 The name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Almighty God, by whom alone all kings reign and princes direct decree justice, and from whom alone come it all counsel, wisdom and understanding. We, thine unworthy servants here gather together in thy name. The most humbly besieged thee to send down thy heavenly wisdom from above, to direct and guide us in all our consultations, and grant that we have in thy fair all is before our eyes, a linicidal private interests, prejudice and partial affections. The result of all our counsels may be to the glory of thy blessed name, the maintenance of true religion and justice, the safety, honor and happiness of the King, the public will, peace and tranquility of St. Lucia, and the uniting and knitting together of the hearts of all persons and its states, with it the same, in true Christian love and charity, one towards another, through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. And the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, beautiful all, now and forevermore. Amen. Good morning honorable members. Good morning. Announcements. I beg to announce that His Excellency, the acting Governor-General, has been pleased to ascend the Consumer Protection Amendment Bill. Members may be aware of the passing of Sir Lytton Felix Thomas. He passed away on Wednesday, the 17th of January, 2024. Sir Lytton Thomas served as minister in the office of the Prime Minister with responsibility for the public service and public service reform, and as a government senator in August 1996. Sir Lytton Thomas was the original composer of the music of the National and Famous St. Lucia. He had a long and distinguished career in the field of education, at the national, regional and international levels, and served as the first principal of the Sao Paulois Community College. Additionally, he served as St. Lucia's representative and vice-chairperson on UNESCO's executive board. An official funeral for Sir Lytton Felix Thomas will be held at the minor basilica of the Immaculate Conception on Thursday, February 15, 2024. A special tribute will be done by Dr. Didikas Jules, Director-General of the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States, at 2.15 p.m., followed thereafter by the funeral service scheduled to start at 2.30 p.m. The body will lie in repose in the Parliament Chamber on Thursday, February 15, 2024, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. The Office of the Parliament extends condolences to its family and friends. We also extend condolences to Chairman Emeritus Tom Walcott, who passed at the age of 87 on January 25, 2024. Emeritus Tom Walcott served as a senator in the Upper Chamber of the Parliament, where his contributions were always directed towards the upliftment of ordinary folk. His fierce loyalty to the party and his native country, St. Lucia, was a dominant feature of his personality. Her Majesty the Queen inducted him as an officer of the most excellent order of the British Empire, OBE, for his distinguished contribution to national development. Besides engineering, he was well acquainted with a wide range of subjects, including history, philosophy, religion, world affairs, and of course local, regional, and international politics and economics. He will surely be missed. Statement from Ministers, Minister of Commerce. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, as many eagerly await the announcement of our second calling for the application for our MSME loan grant facility, I wish to present a brief but timely update to the Parliament of St. Lucia about our flagship project. As you all know, the MSME loan grant facility is an easy $10 million facility aimed at providing post-COVID-19 relief to registered businesses. It is a combination of 40% loan and 70% grant funding at an attractive interest rate of 3% with no collateral requirements. Since the programme's launch on March 16, 2023, we've witnessed an influx of new business registrations, a marked increase in the number of sign-ups of our online business training sessions, and various attempts by business owners to formalise their operations. We applaud this attitudinal shift in the right direction. Remaining through to its intention, the MSME loan grant facility continues to inspire prospective entrepreneurs and change lives. Only last month, I, along with a technical team from the Minister of Commerce, visited some of our successful applicants. They were selected at random to ensure proof of concept. Most of these applicants were able to provide us with tangible evidence of the injection of funds being used as intended to purchase new equipment, augment stock, or improve their business premises. All aimed at building capacity, optimising efficiency, and expanding the market reach and consumer base. We are proud to report that out of the 514 applications received, all have been reviewed by the dedicated members of our evaluation committee. I want to take this opportunity to publicly thank them for their contribution to nation building. Up to January 31, 2024, some 3,384,266 loan and grant funding was approved. Of this amount, 2.8 million has been disbursed. This represents a total of 193 loan grants approved and 172 disbursed. As of yesterday, February 12, 333 of the 514 applications submitted were approved for funding. An approval rate of 65%. 112 applications were not approved, which is a denial rate of 22%. 61 applications were deferred on account of missing information. And 7 applications are pending credit checks. Our team at a small business development centre is in the process of following up with clients to ensure all outstanding documentation is submitted. We want to inform the general public that we are currently collaborating with the OAS to assist potential applicants in preparing the business plans for the second call. Additionally, for those who applied but were unsuccessful in the first call, we want to ensure that all is not lost. There would be an opportunity for you to make a revised submission under the second call. Mr Speaker, as such, I am pleased to announce that the open date for the second calling for the MSME loan grant facility will be the 2nd of April 2024. Thank you, Mr Speaker. Mr Speaker, as the Minister for Commerce charged the responsibility for supplying the nation with certain essential staples, bulk rice, flour and sugar, I wish to draw attention to what has so far been a vaccine issue for many. In an effort to maintain transparency, I would like to dispel the recent misinformation circulating in the public domain and provide a clear and comprehensive update concerning the availability of sugar on island. Mr Speaker, not only will I provide insight into the procurement process, but I will also explain the relevant timelines and the supply chain disruptions experience. This, I believe, will allow for a better understanding of the challenges that we face. Mr Speaker, to meet the annual demands of our consumers, the Ministry of Commerce secured a contract with a Guyana supplier to supply St. Lucia with 80,000 bags or 4,000 metric tons of brown sugar. Mr Speaker, the following points are worth noting. Several discussions were held with company executives as there were a few challenges and timelines of supplies in the past. Mr Speaker, St. Lucia is a signatory to the curriculum single market economy, the CSME, and given our commitment to the objectives of the regional integration and intra-curriculum trade as exposed by the CSME, Guyana as a regional supplier was again contracted with effect from 1 November 2023. Contracts with suppliers are for a 12-month period. As early as November 2, 2023, prompted by my own contingency planning concerns within my ministry, I wrote a letter to the curriculum secretariat. I indicated as a matter of good governance and prudent procedural procurement practice that it is preferred and recommended that sugar required by St. Lucia during any procurement cycle not be dependent upon one single source. Consequently, given the assurances provided to supply the required quantum of demand, the Guyana-based company was selected as St. Lucia's sole supplier of brown sugar for a period of one year. Given these circumstances and in the event that the supplier was unable to consistently meet our demand for the commodity on the contract, as has been the case in previous years, we felt it necessary to request from the curriculum secretariat a suspension of curriculum external tariff to import sugar from outside the curriculum region. Less than one month from the start date of the contract on November 29, 2023, the Ministry of Commerce was informed by our supply of sugar from Guyana of its inability to meet our usual demands for the commodity due to poor crop quality and recommended assistance from a neighboring island, one of its customers to supply St. Lucia with 3,000 bags of sugar with the assurance that specialists were assessing the situation and should there be any change, six containers would be shipped to us immediately. Mr. Speaker, initially the Ministry of Commerce was informed that the shipment would not be possible due to the unavailability of 20-foot containers. After the containers were secured by the Ministry of Commerce from a local shipping company, the reason shifted to unfavorable weather patterns which the company claimed to have adversely affected the sugarcane yield and quality. In a prompt response issued that same day, my Ministry expresses disappointment despite several discussions with the team at the Ministry and various company executives who assured the Ministry that the company had the capacity to deliver the stipulated quantities on time. The Permanent Secretary also made it clear that this supplemental quantity of 3,000 bags would fall well below our usual monthly consumption of 4,500 bags of brown sugar and for December that consumption is 5,000 bags. Mr. Speaker, our monthly request was forwarded to the supplier for approximately 5,000 bags of brown sugar per month. For the three months November 2023 to January 2024, the Ministry of Commerce have received only 5,000 bags of sugar from the supplier which is one-fold of its contractual obligation. Mr. Speaker, it is important to highlight that the tendering process, issuance of annual contracts to supply those large volumes, has existed for many years and is a means of securing the best price for our consumers. Mr. Speaker, I wish to assure the general public that while the detractors were up to the usual mischief, we at the Ministry of Commerce were exploring every feasible option to bring sugar to our shores. It included the approval to procure sugar by direct awards from another supplier for the next six months which was approved without delay by the Honourable Prime Minister and the Minister for Finance and the Central Public Procurement Board to quickly bring a solution to the problem. As a result, the Ministry was able to receive four containers in January which is about 2,000 bags and an additional eight containers were received last week, 4,000 bags. Today we are in the process of clearing another 10 containers which is 5,000 bags, 5,000 bags of brown sugar as well as five containers of brown sugar and five containers of white sugar. An additional three containers which is 1,500 bags are expected to arrive this evening and another six containers which is 3,000 bags next week. From January 2024 to the shipment day due next week, Mr. Speaker, that is a total of 15,500 bags of sugar, 13,000 bags of brown sugar and 2,500 bags of white sugar. Mr. Speaker, the Ministry of Commerce as part of addressing these issues have met with the manufacturing sector who consume large amounts of the white sugar as part of the manufacturing process and we have agreed and given them permission to order the sugar directly. Also, we are making a request to CARICOM for suspension of the CET to allow St. Lucia to order sugar from outside the CARICOM region. I want to note, Mr. Speaker, I want the public to note that this process may result in government having to pay a lot more for sugar. Mr. Speaker, I take this opportunity to assure the general public that the Ministry of Commerce has been working tirelessly to eliminate the delays and meet the demands of sugar and by extension all commodities supplied by the government supply warehouse. I take this opportunity to thank our partners, the distributors, wholesalers and retailers who assisted with the distribution of the limited supply over the past few months. I would like to thank my team at the Ministry, especially the staff of the supply warehouse who had to handle huge quantities in less time to satisfy the urgent demands. Last but not least, I would like to thank our valued customers for their patience and understanding and look forward to continue serving them. I thank you, Mr. Speaker. Papers to be laid. Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Economic Development, the Youth Economy, Justice and National Security. Mr. Speaker, I beg to lead the following people standing in my name. Strategy instrument number 147 of 2023. Security interest in moveable property. Electronic access to the registrar. Regulations. Strategy instrument number 149 of 2023. Value added tax. Resolution of parliament to approve draft value added tax amendment of schedule three, number three order. Strategy instrument number 150 of 2023. Public Finance Management Act. Resolution of parliament to borrow for capital or current expenditure. Education rehabilitation climate linked facility. Strategy instrument number 15 of 2023. Public Finance Management Act. Resolution of parliament to borrow for capital and current expenditure to finance the past science community water supply project. Strategy instrument number 15 of 2023. Fiscal incentives. Topstone fabrication limited order. Strategy instrument number 156 of 2023. Legal professional eligibility. Shady sum up by field order. Strategy instrument number 150 of 2023. Exercise tax amendment of schedule one, number 18 order. Strategy instrument number 159 of 2023. Value added tax amendment of schedule three, number three order. Strategy instrument number 160 of 2023. Public Finance Management Act. Resolution of parliament to arise the Minister of Finance to guarantee a student loan line of credit on behalf of the solution development bank. Strategy instrument number 161 of 2023. Legal professional eligibility. Pretender Dan Nick Edwards order. Strategy instrument number 164 of 2023. Income tax exemption. Optional limited order. Strategy instrument number 166 of 2023. Exercise tax amendment of schedule one, number 19 order. Strategy instrument number 167 of 2023. Customs duties amendment of schedule four, number one order. Strategy instrument of 167 of 2023. Customs duties amendment of schedule four, number two order. Strategy instrument number one of 2024. Customs duties amendment of schedule four order. Strategy instrument number Number three of 2024, excise tax amendment of schedule one, number one order. So I think instrument number six of 2024 excise tax amendment of schedule one, number two order. Deputy Prime Minister, Minister for Tourism, Investment, Creative Industries, Culture and Information. Deputy Speaker, I wish to let the following people stand in my name. Statue instrument number 153 of 2023, tourism stimulus and investment, limited order. Statue instrument number 154 of 2023, tourism stimulus and investment, above-view mono, order. Statue instrument number 155 of 2023, tourism incentives, above-view mono, order. Statue instrument number 162 of 2023, citizenship by investment amendment regulations. Statue instrument number four of 2024, tourism stimulus and investment, Bellju, St. Lucia, limited order. Statue instrument number seven of 2024, St. Lucia Tourism Authority, Board of Directors, amendment, notice. Minister for Commerce, Manufacturing, Business Development, Corporatives and Consumer Affairs. Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker. I beg to lay the following papers appearing in my name. Statue instrument number 157 of 2023, Price Control Amendment number 18, order. Statue instrument number 165 of 2023, Price Control Amendment number 19, order. Statue instrument number two of 2024, Price Control Amendment number one, order. statutory instrument number five of 2024 price control amendment number two order senior minister minister for infrastructure ports transport physical development and urban renewal mr. Deputy Speaker I beg to lay on the table the following people standing in my name Saturday instrument number one for eight of 2023 electricity supply application of decreases decrease in basic energy rates order statutory instrument number one six three of 2023 telecommunications aeronautical and maritime mobile satellite service exemption Avanti highlights to limited order motions I beg whereas it is provided by section 63 one e of the public finance management at cap 15 point zero one that a minister for finance me by resolution of parliament borrow money from a bank or other financial institution for capital expenditure of the government and whereas it is food and provided by section 64 of the public finance management at cap 15 point zero one that money borrowed by the government must be paid into or form part of the consolidated fund and whereas the minister for finance considered it necessary to borrow an amount of 11,500 special joint rights in this resolution referred to as the credits the loan from the international available association to finance the organization of eastern Caribbean states skills and innovation project and whereas the maximum commitment charge rate payable is one half of 1% per annum on the on with John balance and whereas a service charge is payable at a rate of three-fourths of 1% per annum on the with John credit balance and whereas the principal amount of the credit is repayable on the first day of April and the first day of October in each year and whereas the principal amount of the credit is repayable over a period of 40 years with a grace period of 10 years be it resolved that parliament of arises a minister for finance to an amount of 11,500,000 special joint rights in this resolution referred to as the credits the loan from the international development association to finance the organization of eastern Caribbean states skills and innovation project be it for the resolve that a maximum commitment charge rate is one half of 1% per annum on the on with John balance a service charge is payable at a rate of three-fourths of 1% per annum on the with John credit balance principal amount of the credit is repayable on the first day of April and the first day of October in each year the principal amount of the credit is repayable over a period of 40 years with a grace period of 10 years with the speaker as the resolution read it's actually alone to finance the OECS skills innovation project with the speaker the 11 and it's a loan for 11.5 million SDRs which is equivalent to a 15 million US dollars and it's from the international association for the OECS skills and innovation project and you as you note mr. Speaker the interest rates and if you know me to speak of what's happening interest rates worldwide these days and you note that the interest rate for this loan is the maximum commitment charge rate payable is one half of 1% per annum on the on with John balance and three-fourths of 1% per annum on the with John credit balance and we just bigger this loan is to improve the skills of people we are borrowing money to improve the skills of people keeping it in theme with what the government stands for putting people first so this money will be used mr. Speaker to deal with the unemployment situation among young people in two OECS states Grenada and St Lucia mr. Speaker mr. Speaker you'll be pleased to note that when at the end of this year this fiscal year when the unemployment figures will be given you will find that there has been a tremendous dent in the unemployment rate among young people in San Lucia and the facts mr. Speaker will speak for themselves mr. Speaker the facts is themselves there's solution I don't want mr. Speaker I am not many revelations and many truths will be revealed very soon very soon mr. Speaker the truth the truth of the state of the solution economy as demonstrated by economic metrics not in UNO economic metrics facts that can be proven both quantitatively and qualitatively in the lives of the people of San Lucia these are going to reveal very shortly but but that that loan mr. Speaker is basically to improve the skills of young people in this country mr. Speaker as you know mr. Speaker sometime ago I I was addressing some people in London mr. Speaker and I made a point and I'll make it again because it is a belief that if you make something sounds stupid even though it's not stupid the person who said it would believe is