The acting Director of the Survey and Mapping Division at the Lands Commission, Naa Seidu Zakari Abu, has called for the employment of more licensed surveyors to ensure effective land administration in the country.
He said the inadequate number of official surveyors had affected the timely delivery of survey and mapping services, while creating room for unqualified practitioners to infiltrate the system.
Naa Zakari explained that there were currently about 400 licensed surveyors across the country, but the number was inadequate given the volume of work to be undertaken.
"We need not less than four surveyors in all the Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDASs) across the country to be able to function optimally and the current number is woefully inadequate.
But we understand that it all depends on the number the government can employ and pay," he said.
Refresher course
He was speaking at the opening ceremony of the 2026 refresher course for applicants for the licensed land surveyors organised by the Survey and Mapping Division (SMD) of the Lands Commission.
The course is in accordance with the Survey Act, 1962 (Act 127) and the Lands Commission Act, 2008 (Act 767), which mandate the commission to license qualified persons to practice cadastral surveying in the country.
The 73 applicants who met the selection criteria for this year are being taken through an intensive two-week refresher course at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (CSIR-STEPRI).
The refresher course would be followed by an examination and final interview, after which successful candidates would be awarded the licence.
Good initiative
Naa Zakari described the refresher course as a timely and necessary initiative to ensure that holders of land survey licences possessed the competence and capability to undertake the work entrusted to them.
He explained that the refresher course, which would lead to the licensing of private surveyors, would help augment the limited number of official surveyors in the country.
He, therefore, urged the participants to take the course seriously as that would form the basis for the issuance of a license to operate as certified land surveyors.
The acting director stressed that when the country got its survey and mapping right, many of the development challenges relating to the built environment would be addressed.
Professional standards
The acting MSD director asked survey professionals to be diligent and uphold ethical standards in the performance of their responsibilities.
He said the efficient management and utilisation of the country's land resource was heavily dependent on how surveyors were able to apply professionalism in their work.
The Deputy Executive Secretary in charge of Corporate Services at the Lands Commission, Emmanuel Adansi Bonah, said the refresher course would be sustained to ensure that persons with the requisite qualifications were taken through the rigorous process to practice as professional surveyors.
He urged persons who were privileged to be licensed as surveyors to adhere strictly to the tenets of professional practice.
