 Mr. Speaker, I want to take leave at this point to express my condolences to the Gasper family on the passing of the Uncle Barfelmi Gasper who passed away in Canada. He was my former principal when I was a student at the Babono Primary School. He was a tough disciplinarian and I believe all those who went through under his stewardship did very well in life. I want to express condolences to the David's family from Magwetut in the constituency of Grosile for the passing of the Mum. I want to send greetings to the residents of Babono in all the communities starting from Debarah, Bogis, Lager, Monsito, Plateau, Pabush, Gara, Lakwa, Tishime, for Asso, Sharsen, Talvan, Kakojewa Hill 20, Kabish, Balata, Timon and Union Terrace. I want to thank them for the support so far and the confidence that they have placed in me to represent them Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want to congratulate in advance all workers of St. Lucia as we prepare to observe Labor Day. And I expect all my colleagues, we are workers even beyond the call of duty and we need to celebrate that day that set aside for us. And they will celebrate the day under the theme embracing fundamental principles and rights at work for greater productivity. On Sunday Mr. Speaker, on the side, it will be the feast of the Babono Good Shepherd Church and that church was built in 1947 where Father Albert will be officially installed as our parish priest for Babono at 4pm by the Ash Bishop, his grace, mass day. Mr. Speaker, and I turn quickly to the budget presented by the Honourable Prime Minister and Parliamentary Rep for Cassry's East. I want to use an analogy I coined a few years ago at an annual general meeting in Cassry's South, the Cassry's South constituency of the St. Lucia Liberal Party, where at the time Honourable Robert Lewis was the parliamentary representative. I describe St. Lucia at the time as a vehicle which had a reckless driver and it was overturned and was left with all four wheels up in a pool of mud. This description that St. Lucia carried at the time. And before July 2021, on the 26th of July, I also describe St. Lucia in that same state. But at the time I said with a vehicle in that state, there came a mechanic, this driver, who went to pull this vehicle out of the mud on his wheels, repaired it and then set it ready to roll again. Well Mr. Speaker, that is what is happening again. When we use the letters JP, Joseph Poole, and what this mechanic and driver has done, he has basically pulled St. Lucia out of that mud and put it back on the road for us to roll. Describe this budget. Mr. Speaker, on the goal of helping for St. Lucia that I spend very little time and energy focusing on those who destroyed the country and left it in unnecessary debt, which this government has to honour. Mr. Speaker, for the state, the government of St. Lucia, on the 26th of July 2020, exceller, government salary, abakout duit, hisoti Ka Spiss East, evaik nakawe evaik diswit moa, iza TA set litsi na kanalla labua, iza netua e, iza repay e pain- epimetyausi maya punu sa ule. Mr. Speaker, after the victory of the St. Lucia River Party, The Prime Minister assigned me the responsibility for the Ministry of the Public Service Home Affairs Labour and Gender Affairs. We haven't had a conversation about that up to today after 18 months. We just have to continue to do what we have to do. But Mr Speaker, the Department of the Public Service is what will help this budget become a reality. Mr Speaker, I will link it to the theme of the budget, health and security, the pillars for sustainability. And without a strong public service, no matter what plans, what ideas, how much money is allocated, we will not see the results. And therefore Mr Speaker, we are getting ready to reform and modernize the public service in order to get the will of government to turn at a faster rate. In preparing for public sector reform and modernization, this will be a huge undertaking. But we must and have to restructure the public service. The failure to do this means the government's operations will be doomed and gloom. Mr Speaker, when I looked at the budget, I went from page to page and I'm saying where is the public service? Where is my department? And Mr Speaker, it dawned me that the public service and my departments are all over the budget. Because they have to make this budget a reality. Mr Speaker, as stated in the budget under the theme health and security as pillars for sustainability, we must uphold the principles articulated, which speaks to inclusiveness, accountability, equity, meritocracy and rule of law. And Mr Speaker, we have a challenge to keep law and order in this country. Because there had been a breakdown of law and order prior to this government coming in. And that is why today Mr Speaker, we have all the challenges dealing with violence behavior in this country. We need a public service which will adhere to the principles. The first step is to design and enact new legislation to start the process to effect changes and the culture of the public service to get greater productivity. And that is how we will achieve health and security and stability and sustainability in this country. Mr Speaker, we have had several sessions to look at the public service management bill and regulation. And Mr Speaker, you need to note that the last time we had the staff orders for the public service in St. Lucia, that was on August 25, 1983. And this tells us how old our laws are. And therefore we need to move in time. We have to