a youth economy, when we're speaking about getting young people involved, Mr. Speaker, that is the example that we set. That is the example we set, Mr. Speaker, for our country in the name of politics, Mr. Speaker. That's what we do. And our surrogates get on it, on lives, on the television and say the most, the most bitter things about people's children, Mr. Speaker. I spoke about trust. Yesterday, you heard the member from Microsoft tell you, Mr. Speaker, that we were not speaking the truth when we spoke about orange growth. And he knew nothing about any courthouse decision as it relates to orange growth. He said, Mr. Speaker, and I quote, he said and I quote, Mr. Speaker, the courthouse that the prime minister is making reference to was never part of the deal. The fact is, is that the regional court, the regional court of St. Lucia is hosted in St. Lucia and we are currently paying rent for the regional court in town. Is that not so? Okay. Who makes a decision to determine where regional court goes? Thank you. So by which ministry, which minister makes the decision? So the regional court, so the regional court, when they want to move somewhere, who did they go? They give the minister of justice to the minister of justice to determine. Mr. Speaker, the OECS court of appeal, the regional court has been in St. Lucia for ages. There was no decision as to where the court is to be located, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the court has been complaining about building, about space. Complaining about space, Mr. Speaker, complaining about facilities, complaining about they damn going on space for the judges because they need more judges, Mr. Speaker. You may recall, Mr. Speaker, the member from Mikusov, when he was talking about developments in St. Lucia and how it's his government that has, he called me to do well, he spoke about the diamole. He said that the diamole was part of the reasons why St. Lucia was doing well because he had done the diamole. But he came yesterday and he said the courthouse and his exact words, Mr. Speaker, is there was never a contract sign to have caused the regional court to go where. It was never, never. That's what he said. So the regional court, and I quote, when they want to move to somewhere, who did they go? They go to the minister of justice. It's for the minister of justice to make the determination as to where they're going to go. This is nothing to do with the building, quotation, the leader of the opposition. He said, this, that is nothing to do with the building. So don't try to make it, if you don't want, if you don't want the regional court to go there, you don't have to agree. There was never a contract sign to have caused the regional court to go where. Never, never. Mr. Speaker, this is the same gentlemanous prime minister who was speaking to the chief justice on a number of occasions about the court of appeal, Mr. Speaker. And I'm going to write you a, read you a letter, Mr. Speaker, which clarifies it. Orange Grove Plaza Limited is written to Mr. Darrell Moncho, prime minister of public service. That was the time when he was prime minister. And it's clear, ministry of the public service, they are the ones who deliver rental of buildings. Who was minister of public service, the honorable prime minister at the time. But here, he says, go to the ministry of justice. This is the letter. The main purpose of this letter is to provide the date 17 December 2021. The main purpose of this letter is to provide clarity on the course semi-seventy-twenty-one. Seventy-one, listen, we were inquiring as to what's happened at the building. The main purpose of this letter is to provide clarity on the course of the fit-out for the Eastern Caribbean Central Court at Orange Grove. The gentleman says there was no agreement, agreement between the Orange Grove Plaza Limited and the Senlusha government slash Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court, Eastern Caribbean Supreme Court. Through discussions with the government of Senlusha, the government of Senlusha determined that the property known as the diamond was in an area with great potential. Understanding the objective of the country's redevelopment program, we accepted, we acceded to the request of the government of Senlusha and began actively pursuing the redevelopment of the abandoned project and determined that the space would be suitable for government and commercial entities. When completed, the total building will provide a hundred and seventy-seven thousand square feet of administrative and commercial accommodation in two separate buildings. A lease agreement has already been executed with the government of Senlusha for seventy-eight thousand four hundred and six square feet for a fifteen-year period with a revolutionary cause, a revisionary cause after which this place will be owned by the government of Senlusha. The ground floor of that building will be will be tenanted by retail stores, a vision facility and a supermarket. A draft rental lease agreement for the eastern Caribbean supreme court in the other building is currently at the offices of the attorney general for review. That's the man, the man said he knows nothing about it. The agreed leaseable space is seventy-one thousand nine and forty-five dollars square foot at the rental rate of EC five dollars per square foot. With respect to the fit-out lease which referred to as the secondary lease, we are conforming a maximum cost of EC three dollars per square foot for a period of seven years after which the eastern Caribbean supreme court or the government of Senlusha will then own the furniture and fixtures. The space will be fully customized to meet the functional security and other specific requirements of the eastern Caribbean supreme court including a prisoner holding facilities. The building shares one common wall with the other buildings but is designed to operate independently. The aspect of the project would be implemented using a turnkey arrangement. You see what was a turnkey arrangement? Yesterday he said it was a government building. Conceptual designs based on user requirements have already been approved and signed off by the eastern. Listen to that conceptual designs