stupid but that doesn't work on me mr. Speaker I'm focused and that's my problem my problem is I'm focused so if you say and you write and you in Indian do and say what I say is stupid once I know you're not stupid I'll say it again I'll say I'll say what I said again I said mr. Speaker that COVID made me understand more deeply I said that cold the COVID pandemic made me understand more deeply the impact of the tourism industry on the lives of the people of San Lucia that's what I said I said I'll say it again so they went along and they said I say I didn't know what to reason me basically you know that's noise I don't miss a their problem with me it I'm focused so noise doesn't bother me mr. Speaker we found that after COVID a large section of the workforce who had been employed into reason mr. Speaker found themselves out of job they were employed at all levels of the hotel of the hotel industry mr. Speaker because he missed it mr. Speaker the hotel industry what makes it work is if there is vertical integration vertical integration means that people are involved at all levels of the industry so what we strive to do is stop it from hold the horizontal development and try to make it vertical mr. Speaker and to be vertical you means you must have skills you have only to be a restauranteur or waiter or house or housekeeper you need to have skills you have skills in IT you have skills in in in in in in in the culinary ads you have the skills of the speaker so we found mr. Speaker is that a number of people who employed in tourism industry both in San Lucia and Grenada when these two countries the impact was was even stronger mr. Speaker that we found that these people had to be reskilled and these people had to learn different skills so they can make they can get ready for the market mr. Speaker so mr. Speaker hoping that that economic shock that COVID calls to the industry and in solution mr. Speaker we are particularly affected because the Lucia we borrowed over $300 million for COVID mr. Speaker because we had absolutely no savings that the government had no savings so we had to borrow money borrow money to pay salaries and it's a very it's a good thing mr. Speaker that our civil servants remained employed during that period albeit the fact that we had to borrow money to pay them mr. Speaker but mr. Speaker we are gradually coming out of these of that of these ages with a speaker and the government mr. Speaker will be able will be able to pay civil servants and pay debt mr. Speaker but that's another show mr. Speaker so mr. Speaker we found that the youth unemployment rates were exceptionally high mr. Speaker in San Lucia at that time it was said that between 37 and 45 percent of the young people in said Lucia were unemployed during that period and what and what happened mr. Speaker these young people were displaced and they could not find employment because they didn't have the necessary skills to be able to work in other parts of the industry mr. Speaker so our productivity fell mr. Speaker and there was skills shortages so the impact of that loan is to upgrade the skills of these young people mr. Speaker that's hopefully would be the impact of the loan mr. Speaker so mr. Speaker what are the components of that loan mr. Speaker number one mr. Speaker first of all mr. Speaker this this loan mr. Speaker it's hope hopefully the productivity of the region will increase and in the long run is growth and the negative impact of skill shortages will be reduced because these young people are going to be re skilled mr. Speaker mr. Speaker the mismatches that exists between the high youth unemployment and the mismatch and the skills mismatches because you find when some young people go look for job you ask them what they don't want to do they say anything there's no job as anything there is no job called anything but it's because of the mismatch mr. Speaker the young person and the availability of jobs to match their skills mr. Speaker that is why they say they can do anything mr. Speaker but there's another story mr. Speaker which which which will be told and which was criticized and written about and and all kinds of of thunder and and and and all kinds of things to speak of a set mr. Speaker but that story isn't is a story that we told short mr. Speaker is the story of the youth economy concept of solution mr. Speaker the concept when that story will be told mr. Speaker that story will be told so regardless of all the the the kind the the pappy showing and things you speak of remain in focus that story is going to be told mr. Speaker remain in focus so mr. Speaker this increase in is also called mr. Speaker increase investment in research development and innovation mr. Speaker what what that means is that there'll be an increase in investment in technology technological adaptations so that means that young people will be able to use the modern use the new economy because of the training that they will undergo mr. Speaker because there are a number of young people who work from their homes a number of people the credit point from the homes using the the the technology available mr. Speaker and mr. Speaker it's very important and you know it shows the government's plan mr. Speaker we never said keep going in computers mr. Speaker what we did what we did mr. Speaker is we started the one computer one laptop per child per school in solution mr. Speaker because we knew we knew that in spite again of all the sand and economy that we knew that if you give there is nothing in this world that's perfect mr. Speaker you can find downsides in everything in this world there is never a perfect solution anything you do mr. Speaker there'll be some level of downside must be but we knew that in the main if you give every child access to a computer together with smart classrooms and together teaching children how to use this machine mr. Speaker you would have the increase in technological knowledge and increase in skills and that's how the Ministry of Education must be commanded for their work as it relates to technology in schools mr. Speaker which is going to expand in the coming budget mr. Speaker we also found that there was a lack of qualified employees mr. Speaker and again that is how the government's program is coming together a lack of qualified employees so we said we would have had we would have strived to have one university graduate for household one person who is qualified at a high level house mr. Speaker so you can you can deal with this mismatch of skills so you don't have you do not have to all the time you have to see that you have to bring somebody from from overseas because solutions aren't qualified so it's not qualified means or it is so we started the one university graduate for also and mr. Speaker and to make it even again mr. Speaker you see how how the government program works what we did is we worked with a university to give full-time scholarships to households where there no one in the family was privileged to go to university we called it first generation scholarships mr. Speaker first generation scholarships so households and you know he who feels it most knows it mr. Speaker he who feels it most knows it i was fortunate to have gone to to have gone to get higher education mr. Speaker but there are many people mr. Speaker who who who are or who who will have to use a word brighter than me mr. Speaker but they could not go and this is why i am in government i'm in government not to gloat and to victimize people and to be envious of people and to say things about people mr. Speaker i'm in government to see that the people who went to school with me who didn't have the who didn't have the opportunity to get a higher education i on this cabinet and i will make it possible for them and that's why i'm in government and that is why i'm in government i'm not in government for myself i'm not going for my ego i'm not going to believe i'm burning anybody else i'm in government to work with a group of men and women to improve the quality of life on the people of ten mr. Speaker the objectives of of this project are to enhance and advance the technical skills strengthen regional collaboration in post secondary education and foster collaborative innovation and the case in the crisis of crisis and emergency respond promptly and effectively to it mr. Speaker mr. Speaker the project comprises of four components one fostering regional collaboration for skills and innovation in the post secondary space 4.8 million years mr. Speaker component one will support component one will support the development of an overarching of an overarching regional strategic framework for post secondary education and of mechanisms to enhance collaboration among OECS member states on post secondary education the improvement of post secondary data at the regional level and the development of a regional innovation ecosystem with strong participation of post secondary institutions component two strengthening post secondary institutions and collaborative innovation us 27 million 1.07 million unguaranteed commercial financing component component two will provide direct support to national colleges direct support to national colleges and other selected post secondary institutions in participating countries to implement regional enhancement plans support innovation projects and develop new or enhanced existing programs for priority skills with the objective of promoting improved learning environments and fostering better skills and innovation in the in the OECS in responding to increasing private sector demand meaning mr. Speaker that we are going to make an investment at this affluent community college because we believe in our regional institutions mr. Speaker we believe in our regional institutions mr. Speaker and that is why in this budget you will find that we are going to be assisting and paying the debts that were left behind for us from the university of the West Indies because we do not believe we believe that they are fantastic organizations and learning institutions in Canada we believe that but we also believe that they are fantastic and learning institutions in the region in solution mr. Speaker so we believe that we ought also to concentrate on the regional institutions and that is why we are going to be helping university of the West Indies and that's why we are going to be enhancing the affluent community college mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker component three project management and technical assistance us 4.2 million component three will provide technical assistance to support the implementation of project activities and finance establishment and functioning of free prios free project management technical institutions mr. Speaker component component four contingent emergency response component that is called CERC which is due to the OECS a high vulnerability to natural disasters including these caused by climate change and its vulnerability to global shocks as exposed by the COVID-19 crisis a CERC is included in the project the component facilitated the use of critical resources by the invent of an eligible national emergency mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker the primary the primary beneficiaries of that project will be 40 000 young people ranging from ages 18 to 44 who are currently enrolled or will enroll in post secondary institution in the OECS region and who will benefit from region interventions to foster collaboration in post secondary education space and new tools to access priority skills and support teachers as well as 120 entrepreneurs and firms that it participates in the innovation project mr. Speaker and mr. Speaker this loan will lie in the offices it will be worked to in the ministry of education mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker the loan is concessional 40 years mr. Speaker with a great period of 10 years there is a commitment charge of one half of one percent in on the on with john one half of one percent and service charge is three-fourths of one percent mr. Speaker on the on with john balance mr. Speaker and the loan and mr. Speaker again the loan will be repaid semi-annually at us 150 150 000 us dollars paid over 20 periods convention on the april the first 20 34 and including october the first 20 43 and us 300 000 over the remaining 40 periods commencing april the first 20 44 and including october the first 20 63 mr. Speaker this loan will ask cabinet my cabinet colleagues my parliamentary colleagues to support mr. Speaker because it's a loan about people mr. Speaker the loan about people mr. Speaker this government could have been reckless could have been reckless and get involved in direct finance contracts and leave this country every year having to pay 61 million dollars of dfcs every year mr. Speaker this government could do that we could do it we could go to appease some people and to be short-sighted and to be able to organize things so that things are organized we could do that mr. Speaker do that but mr. Speaker this government believes we have trust in the people of celusia when we say that the people of celusia are resilient we are criticized mr. Speaker but resilience means that the people understand the facts and the realities and the people are ready to work for themselves with the government to improve the quality of life of the people of celusia and that's what resilience means mr. Speaker and our history is a history of resilience we fought to free ourselves from slavery we fought to free ourselves from colonialism mr. Speaker we fought to do a lot because we are resilient people and we are proud of our resilience is our resilience that has put us where we are and is our is our resilience that has caused the people of celusia to make that change on the 26th of july 2020 is because of our resilience mr. Speaker so mr. Speaker we could have gone alone and borrowed and gone above in dfcs and cause if it was dfcs four years to repay five years to repay and cause interest rates at that time or between five and seven percent and go ahead and do it we could have gone ahead for mr. Speaker this year and going to next year mr. Speaker i want to assure the people of celusia that we will present to the people of celusia a plan a method to improve the road infrastructure in this country we understand we understand that the road infrastructure in this country has for many years been a state of in in a state that it could have been a better state many years mr. Speaker back roads in this country didn't start in 2020 2021 mr. Speaker didn't start at that time we understand we know that we're not groting about the the the state of conditions on the road we understand that we know that but we also know mr. Speaker and again these are facts that we hate to repeat we also mr. Speaker that there has been unusual rainfall in this country for the last couple weeks unusual rain for mr. Speaker that's a fact that's a fact we're not saying that's the reason but it's a fact mr. Speaker and we understand and we apologize to the people of celusia that they are suffering through some discomfort in the roads of this country mr. Speaker we understand that we also say to them mr. Speaker that bad roads in this country is a fact that nobody likes i don't know why some people would believe that the military infrastructure would like to know that there are bad roads in this country why would he like to do that why would he like that you think we get up in the morning and say it's good give the people of celusia bad roads no but mr. Speaker we are responsible this cardinal responsible we are not going to burden i'll tell you something i'll tell you something if his government was reckless the state of the economy that we found and the way and where we've brought it and where we brought it is going to be proven by economic metrics facts that's where that's where we've brought it mr. Speaker fact you understand and mr. Speaker we could have gone and had dfcs and have and have dfc because of dfcs we have the ability to do to have dfcs but mr. Speaker our response our response will nature the government will tell you that we understand the inconvenience we are trying our best to assist in the to to limit the inconvenience but we are going to in the coming period mr. Speaker we're going to impact on the bad roads in the country mr. Speaker i thank you and i urge my colleagues to support this resolution thank you mr. Speaker honorable members the question is that parliament authorizes the minister for finance to borrow an amount of eleven million five hundred thousand special drawing rights in this resolution referred to as the credit the loan from the international development association to finance the organization of eastern caribbean states skills and innovation project be it further resolved that a the maximum commitment charge rate payable is one half of one percent per annum on the on withdrawn balance b a service charge is payable at a rate of three fourths of one percent per annum on the withdrawn credit balance c principal amount of the credit is repayable on the first day of april and the first day of october in each year d the principal amount of the credit is repayable over a period of 40 years with a grace period of 10 years member for castry south east thank you very much mr. Deputy Speaker and let me thank you immensely for just sitting here and staring at you and of course my heart warms and i feel extremely happy that you were placed in a position to stay the house this morning with your smile and your grace i thank god for that responsibility that you're charged with this morning and of course need to say thanks for the prime minister and leadership of this government to see the wisdom in having a deputy speaker mr. Speaker mr. Deputy Speaker i do rise to support this motion that is before us the borrowing of such an important amount and of course i i think of it in the context of borrowing for our people borrowing for educating and moving our people forward mr. Speaker my contribution will be brief but i want to capture it from the basis of what i learned at church from a basic instruction from Solomon in Proverbs 22 verse 6 and it reads that train up a child in the way that he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it of course most times when theologians speak about training they probably would be thinking of the values of seeking god which is also applicable or the context of actually seeking god wisdom but also in those days training up a child also meant improving their abilities and talents and while today in our world that we do not arrange training like it happened long ago even in our back in the 60s 70s when i grew up you could have gone to a tailor or a carpenter or to a mechanic and learn the trade today these things are institutionalized where you must attend some arranged way of training and therefore the amount being placed or the amount being provided under this motion is to ensure that we continue to invest in our people mr. Speaker there's a saying that i learned at primary school speak the truth and you must speak it always cause it what it be and this morning i just want to remind you mr. deputy speaker that sometime ago when i was in opposition i had the occasion to speak with a member from the other side and i was surprised at a statement that was made on the matter of youth unemployment and the member indicated that one of the problems with youth unemployment is because we invested this country in universal secondary school education that statement was made i remain quiet but a deputy prominent secretary was present met me days after and said to me i said to him did you listen to the statement made and he said but i was surprised you said nothing i was shocked that a parliamentarian or member of government indicated that the issue with youth unemployment is because we had invested in universal secondary school education the argument was being made that because children had the opportunity to go to secondary school education they were not interested in learning skills and i reflected on it i reflected on it and i asked the then deputy prime minister so because i want to be a carpenter that i should not understand pythagoras theory that the square root of three squared plus four squared is equal to five and that you can square the corner of a house by using measurement only pythagoras theorem can allow you to square up a house because pythagoras show you that a square plus the square is equals to c i asked myself why would someone believe that universal universal education secondary school education would limit the abilities of persons so what we have found ourselves in is an issue that is global regional where a lot of the economic dynamics has allowed persons to find themselves unemployed particularly our youth and this investment of our young people would allow