change these laws. The staff orders, people working for government, we have to review these laws so that they can give the public efficient, effective and quality service on a daily basis. The need for a public service management bill was recognized about two decades ago. We have that bill there almost two decades. And that was done by a legal consultant. Now we are reviewing the legislation so that we can make this the new law under which this government will govern. Mr Speaker, we had multi-stakeholders consultation to look at the regulation. The public service management bill will look at new areas of promoting efficiency and effectiveness. The public service bill must look at public service principles, values, objectives and policies that was not in the staff orders, Mr Speaker. And Mr Speaker, we have to look at the general conduct of public officers, Mr Speaker. That is the only way, Mr Speaker. We can have a country that is healthy and safe when we have officers who are working and giving the best. Mr Speaker, the bill that we want will focus on safety and health in the public service. And you heard, Mr Speaker, how my colleagues in Parliament talk about the issue of mold. And this is costing the government millions of dollars. Employees are staying away from work. They cannot work in the environment. And the taxpayers' money has to be collected to correct that on a regular basis. It's like every day we have a wildcat action where some institution, somewhere is closed. Because my department deals with facilities. And before we clean up, we deal with mold, rather than later, Mr Speaker, we have to go to another one. So Mr Speaker, as we look at the way forward in this budget, we have to ensure, as stated earlier by the Minister for Infrastructure, that the buildings, the conditions under which we work has to be safe and secure. Mr Speaker, in the budget, the Prime Minister spoke about collective bargaining and collective agreement. And the bill will also adjust that, Mr Speaker. We are looking at code of ethics and regulations for public officers. If we do not have discipline, we do not have ethics in the public service, we will not realize the goals of the budget. It will be like spinning top in mud. The money that we collect, the money that we spend, the programs that we want to implement, we will not see the results. Mr Speaker, we are moving in the technological age. And the Ministry of the Public Service is responsible for the public sector modernization development strategy, which is aligned to the 2023-2024 budget. And this is a huge project in the public service. We have to solve the project which costs approximately 12.6 million US dollars. And we want persons to embrace that, or else that money will go to waste. Mr Speaker, as I will say, this budget is there to advance St. Lucia, bring St. Lucia to the next level. And based on the programs identified under the different sectors and the plans of the Honourable Prime Minister, we need the modernization, the technology to help us achieve that. Mr Speaker, the public service is the clearinghouse of all government's human resource management and training or development. It has the responsibility to build organizational structures among all government agencies as well as maintenance of all government facilities. In the coming months, we will explore the possibility of bringing all units of the public service under one roof for greater cohesion, coordination and to develop a new culture of operation for better customer service. Mr Speaker, our digital transformation strategy is already bringing results. Government is already saving millions of dollars when we go in the technological world. And the digital transformation strategy focuses on business, education, health, tourism, agriculture and government. We involve citizens and society, businesses and the public service. And when you look at this budget, Mr Speaker, we are focusing on improving business community. We want to improve the quality of education. We speak to the laptop and all the things that government is putting in education. And this budget focuses on health and quality of health. We talk of tourism, which is the maker generating revenue for this country. We need agriculture for food security and safety. And we need good governance. Mr Speaker, we have to focus on the policy pillars and accelerators that will focus on digital transformation, governance and funding, digital community skills and training, integrated digital architecture and infrastructure and digital security and trust. The introduction of online service to do business with government will result in huge savings to government. And the main objective is to deliver quality service to the public in a more efficient and effective manner. So Mr Speaker, look at this budget. We move quickly to the department of gender. And the department of between men and women in all aspects of the society. This is the department, Mr Speaker. You would not have seen reflected heavy in the budget because this department is almost self-sufficient in terms of the projects and programs. And I have always said that when we put gender on the agenda, others put us on the agenda because a lot of support is out there to ensure that there is gender equality between men and women. And for this reason, we have a number of projects going on in the gender department. But what this government has done is to provide the infrastructure where the prime minister has given the gender department the request in terms