Surveyors kick against new Lands Commission Bill

Accra, Aug. 22, GNA - The Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) on Wednesday kicked against government's attempt to put the Survey Department under the Lands Commission. Under the new Lands Commission Bill, which is before cabinet, the government seeks to restructure land administration by bringing all its land-related organisation under one body to be regulated by the Lands Commission Bill.

"That attempt is not only technically ridiculous but also poised to stifle the work of surveyors in the country," Mr Samuel Ofori-Offei, President of the GhIS, told the GNA in Accra after the opening ceremony of a two-day seminar of the Land Survey Division of the GhIS. The seminar is under the theme: Ghana@50: Reshaping the Land Surveying Role to Enhance National Development.

Mr Ofori-Offei said land-related activity of surveyors had got to do with only land registration, beyond which surveyors undertook several other activities such as minerals survey, international boundary demarcations, mapping, hydrographic survey, engineering survey and special survey.

"Moreover, historically, the Lands Commission was formed out of the Survey Department and it would therefore ridiculous for the child to now adopt the mother," he said.

Mr Ofori-Offei said when the Survey Department is placed under the Lands Commission as the new bill proposed, budgetary allocation to the Department would be limited and that would impact negatively on the work of surveyors.

He said private surveyors did about 80 per cent of government survey works and already the government owed private surveyors a lot of money.

"We propose that the Lands Commission should encompass all other land-related institutions in the country but work with the independent Survey Department as a collaborator and not a sub-set," he said. Dr Benjamin E. K. Prah, Principal of Kumasi Polytechnic, in a lecture on the theme, said placing the Survey Department under the Lands Commission would do the country more harm than good. He therefore called for a critical look at the proposal before the Bill was placed before Parliament.

Dr Prah also urged his colleague surveyors to form partnerships to raise adequate capital and take advantage of the emerging opportunities in the industry across the sub-region, especially in the post-war countries, where rehabilitation works abound.

Mrs Esther Obeng-Dapaah, Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, assured surveyors that the ministry would ensure speedy payment of their contract fees and asked them to be a little patient with the government. The minister said in spite of the immense contribution of surveyors to national development, some recalcitrant surveyors defied the Town Planning documents and facilitated the location of buildings at places earmarked for waterways, roads, steep slopes and on government acquired lands.

"I therefore challenge the institution to be up and doing and ensure that their members comply with all the regulations that are currently in force."

"If there are quacks among the surveying profession the Institution must take steps to deal with them. You must expose them rather than condone with them by signing plans prepared by them," she said.