persons to become employable would provide opportunities mr speaker but mr speaker this is being in the country it is happening when you you take into consideration the focus that this government has on the youth and we came up with the idea of the youth economy we are thinking of the young people of this country in a way that has not happened in the past we are not just giving lip service but the youth economy why would you think of the youth economy because we are concerned about unemployment and we want to give opportunities to young people but how do they take opportunities when you set up the youth economy by providing training to them because yes you have a cxc in mass and of course i know at some point in time this the minister of education will provide support and will speak to how we are engineering the educational system but of course we will see how we will link all of these things coming together so mr speaker there is a big difference in what has happened in the past and what we're trying to do that your directory is important where we are heading so of course yes we will equip our young people with abilities so that they can seek they can be you know innovative and we are starting to see a lot of this happening a lot of the young persons i am seeing coming to me in my constituency are looking for small business opportunities they are also interested in providing training even when they had their dropout experience at secondary school they are willing to take up the opportunities if presented to them and i usually applaud those persons and i go out of my way and say to them any person whether you are uwslp you are interested in continuing education at this time i will find on the cdp to help you as a matter of fact i think i may have used more of the resources towards investing in young people to provide them with opportunities we understand that there is a difference between education and concrete there is a difference between education and asphalt concrete or Portland concrete you understand concrete with a hurricane and with the turbulence of water can be washed away of course and if we have to remove everybody from this country because it's damaged because there's no concrete to drive on you can leave this country get on a boat get on a flight and live with your education that is why we invest in our people that is how you create resilience of a population that is yes that is how you create hope for the future that is how you ensure that there is a greater tomorrow so of course mr speaker this country believe that there is a fundamental difference between education and concrete and of course and while we understand that some persons will complain about the state of roads it is not today two and a half years in power mr speaker mr deputy speaker one would ask why are the roads in such a condition and when you take the exponential degradation of our roads this thing did not happen overnight roads do not just this a damage instantly because there's a new government in power there's a chemical reaction that takes time and is progressive until you find the roads in this condition but it seems as if we are the ones responsible no we accept the responsibility because we empower but of course we are taking our time and we'll correct it but we will not leave our young people education behind and that is why we are investing every cent we can strategically to ensure that there is a better tomorrow for our people mr speaker i really want to emphasize the point that while persons speak about crime and violence and of course as if some persons have become crime experts we are not crime experts the police are what we are concerned about is our young people we are concerned about them in terms of their welfare we are concerned about them in terms of providing educational opportunities we are concerned about them in every aspect of their life while the police will be equipped with their resources to do their work this cabinet will continue to find resources to invest and provide opportunities for people so mr speaker rise to support this important boring and the funds i know is in the hands of an able minister of education i know that the the cabinet of ministers that rally around that boring is actually representing every sector that is important i support and i applaud all cabinet ministers this morning in this chamber for housing support for the ability to strengthen our roads our minister of agriculture you know providing the support that is needed the minister of education tourism and our dear prime minister this morning may god bless our effort as we continue to use the resources of the state to push our population forward thank you mr speaker member for sufre for sejak thank you mr speaker mr speaker i rise in support of the resolution before us and that is the resolution on the floor that was presented by the minister of finance to seek approval of parliament to borrow the sum of special drawing rights 11.5 million or us 15 million from the international development association for the ocs skills and innovative project the countries that are going to benefit centrusia and greenader mr speaker as a parliamentary rep for sufre for sejak as i engage the young persons in my constituency time after time mr speaker the issue of skills gap becomes apparent and as a power up in trying to address this at least for last year alone i've attempted on two separate occasions to fund training programs our young persons earlier this year i spent i spent funds in training some 20 young men to become both captains and ongoing now which started last month i'm training some 40 young persons to prepare them to for jobs in the video area mr speaker but what is most important for me as the minister for commerce business development manufacturing and consumer affairs only last month i met with the various organizations individually i met him the chamber of commerce i met with the manufacturing association i met with slizba i and mr speaker what was coming out very clearly when i met them individually was the concern with the hr skills that you're looking for they lamented a gap in technical skills they lamented a gap in soft skills and they lamented the fact that there was a mismatch between and a gap between skills needed and skills available so mr speaker today i want to applaud the minister for education and i want to applaud the minister for finance in putting this critical project together so that we are putting an investment in our people by having that investment what we are doing is to ensure that we shift the foundation our young persons we've heard how they perform at school but right now we need to sit down between government private sector ministry of education the business community and identify the skills that are needed for us going forward i'm very pleased that this is also an OECS program because right now there with the movement of people i am pleased that when we prepare our young persons with this within this program we are giving them the tools not only for centrucian not only for the OECS but throughout the curriculum so i want to support the resolution before us and i want to to wish that our young people will embrace that opportunity that is it that they will embrace it and see that as a government we continue to put our people first and now we are putting our young people first this is a significant investment of us fifteen million dollars as you've heard there we've invested for several things but now we are saying we need to build a human capital of our country and and as the minister and now i'm speaking on behalf of the business community that we welcome welcome this initiative and i know based on the conversation that we've had that the business community is looking to sit together with government and i also want to thank the honorable prime minister and the cabinet of ministers when i reported to them two weeks ago of my engagement of the business community the honorable prime minister gave a directive that the cabinet of ministers will be meeting with the business community to have dialogue and the issue of skills will be one of the items on the agenda so i stand ready and i support this resolution that is before us i thank you remember for you for itself as a speaker i have chosen to address you as this speaker not deputy speaker because once you occupy the chair you're really speaker you become elevated and so in recognition of your elevation i choose to address you as Mr. Speaker and not Mr. Deputy since you have effectively been promoted whether it be for short term or otherwise but you enjoy a promotion Mr. Speaker any financing of skills innovation skills development for young people is welcome and this resolution attracts my instantaneous support because it is a continuation of a trend of investing in our young people but i want to return to a theme i have addressed in this house before now i'll address it again and i do not mind repeating myself time and time again in this year must because i've learned as a teacher that repetition eventually succeeds repetition eventually conquers it has value you will irritate some people when you repeat yourself time and time again there you say multi again there you go again but you see Mr. Speaker irritation notwithstanding may in effect sometimes allow for the message to be transmitted and you might get a change as a direct consequence irritation has its value Mr. Speaker the first question we have to ask is why is it that the OECS involved is involved in this law? Minister of Finance disclosed that the loan will be used by the governments of Grenada and St. Lucia so my question then becomes if it's a loan for two countries why on earth is the OECS involved in administering such a loan so why is it that the money was not made directly to the government of St. Lucia or wholly and solely to the Ministry of Education if you have understood so that's the first question now to be fair this is not the first time that this has happened it is not the first time that a loan that is intended to be utilized by a country is in fact managed through the OECS and there have been abundant examples of regional loans for example that the OECS has been involved in the transformation for example of the communication sector in St. Lucia when we decided to create ECTEL for example and then we paved the way for other actors to come into the provision of telephone services that great revolution of the former level government and administration was in fact financed largely through a regional loan managed by the OECS so it's nothing new but my problem with the approach has to do with accountability the fact that the matter is that there are some agencies in the international fora who believe somehow that political administrations are not to be trusted with a handling of of loans and of finance I do not support that I do not encourage it after the hard lessons and I do not welcome that is why mr speaker I have put I'm putting this house on notice and it's not the first time I'm doing it I've done it before but perhaps it didn't resonate already so I will not support legislation that is presented this house undermining the honor the integrity the power the authority of politicians I'm not gonna do that anymore I will oppose any such legislation and I don't care whether it comes from the government which I support or it comes from any government I the days are over for that I am not doing that because I believe that it is fundamentally unfair for politicians to be selected and be punished by these restrictions it is not justifiable the problems that politicians go through for example with banks stands out the fact that they have to sign special forms they have to make declarations of all kinds of others sometimes to manage their own money I cannot support such approaches any longer and I will oppose it and in similar vein I will also oppose legislation to strengthen the regional financial task force on money laundering because of its oppressive character but I will come to that in the new cost I cannot and I will oppose it and let it resonate that there's a parliamentarian in St Lucia and the OECS will oppose such legislation and they can describe me as they want but I will give my reasons when the time comes having said all of that therefore Mr Speaker I return to my original concern and what I said I will read your theme that I'd return to why the involvement OECS I indicated Mr Speaker that this is not the first time and I save me a call for I am guilty I am guilty because there were events during the administration that I had the honor to lead when we agreed to such arrangements and I gave you one example I tell classic but there's another for me that led the way to the change of opinion that I have drawn out Mr Speaker between 2011 and 2016 we negotiated alone with the World Bank to supplement the DVRP now you're everybody talking about DVRP and the rest of it and so on all the time and how what a dramatic change the DVRP has brought to St Lucia I'm really happy sometimes I look at some of the infrastructure works coming out of the DVRP and I'm really so very pleased it doesn't matter that nobody says well DVRP was a brainchild of the Antony Administration it doesn't matter but I watch it and I smile and I'm really very pleased I'm very happy you forget about the schools but there was a companion loan Mr Speaker where again money was channeled through the OECS for supplemental infrastructure including the redevelopment of castries and the refashioning of castries and building sidewalks and something that we have spoken about for years the pedestrianization of the Boulevard and to stop traffic from going through the Boulevard and allowing the Boulevard to be restored as an area where seditions and tourists can congregate and to build an outdoor cafe etc now the OECS was in fact entrusted with the funds for those projects and I know that my colleagues who served with me in 2011 2016 may not necessarily remember they have a defect Mr Speaker they don't remember well you see Mr Speaker I am blessed at my age Mr Speaker this mind is as sharp and alive as ever I am blessed Mr Speaker really really truly blessed so I remember these things but you know the member for Souffre would not remember those things you know they don't remember but I do Mr Speaker and I hope I continue being blessed Mr Speaker every time I forget a name I say to myself my goodness is it here as an onset of Alzheimer's or something coming in that I've forgotten this name and I have to remind myself but somehow it all comes back crystal clear I was the most astounded person Mr Speaker when the former administration then announced you know budget statement about the pedestrianization of the Boulevard as if they had plucked this brand new from the air and it was but it was not it was in fact a project of the Labor administration that I led and I did make an announcement in one of the budget speeches either the budget speech of 2014 or 2015 but they announced it and I was happy to hear it to my only complaint at a time which I didn't pursue was that they gave the impression that it was a new project as I said they had plucked and they had fashion and so on it was there oh it was not what does that have to do with OECS what does that have to do with OECS those funds were supposed to be made available through the OECS through that project of course it hasn't happened I have no idea what has happened to those funds whether the funds have been remitted back to the world bank we have no reports no indication up to this day you don't know what projects were financed what projects were funded what projects were discarded because there were problems in implementation nobody knows nobody knows a noble and necessary project like the pedestrianization of the boulevard and redesigning the whole flow of traffic and cleaning up the city which is a problem nothing had to happen mrs speaker nothing so then come back to today we'll understand why I have problems with regional institutions like the OECS like the central bank is another one the central bank and I'm going to come do it at the right time why they have to be trusted with implementing projects and programs which properly speaking belong to the realm of governments and you can't tell me that a project like this whether they are and I don't know whether they are just being bankers with the sums and making them available with the respective ministries I don't know what are the internal arrangements for the monies to shift from from the OECS on to the ministries I don't I don't know I guess we'll get some of those details those details later but what it does apart from all my criticisms is to add another layer bureaucracy and decision making and in in implementation I don't know we love bureaucracy in these islands you know we just love bureaucracy and one of the reasons why St. Lucia is not performing as well as it should regionally and internationally in key indicators because we have been meshed ourselves in bureaucracy every living thing is an application is a rule we are not seeking ways and means to minimize bureaucracy and in this budget that is coming up I will speak about it again because what is happening with the land registry what is happening with inland revenue departments all of those things need to be revisited these are low-hanging fruits and we must bring an end to this St. Lucia passion to create bureaucracy no wonder we have such a monumental implementation deficit in this country everything is a procrastination and what we do when we do these extra regional arrangements is we add in another layer of bureaucracy and we're not searching for ways and means to implement things to benefit our people that is why you know people getting so cynical about governments that is why the trust deficit is what it is more talk why because of this seeming passion to bureaucracy my point mr. speaker in case you attempted to haul me up which would be a first for you though if you did that um mr. speaker if you attempted to haul me up my point mr. speaker and I am returning to this to the to the point you see once a loan is going to be made available to OECS and it's going to be administered or the OECS is going to be involved and then this loan comes to the parliament of st. Lucia for approval as it does in this resolution mr. speaker then we have to understand that the accountability changes the parliament of st. Lucia becomes part of the partnership of the process because we are required to give approval to the loan and to the arrangements but we hear nothing from the OECS parliamentarians have been held in with contempt disregard because they're not told what is happening to the money that they approved of and for which they have liability I do not believe these loans or requests for loans should be coming to parliament until unless there's a rider that the organization with whom with whom responsibility is assigned makes quarterly or six monthly reports to the parliament of st. Lucia how they are utilizing the funds for which the parliament of st. Lucia has responsibility for so you see when problems arise payments have to be made it is a taxpayers who have to bear the responsibility and that's that's my problem mr. speaker and so I have taken you on this little journey this morning perhaps to put the thing in a wider context issues in in a wider context but to explain to you my own easiness about these things I don't support political administrations being treated with the contempt that they are because somehow institutions don't trust them I reject they don't trust me I will not accept it because I think I'm a person of honor and integrity and the fact that you are a politician don't mean that if so facto you are dishonest and you you don't have the kind of integrity to administer what you're supposed I reject what the banks are doing the politicians I don't accept it I don't accept that I have to be told I'm a PPP and I must make a statement or PIP whatever they call it and I must make make a statement I reject the fact that I have to take my ID to a bank for a bank to scrutinize it when they ask for it I send it to them by email I reject it and you want to ask me why I mentioned a central bank a while ago the minister of finance knows my historic position on a central bank and I knew the central bank is not interested in protecting consumers and the government of St Lucia has to seriously consider appointing an ombudsman possibly a banking ombudsman to address the cries or the people of St Lucia over how the banks are handling them and the banks are going to absurd lengths this is because and I'll ask you just to allow me to digress to buttress my point about these regional institutions and how insensitive they are becoming because they are feeding their own bureaucracies and their own administrations this is because