of physical space and additional staff for them to be able to deliver. Mr Speaker, we have the national gender equality policy which we are going to implement in this financial year. With this, the issue is with the lady of Missy We have the issue with the lady in Missy This is a problem. There is no issue with women, there is no issue with the men. The issue with the lady in Missy is that there is no issue with the men. So there is no issue with equality. So this is what we talk about, equality in gender. And Mr. Speaker, when we talk about security, we talk about violence and some of the antisocial behavior in our country. This is what the Prime Minister spoke at length on this issue in the budget. Therefore Mr. Speaker, we have to look at the elimination of gender-based violence. You must not dislike somebody because the person is a man or because the person is a woman. You must not beat somebody because the person is a man or because the person is a woman. This is not tolerated. And that is what we call gender-based violence. That some people are receiving violent acts, especially women and girls, because they are women. And therefore the country has legislation to speak to that. Mr. Speaker, we have to look at the governance and gender mainstreaming. And this government has taken a policy decision that it will mainstream gender in all its programs. So when we look at all the projects that we have in the budget Mr. Speaker, we have to look in the implementation process to ensure that both men and women are treated equally. And that is what we mean by gender mainstreaming in the budget. So when the Prime Minister speaks to construction, he speaks to agriculture, he speaks to tourism. Any project that the government implements, we have to check to see whether men and women are treated equally and fairly. Mr. Speaker, women are playing a very important role in economic development in the country. And we speak to women's economic empowerment and environmental sustainability. Recognizing the contributions of women, especially women in rural settings for food security and environmental sustainability, the government of St. Lucia and this budget speaks across the goal is to alleviate poverty, which is strategically rooted in skills development, including financial literacy and business development and management. A lot of women, Mr. Speaker, were not venturing into business because they have the nurturing personality behavior where they take care of their family and their children and they would not want to venture into business. But now the world of work has opened up and women are taking advantage of this opportunity. And when we speak to the youth economy, we speak to the micro, small and medium businesses. We speak to community tourism. We speak to agriculture and the seven crop, Mr. Speaker, that women are coming out. They are coming out there to participate in the economic activity of this country. And Mr. Speaker, with their participation, I can assure you, Prime Minister, that you are going to see an exponential growth in the economy and economic activity because women have been left out in the mainstream of the economy. And with the presence and the opportunity afforded to them in this budget, they are going to take advantage of that opportunity to propel economic growth and development in this country. Mr. Speaker, I just want to allow you that the government has taken a decision to establish gender focal points in every ministry. And that focal point involves financial analysts, planners and heads of departments who will be ensuring that the government programs are gender sensitive. Mr. Speaker, issue of gender-based violence. And we need to stop it. We have done training. We are involving the Ministry of Health. We are involving the Department of Justice and Policing and Social Workers in the public sector and civil society to ensure a minimum standard of service for gender-based violence. Last year, Mr. Speaker, the Gender Affairs Department trained 50 police officers in how to handle cases of domestic violence. A booklet was developed for the use by the police and other agencies on domestic violence. And that is where we begin the issue of crime and violence in the country. It must start in the home. It must start in the family. It must go into the schools and all the other social partners. The Prime Minister has made a commitment to support all programs and to promote gender equality in the society. Hence, he has demonstrated that by his actions. One, the appointment of a commissioner of police who is a woman. And I see her present in this group. So, the eyes of it. The appointment of senators and many women on boards and commission. St. Lucia is becoming the envy of the region because the statistics are changing. And they have done an analysis. And they have seen that St. Lucia has done very well during the last year when it comes to gender issues in its programs and projects. We may not be paying attention to it but the regional and international communities are paying very close attention to that. And Prime Minister, I'm telling you you are doing very well in that direction. Don't let the people tell you other things. Don't be distracted. You are on track. Mr. Speaker, we are going to establish the one stop center and that's for survivors of gender-based violence. They need a place, they need counseling, they need shelter. And therefore, we have identified a location which will cater. We are getting the funding. All they needed was the physical