By: Precious Miracle Kargbo
The Sierra Leone Institute of Chartered Surveyors on maintaining a safety built environment in Sierra Leone and to ensure that Surveyors are well catered for and work in ambit of the law and ethics has on Saturday 28th October 2023 completed its National Surveyors conference on the basis to adopt a new survey constitution for their professional practice.
This event occurred at the Press conference hall of CCSL at Brookfields, Freetown.
In her keynote statement, Guest of Honor Deputy Minister of Lands Housing and Country Planning Mrs Phylis Kormoh expressed her gratitude for this idea to call on all members within the engineering and construction profession to come together and discuss ways that will ensure that the society remains a safe place for everyone.
She added that the establishment of the Surveyors constitution has come in a time that many developments is taking place on the land sectors in the country and the ministry through the Sierra Leone Lands administrative party have just established the Lands commission and the consumer lands act of 2022. Mrs Kormoh adds that there are positive reforms which are taking place to improve the Sierra Leone survey.
She adds that technology will be displayed in the area of mapping and data collection in this field and in the rural area estate massive improvements are taking of the tens registration act of 1954 and that there are more support coming from the world bank and other partners to support the institution.
Additionally, Director of housing at the Ministry of lands and country planning who also doubles as the chairman of coordinating committee for the establishment of the Sierra Leone chartered surveyors relates that as many speakers have shed light on surveying as a very broad discipline with different discipline under the umbrella of surveying.
Noting that their main aim is to bring all those professionals and create ethical procedures that will guide their activities and erase the bad name that the surveying profession has been known for in Sierra Leone.
He continues that there are series of challenges which affecting the profession especially those that are joining the field with no qualifications and regulations, so that is why they’re setting up a body that will now regulate and complement the effort of government and also admonishes all persons with interest in the field to make their way on board so that the institute will be a complete success.
Meanwhile, a representative from the Bar Association Benjamin Amara Tengbeh Esq. established that the work of surveying and legal practice is intricately linked because if a lawyer want to construct a conveyor for any client then they must use this platform for the survey plan and from the survey plan will interpret that s particular does not fall on state interest. In another lens Quantity surveyor Ing Alpha M Lavalie laments that by having knowledge on mathematics does not warrant anyone to become a quality surveyor but there is the need for them to follow the due principles and be free from corruption because they are at the helm of paying bulk monies to contractors but with the cresting of this institute they will be regulated and corruption will reduce automatically.
Conclusively, Engineer Martin Cole affirms that surveyors should be regulated and that practicing without a license should be punishable by law for any Surveyor that is found wanting. He ended by expressing delight on the need for surveyors to come together and solve the issues of unethical conducts affecting the surveying profession.