anybody knows I'm in legal practice I have my own firm my own business this is because I have a bank that opened an account for me for my my firm Anthony and Antoine several years ago I mean after entering opposition it's called Anthony and Antoine I applied to the same bank to open a client's account at that bank the bank is asking me to open a client's account you know for all the usual documents IDs um what expected incomes um a whole heap of things whole heap of things again mrs vika as if I'm opening an account all over again I'm telling you all that is happening I have the account Anthony and Antoine as a firm account wanting to create a client's account for the same firm I have and almost as if you have to go and supply all the information all over again you tell me mrs vika how rational that is if you can convince me it's rational mrs vika and you know what we sit in a parliament and allow these things to happen it can't we have to intervene to protect people mrs vika we have to intervene to protect people and there are two examples I want to use mrs vika before before I close on this matter there's an instructive lesson in the UK you know you know Faraj you know how right-wing he is you know how he'll mislead the British people in terminating their ties with the EU you know all that history you know how colorful a politician is he the past what happened with the Westminster bank in the UK a branch of the Westminster bank decided to ask him to close his accounts because of his politics and his political beliefs and that for Faraj was the wrong person to target once the bank did that held a skelter because he made noise about it an investigation had to be ordered and the bank manager had to resign and the government then had to say that look these requirements are discriminatory and the banks have to end those requirements against politicians or managing director the bank yes all of that followed so just because you understand what I'm but what we do in these islands we're defenseless I'm grateful I have to get me wrong you know I have good good banks I think the bangas in lucha is a very good bank I like the bangas in lucha I deal with them well you are first national fan but I think first national has his own issues I am not I will speak to speak about them on another occasion but as a speaker I'm talking about this culture that we are seeing permeating our political landscape the distrust of administration the distrust of politicians and a lack of accountability by these regional organizations and I hope that the message is heard that with this resolution that wireless resolution meets our approval attracts our support and while it attracts commendation while we are grateful for what it will do to the young people while we approve all of these things Mr. Speaker that the OECS must be told in a right fora that look when they are administering loans on behalf of the parliament of St. Lucia the parliament of St Lucia requires that they submit at least reports to the parliament not even to the ministry but to the parliament every six months about how they are handling such loans and the experience I told you about the work that the OECS was supposed to do with helping us to reconsider and review the urbanization of castries etc stands out up to this day I can't tell you what has happened to that Mr. Speaker and so I regret I have to take you on this journey I but I have told you Mr. Speaker and I'm sure your wisdom will confirm this that there's value in repetition because sometimes when you do it a second and third time somehow it emerges with greater clarity Mr. Speaker thank you very much member for show zeal saltiverse thank you Mr. Speaker good morning uh Mr. Speaker I must say before I begin that I I miss you on my left side because normally you know we you keep me updated on a mutual interest but um that's why I'm not sure Mr. Speaker if you give me permission just to respond to the member for view for itself briefly um and some of the comments that he he made the contribution and I want to make it very clear Mr. Speaker that I hold no brief for any bank despite having worked in the banking sector for the past 35 years but I think um it's important that um we take into account the lessons that have been reflected all around us originally internationally as to some politicians having to pay a very heavy price for using public funds for their own personal and private use Mr. Speaker and how Mr. Speaker it's a matter of Peter now paying for Paul because many many cases Mr. Speaker politicians have been found gravely wanting um in their actions and so Mr. Speaker certain protection the bank has its part to play I must also you know and and the member for view for itself may think I'm thinking a swipe at him um it's a real unfortunate the position that he's speaking very vociferously at this point but we must not remember we must not forget that the member was was the chair of the monetary council on more than one occasion and I'm hoping that you know he took the opportunity then to have made very very strong a strong contribution but we do we do share the same passion with regards to how the banks currently are making some of our people unbankable and that's a very important thing I think that we need to to address um unfortunately um I was selected as a chair to lead a banking committee in the house and we have not been able to meet to discuss our target to the to the to the banks in terms of how we address some of what we believe is some very unfair practices and charges to a larger section of our population Mr. Speaker I believe any parliamentarian who would stand in this chamber this morning and not support this bill would be the head would definitely need check in Mr. Speaker because any any facility that will go to the development of our people to improve the skills of our young people in particular must be commended and must be applauded Mr. Speaker in fact I have been very consistent over the years indicating that governments must borrow governments must borrow but we must always look very closely at the borrowing and I was very happy this morning to hear the honorable prime minister finally acknowledge and give credence to the monies that were borrowed during the covid period to pay civil servants and keep civil servants employed and keep civil servants with their salary I was very happy that he made that statement this morning because you would recall Mr. Speaker the way this government our the past government you know was ostracized and and every week when we came to to borrow some money I think the member for library even penned it Madi Puete Madi Puete Madi Puete so Mr. Speaker was happy that the the prime minister acknowledged that the funds went to a very good use Mr. Speaker but Mr. Speaker the other issue I have is while I come in borrowing to improve the skills of our population particularly our young people I think we need to be very consistent in how we go about you know heaping praise or identifying young people that require training because I remember how the current government when in opposition we were admonished for supporting two companies in the south I tell BPU and Ojo labs for providing skills to young people skills that they could travel with Mr. Speaker okay and market themselves with the opposition then felt that these monies were not being put to proper use by supporting these these organizations in fact Mr. Speaker you will recall you'll recall prior to that these monies by the government when they were in office a lot they were actually going to support young people to work in establishments to back groceries back goods and even even to support farmers Mr. Speaker that's a fact I'm aware of it I'm aware of it Mr. Speaker you know I am saying that was a component that was a component of it Mr. Speaker please I am I am saying I don't know about that I don't know about well bring it bring it bring it bring it I am saying I am saying Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker I am saying that this administration this administration did not support the fact that the last administration provided funds to to provide skills to hundreds if not thousands of young people in the south who today are providing income to their households Mr. Speaker young people who have been able to elevate themselves young people who have been able to move on move on because of the skills that they learned then Mr. Speaker so Mr. Speaker and you know Mr. Speaker and the skills training Mr. Speaker must be taken in various facets and I and my colleague my friend on the other side who's pointing at me I want I want to take a swipe at him this morning I want to take a swipe at him this morning because I'm hearing something and I'm hoping I'm hoping Mr. Speaker that he's not part of it because he is currently responsible for investing in Lucia and I'm sure he's aware of the amount of money that invests in Lucia paid to ensure that certain lands in the Schoesel community remained as local lands and I'm hearing that these lands are currently and I and I'm hoping he can correct me to really put it at rest that Leedsland are currently in in being contested to go to another ministry for another ministry for housing development some of the most fertile lands in Schoesel where farming could be mechanized in fact when we when we were in office I remember Mr. Speaker we spent consider amount of money purchasing a very large pump pipes and everything to run irrigation for farmers because at that time they were supposed to have been a farm farmers displaced to Schoesel and a lot of these pipes Mr. Speaker have been stolen building has been vandalized the only thing left is the is the pump and I'm hoping everything is done to secure that because the plan was to provide farming lots for these farmers and I'm hoping you protect that for Schoeselians as somebody if Rosalblood I hope you protect that for Schoeselians so Mr. Speaker I just want to say any any any initiative to upskill our people is welcome and I support it but we must be very consistent and we'll be very careful in our approach I thank you Mr. Speaker Member for Dennery North thank you Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker in making his contribution earlier the Prime Minister mentioned that the fact that he is extremely focused and that he will not allow anything to distract him in the discharge of his duties and in keeping with the the utterances of the Prime Minister Mr. Speaker I am finding it extremely difficult to remain focused on my presentation and not respond to some of what we heard coming out of the other side in particular the Member for Schoesel Salty Bus Mr. Speaker he tried to draw a parallel between employment at UDRO Labs and the initiative that is before the parliament this morning as it relates to skill screening for young people in this country but as I said Mr. Speaker this morning I will allow those comments to go by outside the Ofstam to use a cricket analogy and focus on what is before me Mr. Speaker I want to crave your indulgence to reach out to the substantive holder of the chair who is unwell on and unable to be with us this morning I speak of the Honourable Claudius Francis Mr. Speaker I wish him a speedy recovery and it is my sincere hope that sooner than later he will rejoin us in this chamber to do what he does best Mr. Speaker and that is to provide order and guidance in the Honourable House so Mr. Speaker I wish Mr Deputy Speaker I wish Mr. Speaker a speedy recovery Mr. Speaker I rise in support of the motion presented by the Minister for Finance and the Honourable Prime Minister and Mr. Speaker this particular motion is one that is justified and one that can yield untold benefits for the young people of our country and the motion is to secure monies for the execution of a very necessary project spearheaded by the OECS Commission and Mr. Speaker skills training and innovation are more necessary in the development of young people today than ever before but Mr. Speaker I cannot present on the motion without paying homage to the staff at the OECS Commission in particular those persons in the Education Management and Development Unit Mr. Speaker there is merit in working together as an OECS as a subgrouping of islands in the Caribbean space Mr. Speaker we have been able to collaborate on a number of areas of national development and areas of programming across the islands and so we meet very often at the technical level and we also meet at the ministerial level as what is known as as council so for somebody like me Mr. Speaker in the government of Saint Lucia with portfolio responsibilities for education sustainable development innovation science technology and vocational training I find myself being part of two councils of ministers COM COME the council of ministers of education and I'm also on the other COM Mr. Speaker the council of ministers of the environment and Mr. Speaker when we meet at the ministerial level we have an opportunity Mr. Speaker to deal with common challenges as they manifest themselves across the islands when we meet as at an OECS level Mr. Speaker we are able to address some of the issues as they relate to economies of scale because you know Saint Lucia is the largest of the OECS territories demographically for a population of approximately 180 000 people Mr. Speaker and sometimes as big as we might be in an OECS context the numbers are insufficient to cause us to do a lot of things that we perhaps could have done and achieve greater results doing when we collaborate as a subgrouping with almost half a million people. Mr. Speaker it's an opportunity to share best practice and Mr. Speaker we learn from each other's challenges as an OECS and there are a number of initiatives that we've been able to collaborate on particularly in the realm of education and one such initiative is the rollout of the PUL P-E-A-R-L the program for educational advancement and relevant learning a FOIA program supported by GPE the global partnership for education where the OECS collectively we are benefiting from 10 million dollars to help improve the education system and sector in the OECS on a number of fronts. One such program under the PUL Mr. Speaker deputy Speaker is the pre-K project you would have heard me in this parliament before speak to the fact that we have had a significant decline in the enrollment of students at our primary schools and when the numbers drop Mr. Speaker space is being made available at the school whereby we can incorporate what we call pre-K programs where children from areas that are deprived of early childhood services those children Mr. Speaker can find a space at the existing primary school in the community thereby exposing them to the rudiments of education and nurturing them in an environment that that fosters proper child development. Mr. Speaker also under the PUL we've been able to harmonize and improve the primary school curriculum for students across the OECS so I say all this to say that there is merit in collaboration at the level of the OECS and from a ministerial standpoint in solution Mr. Speaker I am particularly pleased with the work that has been done by the commission and in particular the education unit at the commission. Mr. Speaker this new project seeks to strengthen skills and employability by improving educational opportunities in high value added sectors and fostering quality and innovation sorry among OECS national colleges and institutions or what we call the higher or the wider post secondary space. Mr. Speaker our education system has one primary focus and that is to prepare the young people entrusted in our care for life after school so that they one day will take the rightful places in society. Mr. Speaker there was a time in the history of this country when we had junior secondary schools and if you had completed forms one two and three at the junior secondary school you had done sufficient by way of educating yourself to land a job in the government system and the expectation of every child who was graduating from secondary education program was to land a job with government. Today in the year 2024 we know that the public service no longer has the absorptive capacity to employ the 2,200 school leavers we have annually and so Mr. Speaker we must begin to think out of the box. We must create avenues and an enabling environment whereby those young persons they can become employers themselves and they can also become employable Mr. Speaker even beyond the shores of our country. Mr. Speaker our education system is about producing global citizens so that the child from the bus Laguas combined school in the constituency of Labry Oji or the child from the Olio combined school in Denver North or the child from the Fora So combined school in Babono irrespective of where that child is enrolled Mr. Speaker the educational experience that we are looking to impact ought to be one that prepares that child to be on the same wavelength as his or her counterpart whether they happen to be in Singapore Canada Ghana or anywhere else in the world and you can only do so effectively by having an appreciation for the times in which we live so Mr. Speaker it is not enough for a child to graduate from secondary school and just enrol at the South always come into college follow a program and believe that this child is ready for the world of work we live in a very dynamic global environment and professionals have to constantly be retooling and that is why it has become so necessary for us Mr. Speaker almost on a monthly basis to be looking at ways of improving the curriculum and the opportunities that we give to our young people Mr. Speaker we have a huge gap deficit in terms of how we train our people and their readiness to take up some of the jobs that are available in this country and I'm sure the minister responsible for labor member of parliament for Babono will tell you Mr. Speaker that almost on a weekly basis she is inundated with requests to sign work permits for individuals whom we have to import into this country to do work that some of our people have not been adequately trained to do up to a standard that would make it acceptable at the international level so Mr. Speaker this project this is money well spent this is money well allocated and this is a project that receives the full support of the ministry of education not simply by virtue of we being the executing agency working collaboratively with the OECS what we believe there is merit in this Mr. Speaker qualifications matter and it is against that backdrop very early when we assume government as a political party one of the first memos to come out of the ministry of education was the national qualifications framework Mr. Speaker today whether you are pursuing a civic you program whether you are you are following a program at the CSEC level any form of certification or qualification you receive in St. Lucia that is juxtapose against some of the best standards established globally so that when a child leaves St. Lucia Mr. Speaker and migrates to North America and you present your CVQ or your NVQ it speaks to a certain degree of competence that will make you acceptable in that particular environment when you reach there so Mr. Speaker we are fully behind this program we support this program the South always community college will benefit immensely from from monies from that program to broaden the horizon its horizon in terms of the relevant skills and training that our young people need to function effectively today the National Skills Development Center in SDC will also benefit from this program Mr. Speaker and it is part and parcel of this comprehensive training program that we have for our young people in secondary school and in particular those who are in the post-secondary space Mr. Speaker the Prime Minister spoke of the need for the incorporation of technology and this is one of the strongest areas of programming for the Ministry of Education today we have reinstated the one laptop per child program because we believe Mr. Speaker that in the year 2024 that every child should have access to a device to help with the learning and teaching process but Mr. Speaker we also know and it is a point that I have made before notwithstanding some of the rhetoric you hear coming from the other side be in here or on on social media I am on the record if you just have to peruse hands-on Mr. Speaker of saying that it is not enough to give a child a device and that is why our government the Prime Minister through the senior minister sat down with the service providers in this country and were able in the first instance to secure approximately 5000 bundle packages to give connectivity and access to internet services to students and families who come from indigent and marginalized communities Mr. Speaker connectivity is critical and it is important so that a