Basseterre, St. Kitts, December 04, 2015 (SKNIS): Attorney General of St. Kitts and Nevis, the Honourable Vincent Byron has reaffirmed the commitment of the Government of National Unity’s to ensuring the efficient flow of business in the Federation.
Addressing nationals, while being a guest on the Government’s weekly radio and television programme “Working for You”, the Federation’s Minister of Justice, Legal Affairs and Communications, explained that he is very concerned that “the World Bank in their rating of countries around the world on the ease of conducting business, has rated us as 120 of 188 countries.” This, he said, is of particular concern given that recently the rating was in the nineties.
Attorney General Byron explained that this fall may be as a result of the time it takes to conduct business at the High Court Registry.
“I think those who purchase property and who have to get titles at the High Court Registry have been frustrated overtime because of the nature of what happens. It takes quite a bit of time to complete the transfer for titles to be produced, deeds and so on. It affects business. It affects the Inland Revenue Department. It affects banks. It affects people who want to get a mortgage at a bank and move forward with their lives and have a better quality of life,” the attorney general said.
The attorney general said that the Government has identified a solution to alleviate these frustrations.
“We have put in place a programme to improve on that significantly. We will be establishing a Land Registry as distinct from the High Court Registry that will be dedicated to managing, to filing and to processing,” he said.
In providing a time line for the establishment of the Land Registry, he said, “one would hope that it would happen in five to six months,” noting that, “there would be a need to provide an office and staffing.”
Attorney General Byron said that the process has already begun and that the project was included in the estimates for the 2016 budget.