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Former Member
Sheila Holder to be buried in Brooklyn on Saturday
NOVEMBER 23, 2011 | BY KNEWS | FILED UNDER NEWS

Former Alliance for Change (AFC) Prime Ministerial Candidate, Sheila Holder, is to be buried on

Sheila Valerie Agnes Holder
Saturday in Brooklyn, New York.
The thanksgiving service to celebrate her life will be held at the Church of St. Mark Episcopal/Anglican, 1417 Union Street Brooklyn, New York. Following the service, the long-time politician will be interned at the Cypress Hills Cemetery.
Currently, a book of condolences is opened to members of the public at the Alliance For Change Head Office, Campbellville.
Holder was survived by her husband, Noel Holder, Managing Director of I-Net Communications Inc. and her children Yale, Sheldon and Kaila.
She passed away on Sunday evening last after a battle with cancer. Earlier this year, Holder stepped down as the Prime Ministerial Candidate for the AFC citing her medical condition.
That post was later filled by her colleague, Raphael Trotman.
In February, Holder was hospitalised and was reportedly treated for an intestinal blockage at a city hospital.
Holder, a former Parliamentarian for both the AFC and Working People’s Alliance (WPA), was described as a homemaker, civil society activist, consumer advocate and politician, who has been married to Noel Holder, an agriculturist, for the last 36 years, a union which has produced two sons and a daughter.
Holder entered the National Assembly in 2001 on a GAP-WPA ticket and was a member of the Parliamentary Management Committee, the committee for the appointment of members of constitutional commissions, and the Standing Orders Committee.
Along with Trotman and Khemraj Ramjattan, two leaders of the AFC, she participated in the World Bank Seminar on Parliament, Good Governance and Poverty Reduction in Helsinki, Finland, in 2003.
It was during this time that she was contracted by the OAS to prepare a study on “Political Party Campaign Financing” in Guyana.
She served as a member of the Trustee Board of the NGO Forum, and as a director of Guyana Stores Ltd, the Guyana National Bureau of Standards and the Bauxite Industry Development Company Ltd. In 1995, she became chairperson for the environmental chapter of the Guyana National Development Strategy.
Within the region, she was elected a member of the CARICOM recognised Caribbean Consumers Consultative Committee (CCCC), a precursor to the Caribbean Consumers Council, and she was also a member of the Global Policy & Campaigns Committee (GPCC) of Consumers International (CI) as the representative for Latin America and the Caribbean. She represented the regional group at meetings such as the CARICOM “Forward Together Conference” with heads of governments; the seventh CARICOM Council Meeting for Human and Social Development; and the 23rd Meeting of Ministers and ACP-EU Economic & Social Interests Groups, in Brussels.
In 2002, she was recognised by the St Lucian Ministry of Commerce, Tourism, Investment and Consumer Affairs and the St Lucian Consumer Association for her contribution to the advancement of the consumer movement in St Lucia.
During 2004, Holder was a part of the Commonwealth expert team of five mandated by the Commonwealth Secretary General to report on the Cameroon registration process for presidential elections. She returned subsequently as a member of the 45th Commonwealth Elections Observer Group to the Cameroon presidential elections under the chairmanship of the Joe Clark, former prime minister of Canada.
Holder had presented several papers at international conferences including the presentation on “Privatisation of Telecommunications – the Guyana Experience” at the Consumers International Fourth Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean held in Santiago, Chile, and had contributed articles to regional and international publications.

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