based on user requirements have already been approved and signed off by the eastern Caribbean supreme court with several iterations. Copies of designs to be founded on the separate cover and a presentation can be arranged if required. Now we have provided clarity and confirmation on the fit-out cost for the eastern Caribbean supreme court. We are looking forward to move it to the finalization of the exclusion of primary lease agreement with at five dollars per square foot. We look forward to working to a successful completion and the letter is signed by the owners of orange group plus plus plus limited. Mr. Speaker, the mayor for Mikusov came in this honourable house and told you that you can go if you want. It's a ministry of justice that is dealing with this that cuts off. Mr. Speaker do you think it's right that for the sake of politics somebody can come and stand in this honourable house and say that kind of thing Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker it is sad Mr. Speaker that's why young people do not go into politics. It is sad very sad because when someone can come in open courts in open when a whole world to see and say things that are obvious not true but let me tell you why he's saying things are obvious that why why he's saying that because he was complaining about rental expenses in the estimates now here's a government acting in good faith if a prime minister government begins negotiations for foreign investor or investor and the investor based on the word of the government puts millions of dollars in a building on the word first of all there is one signed lease agreement for the office space and let me tell you how much that that will cost Mr. Speaker the office space that the government that the government the last government signed for that will cost the government of selusia for sixteen and a half years three hundred and thirteen thousand six hundred twenty four dollars a month three million seven hundred sixty three thousand four hundred eighty dollars easy pull month that's what they signed for and it will cost Mr. Speaker and it will cost a further twelve million dollars for retrofitting now that is that is the deal that he signed with the orange grove people Mr. Speaker further there is a maintenance charge the maintenance charge providing the service plus ten percent of management fee the supplier mover electricity a portion so that was what these signs that's what the government signed right for the government buildings but the same leader of opposition is talking about rent for government buildings what do you expect us to do you you want us what you want us to do is just walk away from that whole agreement and that is what many people think we should do but what i'm thinking of is the reputation of selusia the reputation of the world of the government of selusia and remember for show is that you are banker you are professional banker you make a lot of of bank decisions based on reputation it is called know your customer the reputation of your customer if the government and that is why we had to pay came in city because you need to protect the reputation of the government and much the chagrin of one of of of my colleagues of my colleagues because my colleagues believe that this is a travesty that's why we paid came in city because the reputation of the country we are small country all we have is our reputation that's what we have and this is why you can't be callous with people's individual reputations or be callous to the reputation of the country so here's the gentleman coming in honorable house and almost denying the fact and he knows anything about the courthouse building after he's had several discussions with the learned chief justice after they've put they've put they've done all the drawings together after the eastern cabin court has approved the drawings mr speaker the gentleman is saying he knows oh god mr justice do the only thing mr speaker mr speaker really what will they do they'll go on facebook tonight and attack my daughter that that is the the the response that that that be the response you know not the response to the facts but the response to the response is going to be a postal attack on me and a post attack on my daughter and my family that's going to be the response so i wait for it mr speaker you see that i learn when i find myself in let let them tell you for the mr speaker the cost of the cost of what the government for the eastern cabin court appeal the rent and that is including that's the once because you fully fit it out would be five hundred and four thousand dollars per month they have read after an increase of ten percent will be applied every five years this represents an increase of three hundred and sixty thousand dollars per month for rent for the eastern cabin court appeal sure and security deposit of one month the speaker so in estimates we put in five million dollars because we were not sure when that will finish to protect st lucha's reputation but the leader of the opposition comes in here and one breath he says that was his work and that's how that's how we achieved asoplas by next breath he denies it completely what do you do mr speaker what do you do what do i tell this men and women what i tell him the speaker i move on the leader of the opposition mr speaker said that st lucha is doing well because of what he did because of his work because of the things that he did mr speaker said lucha experience a 22 percent job in gdp after covid the highest job in latin america and caribbean that's an economy that was that was doing well that was an economy that was doing very well mr speaker and covid did not only did not only attack st lucha covid attacked the entire latin america the whole of latin america mr speaker now let me tell you some of what happened in in the other countries let me tell you mr speaker what happened in the other countries as far as the drop in gdp was concerned and that the country you say you run so well and the figures will show in a while mr speaker mr speaker st lucha's job was 24.4 percent and the bahamas 23.8 percent declined the gdp after covid 2020 barberas 13.7 belize 30.7 let's go closer home grenade 13.8 jamaica 10 percent st versen the grand