The Ghana Institution of Surveyors (GhIS) has commended the government for the effort it is making to advance the cause of national development.

They mentioned sectors the government was performing well to include the economy, agriculture and food production, digitisation and roads and infrastructure.

"We ask that we should all support the government to achieve its goals," the President of the GhIS, Dr John Amaglo, said at a press briefing in Accra yesterday as part of activities commemorating the 2021 Surveyors' Week celebration.

It is on the theme: “Building a resilient surveying for contemporary” and marks the 52nd annual general meeting of the institution.

Other activities include orientation for newly qualified members, presentation of papers on the theme, elevation of members into the class of Fellows, induction of newly qualified members, as well as the President's investiture and the swearing-in of the other executives and the governing council.

In line with COVID-19 protocols, all the programmes and activities will be held virtually.

Surveyors Bill

Dr Amaglo called for the speedy passage of the Surveyors Council Bill to regulate the practice of surveying in the country, adding that the passage of the bill would also help weed out quacks from the land administration system to ensure sanity.

He said the delay in the passage of the bill had given rise to quacks in the business, thus creating all sorts of problems, including wrong land demarcations.

"We need the passage of the bill so that we can regulate the practice of the profession. In other jurisdictions, when a foreign surveyor comes to the country, he or she must follow the laid down rules.

"It is only in Ghana a surveyor from a different country can practise without recourse to any law because we don't have a law backing the surveying profession," Dr Amaglo added.

According to him, only professional quantity surveyors should be given the mandate to prepare and monitor project budgets in the country, especially public projects, saying that “ignoring this will lead to chaos”.

COVID-19

Dr Amaglo further said the COVID-19 pandemic had brought to light the need for new drastic ways of managing the affairs of the country to keep state machinery afloat.

“We must demand extraordinary and excellent management from our state institutions to create robust and resilient structures. Ghana should not delude herself that time will resolve all our systematic challenges in our metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs),” he added.

Dr Amaglo also called for collaborations between the GhIS and the government to fashion out innovative ways of lessening the impact of the pandemic on the practice of the profession, including the economy.