Nandlall writes AG on breaches of Registries Authority Act

Former Legal Affairs Minister Anil Nandlall has written to his successor, Senior Council Basil Williams, over his apparent breaches of the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority Act 2013 with regards to the establishment of the Boards.
According to the letter dated January 27, 2017, which was seen by Guyana Times, Nandlall referred to several sections of the Act and highlighted the areas where Legal Affairs Minister Basil Williams erred.

“It is excruciatingly clear that you are in breach of multiple statutory duties which devolve upon you under the said Act. Your neglect and omissions also open themselves to accusations of misfeasance in public office,” the former Attorney General (AG) told his successor in Friday’s correspondence.
Nevertheless, Nandlall called upon AG Williams to rectify the breaches of his statutory obligations and also to forthwith appoint a governing board to the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority.

According to Section 3 of the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority Act: “The Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority is established as a corporate body with a Governing Board established under Section 5(1).”
That section states: “There is established the Governing Board of the Authority which shall have the function of ensuring the proper and efficient performance of the functions of the Authority.”
Part two of that section added that the Governing Board shall consist of the following members: a Chairman appointed by the Minister; the Registrar of Deeds; the Registrar of the Commercial Registry; a nominee of the Finance Ministry; a nominee of the Housing and Water Ministry; a nominee of the Guyana Bar Association; a nominee of the Guyana Association of the Legal Professionals; and a nominee of the Private Sector.
Meanwhile, the functions of the Governing Board are laid down in Section 7 of the Act. It includes the hiring, discipline and dismissal of staff; determining their conditions of service and remuneration, including pensions, gratuity, allowances and the general day-to-day operations of the Authority.
According to Nandlall, apart from Section 5(2) (a), which obliges the Legal Affairs Minister to appoint a Chairman of the Governing Board, Section 6 (4) mandates the Minister to also appoint the other Members of the Board, excepting those who are ex-officio.
The former Minister continued in his letter that the life of the last Board came to an end in May 2015 and to date, a new Board has not been appointed. He noted that a new Chairman was appointed in 2016, but this was obviously done after the life of the last Governing Board would have expired.
“There are innumerable administrative problems which are being encountered on a daily basis by the Authority, which no doubt affect its ability to discharge its day-to-day functions. One involving the Assistant Registrar of Deeds was widely covered in the news and is now the subject of litigation. Another impasse exists, involving two persons purporting to perform the function of the Registrar of the Commercial Registry. This was also a news item,” he stated in the correspondence.
Nandlall opined in the letter that a Governing Board would have resolved these problems without it attracting media attention. He further sought to address AG William’s reference of the matter to the Public Service Ministry, indicating to him that the employees of the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority are not public servants and that the Public Service Ministry holds no responsibility for or jurisdiction over them.
On the other hand, the letter also contained the intent and policy of the Deeds and Commercial Registries Authority Act.
Nandlall pointed out in the letter that one of the main reasons for creating this Authority was to remove these departments from Central Government, more particularly, from ministerial influence and to make them autonomous corporate agencies that can hire their own staff on terms and conditions determined by the Authority.
“The ultimate objective was to increase the efficiency and speed with which these departments function,” he indicated in the correspondence.
When contacted on Saturday, the former Legal Affairs Minister explained to Guyana Times that his intention was to highlight his successor’s (Williams’) violation of the letter and spirit of the Act, which he noted is unlawful.
Nandlall noted that the singular objective which underpinned all these changes, such as the insulation from political or ministerial interference and converting the two registries into a corporate statutory body, was make the Authority efficient, but instead the current Minister is interfering with the day-to-day running and management of this authority.
Moreover, Nandlall went on to point out that on Monday’s sitting of the National Assembly, an amendment to the Deeds and Commercial Act will be tabled with the principle objective of amending the law to authorise the Minister to act in the place of the governing board when one is not appointed.
“So this Minister neglects to appoint the governing board as the law obliges him to do then plans to change the law to say that when there is no governing he is authorised to act instead of the board. This is utter madness,” he posited.