 Thank you very much, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, allow me to join other colleagues in this honourable house to welcome back the member of the orchestras. So these following the major scare he's had in his life and of course hospitalisation both here in St. Groucher and in Martinique. I think when these things happen we all do have to take a step back and ponder. For the simple reason that I suspect every parliamentarian in this honourable house probably postpones health issues because of the demands of their responsibilities as representatives of people. And we keep on seeing this time and time and time again. And contrary to what people really think, most of us do not even make simple preparations by way of insurance protection for when the moment comes and the hour comes. These are matters that I think we certainly need to reflect on and to think about as we do the business of the people. And if I can offer any advice to him it is to say that he needs to make sure that he accepts the healing that is so very vital for his own future and for his own survival in the weeks and months ahead and allow his family to take care of him as he goes through this very delicate period. But it is commendable that he was able to join us in parliament. Mr Speaker, I want to start this debate this afternoon on my contribution and on an unusual note. And I know that you have been very kind and generous in these debates so that you will allow me moments when I will go on a frolic of my own but always returning to the central business of the day which is of course the estimates of revenue and expenditure. And I want to start Mr Speaker by reflecting a little bit on the process of these debates and not to enter necessarily in the issue raised by the leader of the opposition which I coaxed the member of the Sousel Solivus not to pursue because in all my years when I served as Minister of Finance and I introduced the estimates of revenue and expenditure it was never from a prepared tax that was circulated to members. In fact I did so and spoke as I always do from notes and I don't know when I go back and look at hindsight what did notes look like but one is I must find out, look to look at the notes to see whether the notes were very coherent. What I said then was acceptable. So that has been the pattern and I don't want to deal with that but I want to deal with the rhythm, the process. Mr Speaker, I have rejected a lot on the approach of parliamentary representatives to the debate on the estimates of revenue and expenditure and I would say at a very outset that by and large that these debates are very predictable. Although variations do exist as we have seen during this debate parliamentarians usually start Mr Speaker by commenting on the online philosophy of the estimates so they speak about the vision contained in the estimates what's the plan for the ensuing year particularly as dictated by the expenditure that the government is proposing to undertake. Then inevitably after they have commenced on that basis they then proceed to assess the economic prospects offered by the estimates so they may choose to focus on a number of indices they may of course want to talk about the growth rates that they see either the previous year or the forecast for the ensuing year they want to look at GDP prospects then inevitably look at the revenue projections the expenditure details which occupies both of our time obviously they pay attention to the deficits which is of course becoming increasingly important and a whole range of things including individual allocations to ministries The third element of the debate comes when individual power ministers explain their allocations to their ministries and of course we heard the Minister of Finance explicitly leaving that responsibility to the individual ministers and this again is time-worn because frankly in my tenure the very same thing happened we asked the ministers to fill in the gaps by providing details of how they're going to be managing their allocations Once this is done Mr Speaker then the focus shifts to constituencies to assess what's in the budget for individual constituencies In that regard all parliamentarians are of one mind, we become one all of a sudden we occupy the same positions because all of us become parliamentarians and those who are the cloak or the ministerial clothing take those off and you now become an ordinary parliamentarian to look at what is happening in your individual constituency Of course those senators or ministers don't have that responsibility, they can roam far and wide Mr Speaker but as we saw today and in previous debates it is not unusual for parliamentary representatives to identify initiatives which are funded explained to their constituents this particular initiative is funded and this would be the result for the particular constituency and then inevitably they turn to say what's not funded and to begin to itemize the various issues in their constituencies that require a second look or attention at some point in time and the good thing about this parliament is that and previous parliaments I might add Mr Speaker we have always understood this phenomenon that parliamentary representatives are given some latitude as it were to raise issues pertaining to commitments in their constituencies that have not been met and we heard eloquent statements this morning Mr Speaker about matters that could be funded and matters that could not be funded for one reason or another including of course unavailability of funds and very difficult challenges that the government faces generating revenue for the kinds of expenditure that are required so we are accustomed to this as hinted earlier and I know you're wondering where I'm going with this Mr Speaker as hinted earlier the order presentation may in fact change parliamentary representatives may well decide to give priority to the treatment of his constituency in his opening remarks and this happened as we saw earlier on with the presentation by the member for you fought north he decided that he wanted to pay attention to his constituency so he started off his presentation by focusing on his constituency and giving it priority of treatment and then coming back to his ministry and of course to the government to the government and the estimates now I thought he did a rather clever job when I listened to him because he used the concept of deficits he says he enjoys and he looks forward to the reduction of deficits because he is engaged in a similar endeavor in his constituency to reduce the deficit of development in his constituency and of course it was his rationale for justifying the attention paid to his constituency in the past year and of course to identify to future challenges in his constituency I think this is all very healthy for democracy that will do these things and there should be no I would say particularly angst or I would say discomfort when therefore parliamentarians speak eloquently about their needs and their constituencies and of course the requirements of their constituents and their concerns of their constituents I have learned over time that a parliamentarian Mrs. Speaker has three bytes of the cherry to determine how the estimates impact his or her constituency three bytes and you can of course confirm this Mrs. Speaker first the estimates are perused to determine whether provision is made for constituency specific projects part I can conceptualize in my case I will pick up the estimates and go through the estimates to see if your forth south is mentioned and I will then pay particular attention to the capital estimates to see whether there are any projects in the capital estimates and I will give you forth south in the ensuing budget to cycle that's the first thing that I would do and I'm betting you Mrs. Speaker every parliamentarian does the same thing I mean even though some of these parliamentarians all of these parliamentarians are members of the cabinet of ministers and no I should have a fair idea of what is in there but I don't know what the civil servants will decide at the end of the day if the power is conceded to them to decide and so they anxiously open the estimates to see if there are specific projects of the constituency that is mentioned the second byte comes when individual ministers speak to explain how they intend to use the block allocations made to their ministries now here you wait patiently very patiently to see if your constituency is identified and if your constituency is mentioned you listen and may I add Mrs. Speaker may I add Mrs. Speaker that is one of the reasons I speak late in the debate in this particular debate because I prefer to wait to hear what the particular ministers are going to say about my constituency and how they plan to spend the allocations they have and what they have in mind for my constituency so but I come to you so Mrs. Speaker the statements of ministers become very important to decipher the estimates because as I said you want to find out what are the plans of individual ministries now so I want to disabuse the honourable members of the belief that I am in business of seeking to trap the member from Miku's south by speaking just when he might want to speak or whatever the case is the fact of the matter is that's not my concern at all I mean that's the matter of him I wait to see what ministers have to say about their plans of my constituency that's my objective that's the purpose and he might want to feel that he has comfort he has comfort from that statement only to say that he is flying in the face of tradition because you see a leader of the opposition has to demonstrate that he is worthy of his purse and that