is 5.3 percent job in in 2020 st lucha 24.4 percent gana is only one if an increase of 43 43.5 percent that is how the economy decreased or the loss of gdp after covid st lucha had a health but you know why it is because because st lucha's economy had already begun to show signs downside risk before covid so when covid struck it took a it took us overboard but during covid we borrowed over 300 million dollars but that's 200 million dollars mr speaker less than 20 million of these dollars were used for direct support to people the direct support came from the n ic that's where the direct support came from the n ic mr speaker and we've pledged at some point when this by the time is right to pay the n ic people back the money that is where the that is where it came from mr speaker but mr speaker during that time what did the government do they were busy doing dfcs for elections they were busy in roads with the fair election time mr speaker so that turned the million dollars that they borrowed because of the weakness that they call me at that time they had to take it to pay salaries and that is what manifests itself in the figures that been inherited of course covid was a factor of course we know covid was a factor mr speaker but what came after covid was the ukrain war which will deal with in a few seconds so mr speaker the leader of the opposition goes and he quotes figures and in wanting to demean the prime minister plus that we have achieved in wanting to demean the fact that we reduce our our overall deficit to demean mr speaker goes chance tries to quote some figures mr speaker mr speaker i have an extract from the economic and social review you may recall mr speaker that the government of this and lucia labor party came into government in the year 20 lost government came into government in the year 20 we lost government and we lost government in the year 2011 right we lost election year 2011 we won won sorry we won in 2011 look at what they inherited a current balance a current balance of 59.3 percent so plus 59 million dollars so plus by the time we went into 2012 the current balance was minus 52 million dollars right they inherited that then we get in minus we had to we had to take it because minus then we bought it one year it went minus three million dollars then in 2014 went back up 36 million dollars in 2015 82 million dollars 2015 16 and when we gave it to them in 2017 it was 92 million dollars that is and when we gave it the overall balance was 70 79 million dollars overall balance and we took it at 227 million dollars so between these years we brought it down to 79 million dollars that's what we give them in 2017 social economic review that's not what that is when the minister the member of yourself the minister of finance these are the facts these are the facts miss we go these are the facts and it's this one printed by me these are the facts and you can check it out in the social economic review and when they got it in 2019 2016 they got it 79 million that's what that's what they got this because so what they inherited was a platform of sustainability a platform that we could move on from and by 2019 before covid we were ready well in deficit current balance deficit of 43 million dollars before covid hit before covid hit before covid that's that's where you so you understand why we have problems and right now we've taken it from last year we've taken it from mr speaker when we got it with with we last year we had anticipated that we would have in 2022 2023 when you took it in 21 our overall deficit was 224 million dollars and our primary deficit was 156 million dollars we took it from there and we brought it into one year to have a surplus of 29 million dollars and we brought down the overall deficit from 444 million dollars to 257 million dollars and the prime minister and the member for microsoft speaks about revenue so he says that we do not collect we collected more revenue so we should bring on the price of gas mr speaker the price of gas is a function of international markets we do not think we do control that he was the one who raised it by 150 he was the one purportedly to put it in a log box to put in a log box that's what he said the log box we have looked for the log box when the minister for when the deputy prime minister is acting as finance as i have asked him to look for a log box when he's acting i've asked him to look for the log box when he is the minister i asked him to look for the log box nobody can find the log box that log box is not cannot be found he brought it up by 150 meter speaker but we have subsidize fuel and subsidize LPG in particular we are budgeted to subsidize it by eight dollars sometimes you end up at spain as much as 20 dollars for the subsidy on cooking gas mr speaker but because of the buoyancy of the economy and because of the fact that there had been some inflation our excise our excise tax consumption has increased but the leader of the opposition tells us we should not we should not we should not we should allow gas to be sold at 13 thousand 95 cents but remember he is the one thank you he is the one who increased the the tax rate if we are allowed gas to be sold at 13 thousand 95 cents mr speaker we would have had to subsidize petroleum products by over 80 million dollars that is what will be the cost of that and what will happen mr speaker what will happen even if we are going to increase in revenue and i said in my estimates we still have a current deficit we are still spending more than we are we are getting what we did is we had a primary surplus in that we can pay our our interest not all our not all of our current expenses if we continue on this track mr speaker if we continue on this track we will have to seek interference from the international monetary fund because we cannot continue to live beyond our means in this way so what are we doing we are making adjustments we are reducing expenditure but that was the same member when he was when he was mr finance reduce that by 200 percent and up to today no one can tell me what did the reduction of that do for them at the supermarket there is no one who can see what the reduction of that did for them at the supermarket so the minister the