space and the Department of Gender Affairs in collaboration with the social health, police and justice sector. We are working to put that in place. The department is supported by the Caribbean and the United Nations women in this initiative. So that is where the funding is coming from for this program. Mr. Speaker, as we speak to this budget I'm just adding the other component where I addressed about 20 participants in a training for business women in a bill-back-equal project that is because of COVID a lot of women have lost their jobs and the economic situation has gotten worse and therefore the project is called bill-back-equal. That means while we are building back we must ensure there is equality. And this is financed by UN women and the Canadian government. It's a $2 million project and the Prime Minister was present at the launching of this project in St. Lucia. He attended and he addressed the gathering about almost a year ago and I told him they were taking too long to start the implementation so it's just that ruling now. So sometimes we talk about certain things and it takes almost another year or two years before it starts. However, I was pleased to address the participants on Wednesday this week and they were on fire. They were very excited and they have positioned themselves to benefit from the grant from the micro, small and medium-sized business. So Minister for Souffre Parliamentary Rep for Souffre and Minister for Commerce you will see more applications coming in. Some might be going after the youth economy and some might go after agriculture or tourism, community tourism. The participants were fortunate to have an excellent presenter from Nigeria to facilitate the session. The training focus on leadership capabilities, decision making, conflict resolution, emotional intelligence, team leadership and consensus building. Mr Speaker there are a number of policy changes we need to explore to improve efficiency and that would include gender relations unit, gender policy and mainstreaming unit. So we are trying to improve the structure within the gender department. So one section will address gender relations and the other section will look at the policy and gender mainstreaming. And there we will have a director so just a reconfiguration of the department to address that we need a legal officer and we need a data analyst. Mr Speaker I move quickly to the department of labour Mr Speaker to reduce crime and violence and improve healthcare. It is important to note on page 7 of the budget. The prime minister stated that the labour from the bosom of the labour movement and therefore we have to remain true to the cause of workers and protect and defend them especially the vulnerable ones and he called for the protection to ensure that they receive a fair days wage that is in the budget Mr Speaker and therefore Mr Speaker the budget speaks to the minimum and equity wage commission. This commission started working on this and have since given a preliminary report to me as minister of labour to obtain feedback before the final document is prepared for presentation to the prime minister and cabinet of ministers. Mr Speaker the prime minister speaks to negotiations and when we look at page 9 you would have noticed that Mr Speaker that the prime minister paid 18.3 million dollars back pay to public servants and 4.4 million dollars to liat and majestic workers workers for more employees of these two entities and the workers of St. Lucia have applauded the prime minister for honoring the obligation of this government and therefore they hope and when do you what their appetite they just look for more but we are hoping that they understand that this is a responsibility that this government had and we have no choice but to honor that. The prime minister has given instruction Mr Speaker to put the necessary mechanisms in place to commence negotiations with public sector unions we should commence shortly and he also would like to end it within the shortest period of time to avoid any accumulation of huge back pay the prime minister is afraid of the back pay the figures are huge so we need to negotiate in a timely manner so that we do not build back pay I have also informed Mr Speaker the unions that all collective agreements will be examined to check if there are of matters which could be dealt with before the start of negotiation because many times Mr Speaker the unions negotiate a collective agreement half of the things are not implemented and they are going into another round and some of the issues are not very huge matters they are some that this government might be able to address even before we start the next round of negotiation Mr Speaker I have been dealing with the unions on a regular basis to resolve many burning issues to maintain the industrial peace in the country they have been keeping my life busy but the dialogue continues Mr Speaker the government is committed to building social dialogue among government employers and trade unions so we can have broader participation with key stakeholders in decision making and consequently it will put mechanisms in place to formalize this arrangement by establishing a tripartite committee that discussion was held with the trade union federation and they have welcomed the idea we have discussed with the employers federation and they to welcome the idea that with social dialogue we can resolve a lot of problems and avoiding conflict Mr Speaker this government establish the labour tribunal and as we mentioned the minimum