Newly-appointed Registrar of Lands, Rosalie Robertson was chosen from among several who had applied for the post, according to Attorney General Basil Williams who said that this appointment was necessary given the mountain of problems including a backlog which currently exists in the department.
“Everybody we have to employ we have to consult somebody? That couldn’t be a fair suggestion”, he said in response to the ongoing questions over Robertson’s appointment.
On August 28th, Robertson and Wendella Austin were respectively sworn-in as Registrar and Assistant Registrar of the Land Registry before Acting Chief Justice Ian Chang at the Supreme Court.
There was no public announcement that the post of Registrar was vacant and there was no advertisement asking persons to apply for the post. Following the appointment questions were immediately raised about the process used to select Robertson and Austin.
Asked about this during a recent interview, Williams told Stabroek News that Robertson was among several persons who had applied for the post. “In the normal course of employing people she came out (on top)”, he said before indicating that he was not in a position to say how many persons had applied. He referred this newspaper to the Ministry of Presidency which he said has responsibility for this department that Robertson now heads.
The opacity of Robertson’s selection will raise questions about the APNU+AFC government’s commitment to ensuring that the fullest opportunity is given to all those interested in applying for public service positions. While in opposition, both APNU and the AFC had criticised the PPP/C government over how candidates for key positions were chosen.
According to Williams when government took office in May, it was found that the land registry had been remove from the “curtilage” of the Ministry of Legal Affairs and taken “arbitrarily” to the Office of the President (now Ministry of Presidency). This, he said was “one of the worst decisions because it was a mess. When we came into office everyone was complaining about the operations of the Land Registry. That is what we inherited and I don’t know what is the problem when we move to try to alleviate the situation by appointing (a new registrar)… all the attacks were against the previous registrar”.
The former Registrar of Lands Juliet Sattaur was in July sent on leave to facilitate an investigation into the operation of the registry and “certain financial matters,”
No indications were given subsequently that Sattaur had been permanently relieved of her duties.
Last month, Williams, during an interview with Stabroek News had revealed that efforts were underway to appoint a Registrar of the Land Registry. He had gone on to explain that with documents not being signed by Sattaur the department is facing a backlog.
“We recognize that it is a section that should have its own registrar, its own staff and we see the difficulties that have apparently surmounted the last registrar (Sattaur) and we will have to make an effort very quickly to remedy that situation.” he had asserted. Up to that point no information had been shared as to what the process in choosing a replacement would be.
Several lawyers including Guyana Bar Associa-tion (GBA) head Christopher Ram had argued that Robertson’s appointment was illegal without an amendment to the Land Registry Act.
In a letter published in this newspaper attorney Leon Rockcliffe had also called on Minister of State Joseph Harmon and Williams to speak on what he termed “the illegal appointment of the Registrar of Lands.”
Rockcliffe reiterated claims previously raised by Ram that any appointment of an individual as Registrar of Lands other than the Registrar or Deputy Registrar of Deeds is illegal under the Act.
Williams subsequently said that government did not believe the appointment was illegal as was being argued. Expanding on his earlier comments, he stressed that the GBA was making statements that government could not appoint any registrar since the Registrar of Deeds must be registrar of the Land Registry as set out in the Land Registry Act. Williams insists that this is not so. He said that what exists now is a “sunset provision” which says that for the time being the registrar of deeds would act as registrar of lands. “What it means is that from the moment you appointed the registrar of lands the registrar of deeds becomes irrelevant…having appointed the registrar of lands that section no longer was applicable because it was only for the time being until you got a registrar of lands”.
The lawyers had pointed to Section 7 (1) of the Land Registry Act Cap 5:02 which provides as follows: “There shall be a Registrar of Lands and a Deputy Registrar of Lands who shall be the persons for the time being holding the Offices of Registrar of Deeds and Deputy Registrar of Deeds respectively.”
Williams told Stabroek News that given that there is so much work in the Deeds Registry to be done and the Deeds Registrar was previously acting as the commercial registrar it was imperative that a Lands Registrar be named particularly as the land registry has “all the problems you can imagine in the world and a backlog”.
Robertson is slated to meet members of the GBA this week to hear their concerns.
Robertson’s appointment was preceded by a visit in July to the Land Registry by Minister of State Joseph Harmon. “Deplorable” and “unacceptable” were the words used by the Minister to describe the conditions at the Land Registry D’Urban Backlands/Georgetown.
