The long-awaited Surveying Council and Licensing Bill, aimed at regulating the conduct of surveyors and sanitising professional practice in Ghana, is set to receive renewed attention as a top priority of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources in the coming year.

The Minister, Hon. Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah has given firm assurance that the bill, which is expected to bring structure, accountability and professionalism to the sector, will be passed to strengthen land administration and support government revenue generation.

Speaking at an engagement with the Ghana Institute of Surveyors (GhIS) in Thursday, 18th December, 2025, the Minister described the bill as long overdue, stressing that effective licensing of surveyors, particularly in critical areas such as cadastral surveying will help organise practitioners and improve service delivery.

He noted that surveyors occupy a strategic position in land administration, where professionalism must go hand in hand with public interest and revenue mobilisation.

Hon. Buah called for immediate stakeholder engagement to resolve outstanding concerns surrounding the bill, emphasizing the need to cut through delays. “Everybody is waiting for this,” he said, advocating direct consultations to agree on clear guidelines that will allow government to license professional services efficiently and reduce persistent bottlenecks in land-related public services.

He further underscored government’s responsibility to ensure that public services make life easier for citizens, warning that reforms become inevitable when state services turn into a source of frustration.

Drawing lessons from previous commissions, he urged the identification of services that require strict professional regulation and the creation of systems to enforce standards, expressing confidence that continued collaboration with GhIS would yield meaningful reforms in the land sector.

The President of the Institute, Surveyor Kofi Obeng Ayirebi welcomed the renewed commitment to the bill, citing the Institute’s long-standing partnership with the Ministry in promoting professionalism and order in land administration.

He reiterated GhIS’s readiness to support the process and disclosed that the President of the Republic has taken note of the financial needs of land sector reforms, with plans to provide dedicated funding for digitisation and related reforms in the 2026 national budget.

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