child can stay in in in Bouto or a child can stay in Marsha or a child can be in Monkitong or a child can be in in Forestier and he or she notwithstanding the inability of his or her parents to pay an internet bill the government led by the Honorable Member for Caspisis has come forward and said to them here is a bundle that gives you access and you can access the internet and you can access the teaching material in much the same way that your counterpart from other parts of the country can do Mr. Speaker we have gone further we have gone further Mr. Speaker and I'm hearing the senior minister saying that in addition to the first 5000 that I mentioned he has secured another 4000 thereby reaching more families but that is not all we've done in the laptops Mr. Speaker to accentuate our appreciation for the incorporation of technology in education and in lesson delivery Mr. Speaker we took professionals within the school system our teachers we did not pay them any additional monies we didn't have to pay them license fees and Mr. Speaker I need to invite you to the Ministry of Education to see for yourself how they were able to take the subjects that we teach and develop content that they are uploading onto those devices for the children of St. Lucia that is what we have done Mr. Speaker but instead when we came in when we came in Mr. Speaker on the laptop program you know what we found the government of St. Lucia was paying millions of dollars to a foreign entity Mr. Speaker that had developed software and embedded the software or the subjects onto a very flimsy device that could not devices that could not have been repaired by the technical staff of the Ministry of Education and that money Mr. Speaker was being paid being expatriated and whoever was happy was happy today Mr. Speaker today I invite every one of the parliamentarians in here to come to the Ministry and if you don't have the time to come to the Ministry you can put in a request for me and I will make the technical team available to you to show you how they were able to develop content that is relevant culturally relevant Mr. Speaker to our circumstances and we paid no license fees Mr. Speaker you know what we've been able to do with the savings from that we have increased the number of scholarships that we are giving to Mr. Speaker we all know it when we grow up in places like Japan and other parts of the world at the age of 21 22 children are beginning to entertain thoughts of graduate studies masters and even phd 10 15 20 years ago the average solution would have had a bachelor's degree when you were about 25 26 particularly if you were not from an affluent community where your parents had land and materials to use as collateral to face the bank Mr. Speaker today and I will say it at every opportunity in this house and elsewhere the children of ordinary solutions today who demonstrate that they have the aptitude and the ability they too will be putting on graduation gowns because they would have completed university education that is what we are about so Mr. Speaker when you hear people who cannot come to terms with the fact that they have been rejected by the people and their primary concern is to create this quiet and to try and encourage discord and to not want to give the government a chance to govern Mr. Speaker when you hear those things this is what it does Mr. Speaker I can speak for myself it fires me up it ignites the passion for me to cross the bad little with even more purpose to take my place on the waterfront to lead the charge in giving a better educational experience to the children of this country so Mr. Speaker this as I said is money well allocated this is not money being borrowed to use against our opponents Mr. Speaker we embrace all the young people in this country for our programming and in everything that we have done as an administration Mr. Speaker our policies have always been predicated on equity whether it is CDP Mr. Speaker when the Prime Minister gets the check from the Taiwanese embassy and he passes it on to the treasury he ensures that every single one of the 17 MPs in this house is so empowered that he can execute a project in his constituency but Mr. Speaker I remember the experience that I had in opposition and I sat there Mr. Speaker and I watched the powerpoint presentations on this screen over there and Mrs. Speaker I wondered when on earth or when in the five years would I be able to dig a drain for a unaffected family in then we know Mr. Speaker I was denied and I've said before Mr. Speaker when I leave home on the morning to come to Parliament on the way to this Parliament no fewer than five hardwares and I couldn't procure a bag of cement by Yosak Sima to do a project and we will laugh that and really cool but Mr. Speaker in as much as we denounce that and I'm happy that the Prime Minister with his wisdom has decided notwithstanding what some of our own supporters think that he is not going to follow that pattern and that he can rise above that pettiness because he understands that we are in that for the people we are putting people first irrespective of which constituency they're from we are putting people first irrespective of which political affiliation they are carrying into the Parliament and that is what we are about and this Mr. Speaker this motion working collaboratively with the OECS and the government of Greenator we are putting the young people of this country first Mr. Speaker I support the motion to borrow the money I support the arrangements to work with the OECS Commission on this and Mr. Speaker I can tell you that the benefits to be derived from this can only make for a better cadre of young people who will be taking their rightful places in the public sector in the private sector and very importantly Mr. Speaker they are being skilled tooled and being trained to start their own businesses to make themselves employable and they too can become employers of their pairs who otherwise would not be in a position to be able to do that for themselves so Mr. Speaker with those few words I support the motion and I look forward to working very very closely with the OECS Commission and the staff of the Ministry of Education for a successful implementation. Member for Miku South. Thank you very much Mr. Speaker let me lend my voice in sending my best regards to the Speaker and hopefully whatever is preventing him from being in the House today that hopefully that that would be resolved quickly and to his best interest. I also Mr. Speaker tomorrow is Valentine's Day and I want to take this opportunity to wish all the beautiful women in St. Lucia happy Valentine's Day. Okay well I think all the women in St. Lucia are beautiful so let me let me clarify that I believe they're all beautiful and I also particularly want to to say to the women here who are here at Parliament also to congratulate them and hopefully they have an enjoyable day tomorrow and to all of my constituents as well. Mr. Speaker let me first of all deal with something that the Prime Minister has brought up and you know because this government Mr. Speaker has a habit of whenever they use the word putting people first it really is about putting politics first they continue to go down that path every day. We saw that when they came in the change village tourism to community tourism we saw a whole bunch of other projects all it simply was was a change of names no real sense of any change and I would I would don't even mind the name of the name change Mr. Speaker if in fact that they were even better at executing it but the fact is is that everything they touch nothing happens. So let me speak specifically Mr. Speaker before we get to it and again we've reiterated this point many times but I've learned that with this government and particularly with the members of Parliament that despite bringing out what the truth is and debunking the rhetoric that they come up with you have to say it over and over and over and over again before it sings in. So Mr. Speaker I speak specifically to the social and economic review on page 40 and it's a cautionary note for for the 2022 2022 budget and it says Mr. Speaker information contained in the annual Labour Force report by the Central Statistics Office CSO is a result of the household Labour Force survey conducted during 2022 is aimed at providing information about the level of participation of household members in the labour force and the size of the labour force age 15 years and above engaged in economic activities. The CSO always strives to ensure that our procedures and processes for the implementation of the labour force survey are in keeping with the proven mythologies. Therefore the results represent the correlated responses of a sample of households interviewed during the period in question and not the opinion of the Central Statistics Office. Results from the sample surveys are always estimates not precise figures. Additionally for the period under the review the CSO collaborate with the ILO for the verification of the labour force results. This is due to the question of the labour force survey about what they call quote discourage worker which is taken into account by the CSO in the calculation of the unemployment rate. For the results of this period do not correspond to the data collected from the period of 2020 to 2021 which normally runs for a quarter. So in essence Mr Speaker I'll provide more detail. The mythology that was used to collect the labour force data in 2022 was not the same mythology that had been used in previous years and that is why I stood and I will stand repeatedly on a point of order when the Prime Minister the Minister of Finance continues to make the statement that this is the lowest unemployment level ever. He says since since 2010 Mr Speaker that is not an accurate statement because you're not comparing apples and oranges. It says and very importantly Mr Speaker additionally for the period under review the CSO which is the Central Statistics Office collaborated with the International Labour Organization ILO for verification audit of the labour force results. In this regard it should be noted that the unemployment rate calculated by the ILO is less than reported by the CSO. So the IOL, ILO mythology produces a number that is less than what the CSO itself has normally achieved. So the ILO ILO definition persons who did not work nor had a job during the reference period weak seeking work and available to work. In the case of the CSO Mr Speaker it has that but it also adds a component which is discouraged workers and it says persons who want to work during the week the week the week ending even if they are not seeking job or available to start. So the note ends with Mr Speaker very important. It says despite the current setbacks the CSO has made every attempt to provide you with accurate and reliable data based solely on what was obtained at the time and therefore has reverted to its pre-COVID-19 mythology of data collection for the labour force survey. Any use of the results needs to take into a consideration the aforementioned limitations. That's the footnote. So Mr Speaker I certainly hope that when the Prime Minister in his hopefully upcoming budget presentations wants to speak about unemployment that we make sure that we're comparing apples to apples and not apples to oranges. Mr Speaker this bill is a very important bill but I sat patiently to listen to the more learned persons on this subject and particularly I waited for the Minister of Education to speak because it is his ministry that is going to be executing this program and I was hoping that the traditional and normal deficiencies that we obtain in the Prime Minister's presentations which seem to be void of any facts. All we're talking about is putting people first in a very general sense but there's absolutely no need to substantiate Mr Speaker where we are going with this expenditure. Four categories of expenditure that we're going to be doing and sharing with the OECS. Mr Speaker why do I know that we're in trouble? I know we're in trouble because the level of detail the level of detail that you would have expected both the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education to have shared with us in this house today was not there and I know why. I know it's because this government Mr Speaker has no plan and has never had a plan so when we talk about we're going to go and do training for jobs and we want to speak in general terms and everybody gets all excited as if that instant lusia every single type of job that's available in the rest of the world is available. It's not true the plan is required because we need to know where is the emphasis of growth of this government. Where are the new jobs going to be coming from so that when we are training our young people that we know that once we have trained them once we have trained them that we will be they will be able to get a job. We also want to know Mr Speaker in this training program that if I have a job in an industry now and the question is after another 10 or 15 years and I'm still doing the same thing and because I'm doing the same thing I cannot get an increase in my salary so Mr Speaker let's take a room attendant let's take a waitress they stay there for years earning the same salary and after 10 years become disgruntled because they don't know why they're not able to make any more money and the reality is is because they have not been trained to add any additional value to the job that they're doing any business person if you in fact going to be under pressure Mr Speaker and you have a person who is not would not progress in the job and the same skill sets that they had when they came in in year one are the same skill sets that they have in year 10 and they want to get paid more I don't think that this government has any appreciation of how the business works in fact I'm looking around the table how many of them have been self-employed Mr Speaker how many of them have ever run their own businesses Mr Speaker okay how many of them really understand the detail of what it takes so I'm saying to you Mr Speaker Mr Speaker when I look at this government there's no plan where's the jobs what focus the the prime minister said he has a focus the only focus he has is on politics there's no other focus he has always justifying putting people first how many new jobs are you going to have what areas are those jobs going to be in Mr Speaker nothing nothing Mr Speaker where is the economic development plan we heard him say that the public service cannot keep absorbing people okay so where is it going to come from where it can of course it can you know Mr Speaker the minister of education is really displaying his naivety he's asking me the question Mr Speaker can the public service absorb more people the reality is if in fact in their own words that they're going to modernize and digitize the public service the idea of going to an office to file your taxes the idea of going to an office to get your driver's license the idea to go to offices to get your things all of that is going to change so in max we may have the same number of jobs paying a higher salary because those persons are going to be adding a greater level of value where is the training for public servants knowing that this transition is taking place where is it I don't know if it's embedded in this program because nobody's provided any details Mr Speaker not one detail to tell us how many new jobs are going to be created where are those areas going to be created where are the gaps that we have Mr Speaker tourism how many more hotel rooms are we going to get how many more Mr Speaker manufacturing what are the manufacturing needs for our persons Mr Speaker in the area of our culture we talked about young people don't want to do our culture the same way and we're going to have to monitor is is there money in here for training farmers to be now transitioning to a more mechanized thing we don't know we don't know Mr Speaker we've heard nothing Mr Speaker Mr Speaker public service we've just talked about it in the area of services Mr Speaker as the economy grows hopefully it grows I'm not I don't have I've lost all confidence that it will grow under this government Mr Speaker but what are the areas and services are going to be growing are we going to have just more grocery stores where are we going to be so we need to know specifically so Mr Speaker when the members on the opposite side want an example let me give them an example when we talked about the development of the south the same DSH the same Ojo he has horses why horses Mr Speaker because DSH was bringing a new industry to San Lucia in building a horse racing track to be able to promote it on an international basis and would have created permanent jobs for the maintenance of horses for veterinarians of the horses for the mechanization of the gaming systems that we were going to be putting in Mr Speaker and more importantly Mr Speaker the same guys who are running on the Kakabef now can now become real jockeys and not only be able to get to be able to ride horses in San Lucia bareback on the street but they now would be able to participate internationally and be able to race around the world Barbados Barbados on a secondary horse racing track has been able to achieve that Jamaica has been able to achieve that Trinidad has been able to achieve that there are examples all throughout the Caribbean Mr Speaker all throughout the world that horse racing is an international sport Mr Speaker yes but he would have created jobs nonetheless created jobs nonetheless Mr Speaker okay just like with a golf course Mr Speaker so it doesn't mean you're not going to have pros doesn't mean you're gonna have green keepers it doesn't mean you're gonna have all those people it generates jobs and the same thing and the same thing Mr Speaker no Mr Speaker well it's love tomorrow's the day of love Mr Speaker so Mr Speaker take Ojo Labs and I tell BPO what is what are we doing we're create sorry I don't know please do Mr Speaker when we brought those companies to San Lucia was to create jobs that did not exist in San Lucia Mr Speaker we saw the success of some of the call centers KM squared being one of them we knew that there was not because we saw the growth of the call centers in Jamaica we saw the growth of the call centers in Central America and when the tests were done on our workforce here they rated very highly Mr Speaker the same Ojo with AI which is now exploding around the world think that the Prime Minister then called it mind-bending technology has is the fastest growing sector San Lucia was the first in the Caribbean to bring a company that was using artificial intelligence and instead of this government embracing them and wanting them to grow and they're paying Mr Speaker salary starting at $3,500 one out of every eight people Ojo was getting 8,500 I have one from one of my constituents from Duga had no job got in the job at Ojo was able to build a home make a life for herself and develop skills now that are international Mr Speaker we can't come to this house and just speak vaguely about these things we talk about the same since Jude's hospital Mr Speaker you want to go in and use an 80 year old building instead of moving into a modern modern building purposely built and instead now Mr Speaker member for Castry Central member for Castry Central Mr Speaker on a point of order or a point of order member for Castry Central yes Mr Speaker the point of order the leader of the opposition cannot stand here in this other's chamber and continue to perpetuate lies he overtly said that this government is using an 80 year old building he needs to tell us which building is the 80 year old building that we are using stop the lies Mr Speaker I shall continue Mr Speaker the NAP program national apprentice program was to identify young people to give them an opportunity to develop their skills in tourism because there was a clear ambition to double the number of hotel rooms that we have in San Lucia Mr Speaker and an ambition I'm hoping that this current government will continue to to aspire for I think that they recognize now that they must but if we cannot wait for the hotels to be built Mr Speaker and then start trading people the intention was is that the cruise industry Mr Speaker was taking our young people after they had spent five years in a hotel so means a hotel would have invested five years to train the staff member and that that young person then would leave as they were getting into their so in talking to the cruise industry Mr Speaker we realized that we can do a certificate program and it turned out the certificate program was six months Mr Speaker all we had to do is to train them in classroom and practical trading for six months we got the cruise industry Mr Speaker to agree to do what hire the young people