member from microsoft wants us to continue in a trend of deficit deficit deficit deficit to reach a point where we have to go to the national monetary fund to help us because it can't continue at that at that bit and the same member who put us we have to spend 46 million dollars a year to pay dfcs for roads some roads to nowhere that is that is the position that we found ourselves mr speaker and he and the member speaks about the economy and how we mismanaged the economy mr speaker so mr speaker our deficit remains and we have to make adjustments for our deficit and to make it worse mr speaker sen lucha has the lowest vat in the region so when he speaks about other countries sen lucha has the lowest vat in the region mr speaker and sen lucha has subsidized petroleum products and subsidized LPG gas for the speaker you know sometimes 20 dollars per cylinder sen lucha so anytime of course a consumer buys 20 sponsoring of gas at some point the government put in 20 dollars for him mr speaker the member for microsoft makes talked about subscription and grants and makes a great first subscription grants you're taking money to enjoy yourself give people subscription grants mr speaker mr speaker again the truth he's okay do you know he cited the grants in the prime minister's office and saying that these grants will be cause we will waste in your give people things yes because you know what these grants related to they related to moving the grants moving the subscriptions that we make to the association of crime and commissioners of police the subscriptions to the regional security system to the grants the subscriptions to the OEC central secretariat we moved it from these areas and put it in the office of the prime minister because these are the direct results on the portfolio the prime minister that is what caused the grants to go up moving up an entry of moving the OEC central secretariat three million dollars our commitments the regional and regional security system two million dollars two and three five that is what caused the grants to go up mr speaker the grants the subscription is in one block grants and subscriptions so that's what made the grants grants go up in the prime minister's office mr speaker the leader of the opposition speaks about interest rates mr speaker everyone knows that interest rates have increased interest rates have increased it was one percent it was one percent mr speaker when he was in office right now is that five percent and climbing so we had to make a projection for increase interest rates because the loans that we have the they are they are variable interest rates mr speaker and interest rates international market increase all the time mr speaker he speaks about salaries and wages and he says let's jump to the boys jump to the boys mr speaker mr speaker do you know the reason why salaries and wages have gone up is because we paid civil servants their back pay and we paid them the pay increase without any without any acrimony we paid them the pay increase we paid them the back pay even some units that did not negotiate we paid them the same amount as everybody else that is why it went up and retiring benefits mr speaker retiring benefits when people work hard in the civil service and they and they go they go they live those who do not contribute to the n i c we must pay them the benefits and that is why retiring benefits went up mr speaker not because there was any massive increase in employment is because they're retiring benefits for these people went up mr speaker so mr speaker grant and and and and subscriptions let me tell you mr speaker where grants and subscriptions increase and i want to ask mr speaker whether you think in your good judgment that's not that is not the right place that was not that was not necessary mr speaker i want to i want to ask you whether afina wasn't there mr speaker is bigger grants and subscriptions here is where here is where you went up 250 000 dollars for for the marketing board for agriculture we give them we subscribe 225 000 dollars to them mr speaker grants and subscriptions these are the increases that that he's complaining about mr he's complaining about mr speaker seven million dollars increase in grants and subscriptions three thousand three million dollars increase in subvention for sejul we shouldn't do that three point six million dollars increase in subvention to the millennium heights complex ten thousand dollars increase in subvention to diabetic and high potential association twenty thousand dollars to cater for childhood development center ten thousand dollars for the autism autism society twenty thousand dollars to cerebral policy association three hundred thousand dollars increase to cater for payment of medical assistance for the less fortunate these are the increases that he speaks about in grants and subscriptions mr speaker these are the increases grants and contributions and then a million dollars increase due to increases in provisions for subvention to the cornerstone humanitarian society twenty thousand dollars increase sejul children's home at sejul twenty thousand dollars marion home twenty thousand dollars st lucy home twenty thousand dollars national council for the disabled twenty thousand dollars st lucy red cross twenty thousand dollars view for children's home twenty thousand dollars housing allowance seventy nine thousand dollars our boys matter increased by seventy six thousand dollars subvention to feed the poor twenty thousand dollars rise st lucy subvention twenty thousand dollars and listen to the listen mr speaker the public assistance votes reflects an increase of twenty nine percent of five point eight million dollars resulting from provisions assistance to meeting the needs of the most variable and the shock response social projection projects mr speaker that is where that's where it went up that's where it increased it's not that people go and look for the one thousand five million dollars that that's that is where that is why grants and subscriptions and that's the same member that says we're not doing enough for do something do something to them what are you doing for them we must do more we want to do more we are doing more but that is why the