Seven months after attorney-at-law Zanna Frank took up her position as Deputy Registrar of the Deeds Registry, she is still to be paid and former Attorney General Anil Nandlall says this is a “blatant injustice”.
Frank has moved to the court to fight attempts to stop her from performing her duties, and the matter was compounded after the Attorney General, Basil Williams turned up in court last month and requested a date in January. The request was granted and the case is now fixed for hearing on January 9, 2017.
“This case is deliberately being delayed, while a public officer is languishing without pay for no good reason whatsoever and through no fault of her own.
It is a blatant injustice being perpetrated against a young professional Guyanese woman and mother, and it is unfortunate that the Guyana Women Lawyers Association and the Guyana Bar Association are silent on such a travesty of justice”, Nandlall told Stabroek News.
Nandlall said that while he does not know her personally, he was made to understand that Frank has legal and other commitments, and is unable to meet these.
“It is the most insensitive and cruel state of affairs”, he stressed.
Nandlall insists that Williams is using his “normal modus operandi in deliberately delaying cases in which he knows there is no case and where he has no defence. This is now a known tactic. It is an abuse and a manipulation of the court process”
Asked what happens either way; that is, if Frank will receive all the money owed to her, whether she wins the case or not, Nandlall said it is up to the court.
“Provided that the court rules in her favour, it is expected that the court will make appropriate orders that would not only direct a payment of all her outstanding salaries and benefits, but also compensate her for the inconveniences, embarrassment and suffering which she has had to endure”, he said.
In July, Frank moved to the High Court to challenge what she says were directions given by Williams that have prevented her from performing her duties. She has also challenged what she says was Williams’ appointment of Penelope Whyte, as acting Deputy Registrar, although she is not an attorney.
On May 4, Frank was appointed to the post of Deputy Registrar by the Judicial Service Commission (JSC), in keeping with the provisions of Article 199 (1) and (3) of the Guyana Constitution.
In an affidavit supporting the motion, she also noted that since occupying office as of June 20, she had not been paid for her services.
Frank 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, and suggested her portfolio be passed on to the Deputy Registrar of Deeds, and the duties of Deputy be passed to the Assistant Registrar. What occurred instead was that the duties of acting Registrar, including being in charge of the Deeds Registry and the certification and passing of all Transports, Mortgages and Cancellation of Mortgages, were passed to Assistant Registrar Whyte.
Frank related that when she asked Baksh what her functions would be, seeing that she was Deputy Registrar, she was told she did not know, but that it was up to her.
In August, when Frank sent 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 his answer to her affidavit, he has sought to distance himself from any direct interference in preventing Frank from performing her duties, while contending that she has presented no evidence to support her claims against him.
Williams in defence has claimed that Frank did not meet the criteria for the position and was 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, during a press conference in August.
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.”
