GIS to eliminate non-professionals in the field

Accra, Sept. 29, GNA - The Ghana Institution of Surveyors would soon come up with a Survey Council Bill spelling out the ethics and code of conduct for surveyors to help to bring sanity into the real estate industry.

The President of the Institution, Dr Benjamin K. Prah said at the moment it had no Council to regulate the activities of professionals and thus making it easier for quacks to infiltrate the surveying industry. Speaking at the 2005 Annual Seminar of the General Practice Division of the Institution, he said the Bill in addition to the Real Estate Brokerage Bill would eliminate the non-professionals. They would guide the Institution to meet its goals and achieve excellence to compete globally, he said.

Dr Prah said it was important that clients got value for their money adding that the Institution was pursuing professional development programmes to ensure that their membership was well equipped to play the expected professional role.

Madam Theresa Ameley Tagoe, Deputy Minister of Lands, Forestry and Mines, said to achieve the Golden Age of Business, it was imperative for all professionals including General Practice Surveyors to approach their work with a sense of professionalism and to render quality services. She expressed regret that there was lack of public confidence in the Ghanaian General Practice Surveyor, which stemmed from the sub-standard service some members provided.

The Deputy Minister said the Institution must be guided by the theme of the seminar "General Practice Surveying and Quality Service Delivery" to address the infiltration of the field by quacks acting in ways that cast a slur on the profession.

She said the "Real Estate Brokerage Bill" would receive the Ministry's maximum support when the motion was tabled both at the Cabinet level and Parliament to ensure its passage into law. Madam Tagoe asked the Surveyors for their support for the successful implementation of the Land Administration Project to find a permanent solution to various land and land related problems in the country.

Ms Yvonne Sowah, Chairperson of the General Practice Division, said to boost public confidence in the profession, there was the need to resolve the numerous problems that continued to bedevil land administration in Ghana.

These included conflicting claims to ownership, insecurity of title, encroachment on public lands and the bureaucratic processes in land administration as well as the lack of well structured, reliable accessible and up-to-date records on land assets.

She expressed the hope that the seminar would help them to make firm projections and come out with concrete proposals for the solution of the problems.