McKenzie

KINGSTON MAYOR Desmond McKenzie will today join the ranks of the senior executive of the Jamaica Labour Party (JLP).

McKenzie will be confirmed as deputy leader of the ruling party when its Four Area Council meets in the business session of the party's annual conference today. He will replace Derrick Smith as head of Area Council One, which covers the Corporate Area.

Currently, chairman of the Area Council One, McKenzie's promotion will leave a vacancy which party general Secretary Karl Samuda says is unlikely to be filled until next year.

deputy leaders

When Area Council One confirms his election today, McKenzie will join James Robertson - Area Council Two, Audley Shaw - Area Council Three, and Dr Horace Chang - Area Council Four, as the party's deputy leaders.

"It has to be an honour and a privilege to be elevated to a position of leadership at that level. It speaks volume to what the Labour Party holds for people like me and others in terms of leadership," McKenzie told The Sunday Gleaner.

At age 57, McKenzie is regarded as one of the hardest workers in the 66-year-old JLP. His career in politics spans more than three decades having first been elected a councillor for Denham Town division in West Kingston in 1977. He represented that division until 1984.

McKenzie has been councillor of the Tivoli Gardens division since 1990 and mayor of Kingston since July 2003.

With his organisational and leadership experience, McKenzie says the job of deputy leader is not to pass time.

"A lot of work is entailed because the Corporate Area is a very sensitive area and an area the Labour party has been dominant in since 2002. We hope to maintain that, so it is going to take a lot of work," McKenzie said.

The soon-to-be-installed deputy leader has acknowledged that the team he leads in the Corporate Area will have to rev up support among JLP supporters as there has been a fallout because of some decisions taken by the governing party in an effort to have the country weather the current social and economic crisis.

daraine.luton@gleanerjm.com