wage commission the challenge we have Mr Speaker is to obtain the necessary resources to support them to function in a more effective manner and to have and I have promised to engage them to explore what can be done to improve the operating environment and Mr Speaker I can share with you that when the new labour tribunal took over there were over 57 outstanding cases there and some workers and employers had almost given up and when they get calls that the cases will be heard they became very excited that we have a labour tribunal that is going to put peace between workers and employers Mr Speaker as we move on we look forward to all of you at the May Day rally which will be held at the Financial Centre on Monday that's why government has the day off so according to the Prime Minister don't put any other activity to clash with your May Day celebration so we want all the workers in St Lucia to find some time for rest and relaxation and we want parliamentarians to find time to rest the Prime Minister said this is a very stressful job and that is the day for all workers because some people tend to feel that employers are not workers they are workers all of us are workers and the Cabinet of Ministers and parliamentarians have asked that we form our union so that we get proper representation when citizens and constituents take advantage of us we need representation so we form that organization we register it so that we can express our grievances when the employees and some persons put us on the streets Mr Speaker you would want some union representation too Mr Speaker I move quickly to the Department of Home Affairs and my colleague Minister of Parliamentary Rep for the Library is not here today because he would have liked me to share that with him and we shared a joke and I told him he is Minister of External Affairs and I am Minister of Home Affairs so when the Prime Minister sees him in Cabinet he will ask him what are you doing here you are supposed to be external so he likes that joke and if I told the Prime Minister then I have to travel to go whatever meeting he tell me no you cannot go because you are Minister of Home Affairs you have to stay home and take care of affairs so Mr Speaker the Department of Home Affairs as stated in the budget by the Prime Minister speaks to security as a priority for this financial aid I am pleased on the approach the Prime Minister has taken in combating the upsurge in criminal activities in St. Lucia Mr Speaker he is recommending a holistic approach and that it is not left to the police and government meaning politicians although some politicians on the other side they feel they are not in it and I have said Mr Speaker that the problems that we have in criminal activities no matter where in the island usually it's a bad seed that was sown and we are harvesting the bad fruits now and therefore this government cannot just take blame for what is happening we have to check what happened before did we ensure that there was law and order did we ensure that we planted good seeds so that today we can harvest good fruits Mr Speaker I have always felt that we cannot just blame the government and the police for an escalation in criminal activity it is not just about the police since I last reported to this house Mr Speaker I have engaged the representatives of the Borderland Welfare Association I have visited the SSU to check the conditions under which they work and Mr Speaker I can tell you since my visit there has been a great improvement because I don't want to tell you what I saw but they send me the photos and the Prime Minister put the resources so that our law enforcement officers have a decent environment to work Mr Speaker the Royal St. Lucia Police Force and the Police Welfare Association the Probation and Parole Unit the Fire Service Officers the TransUnion Federation the National Workers Union all the public sector and non-public sector unions have been engaging me on a number of issues those relating to the collective agreements that are not resolved and we are getting our pulmon and secretaries from the various ministries to address these issues I have been making the effort to engage them and to maintain a line of communication among all the unions that is important Mr Speaker the Police will seek to improve public perception through community involvement in crime fighting thereby enhancing citizen security and safety adoption of technological improvement in intelligence gathering improvement in police radar equipment and in police outreach and public relations program that is coming in this budget as presented by the Honourable Prime Minister they want to adopt a proactive approach to crime prevention and problem solving to improve citizen security they are receiving an additional 15 police officers for the establishment of a major crime unit and increased patrols the procurement of equipment for major crimes unit and to pay license of special police equipment for example Mr Speaker I have made a call here and I will say it again that in the department of education we need to increase school attendant officers COVID-19 did not do justice to our youth they were left ironed they didn't have anything to do and therefore some criminal elements have prayed on these children and Mr Speaker I continue to say that when we see the persons who are involved in some of the heinous criminal activities they are very young persons and therefore we have to prevent and not cure Mr Speaker to create a safe for road traffic environment through