Ghana has a lot of arm chair licensed surveyors dainting LiSAG's reputation - Chief Justice

Ghana’s Chief Justice Kwasi Anin-Yeboah has said that some "lazy" licensed surveyors contribute to the rising land litigation issues the country is dealing with. According to him, these “roadside surveyors, who work without ethical standards", only sign plans for paltry amounts without thinking about the adverse effects of their actions. He added that the oath sworn by some licensed surveyors has become mere rhetoric. “Permit me to talk about the ethical standards that we are fast losing out on some licensed surveyors. The oath sword and same imprinted on plans before signing have remained a mere rhetoric. I am very convinced and it is my considered view that, if licensed surveyors appraise themselves with all the processes in the field, they shall append their signatures on true work done on the ground. “Unfortunately, we have a lot of armchair licensed surveyors or better still roadside ones who only sign plans for,” he reiterated. The Chief Justice said this while speaking at the 2022 Annual General Meeting Of The Licensed Surveyors Association Of Ghana, on Wednesday, October 26, at the AH Hotel, East Legon, Accra. The event was held on the theme: “The Changing Phase of Cadastral Surveying for Effective Land Management”. He added that “the courts have seen so many bad and ill-prepared cadastral plans to say the least. Though some of these plans are forged but a good number of it was done without circumspection and professionalism required from the licensed surveyors. The sanctions regime on the misconduct of licensed surveyors are replete in the laws and we shall not shirk to exact it in as much as our land sector is bedeviled with avoidable cases and the licensed surveyor cannot be excused.” His Lordship Chief Justice Anin-Yeboah thus called for a strong collaboration between LiSAG and the judiciary to ensure a better working relationship. “I would call on LiSAG to deepen their collaboration with the judiciary. I know you have begun some engagements and I urge you to design capacity-building workshops to train judges on the rudiments of your practice and the changing phase you so espouse. The changing phase also means a new way of working with the judiciary to ensure sanity in land registration since the cadastral plan is one of the foremost documents to be relied on for the transactions. We are ready to assign some of the licensed surveyors to our courts so that they can assist the judges understand the plans or maps before hearing and in some cases conduct an independent survey for contesting parties. In these days of your modern equipment’s like drones and LiDAR, we are sure adjudication processes would be more convenient, fast and easy to interpret with graphics,” he urged. Mr Samuel Larbi-Darko, President of the Licensed Surveyors Association of Ghana (LiSAG), also entreated traditional leaders and land buyers to engage licensed and registered land surveyors to ensure proper land demarcation. He said that was the best way to resolve conflicts and disagreements over land demarcation. Mr Larbi-Darko said before one engaged a surveyor to map out a land, the individual needed to ensure that the surveyor was licensed and registered to do professional work. He stressed that that had become necessary due to the activities of “quack’ and unregistered surveyors in the system, whose unprofessional conduct was affecting the reputation and integrity of the profession. “Land surveying in an engineering and technical field is such that you need someone with the technical knowhow to properly map out and demarcate your land. As a result, when there is an issue with the land because they are registered and licensed they can handle the issue in court,” he added.