he can jump on his feet and debate on his feet at all times and if you have had estimates for a whole week at your disposal then very very clearly then very very clearly very very clearly Mrs. Speaker that no no no no you are a little misguided but I'm not going to take you on I will not take you on just yet although I want to tell you that if you provoke me and open the door you'll regret it don't go there so but you see it's true you can't change history but the most serious offensive committee is to lie about history thank you haven't said that Mrs. Speaker sure haven't said that the third the third bite of the cherry or if you prefer comes when the budgetary statement or the policy statement is delivered it's an important bite Mrs. Speaker because the policy statement contains the surprises of the budget contains the surprise of the budget and the minister of finance may announce projects which may not have been covered in the estimates and which may of course be financed by extra budgetary means for example superpower status and state agencies so if you have no hope or little hope under the first two bites then you'll now look forward to the third bite to see if the hope you are denied finds expression in the third bite so that is why this process is so important now in my case Mrs. Speaker I do not have any of those responsibilities and Mrs. Speaker as a back bencher I may want to reflect on the philosophy and trajectory of the estimates of revenue and expenditure the economic prospects offered by the data presented in the estimates however Mrs. Speaker on this occasion I will say little about the philosophy and data on the pinning the estimates but rather I will focus solely and exclusively on my constituency here for south and I am also responding to my constituents who always say to me that you take on this larger responsibility of reflecting on the budget but not often do you speak in the detail that you need to speak about your constituency today I accede to their demand and to their request and therefore I will focus exclusively on my constituency here for south I have ample opportunity to reflect on these issues on the third bite of the cherry the policy debate then I will speak to why the issues the policy the direction of the country and how justifiable are the approaches that we are taking to the development of the country you see Mrs. Speaker sometimes we have strange motives for what we do but I would say I sense an urgency Mrs. Speaker I sense an urgency at my age you suddenly realize that three years is not a long time in the scheme of things July two years have begun and three years are left for a child waiting for another birthday or Christmas or young or young man or woman in love it's eternity you know it's eternity if you're in love you have to wait for three years why are you laughing young man it's an eternity to wait to wait and you know I can if you remember when you were a child to wait for another birthday it took so long and the toys at Christmas it took so long but at 72 Mrs. Speaker at 72 it's absolutely no time at all as the late Owen Arthur used to say to us repeatedly at that age you are in the departure lounge and so we constantly have to be cognizant of that reality while we take our seats in the departure lounge so Mrs. Speaker you understand I hope the context and draw the background that I am going to raise some of these issues now do not get me wrong Mrs. Speaker I want you to hear louder and clear Mrs. Speaker that I am content and at peace with my political life as it is right now I am but I do believe that in this parliamentary cycle it is a perfect opportunity to reflect and contribute to shaping the political responsibilities of backbenchers in parliament and without being presumptuous at all and I ask for forgiveness of anybody who thinks that I am presumptuous I just ask who better politician or what better politician than myself to discuss or raise this issue and I see the member forecastries nodding his head in approval and I suspect the point of common that we have is decision making regarding who goes into a cabinet who does not go into a cabinet I have had the experience of leaving elected members out of my cabinet in part to answer our constitutional requirements for example to appoint a deputy speaker and in doing so face the disappointment anger and even trenchant comments those individuals and their supporters have had that experience and some of it has been very very very very unkind very unkind and no matter what explanation is offered to those affected individuals they see no reason or wisdom to the decisions but you know you know the passage of time maturity may help in these matters and I have recently said it is impossible Mr. Speaker for all elected parliamentarians to be ministers and that is why my own comments have been so harsh when I have said that the practice of promising individual ministerial positions before elections is in affront to the constitution of the country and should not be practiced, tolerated, allowed or encouraged the subject of bargaining before a general election should never ever ever be because it attacks the fundamental discretion assigned to the prime minister by the constitution of the country and I keep on asking what will happen when this parliament increases the number of parliamentarians we are 17 and it is in affront to our constitution that in this day and age Mr. Speaker we have moved from a number 17 decreased to us since independence 40 years, is it 44 years later we are still at 17 despite the fact that there are incongruities and unlawfulness in the demarcation of our constituencies boundaries and you know Mr. Speaker, I have warned before the time will come when some citizen in this country who insists that the constitution be protected and be observed and to find his or her way to the court and ask declaration from the courts in that matter because whether we like to head or not these constituency boundaries are unlawful because they fly in the face of the requirements of the constitutional situation and it is time that this matter be resolved whether we go to 21 or 23 or whatever number of seats that we need to go to so to capture what I am trying to say Mr. Speaker I am really trying to say this in these estimates I have come to realize that there is need to reflect and redesign the relationship between a government in office and its backbenchers and I say this because of my previous experience I say this because of my current experience through this Mr. Speaker we have had little experience in shaping such relationships because there have been so few backbenchers so to speak and as you know nearly all members are absorbed in cabinet for one reason or another so we don't have the experience to inform our political behavior and political practice but we have to correct it some years ago Mr. Speaker I finalized the drafting of a code of ministerial conduct for the government of Grenada at the time I had done a code of cabinet procedures for them and also a code of ministerial behavior and somewhere at the back of my mind I know that we had a provoked code of cabinet procedures for the government of solution whether it is observed I don't know but also the commission was made of this ministerial code the code established rules of ministerial behavior identified situations which breed conflicts of interest and crucially how ministers should handle parliamentarians who are not members of the cabinet for example the code made provision for cabinet members to alert a sitting parliamentarian of all official engagements and appearances in the constituencies of parliamentarians the awarding of contracts and the duties of senior management to inform parliamentarians of actions in their constituencies I am not suggesting that a ministerial code should say that when ministers or parliamentarians are on a social frolic or engage in extracurricular activities that they should report to the sitting parliamentarian that these things are happening but the truth is Mr. Speaker in my experience I become aware of these extracurricular activities from time to time in my constituency and I have in the past privately raised these unusual visits in my constituency for one reason or the other and while I am on this on this Mr. Speaker this is a very serious debate and while on this I want to make a collateral point Mr. Speaker I seriously want to suggest to the Prime Minister and member of the country that he directs his cabinet secretary to remind all permanent secretaries that when parliamentarians write to them they have a duty to acknowledge and respond to these letters there seem to be a culture in the public service of ignoring correspondence from parliamentarians and that applies whether the parliamentarian is a member of the governing party or whether the parliamentarian is in opposition whether unpalatable as those letters could be and Mr. Speaker I speak from experience that letters I have written to permanent secretaries go unanswered but let me say this of course Mr. Speaker where a letter comes from a parliamentarian in his legal capacity that is a different matter all together as there is recourse in a different forum so when you see a lawyer sends a letter to a permanent secretary you understand Mr. Speaker then sometimes the lawyer is very happy the permanent secretary never replies because they deal with that in another forum and sometimes it could be very helpful surely Mr. Speaker so Mr. Speaker against that background I will now come to some of my comments regarding his budget and I want to be clear at the outset Mr. Speaker on my mind at the event in the south in the last few weeks new legislation