and agree that they would be paying back the loan off of their salaries and they would go directly to the bank in addition to that Mr Speaker Norwegian cruise lines and I really want to thank them put it in an added incentive that if a young person stayed for two contract years the cruise ship paid off the loan in its entirety why is that all of important why is that detail important Mr Speaker because the initial fund that was put in while you're going to have some people that may not pay back but the idea is for the majority too so that the next set of people that come that the same money that they benefited from that they could get now when they come back they have now participated at tourism at the highest level because on a cruise ship a cruise ship is like the UN you have workers from all around the world United States Europe Australia Philippines all over and there's a skill set that our young people learn about tourism that they cannot learn here in St. Lucia in our narrow place and when they come back all the hoteliers will tell you all the restaurants will tell you you can when you go to a restaurant you can see exactly who was working on the cruise ship it's a free education and they would have developed a skill set and this is a this is the same thing that's taken place in Europe Mr Speaker three quarters of the workforce in Europe did not go to university TVET training and that TVET training was aligned to the industries that they were in I have not heard one person here speak about that alignment to know that we're going to spend this money and that when those young people get out that not only are they going to get a job but they're going to get a job that's going to create a career for them and that we understand that what we are facing we have high cost here the one thing that we have that can differentiate is our workforce in the call centers our ability to multitask has been significantly better so when you talk about itel vpo how fast they were able to grow here and how did itel vpo come here when there was a problem in jamaica mr speaker during covid and the itel the call centers got shut for a while they created an opportunity we made phone calls and luckily for us two of the companies came here right away i would not want to know what would be happening in the south today if the ojo labs and itel vpo jobs were not there and can we not continue it's not just in training of persons putting the physical infrastructure in mr speaker to facilitate the growth of that sector we took old warehouses that were empty producing nothing and converted them to call centers why can't more of that happen all around the st lucha when was the last time the minister had a meeting with the call centers when she was minister last time she refused to meet with them excuse me you know you're not a pilot no i'm not mr speaker i've realized i've realized i've i've realized i've realized we are one of the broad causes of mr speaker i'm starting to realize more and more that when we speak here there's so many people of wisdom that they all had the ideas but the difference was they may have had ideas but they couldn't execute it and that's why we always say that slp suffers from labor pains and now you've got the captain of all captains the lazy roller himself mr speaker okay so that's why with roads you all want you think you all have any moral authority to come to this house or even publicly and speak about roads you're the ones who said people can eat roads and now you want to come and talk about a special fund a special fund everybody knows what you're going to be doing you're going to take cip funds our passport money and put it so that you can now go and do infrastructure and ports and you're going to give you're going to give third party people the money so why don't you why don't you collect the money yourself and fund the roads yourself why why are you having to go and do a third party the same thing that the former prime minister said with always see us why you have to go and find the third party huh dude what exactly but that's what we were doing yeah an economic fund come on come on so now you know people sit there and they think that people are so foolish you're going to go now and create through the enterprise program a new project a new thing that people could now do donations and put monies into an enterprise and who's the enterprise going to be galaxy or gph which one any third party you want and so you're going to take monies that should be going into your own account mr speaker and putting it in the hands of a private sector person on the whoops that they're going to build something at what cost at what cost and that's even if the cip program is going to be there for much longer because the way that they're managing the cip program it's it's not it's not long before they shut it down just like what happened in dominica mr speaker this is a government that is void of a plan is void of ideas and while i so much welcome this initiative i am scared that a great opportunity that is being presented to us is not going to be used correctly because they don't have a plan they have no idea who they're supposed to be training what they're supposed to be training young people for where is the linkages where is it where is it where is the synergy on developing our country but you see the problem is they maligned foreign direct investment they demonized tourism they did all of these things while they're in opposition and now they're having to come back and eat humble pie just like with the printer building all i can say to y'all when y'all break down the printer building break this down and break the the ministry the courthouse is down as well go and look at the plans that were put on paper as to how to develop castries but no again y'all think you all know everything but you all know nothing and whether you want to accept it or not mr speaker it's not my word just go and speak to the people and hear what they think about your administration think of what the male administration is taking place in this country and for a later date we'll talk about health care we'll talk about um security in this country mr speaker but today a very important component is education want to come here like you did something to get this loan the world bank recognized 12 years ago that both health and education needed to be treated as capital investments if you're going to grow your country you have to grow the capacity you have to make sure they're healthy you also have to make sure they're well educated but that takes a plan it takes a commitment and it's not about just words has to be much more significant and i have not heard anything here today mr speaker that would give me any comfort nor should it give any other solution comfort that they're going to use this opportunity they found on their lap appropriately and to make sure that the young people of this country and the workforce of this country are going to get jobs that they could make careers of jobs they can raise their families on jobs in which yes they can become international and raise their own standard of living that it should be the aspiration and i did not hear any of that today mr speaker i thank you member for castry central thank you mr speaker mr speaker to be honest having heard the prime minister delineates all the plans that the money would be used for and i listened with utmost attention to the minister of education and of course the wealth of knowledge came from the mouth of the member from view for south experience you know i think we got uh le cion in experience it was never my intention mr speaker to cause any kind of unintellectual indentation in those presentations that came before me but you know mr speaker i was awoken by some noise some noise mr speaker i dare say that came from an empty vessel and it provoked the compunction to at least set the record straight in a few regards first and foremost mr speaker i want to compliment the prime minister and member for castries east for having the foresight and not taking the cue of the former administration because he knew there may be difficult times when the speaker may be absent and the business of the people have to continue and in that regard he said he's not conducting the business of government without a deputy speaker and today we are able to proceed so mr speaker that is at least one lesson that the leader of the opposition ought to learn then he said he reminded us that tomorrow is valentine's day and guess what i want to send my love to all the beautiful women in st luce but the member of a view for south being the fox that he is said to all women and you know in a very conniving way the leader of the opposition would say now all women are beautiful so he meant everybody but that was not his intention because he is the very one who on radio national radio blamed single mothers the very women to whom he want to send love today he blamed them for the state of criminal activity in st luce even threatened to dispossess them of their children now mr speaker i'm not the best of orators i am no english teacher but i've never heard any word called mefal what's it mefal mefal g i have heard of methodology so i don't know if that's what the leader of the opposition wanted to say neither have i i know of any word verification i know of a verification tomorrow is not valentine's day it is valentine's day so i just felt i needed to make those observations before i go to the gist of my contribution mr speaker the leader of the opposition has the audacity to say that this government has no plans and nothing the touch anything the touch nothing happens i am indeed amazed mr speaker that that kind of claim can come from the mouth of a man who in 2016 took the economy of this country as the best in the OECS and when he released it in 2021 obviously against his will it was the worst in the OECS he took it from best to worst mr speaker mr speaker he took amidst difficult time amidst difficult time mr speaker our rental expense as a government was about 30 million dollars a year he doubled it mr speaker in a five-year stint he took it from 30 to pretty close to 70 million dollars a year and in the interim mr speaker renting five offices from his father when he held the chair of prime minister you know and this is a man who says nothing happens mr speaker nothing happens mr speaker he alluded to the the economic review of last year i thought that the prime minister and the statisticians had disclosed an early copy of the 2023 2024 to him but obviously not because i've heard him speak about that before but never he has never done it when he was in office because it served as a good state it served him in good stead but today everything he tells you is that the statistics are just estimate or guesstimates he spoke mr speaker about us having no plans and he did not see this and he did not see that i want to say this mr speaker the last administration had absolutely no care no favor no general inclination to ensure that we had a more educated electorate a more educated population unless there was gain to be had by persons within the administration and i'll explain we saw mr speaker that allocations under the united workers party government were made allocations mr speaker under the united workers party government were made for a private school chtti private school run by the wife of the minister in government that was the only time there was a semblance of emphasis on education in the same vein mr speaker the university of the west indies proposed to the then government that their desires of transforming sir ather louis community college into a full fledged university and there was no reception on the part of the last administration to ensure that this transformation happened which invariably would have redone to the economic advantage of this country they told you we we are not prepared to deal with that you know what you did they run to antigua and antigua embrace them they gave st lucer the first opportunity because st lucer has the largest economy in the oasis we have the largest economy in the oasis so they came here but because the last set of persons that run the country showed total apathy in relation to the education of our people they let you we go mr speaker any establishment any school any learning center that brings with it the reputation of the university of the west indies will carry with it economic advantages that are too numerous to mention taxi drivers property owners supermarkets vendors persons with apartments in barbarous i lived in in one step and almost every house there every house in close proximity to caviel campus have apartments each and everyone and persons actually live on the university but here we had a golden opportunity a golden opportunity and it was permitted to go it was permitted to go and today you want to come and talk about as though you have this passion for education mr speaker how can a leader of the opposition have any passion for education when he being on a political platform rather than telling persons who intend to attract to vote for him rather than telling them i will provide you with an opportunity to upgrade your education or that of your children he'll say to them i know you are good at taking care of horses i know you are good at taking care of horses so it was mr speaker that was the kind of you know the total disrespect and disregard that our people were seen in the eyes of the leader of the opposition mr speaker mr speaker i often say i really dislike liars and it reaches a point where i often say sometimes whether it's right or wrong i hate liars but for a man who has carried who has carried the mantle of prime ministership of this country to stand in this august chamber and to be lying so blatantly as we say colloquially mr speaker say i'll crave chair say i'll crave chair an 80 year old building sen jude which 80 year old building let's certainly see a toot say build dinner that sen jude kaya twerdy that's a building no he just fed to let sen jude bully your quasi toot by guy echo v effect toot say building uh say muna giga diesotla that guved masala kasevi or building it is not true and he keeps repeating it mr speaker he keeps repeating it he repeats it with a passion 80 year old building mr speaker the question is the question is had this building in fact they are not what they were not one building about 14 buildings if any building was 80 years old why on earth did he got two of them that cost the government and people seven million dollars he just destroyed him he went in there and he put an excavator in two recently built buildings that cost us seven million dollars you know the same way mr speaker he demolished custody suites you know he demolished custody suites and it it's costing us over four million dollars to build it back on the eve of an election whether he is smart semi smart or otherwise he demolished a bridge in sufre on the eve of an election well the sufre people had him to pay for it he paid the price and then did his political purchases in miku south he bought what he had to buy to ensure that he found himself in this chamber he demolished it he demolished police headquarters and it hurts me you know mr speaker you used to be on bridge street and you would hear the melody of the police band and once you walk in you want to dance oh how sweet they sounded today i'm not saying if the building needs to be demolished you don't put preparatory mechanisms in place they demolish and rebuild the man they demolish police headquarters and up to today we don't have the semblance of a real police band they are all over the place guess what some of them are in it his father's building you know how can we do something like that you are not ready to rebuild central police station you demolished it and have a police station on bridge street that is logistically inconvenient how can you have a central police station on bridge street that is the main thoroughfare in the city you know and today this is the man who wants to talk this is the man who wants to talk well i'm using where he demolished the thing as a carpark now that's the only use i could put it to he has absolutely no moral authority to speak on anything when you talk about crime is to speak on he went down that road so i have to speak on it a bit you compare what this government has done for the police vis-a-vis what he did any little piece of equipment that the police needed under his reign there is why food all balls they would hold balls to generate the relevant revenue to buy stuff for the police and i can say this mr speaker because i saw it overtly the member from swiss and saltibus had to be modeling he modeled mr speaker to raise funds for the police you know you know taking and taking ministers of government to go and model member forecast essential yes can we redirect your contribution to yes mr speaker it was it was the member the leader of the opposition it was the leader of the opposition mr speaker who spoke about crime he spoke about crime so i am telling you miss and he was the one who said everything there is nothing we do that makes sense oh the modeling yes oh the modeling yes you have to respond to the police your wife holding balls to buy stuff for the police balls she was holding balls to response having the member i remember the member for grozily at the time you know in hills in hills we as a minister modeling but today we treat the police with respect we treat the police with regard and the police since the assumption of governance by this administration have received over 50 new vehicles mr speaker over from motorcycles and we held no balls no balls are told mr speaker so don't come inside of her mr speaker don't come inside of her and pretend you have the moral authority to speak about anything you know you don't have the moral authority to speak about anything mr speaker a lot of the money's of this country and today we have to borrow because if our money's were not squandered if there was less corruption probably the prime minister would not have had to move that motion mr speaker in 2017 in 2011 sorry 2010 St. Lucia enjoyed the highest rate of freedom from corruption in 2010 under the member for castries north we were 71 out of 100 and eight the member for view for south took over in 2011 and he kept it at 71 it was kept at 71 throughout the five-year tenure of the labor administration between 2011 and 2016 mr speaker when the united workers party came in in 2016 our freedom from corruption index stood at a high of 71 out of 100 but guess what in 2017 it plum it plummeted downward to its lowest low 40 making 2017 the most corrupt year in our history let me repeat that 2017 under the leadership of the leader of the opposition as prime minister we dropped by 31 points 2017 was our most corrupt year in the history of this country and in came peep in came peep in 2021 we took it up at 45 in 2022 member for castry central you refer to the member as member of castries east I guess I'll be colloquial and I permit me the latitude to at least be a little colloquial in this honorable chamber remember you'll refer to the member as member for castries east very well mr speaker yes when the member for castries east came he took it from 45 low in 2021 in 2022 it went up to 58 and in 2023 we are now at 59 we are an upward trajectory mr speaker in terms of freedom from corruption we are going up and up and I'm hoping by the end of the term for us to get back to 71 where we once were so when you see and you know mr speaker we are doing this for schools we are doing this for students we are doing this to better the lives of people and a sore point the leader of the opposition will mention ojo labs sore point I have my difficulty with that I have my difficulty with that a foreign investor comes here and we spend five million dollars to retrofit a building for him we are paying his workers and he repatriates his profits have my difficulty with that mr speaker I have my difficulty and guess who's the lawyer he wouldn't say the speaker at the point of order the members what is your point of order members misleading the house how is the member misleading the house member is suggesting that the government was paying the entire salary of all of the ojo labs workers they said that we paid for the retrofitting and we paid for their salaries which is not true we only paid a very small portion for a year and a half so he's going to say that please have him do it correctly mr speaker member member member for castries south members members mr speaker members they member for miku south if my memory serves me well the member for castry central said that we paid five million to retrofit a building and we paid salaries we paid salaries for he did not say I did not take that statement to me that we paid the salaries in entirety so he's saying that we paid