Shaddick unanimously voted Deputy Speaker

SPEAKER of the National Assembly Mr. Raphael Trotman and Deputy Speaker Ms. Deborah Backer were, both “unavoidably” absent from the National Assembly yesterday.Consequently, the House unanimously voted in People’s Progressive Party/Civic (PPP/C) Member of Parliament (MP), Ms. Bibi Shaddick as the Deputy Speaker for the sitting.
She expressed her appreciation for the confidence her colleagues reposed in her by the vote.

“Heckling is an art,” she declared, as she urged cordial exchanges in the day’s proceedings.
A Partnership of National Unity (APNU) front bencher, Backer has been absent from proceedings of the House due to a still undisclosed illness and had to access medical care outside of Guyana, at least twice in the last month.
In early January, she was flown to Florida, in the United States (U.S.), for tests and APNU Leader, Mr. David Granger expressed hopes for Backer’s speedy recovery.
Asked about her attendance at the Thursday, January 16 sitting, he had said: “Mrs. Backer’s condition is stable and we don’t have any reason to speculate on her attendance.”
The MP was first treated at a private hospital in Georgetown after falling ill.
At yesterday’s session, she was slated to move a motion for the second reading of the Married Persons (Property) (Amendment) Bill 2013, which would amend the principal Married Persons (Property) Act.

(Vanessa Narine)