The Bahamas financial and legal communities have been turned upside down. There is a growing number of attorneys who are reluctant to accept legal documents signed by Acting Registrar General Shane Miller while the position he is currently holding remains in dispute, according to president of The Bahamas Bar Association.
In the first council meeting of the Association following its elections almost two weeks ago, members are expected today to discuss what actions to take against the Mr. Miller.
The meeting is set for 8am at the Association’s Elizabeth Avenue office.
There are around 700 lawyers in The Bahamas and according to Association President Wayne Munroe, many of them are also wondering who is the real registrar general.
“A number of our members have said if they receive documents signed by the registrar general or the acting registrar general they are sending them back to be signed by the deputy registrar general,” Mr. Munroe told The Bahama Journal yesterday.
In the event the government loses in the Court of Appeal, Mr. Munroe pointed out that it would take an act of Parliament, in the form of enacting legislation, to legalize documents signed by Mr. Miller while he and Elizabeth Thompson both sat in office.
A Supreme Court judge recently quashed the government’s decision to terminate Ms. Thompson, saying she had been improperly fired.
Previously, The Bahamas Bar Association had sent a letter to Mr. Miller asking him on whose authority he continued to remain in office. To date, that correspondence has not been answered, according to Mr. Munroe.
However, Minister of Financial Services and Investments Allyson Maynard Gibson claimed the courts had never questioned Mr. Miller’s authority at the government department that registers vital information related to death, births, marriages and business transactions.
Since Ms. Thompson’s firing and forced re-hiring by the government, industrial relations at the Registrar General’s Department have rapidly deteriorated.
On Tuesday, police had to be called in to mediate an altercation between Ms. Thompson and one of her subordinates who had reportedly been ordered to keep track of her movements and bar her from entering certain offices.
Employees reported to the media that they were ordered by officials in the Ministry of Financial Services and Investments not to follow any instructions issued by Ms. Thompson.
Now, the Bar Association is seriously contemplating appealing to the court to prevent both registrars general from carrying out their duties, until the Court of Appeal hands down a ruling in the matter.
“It might have reached the stage where the Bar Council will have to move the court to restrain either the acting registrar general or maybe both of them from acting or doing anything until the matter is determined one way or the other,” he said.
“We are minded to move because if his acts are invalid it is very dangerous because he could be marrying people, issuing marriage licenses and signing off on a lot of things that may be questioned in the future as being invalid.”
During the recent budget debate in the House of Assembly, Minister Maynard Gibson called Ms. Thompson unprofessional, rude and not a team player who took work from marriage officers and spoke to staff in a disrespectful manner.
Ms. Thompson’s attorney, Milton Evans, has indicated his client’s willingness to leave office once the government buys out her contract.
By: Tosheena Robinson-Blair, The Bahama Journal