salaries I don't think it to me that we paid the salaries in entirety and by your own admission member for castry central and by own admission I think it's fair to say that we paid part of the salaries go ahead member for castry central you see mr speaker what what is good at doing is qualifying and quantifying and coming under the guise of a point of order if I were to be repetitious I said he spent five million dollars to retrofit a building he was paying salary for workers I will not even say who the lawyer was and all profits were repatriated that's what I said that's exactly what I said mr speaker I know what I'm talking about you know mr speaker because you see there was this thing about foreigners in this country you come here without anything today we have to borrow money for our people and that's a just cause it is a just cause we are borrowing money to elevate our people but foreigners came here look at thousand acres at a dollar and acre thousand acres at a dollar and acre and even in an agreement you know the audacity of some people mr speaker mr speaker the leader of the opposition asserts that we are using cip money to fix our rules the intention of the cip proceeds mr speaker is to elevate the standard of living of our people that's what the intention is that's what the intention is but guess what we are using it to fix our rules but you agreed you signed an agreement together with your compatriot to permit you working to sell passports to put the money in an overseas account to which he alone had access you know Mr. Speaker And this is a man who says the government has no clue. The record of this government, Mr. Speaker, in education, in education, in the first two years, Mr. Speaker, this government gave more scholarship than the last administration gave. In five years, God, that is our record, laptops. We brought it back. You know, Mr. Speaker, not too long ago, again, the hypocrisy of this man, and I couldn't go through the computer, Mr. Speaker, because something held me back. But again, artificial intelligence will cause me one day to go into the computer, because I saw the man showing off educational supplies, educational supplies, and to say the future of our children must be protected. The future of our children must be protected. That is the same man. And you know what, Mr. Speaker? The benevolence of the member for Castries East is what has him now behaving the way he's behaving. I heard Brad, the member for Swazel, one time saying, I get 100,000 a quarter. So that's 400,000 for the year. That will equate to 2 million for the term, 2 million for the term. How much did you give any of the persons who were in opposition then? Zero. You know, you should be ashamed of yourself, man, because the resources of this country do not belong to you. They belong to the people of this country, and they must be equitably shed, man. Your minister, your colleague, he's bragging how he's getting 2 million dollars for the term. Absolutely nothing to opposition members, you know? And today, today, and when I saw those educational supplies, I said, oh my God, that member for Castries East, because he made an allocation. He made an allocation to him as well. And Mr. Speaker, when we came in, we started the housing program. Again, we didn't have to go and borrow money. We started the housing program, and guess what? The leader of the opposition's letter was on point. He allocated every single penny, and the first set of checks that left the Treasury were checks for the leader of the opposition under the housing allocation. You know? Putting people first. And then you will open your mouth and say that nothing is happening. Nothing is happening, but you can show a road. You today, you can show a road in Tiroche Miku. For five years, you were prime minister. You never did the road. You awaited the benevolence of the member of Castries East to give you an allocation and then you do the road and you post it on your page. You post it on your page. I have it, you know. If you want me to start showing screens of all the education, they gave you an educational supply. You know what he did, Mr. Speaker? He took his educational allocation and buy laptops. And the children are bragging, oh, Mr. Shah, they buy his laptops. I'm quoting there, Mr. Speaker. You know? Not realizing it is the member of Castries East that gave him an allocation, something he never did. You know? At some point, Mr. Speaker, I dare say I'm a sinner. We all are. And Romans 3, 23 says for all of John 3, 16, sorry, for all our sin and come short of the glory of God. I will face the maker one day. But there are some people when you face the maker, he will ask you just disappear in front of me. The wickedness that you have shown to the people of this country, the wickedness that you have done to the poor people because the constituencies did not support you. You shall pay the price at some point in time. So, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Speaker, you know, I could go on and on about squandering our monies and if we had those monies, we came in, came here to borrow money to pay who? K-man group, you know, K-man group to move from one hospital to another, over two million dollars, over a million dollars a month, sorry. It was 25 million dollars for two years. And if I'm wrong, the Minister of Health then tell me, you know, why are you doing that to our people? We do have resources bringing a K-man group and paying him 25 million dollars for two years, man. Why? Why did you take our 7.3 million dollars and give it to the man for vaccine? Why? Why? And we've not received all of it back yet. Why? Don't you have a conscience, man? Don't you have a conscience? Isn't your conscience talking to you? Why would you take 32 million dollars and give Locobee? What did you bring Locobee here for? We did not need Locobee. Same way, you brought Hepple. We did not need Hepple. We can run our affairs. And today, you pretend you have authority, you go to England and because the taxpayers paying the money, you stay in a hotel. Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? You think there's justice, you think there is justice on poor people, you come here or anywhere? Take the government vehicle, you started from the time you leave your home until you go back home, because you are not paying off your well. I don't want anything. He said oh, it's skin. It's skin. It's skin. You know, you ever hear the member of the cast is, unless it's a call of utmost urgency, how outriders we want, we want. Every day if you don't know, we want, we want, we want, we want. So, you know, those things hurt because it just says, Mr. Speaker, that we are here, borrowing and fighting the cause of our people, our average people, some of them, unfortunately, we are fighting it in vain. We are fighting it in vain because, you know what, Mr. Speaker, some of them, you know, when they swallow that yellow kool-aid, they lose their ability to rationalize. They lose it. And so, Mr. Speaker, I will wait for another tune because, you know, and look at the rates we're getting at that. Before you come in, you know, before I got an airport loan, over 15% on the airport loan. One man making all the money, he said, just send me the bills and he had him 7% on it. The country was bleeding, bleeding for the first time in history. And I want you, I want a member for Miku North, for Miku South to tell me, when else has any commission been paid on loan? And if you want to talk about transparency, tell the people of St. Lucia who got that commission and who authorized the payment of that commission, you are minister of finance. You know, these are the egregious deeds, financial deeds that the people of this country have had to undergo. And sadly, Mr. Speaker, even if they dealt him the lethal political blow on July 26, 2021, the remnants of his behavior are still being felt throughout the length and breadth of St. Lucia. Mr. Speaker, I'll take my seat without forgetting that I need to endorse this loan. If I could endorse it 40 times, I will endorse it 40 times, because this is truly in the interest of our poor people. And that means we are indeed putting people first. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Member for Labry. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I rise to make a contribution to the motion before this Honorable House. In fact, Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the resolution put forward to this Honorable Chamber by the Honorable Prime Minister and Minister for Finance to borrow an amount of 11.5 million special drawing rights from the International Development Association to finance the organization of Eastern Caribbean State Skills and Innovation Project. Mr. Speaker, the maximum commitment charged on the credit is one-half of 1% per annum on the own withdrawn balance. And the service charges payable at a rate of three-fourths of one percent per annum on the withdrawn balance. Mr. Speaker, this is in keeping with how an expert manager deals with the business of the management of the country. The principal amount of the credit is repayable in 40 years with a grace period of 10 years. After the grace period, the loan is to be repaid on the first day of April and first day of October in each year. Mr. Speaker, we are aware that our economy has moved from a monocrap economy in the 1980s to a mono services economy focusing on tourism. Currently, tourism has measured by the food and accommodation sector accounts for about 20% of GDP pre-COVID. COVID has taught us, Mr. Speaker, that this model is increasingly risky and unsustainable. This dependence is compounded by the very large workforce currently dependent on the tourism sector. It is to be noted, Mr. Speaker, that while there has been extensive discussion on diversifying the economy, there has been limited progress thus far. It is to be noted that OECS economies contracted by an average of 14% per annum in 2020, with St. Lucia in particular recording a contraction of 25.4%. This compares, Mr. Speaker, to an average of 7% decline in Latin America and the Caribbean economies. So St. Lucia had an out of the ordinary contraction because of poor management of the economy, which of course saw our economy move into a recession in 2019, the year before COVID. While the industry has recovered from the COVID pandemic, it has been recognized we cannot continue to place all our eggs in the tourism basket and there is need to diversify. It has been long been recognized, Mr. Speaker, that those skilled shortages have negatively impacted productivity and growth. Mr. Speaker, I was alarmed when I saw in the World Bank Project concept document for this particular loan that in 2019, 57% of all workers in St. Lucia were under qualified for the jobs. According to the concept note, this situation is exacerbated by the fact that there is a high immigration rate for a highly skilled population, a phenomenon known as the brain drain, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, the brain drain coupled with the relatively low attainment of post-secondary education contributes to skill shortages, especially what has been called transversal skills, skills that are also called soft skills or transferable as they cut across different tasks and roles. These skills require higher order cognitive, digital and socio-emotional skills. Mr. Speaker, these considerable skill shortages explain the reason for high youth unemployment and low productivity, which in turn affects business competitiveness and causes low growth and hampers employment opportunities and reduces returns to education in a vicious spiral. In the case of St. Lucia, while unemployment has come down to 16.5% per annum in 2022, assign, Mr. Speaker, that our policies are beginning to bear fruit, the youth unemployment rate is 26.9% in that year. It should be noted that in 2019, youth unemployment in St. Lucia was three times higher than that for the population aged 25 years and above. These figures increased during the COVID pandemic. It is to be noted, however, that increase in youth unemployment was not a homogeneous shock. As youth with higher education and skills were less likely to become unemployed during the pandemic. So certainly, Mr. Speaker, it wasn't something across the board. It shows the importance of education in protecting employment. It is to be noted, Mr. Speaker, that while the region and St. Lucia perform well along several human development dimensions, including relatively high access to education and anti-natal care services, OECS foundational skills, St. Lucia included, are weaker than those students in OECD countries and lack countries, including Mexico and Chile. Research done by the World Bank, Mr. Speaker, shows that the human capital index estimates that a child born in the Eastern Caribbean will be 53 to 60% productive as they could be if they had enjoyed full education, health, and nutrition. This, Mr. Speaker, is due to a large extent by the low quality of education. Moreover, Mr. Speaker, the learning-adjusted years of schooling indicator in the human capital index shows that students in OECS countries who complete the expected 12 or 14 years of schooling only acquire the equivalence of approximately eight years of instruction in a high-performing education system. Still, Mr. Speaker, from the concept note from the World Bank, all the features of our education system show that there is low participation in post-secondary education, especially among males contributing to shortages of skilled workers. Again, continuing from the documents, it should be noted that fewer than 10% of all adults in the Eastern Caribbean, fewer than 10% of all adults in the Eastern Caribbean have attained higher education, which is low for middle-income countries in which the average is 54% in Latin America and the Caribbean. St. Lucia has the lowest tertiary enrollment rates in the OECS at 15.4%. Enrollment rates are also systematically higher for women than men. Female enrollment at post-secondary education is typically over 65%. It is to be further noted that expenditure on post-secondary education is low and this constrains access to unquality of skills development and also limits the contribution of the higher education sector to innovate, tap into digital opportunities and capitalize on emerging technologies. The OECS countries spend a cacada on research and development. As a result, Mr. Speaker, the contribution of OECS post-secondary education institutions to research, local development and innovation remain largely untapped. A major part of the problem, Mr. Speaker, is that the Sao Paulo community college is limited in size, which makes it challenging to have the capacity to build research economies of scale. It has also been shown, Mr. Speaker, that the quality and relevance of educational programs suffer from inadequate collaboration among post-secondary institutions in the OECS and with employers. That nexus needs to be addressed in a salubrious fashion. Mr. Speaker, the use of digital technology could be leveraged to allow institutions in the OECS to build research networks and pool resources in selected areas of common interest and high value added such as agro industry, blue and green economy. It is to be noted, Mr. Speaker, that digital economy now accounts for one of the highest growth rates for employment globally. The digital economy, Mr. Speaker, can also allow OECS workforce to access jobs in high growth fields such as big data, programming and graphic design without leaving their countries. This project, Mr. Speaker, is to enhance skills and foster regional harmonization, academic excellence and innovation in post-secondary education. Component one of the project focuses on strengthening participation in post-secondary institutions in regional networks and regional activities. This component will support regional activities to strengthen the participation of OECS national colleges and post-secondary TVET institutions. What's wrong with that, Mr. Speaker? Component two provides for fostering better skills and regional academic excellence in post-secondary education. It will develop state of the art learning environments in post-secondary institutions. What's wrong with that, Mr. Speaker? Component three, Mr. Speaker, is a contingent response component and is due to the OECS high vulnerability. Mr. Speaker, as I prepare to close, I must signal my full support to this resolution as it seeks to improve post-secondary education in St. Lucia through building relevant digital skills and promoting innovation. Mr. Speaker, I wish to accentuate at this juncture that this is how you build resilience in a country, not by taking a whole set of little gadgets from some country and paying millions of dollars for it, disturbing the laptop programs. As a matter of fact, Mr. Speaker, members opposite, I wish they were there. When they talk about Ojo labs and orders, it was because of the effort of the St. Lucia Labor Party administration under the leadership of the member of Yufo South, the honorable Dr. Kennedy Anthony. It is because he gave the people of this country the young students of this country access to a laptop program that Ojo labs and orders were able to have some skill labor force in there, introduced in the workplace. And whilst he was criticized for giving people who couldn't do chemistry and economics laptops, you know the amount of musicians that we have in this country because they access a laptop. You know how many of them that could fix up laptops today because of that experience, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, when the United Workers Party, which brings nothing of importance to the development of young people in this country, when they come to this house, if they have nothing to contribute, they must stop their propaganda. And talking about propaganda, Mr. Speaker, I had the unsurpassed glory of speaking to St. Lucia in St. Croix recently as we celebrate our 45th Independence anniversary. And as usual, the protocol at Miami would permit that when you land, border control would come and assist you in navigating the formalities. I traveled with an ambassador and whilst we were waiting for the ambassador, we were in conversation. You know UWP had nothing else to do because the devil always find work for idle hands. One of them took my photo speaking to border control and united back, which is the propaganda arm of the United Workers Party, had my photo with the border control officers and say that I was being questioned. I was being questioned. That never happened, Mr. Speaker. But to see all of that is to insult the truth of the work of this government, Mr. Speaker. And it is because of the useless propaganda like this that the good Lord that I saw has already condemned them to a permanent life in opposition. They must never re-emerge from the ashes of time. They have peed at me and they are going to remain there. You do not, you do not make up stories like this and carry out an unnecessary assault on our country. And when that's what you have to contribute, you walk in here, you have nothing to contribute. The leader of the opposition, when he visits, he finds himself in the house. If you are visiting, you know, put your sunglasses, take your camera, you know, spend a little time with us, but don't give us maybe because we are on ground taking care of the business of the people and the business of this country. So, Mr. Speaker, when they put the thing on Facebook, one time I was traveling to Washington to an OAS, General Assembly. Once a year, I travel. Somehow they have the check on Facebook. And it is on the page of the leader of the opposition. And any minister would be traveling for that time and sitting at the hotel, the rates would be no different. But no, he had to make ro-ro. And I am prepared to sit with them, any one of them, and look at our travels. And I am sure that it will be lower than theirs, number one. And I would have something to show for my travels. You think I just pomela was, pomela was, just moved from place to place, aimlessly doing absolutely nothing. But you know, he had the courage to stand there this morning and talk about tourism. About tourism. During the time of the leader of the opposition, the tourism guru, valeste to bring in a hotel room. And you want to come and criticize this government about tourism. No one promised how many islands? Twenty free islands. Twenty free islands. When you cannot manage one, you can't manage one that you inherited with a solid economy from the member of Yufotsaw. But you want to build economy. Mr. Speaker, we are trying to address the health care challenges that we have and the security challenges. We have introduced a 2.5% levy. Anybody with the interest of sentlosions at heart will never oppose that. Anybody with the interest of the most vulnerable at heart will not oppose it. You know why? Because when VAT was introduced in this country, over 100 items were either exempted or zero-rated to protect the most vulnerable. So whether you take the VAT from 100% to 0% to whatever percent you want, it does not impact that basket of goods that was set aside to give the vulnerable relief. The 2.5%, these were people who can afford to make an effective demand for those goods so that we can raise the required revenue to finance expenditure to assist the most vulnerable to ensure that we move in the direction of universal health care, to provide a safer and more secure environment for the people of this country, to build resilience in the economy. And this is what this is all about, Mr. Speaker. It is not about the Rourou and the Papi show that is going on there. And even the member for Choiselle wants to join in that Papi show. Well, I will say something, Mr. Speaker. I give my full support to this resolution because it is in the interest of the people of this country. And I will end by accentuating the fact that education is the way to go. And I know that it is not the best thing. A lot of people say it's not the best thing to do politically because investment in education has a long gestation period before it gives birth to the type of results required. But the Labour Party every time in office has made health care and education urgent priorities. And we are not going to stop because of the propaganda of people who plunged our country into a recession in 2019, the year before COVID. So, Mr. Speaker, like I have said to the leader of the opposition, I said, Kenny Rogers, you had your time to sing. Now it is the time for the great re-chance. The member of the cast is east to do his thing. Mr. Speaker, may God bless the government and continue to guide Prime Minister, the honourable Philip J.P.M. