Equipping and Recognising the Cadastral Surveyors Role in Development Information in Ghana.

Abstract
Spatial information is now recognized by governments as essential in supporting economic, social and environmental interests of a nation. The existence of accurate maps (analogue and digital) and unimpeachable record of rights assists and renders more efficient every branch of public service that deals with land. The cadastre is essential for sustainable national development of every nation.

Cadastral information in Ghana is provided through cadastral surveys. Cadastral surveys are regulated by the Survey Act, Act 127 of 1962, which gave legal backing to the Director of Surveys to carryout such surveys through official surveyors who are directly under him or to license experience surveyors, most of whom have been trained at the Survey School. Most of the early surveyors were technicians and were down the ladder in most organizational structures.

Although, the training of Cadastral surveyors (Geomatic Engineers) has greatly been improved and the numbers of graduates are growing, discrimination against these graduates in most organizations still persists. The paper conclude that human resource development should not only be seen as building of training programs, but should ensure changes in organizational structures and recruitment qualifications to allow needed skills enhance management of geospatial information for national development.

Background
The challenge of balancing the competing tensions in decision-making requires access to accurate and relevant information in a readily interactive form. There is for instance the need for reliable data for environmental monitoring, social and economic rights recordation, the facilitation of appropriate decision-making and conflict resolution.

Spatial information can best be described as development information and as the name suggests should be what developments are based on and also what need to be made available for national planning and public knowledge at all sectors of governance. It is an enabling concept with the ability to bring together many sectors, disciplines and communities of practice to co-manage and respond to the arrays of economic, social and environmental activities in the interest of any nation.

Such information can only best be provided by well trained geo-information personnel whose roles as important information providers should be recognized for delivering this objective.

Spatial information is gradually being recognised by governments as essential in supporting the economic, social and environmental interests of a nation. Such needed development information must be complete, up-to-date, interoperable, and readily available as an impetus for managing widespread, long- and short-term disaster events, domestic security, environmental degradation and the improvement of communities’ infrastructure and planning decisions. The existence of accurate maps (analogue and digital) and unimpeachable record of rights assists and renders more efficient every branch of public service that deals with land. This is true for land reform, town and country planning schemes, taxation, irrigation, drainage and flood control, agricultural development and others. Thus spatial information is a necessary requirement for sustainable development of every nation. Enemark (2005) states that the basic building blocks in any land administration is the land parcel as identified in the cadastre. This is in line with the assertion that geo-spatial data and information must be considered as part of the substructure or foundation of a society, resulting in the concept of Spatial Data Infrastructures (SDIs).

The advances in information and communications technologies (ICT) in the last decade combined with the rapid growth of information networks, is transforming businesses and markets, and revolutionizing, information flows, and also catalyzing the empowerment of citizens and communities in new ways. These gains are however yet to be exploited by most developing countries to advantage.

The United Nations, recognizing the inter-relationship and perhaps inseparability of spatial information from statistical data and ICT, re-organized in 1998, the then-to separate review fora and conferences on Cartography, ICT and Statistics under one umbrella called Committee on development information (CODI) in order to build synergy.

The expectation was that African Nations would begin to appreciate the importance of Development Information use through the adoption of initiatives such as AISI (African Information Society Initiative), which sort to build a multi-stakeholder information society in Africa involving, the Academia, African Engineers, Civil society, the private sector and the media among others.

However, unlike other nations where there had been commissions which had emphasized to their governments the importance of spatial data in developments, most African Nations’ perception of information has been limited to journalistic news items that are published in print and electronic media and did not include any recognition of spatial development information.

Albeit, the processes of consultation within government, private sector and communities for utilization of natural resources and delivery of services could however not be done effectively without adequate development information. FAO (1995) argues that successful planning and development must be based on knowledge. This knowledge is crucial for orderly administration and use of the land as the necessary foundation of human life. Cadastral Surveyors are instrumental in the production of large scale maps, which are essential for the registration of rights in land, and the description of natural resources. These large scale maps are the best basis of all knowledge for spatial development information. “As a record of rights the map has no substitute” (FAO, 1995).

Collaboration between sectors and all levels of government is required to ensure spatial information is available to better understand hazards and vulnerabilities of critical infrastructure, community risk, mitigation and planning, and the interdependence of critical infrastructures. Spatial information management currently maintains a strong land and property information focus, somewhat removed from the management of natural resources and environmental information, mineral resources and petroleum, scientific information, and regional planning information.

Cadastral data are generally considered the backbone of spatial data. Together with the base topographic data, they are referred to as “foundation data” (Groot, Mac Laughlin, 2000) and play a major role in planning and infrastructural development. The topographic data provide the “land” basis, which describes the territory, and provide a complete spatial partitioning. Cadastral surveys identify and record the extent of each land parcel by physically demarcating the boundaries and surveying the plot. The surveys are based on geodetic networks, which have not been densified in some urban areas.