public sensitization enforcement of traffic laws and stakeholder collaboration to purchase additional police vehicles implement traffic management project procurement of equipment for police visibility project all these are ensuing in this budget to improve security in this country Mr Speaker the government is having issue among the protective services and the prime minister has committed that we will address the matter and right now as we speak Mr Speaker we have some experts on the ground that are involved in revisiting the benchmark qualification for the protective services and they should give a report very soon that will address a lot of the teething problems we have with the way protective officers are promoted and it was one where the promotions were aligned to certification and we have discovered that when we look at what happens in other countries that the protective services require very very good skills, abilities and experience for them to perform well not how many degrees you have is how well you are on the ground to deliver a professional human resource management the prime minister has potentially increased the budget for training of the protective services Mr Speaker you would have heard the story that when we came in the last government did not see the need to give our officers the skills and the knowledge that they need for them to do the work and this prime minister has increased that in fact this year he increased it by another $300,000 Mr Speaker we have to look at the regularization of salaries for special constables training which represents an increase in the police training vault repairs to police facilities drug squad building rental of new premises for immigration units and other police facilities to create border management in collaboration with other law enforcement agencies and stakeholders the commencement of a witness protection program this government is investing heavily in national security security and safety of our people and we want our solutions to play the part work with the law enforcement officers because when you protect your neighbor you are also protecting yourself it's not about them it is about us Mr Speaker in immigration we have to deal with the issue of immigration and passports which has caused much distress to the general public government has identified a new location for the department to operate in the near future we are just awaiting some of the retrofitting work to be completed before they can move to that new location government has paid for 175,000 passports so there will not be a shortage of passports so those persons whose passports are not due for renewal there is no need to rush because there will be passports and the border management system which gives us yes they can use their own until it expires the border management system is now in operation so there is that single window where you can see all persons who enter and exit this country through legal means so we have the ED online forms for persons travelling in and out of the country you don't have to go and fill in this form you can do it online to save time so we have made some significant progress in this direction the marine unit has received some attention especially in the area of training and some equipment to improve on the work the fire service has requested a new fire service headquarters and therefore the prime minister has put in some allocation to start the process so the feasibility work is starting they are due to get four new fire vehicles for the stations in Grozily and George F. L. Charles sorry Mr. Speaker border lay correctional facilities border lay will be the best allocation in 20 years officer of the border lay correctional facility this is the first time they have seen such a heavy investment in this facility I have visited border lay correctional facility four times since I became minister for homophase I have done a tour of the facility twice and I have held meeting with management three times my most recent visit was last week where we conducted an assessment of the level of progress made since the introduction of the review report and the appointment of a new director the outcome of the exercise Mr. Speaker revealed that the facility has been making great strides most of the short term recommendations have been achieved there is almost in the institution the facility is rapidly developing into a rehabilitation center the inmates have planted 3000 planted banana plants they have rabbits 1500 chickens you have 10 minutes left I need about 15 minutes member for January north Mr. Speaker I move for the invocation of standing order 3210 to allow the honourable member for Babodo an additional 15 minutes within which to complete her presentation honourable members the question is as many as of that opinion say aye as many as of a country opinion say no the eyes have it the eyes have it thank you colleagues thank you Mr. Speaker I notice that minister of agriculture is smiling and they tell me to say it in pre-order I have to say it in pre-order I have to say it in pre-order they tell me to say it in pre-order the nose have it we have planted 3000 banana plants 3000 plants of China and they have planted 3066 chickens  Onto ḇ ḍ ḅᴏ Ḧʋti Ḣɪʻ Ḑʟ ḔʃḤ ḠʒḕḖ Ḵm�弟 ḢʯḕḔ ʢʒḕḤ– ḑʃᵋ Ḭʒᵜʰʑʏ, ḈʻʲʱḨᵘ Oh 对 they said they need cows so anybody who donate them two cows 臑 ḅᵇ that would be very good for them the prime minister has made an allocation to f Diosht to improve security వయిగ్డన్త్త్గ్దిత్నింటుట్నినంవాంగానానికా. They just received 25 new