KINGSTON, Jamaica- Minister of Local Government and Community Development, Desmond McKenzie, has expressed shock and sadness at the passing of Councillor for the Aenon Town Division in the Clarendon Municipal Corporation, Marjorie McLeod-McFarlane.

McLeod-McFarlane died unexpectedly on Sunday after battling cancer for some time, a release said on Monday.

READ: Aenon Town councillor Marjorie McLeod-McFarlane has died

“I am shocked and devastated. These same emotions are being deeply felt in the Aenon Town Division, in the Clarendon Northern Constituency and in the Clarendon Municipal Corporation,” McKenzie said.

“Councillor McLeod-McFarlane was not just a dedicated elected representative. She was a trailblazer. She made history in the Local Government Elections earlier this year when she won the Aenon Town Division, a feat never before achieved by a Jamaica Labour Party candidate. Having caused this political earthquake, she went on to be an outstanding councillor,” he added.

McLeod-McFarlane polled 1,403 (51.69 per cent) votes to defeat the PNP’s Delroy Dawson’s 1,311 votes (48.31 per cent), a shock win for the JLP in the division.

Her passing reduces the JLP’s 12 to 10 majority in the Clarendon Municipal Corporation to a slim 11-10 margin.

“Her family and friends have lost a beautiful soul. We, her colleagues in the local government system and in the Jamaica Labour Party, have lost an unrelenting and compassionate advocate for the advancement of community life. No one expected her work to end so shortly after it had begun,” McKenzie said.

He went on to express condolences to McLeod-McFarlane loved ones stating, “Even as I express condolences to her loved ones, I feel the void that has been imposed on us by her sudden departure. We will miss her, even as we pray that God’s light will shine on her, and his comfort will envelop all who knew her, and who mourn her absence.”