Surveyors association to weed out quacks

The Licensed Surveyors Association of Ghana (LISAG) has said it will soon begin to expose, name, shame and punish members of the association who connive with unauthorised surveyors to dent the image of the association.

It said the association was also working assiduously to clamp down on the activities of quack surveyors as a means to mitigate the problem of land litigation in the country.

The move, the association said, would help to stem the activities of quack surveyors and ensure integrity in the delivery of cadastral surveying services in the country.

“We will do an introspection of our members to improve ethical standards in the profession and will strengthen our internal disciplinary mechanisms and sanction members who indulge in unprofessional and unethical survey activities,” it stated.

Report unscrupulous surveyors

The President of LISAG, Mr Kwame Tenadu Snr, made the statement when he delivered a 12-point communique at the end of a seminar organised by the association for its members in Accra last Friday.

He entreated the general public to report the activities of unscrupulous surveyors to the association’s secretariat for action to be taken against them.

The two-day event was held on the theme: “Land ownership and registration: The role of the licensed surveyor”.

The members deliberated on ways by which they could contribute to the government’s “Ghana Beyond Aid” agenda with regard to the land sector.

Exercise diligence

The President of LISAG said there were a number of factors affecting security of land ownership and land registration in the country.

He mentioned some of the challenges as unethical behaviour, disproportional representation of licensed surveyors across the regions, litigation, ignorance and inaccurate survey plans.

In a bid to tackle the challenges, he said, the association would collaborate with the Lands Commission and law enforcement agencies to clamp down on the corrupt activities of imposters and persons not licensed to practise cadastral surveying.

“LISAG will further develop strategies to ensure that its members deliver value to all stakeholders and customers in the country. We, therefore, caution the general public to be diligent when engaging the services of surveyors,” he warned.

Enforce laws

He pointed out that the lack of enforcement of the laws and regulations governing the survey profession in the country had provided space for the activities of quacks.

He urged the Lands Commission as the regulator to, therefore, take urgent steps to strictly enforce the laws and regulations that govern the survey profession such as the Survey Act 1962, (Act 127), the Lands Commission Act 2008, Act 767, the Land Title Registration law 1986, PNDCL 152 and the Survey (Supervision and Approval of Plans) Regulation 1986 (L.I. 1444).

“To support this agenda, LISAG will soon embark on serious advocacy actions that will compel strict enforcement of regulations 10 of L.I. 1444 which deals with Plan of Partly Surveyed Land, not to be approved,” he said.

Mr Tenadu applauded efforts the government was taking to ensure operational reforms at the Lands Commission to reduce the length of time it took to go through land registration procedures.

Land guards

Speaking to the issue on land guards, he said their activities, though outlawed, continued to pose a security challenge to licensed surveyors.
For this reason, he said, the association would intensify collaboration with the Ghana Police Service and its specialised agencies to ensure that areas where attacks occurred incessantly were boycotted and blacklisted by its members.