which I shall come to in a few minutes and of course Mr. Speaker the presence of the RSS and I am now Mr. Speaker attempting to brace myself for the inevitable funerals which we learn in the next few days and I have had in my ten to experience very emotional funerals I mean I can never forget the funeral of victims of ones you know in Miku that one was extraordinary was painful, was intense it tore all our hearts and our beings and so in the next few weeks we will be paying homage to those victims those who died by the gun so Mr. Speaker the fact is that these estimates of revenue expenditure were prepared well before these events and the question then becomes that apart from what may be in the estimates of expenditure of revenue and expenditure for the people of South how will the programs in these estimates bring comfort to the people of the South after those events that's for me a question of preoccupation because all of us in this house know that we are dealing with an unprecedented event and we know that the South is at a critical delicate point of its existence these days we are on the lips of everyone everything you hear before South before this, before that never mind that the issue of crime is a phenomenon experienced by all solutions throughout all communities in this country we have had mass killings in other communities before a point repeatedly made by the member for Casteries East yet before South is always single out not in the manner that you are hearing from the member from Casteries North Mr. Speaker but of course in a totally different manner so we are the focus of interest and as I said two weeks ago as a result of the events in before South an act described the suppression of escalated crime act was enacted by this parliament and earlier this sitting the minister for national security laid before this parliament an order described suppression of escalated crime police designation of before South as an escalated crime area order statue instrument number 31 of 2023 so if you thought South is never far away and we have the unique distinction of encouraging the passage of this legislation and of course being declared the first area instant to attract a statutory order to contain so called escalated crime and I know that the portions are wounded I know their pain and I know that there is a shame that they have to confront and they are seeking to deal with in my pronouncements following the events in before South Mr. Speaker I said that the events in before South may well be a watershed a moment in our history a moment in our affairs when perhaps we need to take a pause and to reflect of course it's a watershed for the people of your for South who must face our collective pain and repudiate the past and the events of the past secondly it is a watershed for the police to change the approach to policing in your for South and to work to win the trust and confidence of the people of your for South it then but unquestionably Mr. Speaker it is also a watershed for the government how it deals with the challenges and issues facing before South now and in the next few weeks and months already Mr. Speaker the police have understood what they have to build bridges I commend Deputy Commissioner of Police for taking the lead by engaging users of the fisheries complex to clean up the complex the site of three or four killings in the past few years for the past two Sundays DCP Shallary has joined users of the facility to debush the area I commend that and it is exceedingly pleasing to see him and other police officers working side by side with the users of the facility in a joint endeavor to debush and to clean up and restore some degree of security to the place I will have to say more about the fisheries complex in a moment too but I want to emphasize this because on the one hand while their actions are exposing the vulnerability of people who use the complex exposing the fact that the bush in the area provided a haven for the assailants at the same time the cleaning up has indicated that urgent works are necessary and immediate to be able to restore some degree of security to that site but in my meandering of the estimates Mr. Speaker apart from the mention of funding for the induced hospital in the allocation to the ministry of economic development and in the allocation to the ministry of wellness etc and apart from these Mr. Speaker and of course the remnants of the water project that has a long history on the public utilities and so on there are no specific projects identified in the estimates that you fought south none none but don't get me wrong Mr. Speaker I don't get me wrong this is not to say that you fought south is not the beneficiary of several commendable initiatives by the government and I'm going to applaud the government the government has agreed to establish an office of civil status to handle civil status documents the registration of births and deaths the issuance of birth certificates rectification of records and the like although I heard the minister speaking of a mobile unit for passports etc this is an interesting development and I wait for further details on that particular unit because my impression was that an office would have been established in before for people in the south to access for applications for passports but I want to pause momentarily Mr. Speaker to say that I am deeply concerned that there is mounting frustration among all citizens over the issuance and resolution of civil status records the people of the south suffer greatly by irrational requests and constant visits to the office in castries to resolve these matters we may need to revisit legislation to protect citizens especially the poor of the people of this country against the seemingly enduring passion of public offices to make life impossible for these poor people Mr. Speaker you might be tempted to say I am exaggerating am I a day does not go by if you do not see long lines outside the civil status registry in castries why is this happening in this country 8 years after we set up that office at 8 years after amendments were made to the registry can I tell you Mr. Speaker the number of times an unsuspected citizen have to be asked to travel up to castries for some information and some of the information that is being asked is simply bizarre and I believe that the government has to ask the Attorney General to look into the legislation to widen again the discretionary powers of civil servants to resolve these problems on their own because they are asking for impossible records records that do not exist frustrating ordinary people driving ordinary people to say the worst things about government and the services that it offers to people how can you be harassing an applicant to rectify his records about a applicant of a father who has never registered a baptised what irrationality is this what do you tell such people Mr. Speaker we have no answers and I am concerned because every time I pass by the older lines I see of you portions standing there in line reading for some records I am tired of it Mr. Speaker I am really tired of it I am in front of you but I cannot do that it is not fair for the citizens of this country and then I return however after that little digression to my commendation only recently following a meeting with the Prime Minister and Member for Austria East and the Minister of Commerce the member of Souffre the Prime Minister agreed to establish an office of the Department of Commerce to grant citizens of the south access services particularly Mr. Speaker in respect of the grants and loans for small businesses which funding is allocated in these estimates and which the member for Souffre addressed the intention Mr. Speaker initially was that persons who could have access the the constituency office of the parliamentary representative to assist in filling those forms I made it quite clear I don't want that to happen in my constituency office why Mr. Speaker for the very simple reason this is a government service and it should be accessed by all and no one should feel uncomfortable or intimidated come into my political office my constituency office for support and assistance and it is best that they go to a desk operated by the ministry to assist with these matters and I am very happy that the Prime Minister made a decision would ensure that a desk is established and one of the buildings in VFO to facilitate this and then Mr. Speaker there are the ongoing initiatives of which the people of the south will be eternally grateful indeed some of the ongoing initiatives have the origins in the predecessor of the government for example STEP and I am happy that we are not ashamed anymore to use the word STEP there is a place for STEP in the economic life of this country and we must use the STEP program wisely to benefit the stressed persons then the return of the laptop program organized by this government I give praise I give thanks not only because it was an initiative which I championed but I know even if there is abuse that the benefits would be huge and immense for the children of this country the $500 burst free to parents of students who they access in secondary school again a previous initiative and I am happy and pleased that parents can get access to this although I have to say quietly and surreptitiously Mr. Speaker there are some parents abusing those payments and we may need to develop a mechanism to prevent such abuses then there is this support under the HOPE program and I must say of course the former government had its fair share of utilizing the HOPE program for all kinds of things Mr. Speaker I just wish they had brought me into some of the programs that they had in their constituencies