Activist persists with lawsuit over Tobago Registrar General’s office

TOBAGO public activist and talk show host, Barrington “Skippy” Thomas still intends to follow through with his threat of legal action over the operations at the Registrar General’s office in Tobago.

On Sunday, Thomas’s attorneys wrote to Registrar General Karen Bridgewater of the intended legal action.

Last Friday, Chief Secretary Farley Augustine called on the Prime Minister and the Attorney General to investigate why Tobagonians were prevented from accessing services at the Registrar General’s department, including access to birth and death certificates, and property deeds. On Friday, AG Reginald Armour, SC, in a statement suggested there was what appeared to be an “impasse” in the operations at the Registrar General’s department in Tobago. He said when he returned to TT on October 7, he was “put into possession of several documents pertinent to the co-relationship of the post of Registrar General and the office of the Registrar General’s Department established in Tobago in November 1980.”

“There are legal issues of some vintage to be resolved,” he admitted. Armour also said he requested an urgent legal opinion from Senior Counsel Michael Quamina relative to the co-relationship and lines of authority of the Registrar General and the Office of Registrar General’s Department in Tobago.

On Monday, the Central Administrative Office (CAST) said staff at the Registrar General’s office, Tobago, received their credentials allowing them to resume civil registry services, including the issuance of birth, marriage and death certificates.

It also said after a temporary disruption, the restoration of services of the civil registry was prioritised to ensure the public continued to have access to critical services. IT also said the Registrar General’s office,Tobago, was “actively working towards restoring services to other impacted services including the land registry.”

Thomas’s lawyers told Newsday while some services were restored, those relating to the land registry and deeds were still unresolved at this time.

Thomas’s pre-action letter said in TT, there were two systems of land registration: deed and title registration which existed side-by-side and managed by the Registrar General’s department.

“The registration of land title documents is a crucial step in establishing and ensuring the proper transfer of property rights.”

“The impact of this closure extends beyond administrative inconveniences. It directly affects citizens’ rights to the enjoyment of their property pursuant to section 4(a) of the Constitution.

“Without the ability to register their land, property owners are left in a state of uncertainty as their ownership rights remain unofficial and legally unconfirmed,” the letter said.

The letter had also asked for reasons for the decision to remove access from the deputy Registrar General (Tobago) and called for restoring access to the online system.

Thomas is represented by attorneys Keron Ramkhalwhan, Dinesh Rambally, Kiel Taklalsingh and Stefan Ramkissoon.