Dear Editor,
As a Civil Society advocate, I want to bring to the attention of the Government the issue of the enormous difficulties citizens face in having a document notarized in Guyana. We need more Notaries.
A relative appointed me as a power-of-attorney to get some matters done so I had to get my signature notarised. I am told there is no Notary Public in all of the West Coast of Demerara. I understand it is the same problem of an inadequacy of Notaries in all the regions. I further understand that an official at the Deeds Registry is not really supposed to notarise things for the public, but that she “helps out” people who go to the Deeds Registry. While waiting at the Deeds Registry for the official to come in, I asked a lawyer’s clerk there where can I go to get a document notarised. She said it would be hard to find a lawyer to notarise my document as they would be in court and are busy. So, it seems a person wanting to notarise a document will have to go on a merry-go-round, wild goose chase to find one of the few Notaries who is available. Why as a country do we make little, simple things like these so difficult?
So, my question is why would our Government and relevant Ministry involved in administration of Justice design a system whereby there is a scarcity of notaries across the country available to notarise citizens’ documents? Does it make sense that there is no Notary in the whole of the West Coast of Demerara? And the same problem in other regions!
The other question is why don’t we change the system and allow Commissioner of Oaths to perform this function, since it is easier to find a Commissioner of Oaths. Never mind that there are not enough Commissioners of Oaths either. Every Neighbourhood Democratic Council should probably have a Commissioner and a Notary to make it easy for the masses. Isn’t that what Regionalism is supposed to do?
The Government needs to be sensitive to the hoops people have to go through to get documents notarised and get attestation of oaths done. “Because We Care” we should change this system right away to make life easy for the populace. Simply appoint more Notaries and/or allow Commissioners of Oaths to certify attestations to all documents. Or merge the functions of notaries and Commissioners and end the two-tiered system for attestations. Having a limited number of Notaries appointed, and who are found mainly in Georgetown, is simply backward. Dog bite the rest of regions? Maybe somebody can explain why our system is set up like that, and no one has bothered to change it. Does creating a limited pool of notaries benefit the masses or the rich lawyers?
In 2014, President Ramotar had sworn in 10 Public Notaries and I like what President Ramotar had said. Offering his congratulations, President Ramotar called on them to serve the public, particularly the poor from rural areas, with “great rectitude.” He implored them to avoid charging exorbitant fees and to be more accessible to those who seek to utilise their services. “If there is any abuse that can be proven, I will not hesitate to revoke any of these that I have done because fundamentally, this is to give service to the people of our country,” the President said.
In my web search, I could not find a current list of Notaries anywhere including the AG’s Office website or Supreme Court website. An old, outdated list dated Feb. 2022 from the Supreme Court website shows 22 Notaries for the whole country. There was one in Region 2, four in Region 6, one in Region 10, twelve in Region 4, and four ex-officio Notaries in the Deeds Registries. There was none listed for Regions 1, 3, 7, 8, and 9. Why aren’t Government/state agencies required to update websites for good customer service practices? Who is minding the store? In 2022, 19 notaries were appointed but mostly Georgetown folks. There is no current Notary list published to let the public know who are the Notaries.
In my state of North Carolina, USA, anyone can become a Notary. You simply take a short class at a community college, buy the Notary Public Manual, write a simple exam, and once you have passed, you receive your instrument of appointment from your local County Registrar of Deeds. They also have E-notaries. Being appointed a Notary is not a political favour nor is it a big deal. When I lived in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates, the Government provided a pool of typists at the Courthouse who would type and translate simple legal documents for you at no cost! Let’s try that in Guyana since we are a Government of the working class. Poor people go through much agony to get simple legal things done. Some of these legal people are sharks who charge you much. This is a low hanging fruit problem to solve, please fix it now. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Dr. Jerry Jailall
Civil Society Advocate