recruits to improve on the number of support from stakeholders to construct a playing field for the inmates, and they have been involved in football competition in the constituency of honorable parliamentary rep for Denry North. So that is what we talk about rehabilitation. I visited the sewing unit. They will be involved in repairing of furniture. So we are seeing that the inmates are treated with some level of dignity. I participated in a symposium they had, they had a show and they are very talented and therefore we need to make use of this talent while they are inside it. Mr Speaker, while we speak on security, the Department of Home Affairs is getting ready to launch the youth at this unit. The preliminary work has been completed and it is a unit that will help in the coordination of all agencies on activities involving vulnerable youth. All the necessary ground work has been established and we should launch the unit soon. Mr Speaker, when I examined the budget, I noticed that St Lucia's record, St Lucia records economic growth of 18.1% as it is the largest in economy in the OECS. This is good news Mr Speaker. This is an indication of good leadership, good financial management calculator. But I will not tell you what key is that on them. That calculator gets it right. Mr Speaker, there is one fundamental principle I learnt in leading any organization and that is a good leader in an organization around. And the Prime Minister has three moments to go and he has already turned St Lucia around. People centred. That is why the opposition cannot tum up the phrase putting people first. I have no difficulty with the phrase Mr Speaker because this is what I have been doing all my life. In the teaching profession and in the trade union movement and as a community activist, I have always been putting people first. So I am in the right place at the right time among the right people for the right reason. Mr Speaker, when I looked at the budget and I am putting everyone on notice that I am the minister who has very little to give for the ministries. I am waiting for support from all ministers to develop my constituents. So Minister of Agriculture, I am waiting for support from my farmers who have been crying for help with the age and irrigation. Mr Minister of Agriculture, I have prepared some gas vouchers to help them in the dry season. Fifty-seven farmers will benefit from that. They are crying. They cannot water their plants. No, we will wait because we are waiting for that to ease up before they irrigate. Although when too much rain comes, they get flooding. We are starting our kitchen garden competition Minister of Agriculture. So we are waiting for the support when I check on you the Prime Minister, you tell me check the Prime Minister. When I check the Prime Minister, the Prime Minister tell me check you. So I want to know who to check. So we want to see agriculture moving in the constituency. Minister of Youth and Sports, I need your support. We have started some work and in a total mess. The last government just ignored that. They put stadium, they put thing and the field, the outfield is not good. The players, especially the larger field, nobody goes and play on that field. When you walk on that field, you see the kind of holes. You swear it's smooth when you look at the grass. But when you walk in Mr Speaker, it's a mess. Babolo has been, was one time described as the sports capital of Central Asia. And I will not allow it to slip away. Yes, yes, Babolo, not me that calling it. Find out, check your history. When we had Lamo Spencer in the Olympic, we have Albert Reynolds. Not me. The sports capital where we had persons in all different walks of sports. Not just one person that excel in one area. And you heard the Minister of Sports spoke earlier. And I will tell you Mr Speaker, no, no, no. That's when he was in Marsha. I will need support. I'm starting the resurfacing of the playing field near the Babolo secondary school. The students here do not have a playing area. And the principal has been asking. We have mobilized the equipment, it's already there. But because of the rain, we have spoken to the Minister of Sports, different sports. And we should get some support there so that we can create that space for the children to release their energy. The equipment, as I said, is there and we should start soon. Mr Speaker, my interest in sports is there. And I notice the condition of the washroom at the floor of the playing field, the home ground football in Babolo. And when you have new generation football team, that's the home ground. And therefore I had to go ahead and repair that toilet for them to use it. I also started the rehabilitation of the larger toilet facility which was vandalized during the time of the last administration. It requires major works, but what we have done, we have sealed it so people do not continue to vandalize it. We put doors and metal doors to secure and we await support from the Ministry of Youth and Sports to do that. The Minister of Local Government and Housing, we have been doing renovations on four community centers, Mr Speaker. The Lagai Community Center, the Bogis Community Center, the Debarah Community Center and the Forasa Community Center. And major improvements around the Babolo Multipurpose Center. Mr Speaker, we could not wait. We just had to move because these facilities were abandoned during the last five years and therefore we had to make them habitable. Minister of Infrastructure, I'm constructing six bus shelters and