 Mr. Speaker, permit me to make a quick departure from addressing the motion on the floor by first expressing my condolences to the Karu family in Babono who lost a treasured son of theirs through a tragedy as he was undertaking his work at the sky ride, a 29-year-old known as Daniel Prince Karu. And it was a very sad moment for the people of Babono as well as the Karu family. I want to take this opportunity Mr. Speaker to congratulate all teachers this week. This is Teacher's Week when Minister of Education is not here so I'm putting a little plug for him. And on first day is World Teacher's Day that is the 5th of October. And I think it is important and we know this government and its sensitivity to education that we cannot miss out that very important period. And we have the public sectors having their day. So all government employees are lined up to get their congratulatory messages from this government. Mr. Speaker, I rise in support of the motion presented by the Honourable Prime Minister where he seeks to borrow $9,971,000 to support our officers in the protective services and in that case the fire service. Mr. Speaker, this government under the leadership of the Honourable Prime Minister who is very good at listening to the voices around him. And sometimes when you believe he has not heard is only when he repeats it you realize that he actually heard what was said. This government Mr. Speaker is very systematic, very organized and very strategic in the way it operates. And many times the Prime Minister surprises us Cabinet officers, Cabinet members when he decides on certain areas that he pulls under his watch. Mr. Speaker, when I was appointed as Minister for the Public Service Home Affairs Labour and Gender Affairs the argument was that I think Home Affairs was the one that I had least experience and knowledge of. But Mr. Speaker, what is important about learning is to feel it, smell it and see it to see what it is. And Mr. Speaker, on assuming the responsibility for Home Affairs I have visited mostly every police station on the island. Every fire station on the island. I have visited bodily six times. Yes, I visited one of these days. I have visited the Marine Unit many times probation and parole. So when you get on the ground Mr. Speaker, you understand it. You feel it, you smell it, you touch it so you know exactly what it is. And I want to, I'm smiling at this motion on the floor. Because I'm smiling because I know the former fire chief Mr. Joseph Joseph who has since retired will be happy in his retirement seeing that the Prime Minister is coming through with many of the requests that was made even during his time. But Mr. Speaker, there is one thing I want to share with you about the fire service and that is the succession plan that is in that department. The number of persons that are lined up to assume leadership there isn't a shortage of leaders in the fire service Mr. Speaker. And I want to welcome the fire officers, the acting chief and the other officers present in the house today. And that is a demonstration of the seriousness with which they take the work. That even when the Prime Minister is borrowing some money to implement the work that they have to do they find the time to come and sit in this house to follow the discussion. I need to commend the officers for that. Mr. Speaker, due to visit the Babylon fire station and the Babylon police station on Thursday this week. That's World Teacher's Day. And I think we are supposed to wear present. We are supposed to be in our school uniform. So I hope I find time to visit the Babylon Prime School. That's my alma mater Thursday, 5th of October. That's World Teacher's Day. And I will be visiting the Babylon fire station and the Babylon police station. And I hope my presence in my uniform will inspire the students at the Babylon Prime School because the sky is the limit. And Mr. Speaker, the fire service all of us knew how valuable that department was not just for combatting fire but the way they took on COVID-19 Mr. Speaker and I have said it before in this house that people thought St. Lucia was New York. When the hood ambulance is going in all nuke and crony in St. Lucia to collect and pick up people there was a gentleman who was very sick he was so huge our emergency medical technicians could not lift them up so they had to get Mr. Speaker the equipment that the electricity uses to hoist him out of his house and brought him into the ambulance yes they couldn't lift him they couldn't carry him on the stretcher so they had to get this plane to go into the house get the gentleman in it and then brought him into the ambulance that is the nature of the work of the fire service and our emergency medical technician to see the areas where they have to go in to collect persons who are sick when they have accidents they are the right hand for the police and Mr. Speaker I want to thank the prime minister for assisting the police in getting equipment because one of the issues that the fire officers have raised is that when there is an accident the fire officers the emergency medical technicians are there before the police and the police say they do not have transport and therefore they should not tamper the fire officers and the emergency should not tamper with the evidence before the police arrive so you find that if once the police is fully equipped they have to be there even before the fire officers and the emergency officers to collect the evidence before anybody tamper with it so I'm happy that now we are seeing a marriage of the two where government is giving support to the police so they have their vehicles to be there on time even before the ambulance arrives so that they can collect the evidence and then rush the person for rescue or even save a life Mr. Speaker 7 million dollars will go towards equipment and Mr. Speaker when I visited the fire headquarters in Kastri and they took me on a tour I saw some beautiful equipment there painted logo with red all in red and what the fire chief told me was that these equipment were not designed for the St. Lucian Terrain many of them were donated to St. Lucian but they could not navigate in our Terrain they were built for another environment some of them are very old and they required a lot of repairs and a lot of work to be done but with this loan Mr. Speaker the government is investing in getting equipment that is conducive to our environment they will be