apart from the tokenism but the point is that these programs are now established and entrenched and people are now beneficiaries of these programs there is of course a housing program housing assistance program initiated by this government although they are not the first because the former government did have a housing program that focused on the elderly but of course of course millions were spent but this is good that we have this program to back up and the way it is and the government has to be commended and then I heard the member for castries north saying how much praise that Lucia has earned for its programs of social protection across the region and inevitably I smiled and of course he didn't go as far as I wanted him to go because we were the great pioneers of these various programs and succeeding governments unfortunately of course the nature of some of those programs compromise some of those programs but we have been able to revive and ensure their intact although Mr. Speaker when the time is right I want to deal with this issue of the dependency syndrome that is now in this country whether it is expressed by poor people in distant communities or by the business community I want to deal with that and I'm hoping that occasion will arrive soon will you see Mr. Speaker I have said that three years is a short time and so if you find I am a little unorthodox it is only because I want to say the things I have not been able to say in previous years and to say it as I want without anybody trying to directly how I should say and when I should say so Mr. Speaker you should expect I'm giving you good warning more of this and I'm sorry that the leader of the opposition has just made an exit I'll tell you why and this is about a St. Lucia Labour Party administration that needs restating this is the point that I want to restate the St. Lucia Labour Party has always understood that development must be equitable it must be balanced it must be fair and it reaches every corner of this country equality of access and treatment are not just legal concepts for lawyers they are political tools for politicians they are articles of faith articles of belief we must be fair honest and equitable in our treatment not just between and among citizens but also between geographic areas between communities between north and south between east and west and of course between constituencies equity lies at the heart of the philosophy of the St. Lucia Labour Party these are not just legal concepts as I said they are social and ideological concepts and certainly these concepts guided me when the people of St. Lucia gave me the opportunity to shape the development agenda of St. Lucia over the years that is why Mr Speaker simple little things matter that is why Mr Speaker one of the first things we did was to bring electricity to the people of Bouto when they had been denied electricity by a former UWP administration on the grounds that people were abandoning Bouto and they were no longer a relevant community and you know what has happened Mr Speaker when electricity was brought to the people of Bouto almost immediately Mr Speaker fortunes changed land became expensive and Bouto must sort after so we brought electricity to Bouto expanded access to water and electricity made it possible for every child to receive a secondary education sought to create special programs for the poor to bring them into the mainstream of the social and economic life of this country and Mr Speaker there is a continuity the continuity, the continuum so to speak it is the same ideological concept that guides the member of the country's east when he insists that all constituencies must benefit from the CDP vote in the estimates this concept of equity is part of the ideological life or ideological inheritance of this administration he too will remember well the battle in my own cabinet when I insisted that all constituencies must benefit under this program never mind the statements made by the former member of the country's southeast because he got a land share and I have in fact prepared a document with a list of projects like the window castries but I have not gone through them again I am waiting for the right opportunity when I am in the right mood to do so so Mr Speaker equality of treatment is a fundamental ideological pillar of the governing party now Mr Speaker what I want to do is to take the opportunity to tell the opposition to take the page from the book of this administration and give SLP supporters in their constituencies contract on the CDP they must not only give the contracts to UWPs they must share it in the spirit of equity equality and fairness and as for you keep quiet because I have a list of all the persons you have given contracts to in the shadow never forget that Swazel Salibas is a community and constituency here to me I was born in Swazel as you know in River Dory my family is from Salibas I have a little house I go and hide there from 10 to 10 and I know you have passed by to look at it you refuse to repair the road why not Mr Speaker they just send the UWPs to go to elections and say I was hiding there the kinds of things I have gone through Mr Speaker I don't know why these days I don't know why in these days I can still laugh you know when I think of the things that I have had to the things I have had to endure over 10 so Mr Speaker against this background how one looks at the estimates against this background of interventions in the constituency prior to the estimates against this background the concept of equity in the allocation of budgetary resources I want to turn to my constituency and to restate as I call it the agenda for my constituency put differently let me just touch on the issues affecting the votes out you have 10 minutes left are you serious again I think I need an hour at least if I may Mr Speaker let me see if I have roughly enough feathers to allow me to speak for another hour Mr Speaker I want to invoke standing order 3210 in order to allow the member of UFO South an additional hour within which to complete his presentation honour members the question is that standing order 3210 be invoked to allow the member of UFO South an additional hour in which to complete his presentation and I'll put a question as many as of that opinion say aye as many as of a country opinion say no I think the ayes have it leave is granted I didn't hear the aye loud enough Mr Speaker but you know but you know Mr Speaker I thank the member for the generosity last time he was not generous but I'm glad he is today so Mr Speaker I want to restate what are the priorities for us in UFO South and to articulate the needs of my constituents for me the first item has to do with the deplorable conditions of the roads of UFO South Mr Speaker I have said time and time again that the roads of Cedar Heights in UFO South are in a deplorable condition I can offer no excuse no more excuses to the constituents I have no more excuses I can't invoke any other excuses at this stage I'm sorry Mr Speaker and you know Mr Speaker a road that I have been begging to reconstruct the main contourment road above the brewery going into the middle of contourment I mean that road is like a dance hall of potholes you know what I mean baban wee baban wee baban wee and then in you go I mean it's the holes Mr Speaker I mean the number of holes etc and every time the ministry is approached Mr Speaker every time the usual story they don't give us resources we don't have resources I have drawn to the attention of the minister of infrastructure they need to complete the road in Bruceville and why it is important to complete that road in Bruceville because you know the people of Bruceville have suffered cycles of punishment when we have lost the elections the community is all in disarray I'm getting worse day by day no attention paid to these community roads and then at least the road to Latune heavily used for funerals heavily used by all on sundry from the north from the south from the east to the west we started to look after it by paving a concrete road from the St. Jude highway to the top of the Amon but the rest now is just part holes and really I don't know Mr Speaker how we rationalize our attitudes to these things for me Mr Speaker you see a cemetery it's a sacred place you have to treat it with a certain amount of reverence and I believe a member of Cassree is appreciating what I'm saying because he knows that it was an SRP government that started the investment in a shock cemetery to build roads inside a shock cemetery and build a wall and people didn't understand why and today I'm very pleased at what I see in shock cemetery because there is now some order the Cassree constituency council has a dedicated team etc and we are beginning to treat shock cemetery with some respect although there are now problems because sooner or later the sea will claim the debt that has trespassed on the beaches a shock so we need to attend to this and I look forward to the minister's contribution to see what he plans of all cemeteries now that apart Mr Speaker the few four-ton streets very few of those streets are paved in the past and there are many that now require repaving when the member for Cassree's was the minister of infrastructure he did ensure that the main street in view for Clark Street was paved but we never paid attention to the remaining roads perhaps the most egregious thing is the unfinished construction of the St Jude Highway from the brewery to the entrance from the brewery to Junction with the Lab Review Fort Highway and then of course from the brewery to Larissus Mr Speaker it's egregious because the understanding was that that road would have been completed to