Unfortunately, the image of cadastres in political circles is still very much dominated by the fiscal connotation. Their role as potential spatial information for development is hardly understood. Therefore there are deficient institutional arrangements for the use and maintenance of spatial data in constructing development models.

Cadastral information in Ghana
Cadastral information in Ghana is provided through cadastral surveys. Cadastral surveys are regulated by the Survey Act, Act 127 of 1962. The Act gave legal backing to the Director of Surveys to carryout cadastral and other surveys through official surveyors who work directly under him at the Survey Department. The Survey Department has its Headquarters in Accra and the ten regional offices at the regional capitals.

The Survey Act, also authorises the Director of Surveys to recommend from time to time experienced surveyors to the Minister responsible for Lands to be licensed to undertake surveys. Currently there are about three hundred (300) licensed surveyors operating in the country. Licensed surveyors were in the early days experience surveyors, most of who have been trained at the Survey School (Gold Coast Survey, 1936) and have had practical experience with the Survey Department. Unlike South Africa, however, the Survey Act of Ghana does not require a licensed (professional) surveyor to be a university graduate (Simpson and Sweeney, 1973).

The conducts of surveys are carried out in accordance with technical instructions published by the Survey Department from time to time (Survey Act, 1962). Until 1986 certified plans (plans which did not need the approval of the Director of Surveys), were acceptable for deeds registration. After 1986, however, when government started implementing the land title registration program, that required the use of guaranteed scientifically accurate plans signed by the Director of Surveys or his appointed representative, certified plans were no longer relevant. The government hence enacted a legislative instrument LI 1444 of 1989 to regulate the technical conduct of Cadastral surveys. This instrument required the licensed surveyor to submit all field books, method of observation and computations to the Director of Surveys for checking and approval before the plans could be used in the registration process.

Some Problems identified in the Present Cadastral System
Lack of demarcation of boundaries between customary land owners is a major source of land dispute in Ghana. There is therefore the need to methodically identify, adjudicate, demarcate and register the boundaries of all allodial owners (LAP, 2003). Such demarcation of boundaries will minimize litigation emanating from indeterminate boundaries, ensure certainty in land ownership, land tenure, land right and facilitate the registration of right in customary land and subsidiary interests and promote valuable development information which will enhance sustainable national development.

This is a mammoth task that needs motivated cadastral surveyors to accomplish since customary ownership predominates in Ghana and accounts for close to 80% of land in the country. The demarcation of customary boundaries will therefore be a herculean task that can only be accomplished by equipped, well trained and motivated cadastral surveyors.

An overview of the present title registration scheme introduced in 1986 shows that its impact in ensuring and enhancing security of tenure has not been significant. It was prescribed that the process be undertaken in a progressive manner within the registration districts declared, however the method adopted by the Land Title Registry was sporadic. After 15 years of operation with 22 registration districts declared only 12,000 titles had been registered as at 2001 (LAP, 2003). Inadequate manpower and logistics are major contributing factors to these problems.

GEO-INFORMATION TRAINING IN GHANA.
In Ghana, training in spatial information sciences is done at two levels. Technical level training at the Ghana Survey and Mapping school established decades ago to train surveyors and cartographers for the civil institutions involved in Land administration. In 1992, following institutional needs appraisal by a World Bank team for the implementation of the Ghana Environmental Resource Management Project, this school was recommended for upgrading to Higher National Diploma (HND) awarding level and new training curricula was developed for this new program in 1996. The school is therefore currently accredited to run HND programs in the specialized areas covered in its curricula that includes specializations in Land surveying, Cartography, Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Geographic information systems (GIS).

The second level training is at the Geomatic Engineering Department of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi which runs courses in Geomatic Engineering from the Bachelor of Science level up to the Philosophy degree (PhD) levels. Here, training in Geomatic Engineering has been directed to the education of students and professionals to imbue in them practical skills, attitudes and values that will allow them to understand and model space.

The principal aim is to equip graduates with sufficient knowledge and synergies so they can in turn provide services to industry in these fields as well as provide the students themselves with the possibilities of further research and development in the spatial sciences. The department used to be known as Geodetic Engineering Department but to reflect the impact of technological advances on surveying and spatial information management, the Department recently changed its name to the Department of Geomatic Engineering.

Training in Geomatic Engineering encompasses the traditional areas of Land Surveying, Geodesy, Photogrammetry, Engineering Surveying and Hydrography, as well as the comparatively new fields of Satellite Surveying, Remote Sensing, Geographic Information Systems, Database Systems and other Spatial Information disciplines. The programme aims at training students to acquire skills and technical know-how in the acquisition, analysis, storage, distribution, management and application of spatially referenced data.

