The Alliance For Change on Monday opened a book of condolences for its late vice chair, Sheila Holder who died Sunday night while being treated in the U. S. for throat cancer. The leaders of the party – Khemraj Ramjatttan and Raphael Trotman – were the first to sign the book, which was opened around 15:00h.
Thereafter several top-ranking members, including recent addition Moses Nagamootoo, signed the book.
Prime Minister Samuel Hinds was also present at the party’s Fourth Street, Campbellville headquarters. In a brief comment, Hinds said that the passing of Holder was a sad event, and he knew her and her husband, Noel Holder, a fellow Queen’s College alumnus. The prime minister noted that the government considers her loss to be a significant one and recognises and appreciates her participation in the political arena.
In a release issued by the Office of the President, President Bharrat Jagdeo expressed his sympathy to the family and friends of Holder.
“I have always found her to be a warm and friendly person who was passionate about consumer affairs. Sheila also serviced the National Assembly where she made contributions as a member of parliament,” he said. “My thoughts and prayers are with her family, relatives, and friends at this time of grief,” President Jagdeo said.
The AFC had said in a statement, Sunday, that Holder was a patriot who embodied the attributes of grace and service. “She was a fierce fighter for a better and unified Guyana and worked tirelessly to promote ‘change’ in her dear Guyana. We send our heartfelt condolences to Noel Holder, her children and family in this time of grief.”
The AFC said Holder was the embodiment of dignity, fairness, and equality. She was an upstanding citizen and an uncompromised politician and words cannot express how much she will be missed in the party and in Guyana,” a deeply saddened Trotman said.
Ramjattan, the party’s presidential candidate, said: “I extend on behalf of the party my deep condolences to Noel and the family. This is the most distressing news we could have gotten about our dear sister and fellow leader. She was a beacon of inspiration for all of us in the party.
We take heart that her legacy will live on in the AFC forever, and we know she will want us to continue to fight for justice and a better Guyana for all Guyanese. We will honour her life’s work by re-doubling our own work for a better Guyana.”
Meanwhile, A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) joined the other groups in expressing to the husband, children, and family of Holder, as well as the leadership and members of the AFC, “our profound sympathy at her death”.
“Sheila Holder has, for many decades, spoken to the needs and other concerns of the Guyanese people. As a government information officer, a consumer activist, a member of parliament and more recently as the prime ministerial candidate of the Alliance For Change, she committed herself to the struggle for a just and multi-racial Guyana,” APNU said in a statement.
Holder, a former member of the Working People’s Alliance, 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 was 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 internationally, as a member of the Global Policy and 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.
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