Another Robinson tipped to replace Shahine
Published:Monday | June 22, 2020 | 12:28 AMJanet Silvera/Senior Gleaner Writer
WESTERN BUREAU:
The man who played a key role in Andrew Holness’ internal leadership victory over Audley Shaw, as well as marshalling the machinery in the St Ann North East constituency for the last 20 years, is being tipped to replace Shahine Robinson.
He is Tyrone Robinson.
The Robinsons are reportedly not related.
Tyrone Robinson is the current chairman of the North East Regional Health Authority and has served as fundraising chairman of the St Ann North East constituency for the last two decades.
Robinson, in an exclusive interview with The Gleaner last weekend, said that he has received the full endorsement of the constituency and the Jamaica Labour Party hierarchy but is yet to make a decision.
“I am weighing it and reserve the right to the decision on whether or not I represent the constituency in that capacity because I have been asked many, many times, but I was not willing to do anything as yet,” he told The Gleaner.
A trained pilot, Robinson also operates a construction business and is involved in mining and farming.
Robinson could not say whether or not Prime Minister Andrew Holness planned on calling a by-election.
A son of Heywood Hall in St Mary, Robinson said that he has a vision for the development of the people of North East St Ann. He is also confident he would win a by-election.
“I am the machinery behind the winning of this seat, and I have always been very accurate and successful in my calculation of numbers for the constituency,” he said with conviction, acknowledging that Shahine Robinson’s death has left a big political void.
“The important thing is the fact she has left a great machinery behind – actually, the best in Jamaica. The seat is a Shahine Robinson seat. It is for us to continue her legacy,” he said.
Mrs Robinson died on May 29 after losing her battle with cancer.
The constituency, once a People’s National Party stronghold, experienced a seismic shift in a 2001 by-election won by Mrs Robinson.
The late member of parliament is being afforded an official funeral.
Tyrone Robinson was embroiled in an Office of the Contractor General (OCG) investigation into a controversial debushing project.
The OCG was scathing in its report of Mr Robinson’s answers to investigators, saying that it was of the “firm opinion that Robinson was disingenuous and sought to, and did, mislead the contractor general”.
The findings were contained in a special investigation report that Dirk Harrison’s office did of the $600-million project prior to the 2016 local government elections.
Harrison had made a public appeal for Robinson to make himself available so that a summons could be served on him to appear before OCG investigators probing the matter. But Robinson hit back at the OCG, saying that its investigators had been delinquent in contacting him for months.