Dear Editor,
There are people who have matters relating to land property that are with private lawyers for them to address. There are endless complaints about many of these lawyers resorting to delaying tactics which the poor clients are too ignorant to challenge.
I know of cases where these aggrieved people would visit their lawyers who would charge them for any and every legal move in any direction: to file a paper, to get it recorded, to do valuation, to do this and to do that. All of which the common man is at a loss to understand.
What is the state doing in this regard? Are the ordinary people aware of the services that the state can and is providing relative to land issues?
I know of a number of instances where clients had visited their lawyers and with every visit they would leave a few thousand dollars for him to get this done or that done. The story is the same with little or no progress, and no end in sight for the matter under consideration.
Based upon the number of stages that a simple transport/claim has to go through, not forgetting the span of time (years), the whole process is daunting. This has caused people to be living on their land/property for decades without having their legal document to show for it. This has given rise to a lot of unscrupulous people who would try to lay claim to other people’s land because they can buck the system.
I once asked the lawyer who is addressing a concern for my brother in relation to transport for the land he has been living on for the past forty years, to tell me the stages that the entire process entails and the cost for each process. He was not able to tell me this.
I also have a similar matter to that of my brother with the same lawyer in relation to getting a transport for a parcel of land. I am awaiting the conclusion of my brother’s matter before I proceed along the same line. This land matter was with this lawyer since I was thirty-eight years old and my mother was sixty-four years old. She is now eighty-six and bed-ridden. I am not sure that she would live to see her children in possession of their land titles, or what new hurdle would emerge when she dies. The whole issue is that of a parcel of land willed to the four sons by my father. Our mother advised us years ago to secure our individual transports to the respective plots. This we have started doing and we are still in the process of doing.
I would like to suggest that the relevant authority issue an advisory to the public as to what services can be accessed to those in need of such.
Sometimes the present system is limited by a person in a particular office who is on leave, is out of the country, is ill, etc, and no one else can do that aspect of work that he does.
I am sure that such a service would enable the suffering clients to breathe sighs of relief. Most would dispense with the services of the private lawyers, most of whom believe they are indispensable.
Editor, I hope that this matter could catch the eye and attention of the Attorney General, who would ensure that the silent sufferers get their due.
Yours faithfully,
(Name and address provided)
