Dear Claudienne,

I must first tell you that I am an avid reader of your columns. I have seen where you have helped many people but I never knew that one day, I would have been seeking your assistance.

In 2014, the Government of Jamaica through its land acquisition programme acquired my mother’s property in order to build a road in the Rural Roads Rehabilitation Project — Sour Sop Turn to Chapleton, Clarendon.

As a result, our family home in which members of my family lived was demolished to facilitate the road development. The family was promised compensation by the National Works Agency (NWA) but because our mother, owner of the land, had been deceased, we were told to apply for Letters of Administration.

The highest authority in the land, The Supreme Court of Jamaica, granted Letters of Administration to myself and my brother SR for the estate on November 15, 2017 and this was presented to the NWA as requested, but they declined to pay over the funds to rebuild the house.

Three of my brothers were living in the house at the time it was demolished and at the time given the circumstances, we believed a speedy payment in order to rebuild, would have taken place.

Two of my brothers practically have had to be sleeping in the May Pen market for years as a result.

This action or non-action by the NWA is totally immoral and reprehensible.

This matter has caused us much hardship, turmoil, “sufferation” and mental anguish and we have been permanently scarred by this issue.

Please use your platform to bring this to the attention of someone who can make a difference.

EM

Dear EM,

Although the NWA’s acquisition of the property took place in 2014, a letter you received from your attorney suggests that the process to obtain the Letters of Administration for the property was complicated. The process began in October 2015, when your lawyer contacted the Administrator General’s Department (AGD) and submitted the relevant documents for vetting and approval.

Your attorney states the following:

“I received the administrator general’s certificate in February 2016 and the documents were filed at the Supreme Court Registry the same month… As required by law, all of your siblings had to be contacted by mail of your intention and time given for them to respond. It should be noted that there was a difficulty in getting the contact information of some of your nine siblings and so a longer than normal period elapsed in getting the administrator general’s certificate. The documents were lodged at the Supreme Court pending receipt of your late mother’s death certificate. I was then informed by you that your mother died in Canada in December 2003 and you had absolutely no idea where in Canada this occurred.

The process could not continue without your mother’s death certificate and I urged you to make contact to ascertain where in Canada she died, in order to, get the death certificate. The matter became more difficult when it was discovered that her husband in Canada was also deceased and therefore no direct contact could be established.

After extensive online searches by both you and myself, we managed to identify your late mother’s place of death and obtained her death certificate by March 2016. I was contacted by the Supreme Court to place advertisements in Canada stating your intention to obtain Letters of Administration in your mother’s estate as since she also lived in that jurisdiction, there might be persons interested in the proceedings. This was promptly done, along with a local advertisement in a newspaper (in Jamaica) in July of 2016.

After making several checks on the matter, I was contacted by the Supreme Court by way of a requisition in October 2016. The Supreme Court said that the advertisement placed in the Canadian newspaper would not suffice. The Supreme Court required me to place the advertisement in a paper (in Canada) with a wider circulation for it to be accepted. I urged you to do so, as you were very disappointed and expressed your frustration at that point.

It was not until February 2017, that the advertisement was finally placed in a paper in the Greater Toronto area, recognised to have the wide readership to reach the intended audience. I submitted same to the Supreme Court and within a day of receiving it, I was told by the Assistant Registrar that the matter would now be transferred to the Registrar for the grant to be made. I was contacted by way of requisition once again in July 2017, and informed that another local advertisement needed to be placed.

In November 2017, the Grant of Administration was finally given to yourself and your brother as administrators of the estate of your late mother and by way of letter, I promptly wrote the National Land Agency (NLA) to inform the relevant persons as to the status of affairs and to deposit the original Grant of Administration there. I was also instructed by the NLA to contact the NWA in regard to the aspect which relates to the structure.”

On receiving your complaint Tell Claudienne wrote to the permanent secretary at the Ministry of Economic Growth & Job Creation. The Senior Director Land Administration Management at the Ministry of Economic Growth and Job Creation sent the following e-mail to the column:

“The Ministry is in receipt of a response from the NWA regarding the matter. NWA is only responsible for the structure that was on the land, meanwhile the National Land Agency is responsible for payment for the land. The NWA advised that they are currently in dialogue with EM’s and SR’s (your brother) attorney regarding the compensation for the house. By letter dated May 8, 2019 to the attorney, the following documentation were requested:

1. Original Retainer letter between EM. SR and their attorney.

2. TRN numbers and ID cards for Mr. McLean and Mr. Robinson.

3. Their attorney’s banking information.

The NWA is awaiting these documents to proceed with the preparation of a Release and Discharge for payment of the structure. In respect of the land, a letter will now be sent to NLA to request an update.”

On receipt of the e-mail Tell Claudienne contacted the Legal Department of the NWA.

You informed Tell Claudienne that your lawyer sent the information requested to the NWA Legal Department on May 28, 2019. You said that you and your brother by letter instructed the NWA Legal Department to lodge the payment of an estimated $4 million plus to your attorney’s account.

Although the Legal Department advised your attorney two months ago that the file had been sent to the Accounts Department of the NWA for the payment to be lodged to his account, the lawyer told Tell Claudienne that he was getting the run-around. He said that the NWA Accounts Department would not give him a time frame for the lodgement to be made to his account.

Tell Claudienne wrote to the permanent secretary at the Office of the Prime Minister and we note that you informed the column on Thursday, August 22, 2019 that the NWA has finally sent the payment to your lawyer’s bank account.

We wish you all the best.