bring relief to the heavily used road into the industrial estates and of course to Oshay and surrounding areas for reasons that I do not want to go into a this stage where I understood a decision was made to stop the road by the brewery because of a reallocation of resources it meant that the people of Ufort paid the price and you know what is very sad Mr Speaker Ufortians are now looking for roads that they can detour to get into Ufort and to and from Ufort because of the conditions of that road now Mr Speaker I can say about this now when I look at the capital budget for the Ministry of Infrastructure I see provision for example if you look at page 588 Mr Speaker made for the rehabilitation of McDonnell Road construction of Austin Road Mark and Henry Road Grosley and Castries North Road I don't see anything for Ufort now bear in mind what I said earlier on if you look at that you wait for the pronouncements from the Minister to say what roads you intend to tackle in your constituencies but I missed part of his presentation but not that part dealing with infrastructure investment and so did not hear anything about roads in Ufort and so Mr Speaker you will understand when I say that perhaps I now have to wait for the budget policy statement it is distressing for Ufort South nowhere has any indication that Ufort South is a priority for the Ministry of Infrastructure and to the credit of the member for Castries North he did say his permanent secretary would engage me with priorities sorry the chief engineer the permanent secretary well he is a little remote oh I see but I would say this that the chief engineer was supposed to give me her list of priorities and as she as fate would have it perhaps coincidence I got a message from her this morning asking me if I had received an email she had sent me I checked my emails and told her no I had received no such emails so maybe there might be redemption maybe there might be redemption and I might get the email with the list of priorities but I just hope that she has the right priorities I now turn to the other vex issue the fisheries complex last year Mr. Speaker an allocation of 1.4 million was made on the head of repair sufficient facilities this allocation for 2022 was never ever disbursed what I do understand when I query it is that an allocation an original disbursement of $400,000 was allowed but redirected to another fisheries project because of pressing commitments where that is concerned now you know Mr. Speaker I have been trying to digest this and if I am speaking on through the member for Denry North is next to me because Denry is south sorry because he supplied me with the information we spoke about it Mr. Speaker I have been trying to understand for years what really enters the minds of public servants when they make decisions like allocating money from one head to the next when they are going to use money allocated for one project to another project accept overriding issues for example accept the reality of cash flow you don't bring enough money to pay your commitments but you know what I am beginning to think that senior decision makers senior public officers need to go and travel around the country into constituencies to demand to understand what politicians are talking about you know they are involved in paper transactions, book transactions totally oblivious to the needs and demands of people and they do not understand what people are going through the politician is the interlocutor between people and them trying to get them to understand the realities of daily lives of the individuals who make up the country because they are distant, unconcerned far away apart, divorced from those realities and then they engage in these paper transactions and causing great great harm not just to sit in politicians the constituents of these politicians this financial year Mr. Speaker there is an allocation of $711,000 again C-Page 580 of the estimates substantially lower than the previous year the minister of four fisheries sitting next to me the member for denry south explained to me that this amount of salary is to be shared around four facilities and my mathematics tells me that if you divide that by four that is very $4.7, one better something thousand dollars for each facility clearly the impact of any such expenditure will be really negligible in consequential we have a job ahead of us we either save the fisheries facilities or let it go to waste once and for all that's the reality unless there is an urgent intervention we are going to lose what was once the best fishing complex in the entire eastern caribbean the last time any substantial work was done was sometime after 2011 when then the then government was able to source some money or some funds from jiker fisheries was then under the direction and control of the member for view for north token adjustments were made to the complex I'm sure the member for view for north will remember the installation of some lighting etc but he knew as I knew that it was tokenism at the time insufficient to deal with the problems that we had what has happened Mr. Speaker is that the recent efforts to debush the facilities exposes the urgent works which need to be undertaken which once provided security lies on the ground prusted totally destroyed and I just want to emphasize given the urgency funds are required to reconstruct that fence otherwise all the work to debush the area to clean up around the area will be of no benefit or of no consequence pointless I'm told to use my cdb funds because cdb funds are never intended for that and it's unfair to me to have to use the cdb funds I get which I am build a mile of a road to be able to do something like this Mr. Speaker then there is the issue of lighting the cooperative has been begging for the installation of lights in the facilities literally begging and Mr. Speaker I am very happy that they got in touch with the Minister of Infrastructure to present their claim in this matter and all I can do Mr. Speaker is to read out the email which I received from the operations manager Kejiana Tusa Sharu the senator in this parliament Honourable Kenny Anthony although this is an ongoing and long standing issue we can well appreciate the agitation to get it on the way in short time the issue of poor lighting has existed for a while and the co-op has over time made great strides in bearing the cost of electrical troubleshooting and purchase of lamps which has helped significantly however they are woefully inadequate and the recent criminal activity has created a greater urgency to improve on the lighting needs therefore we are requesting your assistance in the provision of approximately 15 lamps and technically assistance from the Ministry of Infrastructure or by way of support of remittance to a consultant to strengthen the lighting issue in a holistic manner we look forward to your indulgence on the above matter but following an email we are asking her whether she had made a demand of the Ministry of Infrastructure and I wait to see what the result will be Mr Speaker I want to repeat something I said in the past four years this facility has been the scene of four killings among them have been my friends and supporters and on moments like this I always remember the colourful and notorious character by the name of Banffair who was stabbed in that facility and every viewforsher and wholesale and retailers and fishing products will remember him I am sure now Mr Speaker the elephant in the room I just realized that I am using a term once used by the member for Migu South and and this is rare that I will use a term used by the member for Migu South very very very rare absolutely very rare but Mr Speaker I don't know if you remember when that and this is a little digression just to tease your memory and I see the member for Switzerland watching me intently I do have a formidable memory I don't know if you remember Mr Speaker the famous dialogue that took place over the replacement of candidates in the Migu South constituency when the then member said, when the then member of the United Workers Party was in the parliamentarian said regarding his own selection that the elephant in the room was whether he would have been allowed to enter the constituency to represent do you remember that Mr Speaker remember that? Good I am glad to see you have a memory outside of the walls of this parliament I am going to use that term this afternoon the elephant in the room the elephant in the room Mr Speaker is an issue of resolving the management of the facilities as I have expressed to the member for the Migu South the facilities are on autopilot no one is in charge of the fishing facilities in Migu Fort and that's the crux of the problem so everyone does what they want to do the term has come to take a decision as I have said before there are only three options that are available the first specific speaker is to seat the facility to all the cooperatives in the South let them form a company and manage the facility I am told however that the cooperatives do not favor that approach my attitude was to give the cooperatives a grant to start them off but no funds after that grant the second option is the management by the government and let me say I don't support that that's another dead end because of the experiences that we have had with the fisheries complexes and it makes no sense no sense whatsoever Mr Speaker for the government to get involved in the management of that complex anymore given what has happened in fact in the same vein I had to say to the member for Cassitree for Denry South I was most astonished when subsidy was given to the Central Marketing Board because I can't recall any firm and organization that ever received more subsidies than the Central Marketing Board but one can only see what that really yield the third option is the lease to a private sector operator and I want again to suggest that the fisheries facility be advertised for lease to be managed by a private sector operator not in the original concept of the former government because that don't make sense that is trouble that is absolute trouble but an independent private sector operator who is willing to invest and take the gamble to do so we need to find management for the facility and by the way forget the Ministry of Agriculture forget them entirely they are not the authority to be managing the complex because they are part of the problem now Mr Speaker I now come to the other vex issue the issue of the proud program and land in U4 Mr Speaker may I ask you how much time I have 50 minutes 15? 