Deborah Backer (14 April 1959 – 21 March 2014) was a Guyanese politician of the People's National Congress who served as the deputy speaker of the

National Assembly of Guyana The National Assembly is one of the two components of the Parliament of Guyana. Under Article 51 of the Constitution of Guyana, the Parliament of Guyana consists of the President and the National Assembly. The National Assembly has 65 members el ...

Early life

Born on 14 April 1959, Backer received her LLB degree from

University of the West Indies The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in th ...

, Barbados in 1981 and attended the

Hugh Wooding Law School The Hugh Wooding Law School (HWLS) is a law school in Trinidad and Tobago. History Named for Trinidad and Tobago jurist and politician Hugh Wooding, HWLS is one of three law schools empowered by the (Caribbean) Council of Legal Education to award ...

for her

legal education certificate In the Commonwealth Caribbean, a Legal Education Certificate is a professional certification awarded to a person who has completed a course of study and training at a law school established by the Council of Legal Education. It was created by Articl ...

Career

Backer started her career as a lawyer and was a member of the Guyana Bar Association. After joining the People's National Congress (PNC) in 1994, she served on the Georgetown city council till 1998. She was elected to the

for the first time in 1998. Later she became its deputy speaker. For the 2011 general elections, PNC together with other parties formed an alliance

A Partnership for National Unity A Partnership for National Unity (APNU) is a left-wing political alliance in Guyana. History The APNU was formed in July 2011 in order to contest the 2011 general elections,Commonwealth Secretariat (2012)l. ''Guyana National and Regional Ele ...

and became the opposition in the next assembly. Backer was their shadow foreign affairs minister and also headed the Parliamentary Sectorial Committees. However she resigned from the house in February 2014, owing to her poor health.

Personal life

Backer was married with two children. She died on 21 March 2014, after a brief illness.

President of Guyana The president of Guyana is the head of state and the head of government of Guyana, as well as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces of the Republic, according to the Constitution of Guyana. The president is also the chancellor of the Ord ...

Donald Ramotar Donald Rabindranauth Ramotar (born 22 October 1950) is a Guyanese politician who was President of Guyana from 2011 to 2015. He was also the General Secretary of the People's Progressive Party (PPP) from 1997 to 2013. Political career Ramotar jo ...

also attended her funeral.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Backer, Deborah 2014 deaths Guyanese women in politics 1959 births University of the West Indies alumni People's National Congress (Guyana) politicians Members of the National Assembly (Guyana) People from Georgetown, Guyana Guyanese women lawyers 20th-century Guyanese lawyers