 Mr. Speaker, I rise to support the motion on the floor as presented by the honourable Prime Minister. But could you give me leave at this time Mr. Speaker, for me to express condolences to Senator, President of the Senate and the Montute family in Fwaso on the passing of one of the family members, father of a gentleman who was not too long ago murdered in the community. So it's double jeopardy, double sadness for the family, the people of Fwaso and in Babunu. Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate, I want to join my fellow minister with responsibility for tourism and creative industries in congratulating our young persons who have done excellently, especially in the shows that have gone ahead of the main carnival celebration where we have our kings and queens who grace us with the presents this morning. Thank you Mr. Speaker for allowing them to be with us today. And I want to thank the students from the Birmingham University who have made St. Lucia a very safe haven for them to engage in their practices and preparation for higher education. I thank them for the presents this morning. I also want to, well our king in Babunu was dethroned, Khalifso King was dethroned but it's always the best that wins Mr. Speaker and I congratulate the Khalifso King, however I want to congratulate the Court of Babunu Steel Orchestra for maintaining the reign as champion for the panorama. And I will not be, I will not allow any other parliamentarian to harass me Mr. Speaker, I need protection that when we try to give other constituencies a little glory, they try to take advantage of the situation. So sometimes it's your neighbor that do these things. Do you deny that you get safe haven there? Did I deny? Do you deny that you get safe haven in the adjoining constituency for the steel band? No no no, what we said there was an agreement, there was an MOU sign. No no no, those who inherited the constituency have not read the MOU. Mr. Speaker, I speak in this house because the people in Babunu elected me to represent them and I thank them for that opportunity. And I will not be dragged into the discussion when some members opposite have raised the fact that I speak loudly in the house but not out there. And on the passport issue, I hope Mr. Speaker, they are hearing the good news coming out of the immigration department. And I will continue to speak loud in this house Mr. Speaker so that I give my constituency and the people of St. Lucia very good representation. I want to congratulate the primary schools in Babudu at the CPA exam where every single school, there are six primary schools in Babudu. Every single school scored above the mean in this exam and that is a record that is history for Babudu. And I also want to congratulate Mr. Terence Erasmus Finnello who retired as principal last month where he served the Babudu secondary school from inception for 24 years Mr. Speaker. That is what you call service. Mr. Speaker, back to the motion at hand. And the motion at hand Mr. Speaker speaks to just a few critical points. Of 2023-2024 on page 67 the prime minister speaks and he promised to give the St. Lucia people zero rated on lumber galvanized than what he promised the people. And Mr. Speaker, the prime minister and the cabinet colleagues, cabinet of ministers, tampons, napkins and similar articles of any material Mr. Speaker. When I stand in this house and I say that the prime minister, I have a prime minister who is gender sensitive, who lives a cabinet that is gender sensitive that is another testimony that we have a government that is gender sensitive where they added this very essential item for zero rated item in this bill Mr. Speaker. And Mr. Speaker, I say this because I speak from experience in Grenada. I was heading an original international organization and when I tried to make contact with the victims of the hurricane in Grenada, we had to go fire trinidad to enter into Grenada and we asked them to bring a box of items. What are some of the things that they would want? And Mr. Speaker, it was at that time it hit me home as a woman and understanding the plight of women that they said bringing canrys, matches and they added sanitary napkins to that list. And there I realized how important that item is on any shopping list for a woman at whatever age level that they have to use it. Mr. Speaker may want to use that item too. So we are actually futuristic in thinking. Mr. Speaker articulated earlier by my colleagues two inclusion who wants to access these materials. And I say as parliamentary rep, we experience what happens on a daily basis when our constituents have to access lumber, cement, galvanized steel, plywood. And as the prime minister articulated the sanitary napkin, these activities to build, to construct roads, to fix drains because they tell you the little dollar cannot stretch that far Mr. Speaker. And when they heard the prime minister application to these materials, they have held back, purchased, they are waiting. And even my fellow parliamentarians are also waiting so that whatever we do in the constituency will be stretched. It will give the people a little more disposable income so that they can make ends meet. This is a government that puts people first. And when we say it, we don't only say it but we put it in action Mr. Speaker. We also say Mr. Speaker, let us talk about the government that is concerned about the moon. Let us talk about the moon that was announced. And the prime minister said to the cabinet that the sun is shining. And the prime minister said to the cabinet that he discussed the point that we have to do first and that we have to put it in action. And the prime minister said that he discussed the point that we have to do first and that we have to put it in action. Mr. Speaker, my people in my constituency, that we have one prime minister. We say PM. But we are MPs, meaning members of parliament. So you can switch the letter around, PM or MP. So when we are MPs, we are members of parliament. But when we have to manage our constituency Mr. Speaker, we are prime ministers in our constituencies. Because we have to deal with every situation in the constituency. We have to deal with health, we have to deal with tourism, we have to deal with agriculture. We have to deal with infrastructure. We have to deal with youth and sports. We have to deal with housing and local government. We have to deal with equity. We have to deal with our own external internal affairs. We have to deal with our finances. We have to deal with water constituent need you as a member of parliament has to deal. And that's why you say you're prime minister of your constituency. So when we hear this bill Mr. Speaker, speaks to bringing relief to the people in our constituency, it is bringing great satisfaction to our members of parliament. Because we have to face the reality on the ground. Mr. Speaker, when I visit the community of Babonau and I go into these areas and you know the terrain in Babonau is not an easy terrain. The mountains, the hills, the valleys and the slopes. And you see some of the houses in which people live Mr. Speaker. This bill Mr. Speaker will bring great relief to these people so that they can improve on the houses. They can add toilets to the homes. They can repack rotten plywood that they have. They can add to the homes. And this is what this bill is set out there to stretch the dollar so that more persons can have improved quality of homes, better roads to the homes and improve the infrastructure in the community. Mr. Speaker, I speak again because when I hear we talk about contractors in our community, persons only think of contractors in terms of construction and construction meaning using lumber, cement, galvanized steel plywood. But this we are the women in the liquor contract and they pay the laborers to do the work. Sometimes they have nothing left for themselves because they are not lesons, they are not carpenters, they are not electricians, they are not plumbers so you find the women, they have to struggle to get a little dollar out of a little contract. And I am saying if the material, they will pay less for the material, that will be a savings for them Mr. Speaker. And I have done the mathematics. Women are among the greatest economists because they know how to manage the money in the home and they will be able to stretch that so that they can put food on the table for the children, especially the single mothers who are struggling with the children. School is reopening in a while and they will come and they want books, they want uniform, they want everything. And Mr. Speaker, every dollar that is left in the hands of the people will make a difference to the quality of life. And on that note, I support this bill a hundred percent and I will ensure that the people in my constituency, the people in St. Lucia in general will benefit from this bill. And I am very proud that the Prime Minister has kept his word because many times they say, they bluff, they say they will do this, they say they will do that and they not saying it, but the Prime Minister keep it and after he has written it in the book he delivers and even put aliquote top up on it because he didn't have sanitary napkins and towel in his budget and he looks and saw the victims and that the women in St. Lucia will celebrate that because they will they will benefit from it. Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker.  196                                                                                                                                                                                                                              the benefit of that bill. And we are looking forward to the implementation of this bill and let us continue to put the people first, put more money at the disposal of the people and let us improve the quality of life for all Saint Lucians. Thank you Mr. Speaker.