50 okay very good that's good news Mr Speaker I turn to the proud program and the issue of accessibility of land in U4 to the people of U4 Mr Speaker land is a burning issue in U4 it's an enduring issue and try as I have try as I have I cannot convince those who are responsible for managing lands in U4 what the problem is I will restate for the benefit of this house U4tions do not own their community it is the only community in U4t where the people who reside in the community do not own the lands U4tions are not part of the domestic economy of U4t many of them cannot buy and sell land as they want why Mr Speaker U4t is sequestrated in that narrow neck of land between Mullah Sheikh to the south and of course the airport boundary to the north the areas of Larry's shoes to the north in U4town itself most of the land is owned by the two churches the Catholic church and the Anglican church and I have issued a call an indication to them that I would want to dialogue with them with a view to persuading the government to allow the government to purchase these lands and to subdivide these lands to give people title to the lands in fact it is part of my manifesto pledge to the people of the south then of course Mr Speaker there is the issue of the wider U4t people ask me why is it that U4t people get angry why are they angry sometimes you know Mr Speaker the answer is simple one of the answers all the land in U4t is being sold out to people outside of U4t all of it you go to see the heights you go to control the majority of house lots have been sold to people whether they are from Miku, from Denri from Castries, from Souffre etc the land is gone people in U4t therefore cannot buy the land there are very few of U4tians who have land in these areas very very very few who would afford this land but they watch as outsiders come into their community to be part of their community can you therefore understand why Mr Speaker that they would constantly knocking on the door of invested lusher constantly why, why it is a problem why I have tried to suggest dedicated parcel of land be subdivided and allocated to allow the people of U4t an opportunity to own lands in their own community so they can feel part of their community that they belong to it it is against that background Mr Speaker that the proud program was so critical and so essential to the people of U4t and was such an important limb of the policy of former Labour Government Mr Speaker why because with the proud program we were able to make a start with the people of Daimon and La Rishouz and La Tunis parcel all the lands and sell it to them and offer to them the land at bargain prices Mr Speaker based on the number of years and of course the former Government the former U4t Government never happy with that arrangement never ever ever happy with it you did not as a matter of fact I can tell you very few persons ever got title on the proud program and you know zero zero it existed only only in him I don't know why the Government would want to do this because owning land is the most powerful tool of economic empowerment that you can get when you own land you enter the economy you can buy and sell you can mortgage and you know one of the things I have seen Mr Speaker a lot of the parents in La Rishouz who now have these lands that is what they are mortgaging to send their children to school to universities but what has happened the program now has languished and you know for me one of the most painful episodes Mr Speaker I can't find a better word to describe it is the plight of the people of Bruceville and I am sorry there are people in this house who may well be tired hearing my complaints this afternoon and they should because that is the agenda that is going to shape me in the next few months Mr Speaker do you know that twice in the life of the former Labour Government attempts were made to subdivide the lands in Bruceville for the people of Bruceville Mr Speaker and each time those plans were abandoned and the people of Bruceville denied an opportunity to own a little piece of land that they occupy in Bruceville and you want to find out why the people of Bruceville sometimes are so angry do you know now Mr Speaker what is happening every living day I get messages on my phone every Wednesday I go to my constituency people want to vacate an abandoned Bruceville and look to go elsewhere what am I supposed to tell them I can't send them to invest in La Rishouz because they are the hardest not to crack they don't understand the sociological realities of the town or the community all they exist to do in Bruceville is to make money by selling the land to the people of Bruceville that's all they do and I'm sorry if I'm blunt but it's nothing new it's nothing new they don't come up with a coherent plan to benefit the people of Bruceville they don't and I keep on hammering I keep on cajoling I keep on persuading do you know what difference it would make if invest in La Rishouz and if the Ministry of Housing says these are this area is dedicated to the settlement of the people of UFO to give them an opportunity to own their community and be part of the development of their community why and to put things in context every time we are about to start the process of demarcating subdividing and of course sending persons into Bruceville every time every time we are about to do this elections came we were interrupted by elections and all the plans were abandoned so once again the people of Bruceville are left without any crutches without any support without any opportunities and I am hoping and had hoped that in this cycle we would have resolved this problem and I understand of course that the proud project is currently engaged in demarcating lands of control surveying lands of control for the people of control another project that is over 10 years over due Mr. Speaker 10 years and you know I don't know what's wrong with this country I don't understand it sometimes can somebody explain to me why we take 10 years for a matter like that and then Mr. Speaker I am not sure that proud is getting the kind of support that it needs to get to engage in a land revolution to engage in we have to empower people we have to empower people give them opportunities to own land I am not saying that investment Luscia don't have land program I know they are trying their busy surveying lands up in the constituency of the member for castries north and when defaultions come to me I tell them I am going to apply to invest in Luscia but bear in mind it's the constituency of the member for castries north sorry if you fought north so you have to approach him to get his support and assistance because it's not my constituency I can't interfere and I do and I don't like people interfering in my constituency so I don't interfere in other people's constituency and so Mr. Speaker I really would want to find out where we are at and may I again plead for the people of Bruce Willis may I again ask that a concerted effort be made to allow them to own the land on which they reside to give them some permanency maybe that would help to discourage some of them from wanting to to disappear from that area now this is a perfect juncture for me Mr. Speaker to touch on the presence of Slasper and touch again on investing in Bruce Willis in the people of south in my more distressing moments Mr. Speaker and I don't want to offend any of the ministers who are here who have responsibilities for these entities I seriously wonder whether these two organizations Slasper and Invested Bruce Willis are blessings or curses on the people of south I really wonder Mr. Speaker I really really really wonder I really wonder and again I know it we felt that I am exaggerating but you know Mr. Speaker you can test it I ask you to ask any of those entities to identify one major contribution to the people of you four that they can identify and say that they did for the people of you four by virtue of utilizing the property entrusted to the people of you four they can't cite one none can tell you all Invested in Lucia can show is a bus stop by the comprehensive school of Larry shoes one bus stop and for which I had a hell of a hard time to get Invested Lucia to agree to construct I well remembers and I see the member of castries is laughing because you see he remembers full well what I had to go through to get that one bus stop built by Invested Lucia and this is an entity that all it does is sell lands in you four and extract the income from the sale of lands to do his business and in the name of justice you tell me that is fair equity yet for years Mr. Speaker that has been a very now you know Mr. Speaker a few moments ago I heard a minister of infrastructure speaking eloquently about the environment which greet visitors when they arrive in St Lucia in you four south he was