grants and subscriptions went up mr speaker that is why it went up then we had an additional subscription to the increase in subvention to export solution that's that they're doing a marvellous job in external export development and i must give kudos mr speaker to the the executive director of export solution mr speaker mr speaker mr speaker so that is why grants and mr speaker this is why grants and subscriptions increase mr speaker mr speaker then he speaks about all your love parties who say mr you know why it went up because solution had to cater for the visit of prince edward that's why it went up solution had to cater for the visit of prince edward so rosen entertainment went up he speaks about consultants mr speaker mr speaker i made a point in my budget in my estimate that as the capital projects came into maturity that consultancies would have to increase but let me tell you a little story about consultants is on the him isn't mr speaker i don't know if it is a lack of memory loss or is the idea that you say anything prime minister you have 10 minutes left well i have time for that in my budget yes one hour but you can get an extension can i get mr speaker just 15 more minutes yes remember for the nr north mr speaker i'd like to invoke standing order for 10 in order to allow the prime minister an additional 30 minutes within which to complete his presentation when he remembers the question is that standing order 32 10 be invoked to allow the prime minister an additional 30 minutes in which to conclude his presentation now put a question as many as of that opinion say i as many as of a country opinion say no if in the eyes of it eyes of it extension granted thank you very much ma'am colleague minister thank you very much the speaker thank you very much mr speaker so we spoke about subscription grants so we are both intimate now consultants in mr speaker mr speaker the consultancies are mandated by the lending organization there is a big project called unfolding the blue economy which will help us now food security et cetera that is mandated that the world bank will give us the money mandate that is just supposed to be a certain degree of consultancies then we look into the matter of blue bonds which is something we discussed in in in the policy statement to deliver our debt we're looking to to transfer our debt to reorganize our debt into something called blue bonds where we use our ocean and you know mr speaker sen lucha has more this region has more sea space than land space so we have to use our sea space and the work by the minister of the environment to protect our oceans on falling the blue economy tied into a blue bonds so we can we can assist in our debt sustainability that's what you're doing that's where the consultants here that's where the consultants are that's where they are but let me tell you what they did about consultants mr speaker the world bank dictates that all consultancies must be tender when the tendering process was to come but some just like the grocery highway that they that this three speak about and remember if you yourself we will can clarify that just like the grocery highway that's why the grocery highway is right this day the people of sen lucha have only the united loges party to blame for the grocery highway but now it is today only them nobody else they are they are to take full blame for the grocery highway for the congestion and the problems in there full blame so mr speaker you know what they did they said to the world bank we want to see who we give the consultancies the world bank said no show me you know what it means mr speaker they removed the consultancy part from the project and said to the world bank we'll pay for it ourselves and they did it by the iraq award so the world bank is ready to pay for the consultants they said no don't do that we take it away and we give it to whoever you want and i will not tell you who they gave it is bigger i'm not i'm not a bit of mention people's names in this honorable house for me to speak up speaking about interest rates that's the same minister of finance who signed the contract to give people interest per day the same money you know one percent per day this is the same minister of finance who speaks about interest rates so what they did mr speaker is that they took the consultancy away from the projects and they decided to pay it by the iraq award but we in the capital projects and the career project that i mentioned to you mr speaker these capital projects are very important to us and we are ensuring that the consultants is going the right way so that the projects can materialize and come to the natural establishment and this year we are very conservative in that beautiful projects that we that we know can come can happen this year on foreign the blue economy said jude hospital mr speaker and during the policy phase of this discussion of this debate i'll tell you a lot about senator mr speaker many excited things have not said jude mr speaker and to the chagrin said jude hospital is going to be completed it's going to be completed mr speaker said jude was was going to be completed tell mr speaker he came he spoke about street lighting so you're speaking about the care all the time what i'm she she lies in mr speaker do you know and one of you what self if he's if he wants will better see me what i'm saying we had negotiated completed negotiations in may 2016 for a replacement of all the LED lights in zelusia all the solar lights in zelusia with LED lights it was a signed seal loan from the caribbean development bank when they came in government mr speaker you heard about the pojora letter and that's a cause and the pojora letter appeared and when the pojora letter appeared mr speaker the funding the loan for the from the caribbean development bank was cancelled a loan for nine million dollars cancelled up to today the caribbean development bank can't understand why that happened you know why it happened mr speaker because the caribbean development bank they had waived some of the procurement requirements to say that lucile should be the contributing party working with them because the lucilex experience because lucilex had been involved in that business because