Salabie’s sudden passing rocks family, PNP

WESTERN BUREAU:

The sudden death of People’s National Party (PNP) Westmoreland representative Maxine Salabie, 50 years old, has left her family and colleagues in mourning.

“It’s a setback, but for every setback there is a comeback, and the comeback hinged on my faith in knowing that you leave all things to God,” Ian Hayles, vice-president of the People’s National Party (PNP) Region Six said of Salabie.

While she ran for the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP) and lost in the Friendship Division more than 12 years ago, Salabie, who hails from the community of Townhead, Burnt Savannah, was expected to take home the seat, this time for the PNP in the Westemoreland Western constituency.

“It’s sad. She is one of the strongest candidates we have ever fielded, somebody who the people look to in terms of likeability, and all the assessments that we have done would have shown that she would have been victorious,” Hayles said.

Salabie, who was also one of five councillor candidates in the Westmoreland Western constituency, had only replaced Tyrone Guthrie in the Friendship Division two months ago after he was charged on allegations of abduction and rape of a 15-year-old girl on October.

Hayles noted that her plans for the division in terms of the things she saw lacking such as water, electricity, roads, and creating opportunities for the youth had boosted her favourability in the division.

“Those things would have propelled her over the top. Whe is somebody that everyone knows. Her husband is one of the largest transportation operators in the parish,” said Hayles, who is also serving as the PNP”s parish manager for Westmoreland and MP candidate for Westmoreland Western.

‘A hard day’

Salabie’s son-in-law, Cheston Swaby, who is married to her daughter Annesha Salabie, said the family is in tatters.

“We have been having a hard day from morning,” Swaby told The Gleaner.

He noted that his mother-in-law was one of the kindest and sweetest persons he has come across, revealing that she would give away the last of anything she has to those in need.

“I missed her for maybe 15 or 20 minutes because I live in Little Bay, and as soon as I reached the yard, I heard that she left for a meeting in Sav,” Swaby said.

He recalled that it was while working at the home of his wife’s mother that he was alerted to the shocking news.

“We were here working, and within two hours, we got the call that she collapsed, and we dropped everything and rushed down there,” he added.

Abigail Malcolm, the PNP’s councillor candidate for the Cornwall Mountain Division in Central Westmoreland, said Salabie was a rose, one she had sat beside for the last time at yesterday’s meeting.

“We watched as the tremendous staff of the Savanna-la-Mar Hospital tried all they could to keep you with us. But God knows best,” Malcolm posted on her Facebook page.

“She had on one of her best lipsticks for a meeting to socialise, but little did we know that God had a better plan for her,” Malcolm told The Gleaner.

“To be in that environment, you entered a room with a lot of roses, but standing out among us was Comrade Maxine Salabie.”

Admitting that Salabie was a pretty woman, Malcolm stated that she looked even more beautiful hours before her sudden death.

“She had on a fiery red lipstick and I am telling you when she was speaking she had the attention of everyone in the room,” Malcolm related.

“Later in her speech she said ‘I am not feeling well’, and I was sitting next to her, and that’s when I knew something was wrong. After she collapsed, I picked her up to do CPR, and when I realised she was losing her pulse, we rushed her to the hospital,” Malcolm recalled.

albert.ferguson@gleanerjm.com