Deputy Deeds Registrar Zanna Frank has moved to the High Court to fight directions given by Attorney-General (AG) Basil Williams that have prevented her from performing her duties, while he claimed yesterday that she did not meet the criteria for the position and was being used as a pawn.
Apparent efforts by Williams to block the decision by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC) to appoint Frank, including his appointment of Penelope Whyte as acting Deputy Registrar although she is not an attorney, also attracted an accusation of “political interference” yesterday.
“It would seem that there was political interference in the system…we were forced to come here to seek the protection of the law,” Frank’s lawyer, Senior Counsel Bernard De Santos said in his address during a hearing before Justice Brassington Reynolds, who eventually granted eight orders based on the application. De Santos said that Frank’s situation was a clear case of “how government sometimes can go miserably wrong.”
Based on the application for the orders by way of a notice of motion, Frank secured, among other things, an order directing Williams to show cause why he should not be compelled to obey and comply with the JSC’s decision to appoint her. She was also granted orders directing him to show cause why his decision to appoint Whyte should not be quashed as she contends that it is unlawful, and to show cause why the Human Resource Manager of the Deeds Registry should not be made to obey the government order to pay Frank all salaries and allowances owed to her since May 9, 2016.
‘Deliberately taking steps to prevent me from functioning’
In her supporting Affidavit, Frank, whose appointment was to take effect from May 9, said she had turned up to work to take up her position, only to be told that she needed to wait until she was formally introduced to the staff by the AG.
Frank stated that a week later, she attended a meeting with Williams at his office to enquire about her appointment and was informed that he was unaware of such and asked to divulge the names of those who performed the interview as the Chancellor and Secretary of the Judicial Service Commission “would normally do their own thing.”
Frank reportedly informed him at that point that the interview had been conducted by Justice Carl Singh, Chancellor of the Judiciary; Chief Justice Yonette Cummings Edwards; former Justice of Appeal Prem Persaud; former Justice of Appeal Lennox Perry; and Carvil Duncan, Chairman of the Public Service Commission.
Frank said Williams elected to personally verify the validity of this information and indicated that he would sort out the issue and get back to her.
When May 30, arrived and there was no word, she made the decision to enquire from Bharati Deo, Secretary to the JSC, about Williams’ refusal to allow her to take up her position as Deputy Registrar.
Following the publication of a notice about her appointment in the Guyana Chronicle shortly after, Frank reported for duty on June 20 and was allowed to occupy the office. She stated, however, that although she has been carrying out all her functions and duties since that time, she has still not been paid for her services.
“I am of the belief that the Minister of Legal Affairs is deliberately taking steps to prevent me from functioning as Deputy Registrar even though I was appointed by the Judicial Service Com-mission in accordance with Article 199 (3) of the Constitution of the Cooperative Republic of Guyana,” she stated in the document.
Frank also noted that before the Registrar of Deeds Azeena Baksh proceeded on leave on August 2, she sent correspondence outlining the delegation of duties in her absence, in which she suggested her portfolio be passed on to the Deputy Registrar of Deeds and the duties of Deputy be passed to the Assistant Registrar. What instead occurred was that the duties of acting Registrar, including being in charge of the Deeds Registry and the certification and passing of all Transport, Mortgages and Cancellation of Mortgages, were passed to Assistant Registrar Whyte. The announcement was made by Baksh on June 29 during a company meeting.
Frank relates that when she asked Baksh what her functions would be, seeing as she is Deputy Registrar, she was told she did not know, but that it was up to her.
When in August Frank would send out correspondence questioning the non-payment of her salary and looking into arrangements for transportation to carry out her duties in Baksh’s absence, Human Resource Manager Shyam Doodnauth indicated to her that all directions were granted by the Minister, who instructed that Whyte be appointed Registrar of Deeds in the absence of Baksh.
In what appears be a misunderstanding about the necessary requirements for the post of Deputy Registrar, De Santos told Justice Reynolds, Whyte, who is now acting in that capacity, does not qualify for the position as she is not a lawyer.
Hapless and inexperienced
Meanwhile, at a news conference yesterday, Williams claimed that Frank did not have enough years’ experience to qualify and put her appointment down to her simply being used as a pawn.
“For the JSC’s appointment, they require three years’ experience in your private practice as a lawyer, or in any one of the registries. Ms Frank has none. She’s not a lawyer of three years, she is not even a lawyer of two years, but what I’m saying is that I’m sorry for her because she’s being used as a pawn,” he said.
Williams indicated that he was approached by three senior counsel, who told him that it was people with experience that are needed to head a registry and not necessarily one equipped with a law degree.
“Why did they take Ms Zanna Frank—the hapless, inexperienced Ms Zanna Frank, and set her up as a sacrificial lamb knowing fully well that she would not be accepted, because she simply does not have the qualifications?” he questioned.
Williams further stated that Frank’s appointment was merely a move to “stymie the efforts” of the government, which he said has been attempting to streamline the registries, which were “in total disarray” and in which persons felt they were being “marginalized and discriminated against over the past 22 years.”
“I am surprised by now we have not received a response from the Chancellor, who heads the JSC… Ms Frank came to me a couple of weeks after complaining that they were not accepting her there—Ms Baksh and the other staff were not accepting her and I said, ‘Well I don’t know anything about the appointment, the Chancellor did not consult me when he appointed you, I don’t know anything.’ And in fact, they were saying that she was not qualified because she did not have the years that the JSC required,” he added.