it was determined who the contracting party was should be they cancelled and the pojora letter appeared yes he became a big shareholder so mr speaker of course the pojora letter fell through and they looked they introduced a firm called KLM mr speaker that was in 20 you know mr speaker finally we are talking about not doing anything on performance i want solutions to just go back a little bit and tell me one project that was done by last government one wish they denied now wish not not on working now tell me only what the last government had was was ideas and and that's what the most about you know we had ideas ideas yes and my friend from lab will say but i'm purple she was and i would say flashing mirrors mr speaker so so what happened so KLM that was they were both killed in you they were both killed in that in 20 about 2019 covid okay give covid covid jump up covid covid came mr speaker they left government 2020 2021 they will pull them out and nothing on kled we came back and these these grand negotiations if kled because i understand about government continuity so kled when he made this question we had discussions with them kled got a solution had had to prove it a guarantee from a company called migal migal m i g a that's a company that gives guaranteed guarantees to private sector firms once they get the money from the wool bank to so so that the local counterpart will not have to have will not have to get so much exposure into the guarantees i mean i'm pleased to tell you after these negotiations back and forth clean up arrangements back and forth i'm pleased to tell you mr speaker and colleagues if we happen to hear that the street lighting project is on course and the first serialize will arrive in se musha at the end of april this year and that has been confirmed mr speaker by a press release from washington from washington not from me because you know never come and say that here if i wasn't sure from washington is because here's what it means migal has issued guarantees to kled capital and ci fi latam to support installation operation and servicing of a mod of a modernized street lights network in se musha the project consists of replacing all 22 000 of the island sodium street lights with leds and installing 2460 new leds street lights this will lead to a green hot gas emission reduction this environment you like to hear that this will lead to a green hot gas emission reduction of 5000 tons of carbon dioxide equivalent to equivalent to 302 e per year while increasing light levels by over 40 percent across the road network we're never net zero migas guarantees total 11.7 million are covering an equity investment by kled for 15 years and an eight year loan and an eight year loan the government of se musha is working to transition to a lower carbon economy and undertake initiatives to promote climate resilience energy efficiencies this project is an important initiative that is consistent with the government's climate change policy and demonstrates its commitment to increase energy efficiency that the country's carbon that reduces the carbon's footprint the first project migas upon the island musha will help the country meet its national climate targets that is what we are doing this speaker so that is why that's what we are doing and here's what energy savings from the air industry flights are estimated to about 6.8 gwh per year corresponding to monetary savings of about 2.3 million dollars per year which will enable the government to focus on other developmental products initiatives high electricity rates have a negative effect on businesses and people in se musha world bank director lila bernick reducing the to the world bank is endorsing it mr speaker so mr speaker i'm pleased to tell you that's going to happen but i want to thank lucy like mr speaker for the for their support in the street light project and i understand that lucy like will also be audience of lights for se musha any delight so my colleagues will have an abundance of lights to shine mr speaker and i want to show you how this government operates and he talked about consultancy fees patent is consultant means mr speaker is for the geothermal project in in in sufrere part of it so again so you see this is how we do it mr speaker blue bonds blue economy LED lights environment is sustainable sustainability to reduce our carbon footprint that is how this government works mr speaker work with a plan but you'll hear more of that in the in the policy debate mr speaker so mr speaker i thought i was rather disturbed by the mannerisms and things that the minister the parliamentary representative for the parliamentary representative sorry thank you sorry for for microsoft did mr speaker and you know i don't like to do that but i must i must mr speaker i must do it because maybe we'll talk about traveling and he came and he accused the minister for the minister for support of traveling mr speaker and i know i'm going to get blasted on their social media for that you're going to see the most thing about me more things about me now refund for accommodation talk about traveling traveling july 19 2019 and that bill comes from a hotel called one ham yad remember for view what's up you know to tell one ham yad you know it mr speaker you know these things accommodation per night 1,795 pound stolen plus 359 pounds stolen 2,154 pounds per night 2,154 pounds per night six nights what the government paid was fought at three the government paid for six nights 48,981 for six nights mr speaker i had to do it because too many lies and too much righteousness too much positive righteousness is being is being paralyzed and mr speaker and we have been challenged do this do that right now mr speaker we will take the challenges because there is a lot of information that we are going to disclose because the challenges because you know mr speaker we won elections in july and we went around doing the business of the country to the business of the country we didn't interfere if anybody we mr speaker this is the first government that has kept top civil servants when they change like that we kept all the poor men's churches except one we kept the commission of police we kept the head of fire we kept the head