By Luana Paniu

THE Commission of Inquiry has made a shocking discovery – that Land Titles filing is so bad there is no guarantee whatsoever for titles issued under the Special Purpose Agriculture and Business Leases (SPABL) have been saved and protected.

Chief Commissioner John Numapo and Commissioners Alois Jerewai and Andy Mirou were clearly unimpressed when Registrar of Titles for the Department of Lands and Physical Planning, Henry Wasa told them the filing system is so poor and outdated, it is like a library card system.

Mr Wasa answered with a simple “that is correct sir,” when questioned by Mr Jerewai that titles could not be safe or saved. 

“The whole basis of maintaining titles is to ensure that is feasibility, how do you ensure this if you are not diligently keeping the titles safe. How do you protect people who hold the SABL Title?’ Mr Jerewai said.

The commission had earlier asked the Registrar to locate 17 more missing files in the past week. On Wednesday, it asked for a further nine more files still to be located as part of the 72 title cases now before the Inquiry.

Only eight files had been located after their lease holders were called to the office to reconstruct them. 

Mr Wasa, who had been recalled to give evidence on search results, said there had been problems in locating the files because of the lack of space to work with and the fact that the registry files were accessible to officers from two different divisions with no records.

He said they were currently using mark-up cards similar to that used in the library however in this case, there was no record keeping of accessibility to the files and which individual had accessed it.

“If one employee chooses to not record it, (after accessing the file), which is accessed by the three divisions, who does the buck stop with?” Commissioner Jerewai questioned.

Mr Wasa stated that his office looks after the files but again the files were located in the basement while his office was located on the top floor.

He also revealed to the Inquiry that it was very rare that people come to his office to register their titles after relevant processes are followed. 

Counsel Assisting, Simon Ketan berated the witness repeatedly stating that in other words, there was no filing system at all in place to protect the files. 

Chief Commissioner John Numapo then stated: “I find that difficult to understand, when the Department of Lands and Physical Planning is the custodian of the titles and if the files are not secured properly then issues such as duplication of titles can be made.

“Now it would appear there is the trend with distributing registered titles especially in your department, is that the trend?” asked Commissioner Jerewai.

“No comment,” came the solemn response from Mr Wasa.

Counsel Simon Ketan asked whether the witness saw the seriousness of the position he held as Registrar of Titles for the SABL land titles.

“Yes I do, and we always raised this issue of file security but it is the Government’s responsibility to provide space in the meantime, we are emphasising on the mark up card,” he said.

The Inquiry also heard that this was also the same situation with other State leases. The Department is awaiting completion of their new building, with which ample space will be allocated for his department but in they maintain that the current system will still be used.