a bridge in Timon. We have spoken about that. So we'll see how we get in help. And we have spoken about the Babolo Grozile Link Road. That one Minister or Parliamentary Rep for Grozile and Babolo will not rest on that one. It is one for major economic activity for St. Lucia. It's going to reduce on the traffic on the highway. There are a lot of benefits from it and I recall my husband said from the time he was Cabinet Secretary many decades ago that was drawn to the attention of the government. So I think he will feel very pleased if you see finally government will address that. So it's not an issue that just came out. It has been there for many decades. I need help. I have erected many road signs, Mr Speaker, and directions. So you can move on Babolo with greater ease so that you don't feel lost. The constituents are anxiously awaiting the street lights for their own safety. And we have agreed Minister of Infrastructure, Parliamentary Rep for Kastri's North that when we complete the pod-holding and repair of the existing roads we will declare Babolo to be a whole less or no whole road community because we are going to take on the responsibility to continue to maintain that road and make it motorable for all motorists. Mr Speaker, I just want to remind the Minister of Infrastructure that there is a link road between Gara and Bogis which was started by the last Parliamentary Rep and the people are clamoring they want to see that road completed so I look forward to seeing it back on the agenda for completion. Minister of Tourism and Creative Industries, I just want to remind you that Babolo is known for culture and agriculture. Thanks for giving us a small window for us to showcase jazz, carnival in our community. We are bringing life back to Babolo because Babolo had been sleeping and snoring for the last five years. Under easy kill. So we want our fair share of celebration. Babolo had a very rich cultural background, all that is disappearing. Kelly, all the drumming, the history is there but we are losing it. So with your support we are going to bring that back. We also want our share of our community tourism that is important. Minister of Commerce, we want to establish our cooperative. Long long time ago Babolo used to have a cooperative that disappeared decades. We want to set up our community foundation for Babolo. Minister of Equity, so far so good. But I have three small communities and I am getting ready to transform. And all the areas will be supported. Sometimes we try to talk about poverty and improving the quality of life. But Mr. Speaker, what we have to do, we have to transform the community. Not just giving little hand out. So we are starting with one, a major cleanup. Two, housing will come in with housing repair. Then we have the bundle from flow where they have internet. We will get the devices for the children. We create employment for the people there. And they will transform that area. There are three communities in Babolo. We really need to do that transformation. Mr. Speaker, the budget that we have in front of us, I describe it as a budget which is pregnant. It has just gone into labor. And it will soon deliver what the St. Lucian people have been waiting for. The social support is necessary in all aspects of national development. This budget is a comprehensive budget. It touches on the fabrics of society. It caters for all in the society. It is to implement in a timely manner so that we can bring services to our people. Mr. Speaker, I give a hundred plus support to this budget as presented by the Honourable Prime Minister and Minister of Finance and Parliamentary Rep for Kastri's East. Let me take this opportunity, Mr. Speaker, to thank the Almighty God for the strength and health to solve the people of St. Lucia. In the capacity as Parliamentary Representative for Babolo. And let me thank the Prime Minister for his trust and confidence in me to hold a fort in the public service, home affairs, labour and gender affairs. And thank the supporters from my constituency for their confidence in me. I want to thank my Cabinet colleagues for their support and cooperation and camaraderie. Let me thank my husband Mr. Victor Poyot who has accused me of neglecting him when I put the people first. All that. And my brothers and nieces and nephews, especially my niece, Mr. Speaker, who played the role of Prime Minister when his preschool visited the Prime Minister. She is an admirer of the Prime Minister. My secretary at the constituency office, Kaldasibase my Dr. Teklafis Lewis for her support in coordinating events in Babolo. Mr. Linus Justin, project supervisor and many many others. Mr. Speaker, I thank them for the support. I thank them for the encouragement. Let me thank my staff in the public service home affairs, labour and gender affairs. My prominent secretary in the department of public service Ms. Janet Bernard and deputy prominent secretary, Mrs. Sheila Imbat and secretary in the department of home affairs Dr. Elizabeth Bailey and her deputy, Mr. Ricky Quinlan and all the other heads of department in the ministry. A special word of appreciation to ambassador of the Republic of China, Taiwan His Excellency Peter Chen and ambassador of Venezuela. They have been very supportive of the people of Babolo. Mr. Speaker, I thank you for your attention as I close by giving my own conditional support to the Appropriation Bill for 2023-2024 as presented by the Honourable Senator for Castro's East and the Prime Minister of St. Lucia. I thank you Mr. Speaker.