The very practical nature of Geomatic Engineering as recognised by the Department requires a considerable number of subjects to be taught, together with lengthy field practical hours. The objective is to produce professionally skilled graduate Geomatic Engineers. Furthermore, being needful of the integration of different skills in professional practice the course also incorporated a strong computer programming and IT knowledge to enhance the stature of our graduates making them immediately employable after graduation.

Geographic Information systems is introduced in our undergraduate curriculum at the third year and final years with students taking two pure GIS courses and an additional course in Database systems. The training in GIS has ranged from the simple use of GIS software for land administration and land use planning, network and route planning, environmental and ecological planning, to the use of built in software development tools through to the integrating and interspacing GIS software with high level programming languages in order to produce custom developed products.

Thus our GIS training has incorporated both a detailed theoretical perspective of the development and the principles of Geographic information systems and an applied approach to several applications tailored to specific user needs. Thus our students will readily after graduation fit into the professional Surveying grade, the IT and computer application grades, the utilities and the earth science and environmental application fields among many others.

Three years ago, the Department received an educational FIG/ESRI grant package of twenty-five (25) ArcGIS licenses from ESRI. This has greatly enhanced our training in GIS. Since the receipt of the grant package, we have been training students and other interested members of the university community in GIS using the ArcGIS software.

Our goal is to develop this laboratory and enlarged it to become a Regional Centre capable of attracting international trainees from the Sub-Region especially from the fields of Engineering, Earth Sciences, Planning and Urban studies, Agriculture, Culture and Tourism, Social Sciences and Geography.

To emphasise the inter-disciplinary use of geo-information in different professions, the Department teaches introductory Surveying courses to students from other disciplines such as civil engineering, planning, land economy, architecture, agriculture, biological sciences, petrochemical engineering, Renewable natural resources, and Geography. Some of these departments take additional course in GIS.

In line with the strategic objective of KNUST, the Department of Geomatic Engineering, aspires to provide manpower training, research and innovation in science and technology for sustainable development in Africa, especially in the area of geo-data information. In this regard the Department has been increasing its student population from 40 in the year 2000 to the current level of 75 students for its BSc course. There are currently 10 postgraduate students in the Department. The number of foreign students is also on the increase. These increasing numbers of graduates need opportunities to contribute their Knowledge and expertise for sustainable development.

Professional Prospects and Recognition
People assess how fairly they are treated by considering outcomes and inputs into their jobs. Outcomes are things the person receives on the job such as pay, recognition, satisfaction and others, whiles inputs are the contributions the person makes to the organisation, effort, time talents and others. Also people pay attention to outcomes and inputs others similar professionals receive (Bateman and Snell, 2002). Thus lack of recognition and opportunities can be de-motivating to geo-data professionals in Ghana if current trends are not reversed.

The real challenge is to understand people’s approach to the utilisation of services of geo-information providers in decision making. This may well call for the need for society to undergo a fundamental change in the way that it thinks about jobs and service delivery which require integrated processes using Geo-data and some Geo-processing tools. In Ghana, many organisations that clearly require the services of Geomatic Engineers especially in the public services do not have this need directly established in their manpower establishment warrants. This is probably because, until the late nineteen seventies surveying at the professional level in Ghana had been studied as a branch of the Civil Engineering program, therefore no mention is made of Geodetic or Geomatic Engineering, despite the growing number of geomatic engineers.

Enemark (2006) has has argued that although strategies for capacity assessment and development can be focused on any level, it is crucial that strategies are formulated on a basis of sound analysis of all relevant dimensions. Organisational capacity – such as the capacity of the national cadastral agency or geo-spatial training institute, is influenced by not only the internal structures, and procedures of the agency or institute, but also by the collective capabilities of the staff on the one hand and a number of external

factors. Such external factors may be political, economic, cultural or institutional issues that may constrain or support performance, efficiency, and legitimacy as well as the whole level of awareness of the values of geo-spatial development information. By taking this approach, capacity measures can be addressed in a more comprehensive societal context.

Human resource development should not be viewed as only the building of training programs. It should also include changing recruitment qualifications especially in the public services where inertia has prevented expansions to allow for skills that are clearly needed to enhance performance in the organizations.

References:

Bateman, T. S., and Snell, A.S., (2002) Management: Competing in the New Era. 5th Edition, McGraw-Hill Companies.
FAO, (1995) Cadastral surveys and records of rights in Land. Rome.
Enemark, S, (2006) Capacity Building for Institutional Development in Surveying and Land Management, Proceedings of 5th FIG Regional Conference on Promoting Land Administration and Good Governance, 8 – 11th March 2006, Accra, Ghana.
Enemark, S, (2005) Innovative Technology for Land Administration. Proceedings of a symposium held by FIG Commission 7 on 24th and 25th June 2005 at the University of Wisconsin, USA.
Groot R; Mc Laughlin J, (2000) Geo Spatial Data Infrastructure, Oxford University Press