Justice Brassington Reynolds last Friday ordered that Deputy Registrar of the Deeds Registry Zanna Frank be allowed to perform her duties and be paid wages owed since she started the job.
Frank moved to the court last July to challenge what she said were directions given by Attorney-General Basil Williams SC that prevented her from performing her duties. She also challenged what she said was Williams’ appointment of Penelope Whyte as acting Deputy Registrar, although she is not an attorney.
Justice Reynolds’ ruling, Sunday Stabroek was told, directed that the Human Resources (HR) Manager of the Deeds Registry confirm Frank to the Deputy Registrar position, in accordance with the directives of the Judicial Service Commission (JSC).
The HR Manager was also ordered to pay Frank salaries and benefits owed to her from May 9, 2016 to present. This has to be done by February 15.
In light of the ruling, it is expected that Frank will be performing her functions from tomorrow without interference.
On May 4, 2016, Frank was appointed to the post of Deputy Registrar by the JSC, in keeping with the provisions of Article 199 (1) and (3) of the Guyana Constitution.
In an affidavit supporting her application to the court for reliefs, Frank noted that before the Registrar of Deeds Azeena Baksh proceeded on leave on August 2 last, 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 last, 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, HR Manager Shyam Doodnauth indicated to her that all directions were given by the minister, who instructed that Whyte be appointed Registrar of Deeds in the absence of Baksh.
In his answer to her affidavit, Williams sought to distance himself from any direct interference in preventing Frank from performing her duties, while contending that she had presented no evidence to support her claims against him.
Williams, in his defence, had 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 had 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.”