of the of the we kept we kept the cmo we kept all but the accused of victimization the accused of any mr speaker we kept all these people we worked with them the arrogance mr speaker of government ministers never rose his head with with with my ministers and i speak to them all the time i tell them don't interfere in the civil service let the civil service do what they have to sometimes they very noisy me for that mr speaker mr speaker these guys but they just come on they talk and talk and attack us attack us attack us mr speaker and right now the attacks have got personal and way below the belt so we i put you on notice mr speaker that there's going to be there's going to be a many revelations made in his honorable house in a in in short order mr speaker you will hear the whole story about the vaccines you'll hear the whole story about the land at pleasant at one pleasant mr speaker you'll have the whole story about the john compton dam disilton you'll hear the whole story about the super ssdf mr speaker that's not right you had a whole story about the road mr speaker look at mr we have been challenged we've been attacked we've been accused mr speaker but i'll i'll i can put notice mr speaker that these attacks are going to be more vicious because the the stories will come out mr speaker so six nights of a hotel you pay 48 thousand 98196 years six nights of a hotel six nights that means mr speaker for one night for one night mr speaker the hotel was six divided by 48 thousand dollars eight thousand dollars a night for one night in a hotel that's why you think that any of us when a man for view for itself could ever do that we would take it from outside you want to yeah i know that i'm mr speaker and i'm in the same yeah and i'm sure neither man for newt knows and surely not for me and these men and women know they can't do that you think any cabinet minister can tell me they're going to trip and the hotel is eight thousand dollars a night so mr speaker so when so the the the very bottle mr speaker is going to be attacked by daughter that's very but i'm waiting for it mr speaker you know i've been day you see mr speaker i have been day recently mr speaker philip jpea has become the the flavor of the month so my daughter had attacked mr speaker i just want to make a one little point mr speaker about this attack this personal attacks mr speaker mr speaker when somebody attacks you personally and you know there is truth then you know that there there is truth in some of the attacks then you you feel very down you feel concerned mr speaker but what i'm concerned about is what that causes other people who want to get into politics the impression it makes on young people who want to make a contribution to the country mr speaker that's what concerns the mr speaker that's what concerns me because when people just say things about you they have absolutely no truth and they cannot in any way prove it and they never and the man the man from mr so mr speaker that is why we do not accept the so-called apology that he made in his own house collectively and individually we do not accept it because we know it's not sincere but that's the same member in the last election they have a thing on me they say i have a speech impediment as what they say about me i have a speech impediment i am pedi mng i want to ask one person if when i speak to them they never understand what i said one person i want to ask one person in the whole if when i speak they can't understand what i'm saying but they say they say i have a speech impediment so when they ask when they ask when they ask the member for microsoft when he was prime minister somebody could press him in and when when you have to leave the opposition where there's money for the also what did he say you you know what he did that that that that that that that that that that that's what he did that's what he did mr speaker that's what he did but everybody has forgotten that but mr speaker i will never get personal with any politician doing my career never all of them that believe they don't have saddening con beef let them go ahead all of them that believe that they don't have saddening con beef thing let them go ahead but i will never get personal never never my integrity doesn't want me to get personal mr speaker and my my parents will turn in the grave they ever hold me one man's children and his wife and his girlfriend in politics mr speaker i will never do it mr speaker and the public of sen lucha is is listening you know let me tell you something let me tell you let me read for you mr speaker something that was sent to me by somebody who was concerned that person is not a politician that person is not a politician i have never experienced this level of nastiness the dirtiness the lies the acrimony the racism the institutionalized corruption as we have today and this has started in the advent of a sudden set of people in politics it is scary and sad because i strongly believe that this lawlessness has pervaded every aspect of our society that is the opinion of someone about tenution politics where is where is the mr speaker and you will never hold mr speaker i can bring to mr because it was saying this on her mr speaker mr speaker the fact they say i was preaching pediment they have made other things which mr speaker i come this honorable house and i say to people my father was a policeman this i should not say that i come and i say to the young people of this country that you have to aspire to get the degree the best you can and to aspire to be prime minister of sen lucha don't matter who you are and don't matter where you come from that's what i preach but no but inside here come talk about somebody as a non entity who knows them and that's the difference with the speaker i preach that we must aim at the highest heights for anybody we can answer where you come from where you come from the joshas bulbad where you come from the man where you come from boosville where you come from full ashore where you come from belvi where you come from odham city you must strive to be the best you can this is my philosophy mr speaker or then you're here this is my philosophy but they attack me for it i i say to people sen lucha that never