Members of the Land Survey Division of the Ghana Institution of Land Surveyors (GHIS) have been taken through the provisions of the newly passed land Act 2020(Act 1036) which seeks to address land issues in the country.
Lawyer Kwame Gyan who lecturerd the professional surveyors indicated that, provisions in the law has made it possible for women to own a land without a man representing them at the time of acquiring.
He made this known in an annual seminar of the Ghana institution of Surveyors with a theme "the Land Act and the land Surveyors"
Touching on discrimination against women, Lawyer Kwame Gyan revealed that Article 17 of the Constitution frowns against such act.
He said " Article 17 of the Constitution prohibits discrimination. Article 17 prohibits discrimination on the part of gender, greed, religion and political affiliation. What Section 11 has done is to say, if you are discriminating against anybody, and our main target was gender discrimination"
Lawyer Gyan revealed that following some checks, women were not allowed to own land in their own right adding that they were expected to have men as counterparts while dealing in such issues.
Lawyer Gyan mentioned that another innovation which had found itself in the statute was the customary land secretariat stressing that it has been institutionalized.
"The Customary Secretariat which all the land owning entities, the groups would have to have now has legal legislative backing. So if you look at Section 13 all the way to Section 18 deals with Customary Land Secretariat"
He charged all Traditional Owners to have their customary land secretariat.
Meanwhile, the Chairperson for the Land Surveying Division, Christian Acquah has indicated that, the GHIS is working closely with the Attorney Generals to close pages on the survey council bill to be sent to parliament for consideration and passage.
According to Chairman Acquah, the survey council bill which has been delay for some reasons when passed will harness the illegal activities of surveyors, deal with the code of conduct of the profession and also spell out the sanctions regeme.
He said "The surveying council bill has been on the drawing board for a very long time but we have not left it, we are still pursuing it"
He stressed that for the bill to be relevant, the division needs land owners and government to join forces to ensure that it is passed into law.
Chairman Acquah said "Previously, it was Ministry of Works and Housing which was dealing with it later they said our Ministry is Lands and Forestry but later both Ministries were asked to put their heads together to ensure that the bill is passed"
He hinted that as it stands the two Ministries are working tirelessly to ensure that Land Surveyors in the country have peace of mind to carry out their day to day activities.
The Surveyors who took part in the 4-day program included; Land Surveying Division, Quality Surveying Division and Valuation Division.
Due to the adherence of the covid 19 protocols, the program was held virtually whiles only few members were allowed into the conference hall.
Below are some videos and pictures:
Story by: Joshua Kwabena Smith