eloquent and I if I was close by I might have gone up and given him a handshake now you know now you talk in man because he was concerned now this country appears to visitors and to people coming yet my problem is that one of the greatest offenders who tarnish who tarnish view for environment is in fact last fall and of course followed by Invested Lucia I have spoken in this parliament for years and I have asked that the sale of lands alongside the highway be stopped and that that area be beautified that a building that is now left on its steel beams be torn down to improve the appearance of the place and I have asked and suggested Slasco and Invested Lucia to cooperate all they do when they call me to their offices and have meetings is understanding and then make promises that never seem to be materialized and of course you know these are the same people who look at politicians and say all kinds of things about politicians and when they have time of course they might even direct some choice with me as well as if I don't know not a son Mr Speaker not a son and then of course you are supposed to accept you are supposed to accept those things you know but you know they don't know there is always recourse in these matters they don't know that I have also asked the development control authority to put an end to the mining that is taking place on the hill above the airport because it is having consequences with the people of Eufort I stopped it in 2011 I see the member for Eufort North is looking at me because you know I stopped it in the last election they went back opening up and the mining has continued to this day I don't know how you can allow mining to take place next to an airport like that with all that dust it is little wonder that people have to go through the things that they are going through and I make no apologies for asking that that area along the highway to the airport there should not be the sale of any lands to any investor in that area but that land should be left alone trees be planted along that land on both sides so that people can have a welcoming impression when they arrive at the airport to or from the airport I have not heard the member for Castri's south and I may have to ask him to speak a little more loudly but I know he wouldn't want to take that risk so Mr Speaker routinely I ask them to collaborate on this matter and of course they ignore me but you know you can do so you can do so but when I am ready it will be a different matter but there is one recent event which I want to share with this parliament to illustrate the issues which face us Mr Speaker I really want to share it with members of parliament and I know the member for Castri's south is a little uncomfortable but I also believe that he is a man who understands equity after all he spent a long time working with me I didn't teach him all his habits I enter a disclaimer but I can tell you we fashion some good programs together we did so you understand what I am saying now Mr Speaker as I said to you some months ago I had a meeting with officials of INVEST in Lucia to discuss my complaints about INVEST in Lucia and their role in Lucia because I guess the usual writer passage you have these meetings after elections and Mr Speaker is also watching me because she knows that my beef when she made minister of INVEST in Lucia didn't tackle some other problems which she should have despite my complaints INVEST in Lucia agreed to construct at the top of New Dog Road in the corner adjacent to Massey supermarket a little block to house refreshment houses for small business operators and to beautify the area you know just the corner before you take the lights there are a lot of little hots that have been there nobody knows who gave them the authority and when you see a challenge they say is me I have never given anybody a challenge before any time that they are challenged but I know some are given by the former government for sure the challenge they say Kenny Anthony Kenny Anthony the blame syndrome I know nothing about it so INVEST in Lucia perhaps in an act of contrition and to make up decided that they are interested in funding the construction of a little refreshment houses out of wood I think it was possibly costing 1.3 million to beautify the area because it is ugly and I am going to take a moment and talk about these little hots we have around the country because this is a matter that we have to deal with now Mr Speaker it was there where I making amends for the neglect of the community I take it over the years 1.3 million pittance you know I was happy please to inform the constituency council and drawings prepared by a young devotion was sent to INVEST in Lucia this is a plan this is what is going to cost now Mr Speaker when I had expected a budgetary announcement on this matter I have been told by the constituency council that INVEST in Lucia have said that they can no longer finance the project but can only contribute $300,000 towards it but you know to put salt in the wounds INVEST in Lucia then says but in any event you don't need the $300,000 because last part said that the building can't go up in that corner allegedly because of flight considerate but can you believe this Mr Speaker you had a massive building right there next door you have CIBC bank next door you are telling me that a little set a kiosk around the corner to beautify that corner that you can't put up that kiosk because of flight considerations now Mr Speaker the only thing that is saving me from warfare at this stage is to confirm whether that is true or not because while I believe that SLASPER is doing that because that is all they are doing nevertheless I don't see how a sane decision maker could ever ever make a statement like that and what damage SLASPER has imposed on the people of the south Mr Speaker it's an entity that has always baffled me I don't know how SLASPER can justify to the people of St Lucia especially when now when I have board members of SLASPER today now the government must move on the airport what entity could have justified putting up a terminal building on a flood plane next to a river and you want to contest a little building around the corner in view fort town approaching the lights in view fort and this is not the first time view fort has suffered everybody remembers the project that had to be abandoned at the southern end of the airport millions of dollars were expended by SLASPER in that area and lands were sold abandoned because SLASPER said that it interfered with flight operations to this day no one, no one can explain to me how it is in Miami on New York airplanes have to fly over communities or buildings and there are no issues about flight path yet in little St Lucia where land is so scarce a big issue Mr Speaker I am asking in this house I am asking in this house Mr Speaker that SLASPER be asked to issue a clear statement as to what lands in view fort are lands which must be left undeveloped because they have to accommodate flight considerations I will never ever understand these organizations when for example the former government spoke of building a roadside along the airport fence a particular contractor put his tractor along the fence of the airport and began to clear up alongside ostensibly Mr Speaker to send an estimate of what it will take to build that road not one word from SLASPER why would SLASPER want a road to be built next to a high security fence baffles me all to accommodate DSH and of course what was supposed to happen on the beach back there explained to me these irrationalities you explained to me these irrationalities Mr Speaker so Mr Speaker it is time for SLASPER to issue clear guidelines about what the permissible areas of development in view fort south are so that when you see the surrogate invested on the other hand then say they can't do this because SLASPER say you can't do it we have a basis on which to judge the accuracy of what invested Lucia then says I now tell Mr Speaker happily to the final item on my agenda today the issue of the courts financed by the estimates of expenditure our members will I am sure remember that I have addressed this issue on previous occasions save and accept of course the member for SUZEL SOLDIBUS in fact the member for SUZEL SOLDIBUS jumped on the bandwagon and raised the issue in his contribution I don't want it ever to be said that I follow the member for SUZEL SOLDIBUS because I know he played your eyes from me since I had said so on two separate occasions in the house in the debate which he had scummed it and he said he was sick the one on the CCJ and I think the subsequent you know he stayed away from that one the kind of 10 I know that he was exceedingly happy to be sick on that occasion but I raised the issue and so I heard him yesterday and Mr Speaker I am not going to say nothing more to him because I think he got enough pecan yesterday and you didn't get pecan today he got enough pecan yesterday and I have to say that he handles it exceedingly well my only concern was he could not discipline the member sitting next to him and say to the member next to him that he is not to be interrupted when he is making his contribution to the house it's one thing to be interrupted by the other side but it can't be that you allow the person sitting next to you to interrupt you I would mean I would never allow it would I you wouldn't allow it after all so Mr Speaker I am going to say nothing but again I urge that immediate attention be paid to this matter it's an urgent issue Mr Speaker it is causing serious problems in the second district court serious problems in the south and we have to resolve this in a resolute way Mr Speaker perhaps you don't understand what's