judge a man because of where he came from or where he was judging what is now and as he has how he has aspired to greatness i tell members of the police force to not get involved in sexual harassment and treat women with dignity and respect and i say that your name or your or your complexion should not be anything that you determine the job or how you aspire in this society that's what i say these are the values that i preach these are the values mr speaker and on my life you can see these values coming through so that is why that is why they figure they can attack me on personal things in the spirit of every one of the attacks is a lie exactly but attack me on the management of the economy every word is a lie mr speaker every word house at capes state not you bmw give my big not you daughter not you god son was god son was mr speaker then to make it worse i went and you see this con and the contempt and the disregard the is about the people i went to view for mr speaker remember if you were self you were there but i didn't say i was going i went to i went to view for top mr speaker and i went you know mr speaker you can ask my colleagues everybody knows that i like this concourse nonsense i like that everybody knows that everybody knows it so mr speaker i went to a rest a shop in view forth in bruceville the first day we're very happy because mr speaker what they don't understand about me is and that is why they underestimated me my roots in the point it is very deep i went i line with the minimum for people self in view forth in fact my father is on view forth north yes they don't know that deep roots deeply rooted mr speaker so i went to view i went into view forth south i went to it was bruceville went to so i went there and a guy took me in a shop and he said to me he said boss come and see a shop that he said kenny helped me to build in a ma right ma that kenny happened to build try went in there and i said to the guy give me up a thing of chips there you understand so you mean the speaker what they don't understand they don't understand that are that connection with people that you don't have i had just come so i i had i took the chips on the guy the guy said boss man hold that so i sat on the thing and i opened the chips like eating it so they decide that i look like a chimpanzee you understand now you know why they said so because they had put a call out in unipak try to see what we can do to counteract the prime minister's visit to view forth south they put a call out united a call went out so when he comes and he plays innocent and he does not he's a contributor to united park you understand when they play don't know they a call went out mr speaker try to see make recommendations make recommendations that investigation is coming too we're going to yes there are people who have joined government sorry for years that's going to come too that's coming too mr speaker mr speaker and i tell my colleagues to brace themselves brace because the attacks from them are going to be worse and more vicious so what happened is that so we went so united prime minister of 10 minutes left united park thank you mr bill i'm finishing united park put out uh go get him and this guy came out with the chimpanzee competition mr mr but and nobody knows i don't like a chimpanzee or go looking for like me i mean so if i were about it i can be about it so these things are petty things nasty one day when i see all of us and guys i see what so mr speaker that's that's a light on those things bigger let me just say seriously um we really need to change that culture it's a new show that's way into mr speaker i want to send members for the members for the contribution to this to this these estimates the policy statement is in the last Tuesday in April mr speaker mr speaker what the these statements are to do they serve to consolidate solution but not allowing it to stagnate and it's a difficult difficult task consolidation without stagnation in an environment that is very very very very difficult this week after covid came the ukrain the ukrain war the ukrain war caused serious disruptions the difference in covid and ukrain war is that during covid the whole country stopped during the ukrain war the whole country began to move but the the the levers of movement were not oiled enough so you find shipping was was a problem supply chain issues up to now absence of pilots absence of elif et cetera mr speaker so that is a double warming but i must say the country is working together i want to thank my colleagues my colleagues sometimes we have to we have some discussions on issues sometimes opinions vary but i must say i have the fullest cooperation from the cabinet of the government of senator and i want to thank them and i really want to thank them for that mr speaker i want to thank this this even service the minister of finance in in understanding that we treat them as professionals and their job is to give us the best professional advice and to understand we will take the decisions based on the professional advice that they give us but the decision the decision making is ours i want to thank special mr speaker the members of the solution police force mr speaker 99.9 percent of members of the police force are hard working good policemen sincere but there are a 0.5 percent that needs to change so mr speaker i want to thank them the pressure has been on them recently mr speaker when they they are producing in the policy statement i will tell you some of the the initiatives that you go there and i want to thank the member for schozel he offered to assist as far as that's concerned mr speaker mr speaker the member schozel is is basically a good guy you know in bad company and i've said to him that there is nothing wrong in changing your mind footballers pay for manchester united and they go to live a pool they still play football yes they win chelsea and they go to ask them ask her they still play football they even live they even live they even live serious serious teams and go to places much as if your team is bad so mr speaker thank you very much the policy statement is coming and i think we are on the right track and together we will make the new show progress thank you very much