brand new and the fire officers will be able to navigate in the environment a lot better to carry out the duties so I want to thank the prime minister for making that commitment and living up to the expectations of the officers by giving them the equipment that they need for them to carry out the duties Mr. Speaker fire fighting has been articulated earlier is not an easy task and I actually visited the fire training school in Viewfort and at the time they had the fire drill and you could imagine the distance where I was standing and to feel the heat that they were trying to put out and the fire officers were clothed with the proper equipment and they were actually in the flame trying to out the fire and we were how many hundred yards away standing and you could feel that heat so we know the pressures that our officers go through in carrying out the duties Mr. Speaker the fire service as I said in recent times they receive a Toyota coaster from USAID NIMO they receive an ambulance from the French government and Mr. Speaker you would have known that in the past our protective services especially the police we used to hear of some ball or some fundraising activities and Mr. Speaker I don't know how many fundraising activities we have had for us to supply the officers with the equipment and the tools that they need to carry out the duties this government is committed to national security to protecting the solutions and as a result we are investing in that Mr. Speaker and Mr. Speaker I do not want to guarantee you what the prime minister did not guarantee you I am very confident that this money will find its way in the consolidated fund it will find its way not on an aircraft to Panama and it will be used for the purpose that we borrowed it Mr. Speaker I am very confident about that right so when we borrow we have to pay back the account for it we cannot put it on any aircraft that is heading to Panama Mr. Speaker we need it to change the operations the quality of life for St. Lucian's we need to ensure that the funds that are borrowed which this government is committed to will be used for the purpose Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker we have installed CCDV camera in some of the fire stations we have done repairs in a number of fire stations we have recruited about 40 new fire fighters Mr. Speaker now we are reviewing the legislation the fire service act and the regulations to improve certain areas of operations in the fire service and now we have hired a legal consultant who will work with the Department of Home Affairs to review a lot of the old legislations that have outlived the usefulness to modernize the protective services including the police the fire service borderlay, probation and parole and the marine unit this is what this government is about to raise the bar to improve what we do Mr. Speaker I am very pleased that as we sit here as we gather here we are showing that this government is making every effort every effort to improve the conditions on which the public officers work we have also worked Mr. Speaker on benchmark qualification for the protective services and that is in keeping with the nature of the work that the protective services are doing we have seen a trend Mr. Speaker the protective services were treated like ordinary public officers but what we realize is that these officers need special skills and this government under the leadership of the prime minister has invested heavily in training whether it's the police whether it's fire service whether it's borderlay, probation and parole marine unit just name it Mr. Speaker and they get training not just at the local level they also get training at the regional and international level that is what we call commitment that is what we call visionary and in that vein our officers are benefiting from all this training Mr. Speaker you heard the prime minister spoke about the training school in Viewfort and here we will see an amalgamation of all the protective services so we will not have a training school for police one for fire, one for this one comprehensive institution that would be able to accommodate all the protective services that is a master move Mr. Speaker Mr. Speaker I want to thank the honourable prime minister for his commitment his passion for the protective services for national security and ensuring that our solution people live in a safe environment and we have seen a number of areas Mr. Speaker at some point maybe I will get a chance to go through all of them but when you look at them when you examine them you can see that this government under the leadership of this prime minister is investing heavily in the department of home affairs and national security to ensure that we enjoy an environment that is protective productive we create an environment that is safe for all the persons in St. Lucia Mr. Speaker I know the fire officers are happy that they will be getting that support but there is also another area they have on the table and the prime minister is already looking at it where he put an allocation in this budget to start some feasibility and preliminary work on finding a location for the headquarters for the fire service and in the same vein a similar approach is done for the police and Mr. Speaker you would have been driving by but when you enter the fire service headquarters it was supposed to be a temporary arrangement but as the years go by it's already becoming permanent and this is an area that is prone to flooding I heard my colleague minister for castries said he has cut the flooding by half by three quarters flooding and zero flood but they have been experiencing some flooding and you know they are next to the river but when we have heavy rains that water goes in to the headquarters so the prime minister is committed and he has already made a commitment by starting the preliminary works so let us hope that in time we will see the fire officers getting the new fire headquarters Mr. Speaker at this point we have no choice but to give the prime minister the assurance that the department of home affairs will implement this project in a timely manner so that we give the services that are intended for the officers to carry out the duties and with that Mr. Speaker I stand in full support of the motion presented by the prime minister in borrowing $9,971,000 to improve the conditions on which the fire service and the officers work I thank you Mr. Speaker