happening over a year courts in viewforts are closed no court proceedings have been held and the explanation is that the former police station that had been re-housed and reconstructed for the courthouse it has mould and it's a mould issue and you know Mr Speaker you see this mould issue confronting this country the ten backs come from the government to get a handle on this mould issue because I am waiting for the day when you see you see that Diana building that the accountant general's department is in or they have a mould already well watch out you soon have a public servant saying they want a new building so I want to find out what's going to happen when you see this constant issue of mould come up etc etc etc but deal with it you know but that's another matter but in viewfort that was the explanation and everybody it is a lovely and beautiful explanation it provides a perfect rationale for all kinds of sins and I see the member for Anslerik Henry frowning as if he doesn't understand what I am trying to say by a perfect rationale for all kinds of sins when is it going to end and it seems to me that the time has come for this issue to be dealt with forcefully by taking it in hand bring it on a some degree of control by perhaps engaging persons who have the skill and who can have the resources to tackle this problem in similar way Mr. Speaker the Sufra court has been closed since December 6th 2022 as for the denry court that has been closed for years and what is happening in denry is that court proceedings have been held in the courthouse that was constructed at Baudelais not for that purpose Baudelais courthouse was really intended for persons who are on remand for cases on remand to be heard not for general cases but now it has become the courthouse for denry now Mr. Speaker I want to spend a moment which stress the importance of dealing with this issue Mr. Speaker the whole history of judicial edification has rested on the premise that courts must be accessible that people must see courts in operation that people must see magistrates dispensing justice people must feel the salutary effect of judicial proceedings so that they respect that these proceedings deserve can merit attraction and that is why the old tradition was that you locate these courts initially in police stations because police stations the law should not be seen to be in the bosom of the police force and that is what I try to explain to the former government when they wanted to put a courthouse in the same building occupied by police officers as headquarters you cannot put the law in the bosom of the police it's utter madness cannot do that but you must have a courthouse that people can relate to I'm sorry I didn't hear the matter being addressed by the minister who assigned responsibility for the courts but it's not too late and I plead for a monumental effort to be made to ensure that the system Mr. Speaker is addressed and the problem is solved the second reason Mr. Speaker is this it is situations such as the one I've just described that provide further to the detractors of the Caribbean Court of Justice they didn't tell you but look at this you go and manage courts of the law and magistrates courts you don't even have buildings with them and you want to go to the CGK for justice as if retaining the privy council will solve the problem that you have we are causing the problems we are causing a problem by our policies to it so Mr. Speaker the fact is access to justice is compromised and denied by these issues and we must resolve this matter quickly Mr. Speaker I will tarry no longer I will tarry no longer as I said whatever I have to say again I would say during the policy debate but you recall Mr. Speaker that earlier in this contribution I said that the events in New Ford provides an opportunity to confront realities that we have long resisted and ignored Mr. Speaker we are not going to resolve the problems in New Ford by brute force necessary as it may be in this period or we are not going to resolve the problem by the traditional methods of policing or by our own traditional handling of gangs in our respective communities that cannot be handled in a traditional way that we are accustomed to handling it but I have argued that we need to pump resources into the communities dominated by gangs to integrate even those members into the economy provide sustainable economic opportunities discourage crime as a way of life to reduce and eliminate fair and window support and sympathy of low abiding citizens really what I am saying is that we have to fashion a holistic project targeting each of those communities because there are variations in the respective communities I find interesting Mr. Speaker and I am sure all the members may have the views of this that in the castries area which for years had been the site of several gun battles several killings that castries and its urban environment save and accept for the recent killings have been rather peaceful I just not to say they have not been killings and we have noticed a corresponding increase of killings in the outskirts outside of castries and Sufra is beginning to worry me immensely Mr. Speaker I am seeing some things in Sufra that for me personally I have become frightened because everybody knows I love Sufra dearly and I have an extraordinary wonderful relationship with the people of Sufra but what is happening there I mean it frightens me so we have to begin to understand that we can't handle this in a traditional way and an escalation of crime act is not the ultimate solution admittedly in the short term it is necessary to restore calm and stability but it cannot guarantee our future safety we don't say much more Mr. Speaker I believe that this is the right time for a dedicated allocation to be fought south to fight crime to dismantle the gangs and disarm those who carry weapons I really sincerely believe that I believe that we should take the risk and make available some three to five million dollars targeting those communities in Sufra once and for all to deal with the problems problems of intelligence gathering problems of eliminating fear problems of providing economic opportunity problems of dismantling the guns problems of redesigning how intelligence is gathered our approach to guns I say use this experience to make you fought a model to deal with potential episodes elsewhere I know the Minister of Finance is hearing this from me for the first time I understand after all the estimates of revenue and expenditure were crafted as I said at the very outset weeks ago so he doesn't have the opportunity to say we have a problem in you fought and I'm proposing to these budgetary measures to deal with but I'm suggesting that we consider finding extra budgetary resources to allocate into a holistic program but in tandem with social with civic groups to develop a complete and comprehensive plan to deal with this and to reintegrate the police force into the life of the before community I don't know whether people want to accept it or not I don't know there's a way that we don't want to face reality or face the music that we love to sweep things under the carpet but you know I will tell you one of the reasons why we have the kind of problems we have in you fought is the police are fearful of entering into those communities because they fear for their lives you may give them the best firepower you have but they're not going to go in there which means that a different approach of policing has to be utilized to regain control of those communities so that a police officer becomes once again normal part of the life of the people of you fought south that's what I'm trying to say as a speaker that's what I'm really trying to say and I want to urge that a special project be revised to focus exclusively on you fought south given the experience we have had a comprehensive project that has to include support, funding and guidance to the police to re-engage and we enter the communities I believe and I repeat what I have said the initiative of DCP Wayne Chalery is a welcome initiative it deserves support and it is good to see him working side by side with the people of of you fought especially in the fisheries complex and I'm sure those of you who are meandering in my constituency next Sunday passing through the constituency whatever your business may be if you want to experience member for denry north what it is like in the efforts to recultivate the community I ask you to drop by the fisheries complex to meet the people at the complex and chat with them and get their reactions and so Mr. Speaker I hope that consideration will be given to what I have said let me now conclude Mr. Speaker and I know it wasn't easy to listen to me this afternoon certainly wasn't easy to me with my agenda of issues and my agenda of complaints but I know to you you'll be kind and you'll say don't worry don't worry the member of you fought south just like they would say at Karakom just catching up please if you are meandering don't worry you have to be generous to him but who will be on to you if you don't understand what I told you this evening who will be on to you if you don't get the messages that I issued this evening having said that Mr. Speaker let me conclude I have no hesitation Mr. Speaker in joining my other colleagues in supporting the estimates of revenue and expenditure absolutely no hesitation and I must say some of the indices are indeed pleasing and will deserve certainly will certainly deserve for the comment but if you catch the drift of my contribution Mr. Speaker I believe you understand that I await the icing on the cake in the budget policy statement to be delivered later in April Mr. Speaker