Surveyors mark 40th Anniversary

Story: Michael Donkor
Surveyors in the country have urged the government to let the advice of professionals be its guide in removing the chaos that has characterised development in the cities.
Stating the case for surveyors at a banquet in Accra, the President of the Ghana Institution of Surveyors, Mr Kwadwo Osei-Asante, said the role of professionals was key to the re-structuring of cities in the country.
He said the instructions and advice by surveyors, engineers, architects and planners were often ignored with impunity, noting that hardly did clients, including the government, pay for services rendered, resulting in the rot that the cities were in today.
Mr Osei-Asante made the call at the 40th anniversary and induction into office of new executive members of the institution in Accra on Saturday night.
He expressed regret that only a handful of professionals were of relevance in the country today and identified them as politicians, journalists, lawyers or judges, doctors and pastors.
He identified another emerging group which he said was coming out of the politicians and journalists called "social commentators", adding, “Ironically, most of them are uninformed.”
He said many professionals were currently not allowed to work in accordance with their professional abilities and judgement but to political whims, caprices and expediency.
Mr Osei-Asante said Ghana was one of the few countries in the world that carried both its dry and liquid cargo, including gas, by road.
He said the Ghana Institution of Surveyors had the technical skills to assist should the policy of rail transport come up for implementation.
He said some of them had observed the recent transition with extreme depredation, noting that the predominant and contentious issues were purely assets and properties and added that the country had men who would professionally manage those resources which would make the call for the rather expensive extension of the constitutional transition period unnecessary.
In a solidarity message, the Minister of Lands and Natural Resources, Alhaji Collins Dauda, said pragmatic policies would be put in place to propel the country to the anticipated middle-income status.
He said achieving that objective would require massive infrastructural improvement, efficient land administration in terms of ownership and titling, agricultural development, a fair justice system and efficient urban management.
Alhaji Dauda said the practice of surveying was unique and demanding and called for the exhibition of high professional standards.
Consequently, he said, no opportunity should exist for non-professionals to carry out surveying practice, as such people were incompetent to do so.
He, therefore, challenged the surveyors to ensure that the activities of non-professionals were weeded out.
He said those non-professionals were creating a negative image for surveyors and that should not be allowed to continue.
The occasion was used to launch a jacket for the surveyors that would distinguish them from the non-professionals.