Labour Minister Shahine Robinson ‘fighting’

Labour and Social Security Minister Shahine Robinson was last night “fighting” after falling gravely ill days ago amid a long battle with cancer, a niece of Robinson’s has said.

Robinson has been in and out of hospital since 2018.

The Government has so far been mum on the minister’s condition although Karl Samuda, the leader of government business in the House of Representatives, has made assertions on whether Robinson would stay in the Cabinet.

“She isn’t well, but she is very much alive ... . She is fighting, and none of us have given up,” Gianna Fakhourie, Robinson’s niece, said yesterday on Facebook.

Robinson fell ill in October last year and has missed a number of parliamentary sittings. She, however, did appear at the Standing Committee of the House of Representatives in March while members of parliament pored over the Estimates of Expenditure.

Fakhourie said that calls have been non-stop.

“She loves you and we appreciate all the support and kind words and outpouring of love,” she said.

The Gleaner understands that Robinson, who is the member of parliament for St Ann North East, is currently at her St Ann home.

Gleaner sources say that Prime Minister Andrew Holness and a number of other senior members of the Jamaica Labour Party visited the ailing minister this week.