Tema, July 8, GNA – Mr George Okwabi Frimpong, a Licensed Surveyor and Chairman, Public Affairs Committee, Licensed Surveyors Association of Ghana, has classified land acquisition as a huge investment one can make.
He encouraged workers who might not have invested in land yet to consider working seriously towards acquiring one as they will need a place to comfortably lay their heads especially when they go on retirement.
He said “if you even don’t have money, just approach your family head or a chief, plead with him to give you a piece of land and enter into a payment agreement with him so that even if it is a single room, put it up before you exit active service”.
Mr Okwabi Frimpong said this during the fourth, “End of Month Stakeholder Engagement and Workers Appreciation Day,” seminar organized by the Tema Regional office of Ghana News Agency.
The monthly stakeholder engagement was a progressive platform created by GNA Tema Regional Office to give opportunity to state and non- state actors to interact with journalists and address national issues as well as throw more light on the institutions’ mandate.
Mr Okwabi Frimpong cautioned that such investments have a long-term repercussion therefore potential buyers must engage lawyers to offer them legal and proper directions right from the beginning of the acquisition process, so they do not fall victim to fraudsters in the system.
He advised potential land buyers to get the necessary documents to prove that the land belonged to them saying, “if you have an interest in a land, nobody should stop you, not even a land guard.
“When you buy a piece of land do not go to sleep over the indenture that will be given to you, take steps to register your interest, so you will have legal documents to prove to anybody who comes to you that indeed you have an interest in that land”.
Mr Okwabi Frimpong, educating the public on the new Lands Act said the Act would help protect surveyors in the bush as it has criminalized attacks on them.
“We are happy that now there is a law to protect the surveyor in the bush, some have been beaten to death in the bush, hospitalized as a result of attacks in line of duty and maimed”.
He explained that the Act stipulates that a person that obstruct a licensed surveyor from doing his/her legally mandated work when convicted would be liable to a fine of not less than 1,000 penalty units and not more than 10,000 penalty unit or be imprisoned between one and ten years or both.
He therefore advised the public against attacking surveyors and also desist from destroying boundary pillars legally mounted, doing so have dare consequences under the law.
Mr Francis Ameyibor, GNA Tema Regional Manager, stated that the media was a more effective instrument which the government, civil society organisations and stakeholders could use for social change.
According to him, the media was a powerful tool, which must be used strategically for effective change towards national development.
Mr Ameyibor said, “the media was simply indispensable for democratic functioning of the state and therefore Ghanaians must work together to create an enabling environment for trust and collaboration”.