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Prime Minister. Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, let me thank members. I know the member of you, Fort North, will speak on the other resolution. And he'll, I'm sorry if I, if you saw my light first, the member of you, Fort North will speak on the other resolution. Mr. Speaker, you know, when you, when you run a country, Mr. Speaker, you have to decide what you take on or what you do not take on. And the member of you, Fort South always used to tell us that in my youthful exuberance, sometimes when I, when I thought we should go after everything and tea, meet tea and things. And he always used to say, let these things go because you have, you have to concentrate on running the country, Mr. Speaker. So, Mr. Speaker, I have not come back and read letters and show emails and show documents that the member for, for Miku South got involved in. But Mr. Speaker, today I'm going to do something to show you how the member for Miku South deliberately and intentionally seeks to mislead the people of Samusia. In his failure to understand that he has been rejected and he calls the, the seat of Sir John Compton to be lost because of his ineptitude. And because of his ineptitude and because of the caliber of candidates we run against he must cover his shame by coming in this honorable house and just talk loud and go in public and say, I'm going to send a lotion. Look at me. I'm born in St. Lucia. I'm going to send a lotion. When your passport say you're born in Matnik and cover up all the things he has done to the people of St. Lucia and cover up the fact that he left St. Lucia after COVID with the sixth highest rate of depression in the world than any other OHS country because of his mismanagement of the economy. He comes and he reads things that he knows are not true. He knows that. He had an extract from a social economic review talking about the CSO and the central city's office. The speaker, something we have debated in this house. Mr. Speaker, the member for Vivert South when we got documents from civil servants always said to us that these are the facts as seen by the civil servants do not interfere with them. We never I have never asked to see a copy of the social economic review before it goes into public. That's not my style. I don't do that. I don't call civil servants and tell them, Mr. Speaker, he opened the door about CIP and what you're going to see, Mr. Speaker. I'm going to tell you what they did. You see, I've been money. I kept myself concentrated, keeping focused, Mr. Speaker. But today I'm going to deal with the issue he spoke about training students for work in the hospitality industry, Mr. Speaker. And I'm going to show you how this hypocrisy and these lies put him where he is today. And he comes here and he says, and when you answer him, some servants on that side say, oh, concentrate on the thing. Leave the man alone. Leave the man alone. Every day on United Park, they lie. Every day on some radio stations, they lie. Every day on some WhatsApp groups, they lie. Every day, Mr. Speaker, and you must not answer. When you answer, they tell you, concentrate on what you're doing and leave the man alone, Mr. Speaker. But today, Mr. Speaker, I'm going to read for you part of the mess. The member for Microsoft left this country when he talks about training students in hospitality, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I not like to do it, but I'll do it. I will do it, Mr. Speaker. Thank you. Mr. Speaker, listen to what the member for Microsoft, when he was in government, part of the things he left for Seleucia, his legacy. Talk about training, Mr. Speaker. There was an agreement or a discussion. I am not, and I think it's something that we may have started. I'm not sure. I'm not going to go down that way. But I know we were speaking to Monroe College also, but I'm not going to go that way. I'm not going to categorically say it was something sad. The member for Microsoft may be able to tell me. I'm not sure. But what I can tell you that, Mr. Speaker, is that the Minister of Finance, Mr. Speaker, after making an agreement with Monroe College in 2018, the member for Microsoft, the member for Microsoft when he was Minister of Finance, he was Minister of Finance from 2016 to 2021 meant for providing this program to 128 students who began in autumn 2019. The bank has not released the $384,000 due to Monroe, which reflects the government's guarantee towards program costs. Until that payment is received, we are unable to confirm the completion certificate for this cohort, which delays their ability to gain employment in the hospitality sector. They trained so hard to join. I said, again for you, Mr. Speaker, this is the member for Microsoft, you know, coming in solely, Mr. Speaker. This program to the students who began in autumn 2019, the bank has not released a $384,000, $3,000 by 120 students due to Monroe, which reflects the government's guarantee towards program costs. Until that payment is received, we are unable to confirm the completion certificates for this cohort, which delays their ability to gain employment in the hospitality sector. They trained so hard to join. Go and follow me, Mr. Speaker. In January 2024-2023, when this member for Minister of Finance, here is how I had to deliver that as directed by the Prime Minister to acknowledge your missive dated October 27, 2022, regarding discussions for payment by the Government of Senutia of the outstanding balance due to Monroe College for hospitality training for more than 100 young Senutians. I wish to confirm the Prime Minister's commitment that the Government of Senutia will settle, will honor its obligation to settle the amount of $429,000. In that regard, in keeping with the understanding of making payments over and a great period of time, with an initial payment of Eastern Caribbean $100,000 will be paid during the fourth quarter of the 2020-2020 financial year, ending March 2023. Mr. Speaker, that is history. So, the 100 students you're speaking about, isn't that right, Mr. Speaker? And the Ministers have made a point about calls and calls centers. Let's talk about working in the cruising industry, Mr. Speaker. We guarantee the nerve of you, what's up, you say your memory bird and mine, that's right. You may try to correct me or you may try to clarify. We were the ones who went into agreement with the cruise industry and some private service providers, Mampa, right, and others, to put cruise, to put solutions to employment in the cruising industry. And I think and we guarantee the whole SLDB of $3,000 so they could get per applicant of free thousands of applicants so they could get the necessary requirements to go on the cruise, to go to work at a cruise ship. And we also joke with him in cabinet and say, when time come to vote, all I do will be on cruise ship. We also have that joke, Mr. Speaker. And when he came, he stopped it and he went into that agreement and he ended up not paying the people for that agreement. That is his record. That's his record, Mr. Speaker. He stopped it and he had not paid the people, Mr. Speaker. So, that's his record. That's his record, Mr. Speaker. And as I promised the last time I was there, from now on, Mr. Speaker, from now on, we are going because, you know, he always comes and he threatens us and he has told my colleagues, I'm sure they have him, Mr. Speaker, because he wants, because he believes that because of his propaganda machine, he can get away like from now on. We, while remaining focused, Mr. Speaker, we have to debunk these lies and these discussions. Second, Mr. Speaker. Second, Mr. Speaker, the member for V4 South talks about old buildings, 80 old buildings, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, I want you to ask the member for, where are you from? Miku South. I thought he was from Canada. I want to ask him, Mr. Speaker, I want to ask Mr. Speaker, where in the box was any place for the kitchen? Where in the box was any place for the laundry? Where in the box was any place for the offices? Where in the box was the mug? Where in the box was the warehouses? Where in the box was the space for these things, Mr. Speaker? Mr. Speaker, they intended to use the same buildings to add to the box, Mr. Speaker. The hospital could not function without using the buildings in face while, Mr. Speaker. Exactly. And to make it worse, Mr. Speaker, they destroyed two buildings, costing between seven and nine million dollars for no reason at all, Mr. Speaker. But I'm happy to tell you, much to the chagrin, because what they want, they want bad for Saint Lucia. They want Saint Lucia to suffer because Saint Lucia voted against them. They want us to suffer. So they, hopefully, and they pray in every day, Lord, give us more crime. They pray in every day, Lord, Lord, make the road to get worse. They pray in every day, Lord, make the hospital to happen. They pray in every day for damnation to fall upon Saint Lucia because of their sins, Mr. Speaker. But I want to tell you something, Mr. Speaker, the dialysis ward and the field of error period ward are going to be completed this year. They are going to be completed this year, Mr. Speaker. This year, they're going to be completed. And, Mr. Speaker, work on the other buildings will continue later this year, Mr. Speaker. That's what they don't want to see, Mr. Speaker. They pray for doom and gloom to befall the people of Saint Lucia. This, the member from Miku South says we have no plan for education. This is the middle education. We were the ones who got university primary school education and many people in this room would never know what it meant to go on a shift system. When we talk about youth entrepreneurship, many young people will never know what it meant to go to school from 80-12. And part of the reason why we may have problems in this country is because of these children who only spent a few hours in school, Mr. Speaker, and spent the rest of the time on supervise. This got the little parties that want to change that with the construction of a dim-polet Lucia school. We don't want you, Mr. Speaker. You might know that. Going to school half day. You want to go to school half day, Mr. Speaker? You brought me to old for that? No. But, Mr. Speaker, I'm sure there are many people in this room who know nothing about going to school half day. Nothing, Mr. Speaker. We were the ones, Mr. Speaker, when there was something called common entrance. When Mr. Speaker, you know when I went to college, only about a hundred of us could have gone? Further, after my time, Mr. Speaker, there was a time, and the men for Kashi's North contested fight to that, the Russian, the pressure was to get to college, get a second year school. That's why they had to build the same day's academy and the other school. Further, because of the pressure, there was no space, Mr. Speaker. He knows that, but he doesn't know that. He wasn't there. Further, Mr. Speaker, do you know there was something called common entrance, Mr. Speaker? When little children, between the ages 11 and 12, the children used to be on the stress, nervousness. The parents used to beat them and tell them, you, because they did not get, they said they failed to go to secondary school. No, the stress on these children, Mr. Speaker. Then they moved it to have a family called a junior secondary school to take on that cohort. There was the Rockall senior school, Mr. Speaker. And that means something beautiful is going to happen up there soon. That will make them more vexed. There was the Rockall senior secondary school, that's what they call it, senior primary school. When we, the Labour Party, go into government, we started something called, we built five new schools and started universal secondary education where every child got some place in a secondary school. It wasn't perfect, it wasn't perfect, but every child at least had a place in school, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, if I guess that, there is no plan for education, because probably young people who do not know that, don't make them do it, Mr. Speaker. More talk. We are the ones, Mr. Speaker, we are the ones now, and we're beginning this programme of one university or one university graduate for household. We don't want to do it. So, Mr. Speaker, when you hear this, this member comes there and with his bluster and his, and his, and his sounding good, speaking at level of, of untruth, Mr. Speaker, we have to the bonket, Mr. Speaker. We have to the bonket, Mr. Speaker. Talking about hotel workers, Mr. Speaker, I've heard the member for Castle South speaking, let's see, on remuneration for hotel workers. We were the ones, Mr. Speaker, when he got into government, we removed taxes on service charge paid to hotel workers. We don't want to do it. We don't want to do it, Mr. Speaker. So, our record, Mr. Speaker, is clear. Our record on workers and education is not been perfect. Nothing is perfect, but our record is clear, Mr. Speaker. And finally, on this statistic thing, he comes, he brings back again every year, Mr. Speaker. It is clear. It is clear what happened where that is concerned, Mr. Speaker. The person written by us, we don't get involved in, in, in that writing. It's the same way they want me to get involved in police operations. I never get involved in police operations, no matter what they say, and no matter how they try to attack me, to criticize me, because they believe that being a policeman is not a profession that you must be proud of. That's what they believe. So, when they say, I say my father was a policeman trying to denigrate me, Mr. Speaker, what they are doing is that they are denigrating all policemen in the system. That's what they're doing. That's what they're doing. So, when they try to attack me, when I say my father was a policeman, Mr. Speaker, they are attacking all policemen because being a policeman is an honorable profession, Mr. Speaker, and I'm proud to say that I went to school on policeman salary. I'm proud to say that. And I'll say it again, and the more they attack me, the more I'll say it, Mr. Speaker. I'm a teacher. I'm a teacher. So, Mr. Speaker, let's get back to the thing about, and I want to read, Mr. Speaker, the explanation that we have about the statistics, Mr. Speaker, how do you read it for you? During COVID-19, the Central Secretary's office made a decision to continue the conduct of the quarterly labor force survey, notwithstanding the fact on the advice of the chief medical officer all face-to-face issues, interviews should have been discontinued until further notification. Consequently, adaptations had to be made to the data collection methodology, and as such, the results of the labor force survey during that period will stand alone and not comparable to the labor force survey results prior to COVID. However, from 2023, we resume the application of the normal labor force data collection methodology. Hence, the 2023 labor force survey results can be compared with the results prior to COVID-19. That's the explanation, Mr. Speaker. Not for me, because even though I did a little bit of statistics in school a long time ago, I had a plan to be a many statistician. I had a plan for statistician. That's what he wanted me to do, plan everything. That's what he did. He was an engineer. He said he had a mixed degree. Then he was all kinds of things, Mr. Speaker. All kinds of things. He's an economist. He's a financier. He's a hotelier. Where he's again? He's a guru in everything. He knows about everything, Mr. Speaker. I don't know about everything, and I'll never say I know about everything. I don't know about everything, Mr. Speaker. But what I know is I can listen to advice, and I can listen to people who know more than me, many people who know more than me, and look to do the best for the people of St. Lucia. So, Mr. Speaker, finally, Mr. Speaker, this resolution will help in the school shortages in the OECS, Mr. Speaker. That from the World Bank shows, Mr. Speaker, that 40% of all employers in St. Lucia indicated that skills and education of workers was a hinge once to the country's competitiveness. 61% of youth in the OECS faced challenges getting or earning a living with many reporting that other, that the academic qualifications did not fit the labor market. That's what the figures say, Mr. Speaker, and that is what this resolution and this borrowing seeks to cure. I thank you, Mr. Speaker. Honourable members, the question is that Parliament authorizes the Minister for Finance to borrow an amount of 11,500,000 special drawing rights in this resolution referred to as the credit, the loan from the International Development Association to finance the organization of Eastern Caribbean State Skills and Innovation Project. Be it further resolved, that maximum commitment charge rate payable is one half of 1% per annum on the un-withdrawing balance. Service charge is payable at a rate of three fourths of 1% per annum on the withdrawn credit balance. See, principal amount of the credit is repayable on the first day of April and the first day of October in each year. The principal amount of the credit repayable over a period of 40 years with a grace period of 10 years. I now put the question, as many of that opinion say aye. Aye. As many of a contrary opinion say no. I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. Deputy Prime Minister. Mr. Speaker, I beg that this House stands suspended until 3.30. Members, the question is that this House be suspended until 3.40. As many of the opinions say aye. As many of the contrary opinions say no. I think the ayes have it, the ayes have it. House suspended until 3.40 p.m. October in two years. In other words, it would have been a semi-annual payment on the rates. There was much debate. The usual back-and-forth. But mostly, the support over there was. Nicolle South. Nicolle South. He gave his support to the people and of course there was a lot of money charged with the governance of the country. Okay. The money that the government has created to support a project to buy young people's employment, to buy them money, to teach them how to do it, to succeed. And to teach them how to do it when they are in employment. The money was worth $1,500,000. That's what the government has created with this money. It was managed by the OECS, with the help of the OECS, the Gwinnad. It was supported by the government, particularly by the government of employment. Also, in the morning, it was not enough to suffer. He talked about the cyclical situation, about how it can cause climate change, all these differences that can cause the cyclical situation. But he also talked about how it can cause the situation to change. Well, it's a concern that we have come to the end. We want to live here for three and a half hours to continue the discussion, because we have a lot of motions to discuss with the government. So, we want to prevent young people from living for three and a half hours, so that we can continue the discussion that we have discussed.