Details emerging from the Survey and Mapping Division (SMD) of the Lands Commission paints a picture of a place infested with bad-mannered officials who are allegedly dishing out appointments based on how much an individual could pay other than merit.
For instance, this paper is reliably informed that at the Regional Land Officers (RLO) level, some individuals who are past retirement were surprisingly given contract extensions in regions considered to be “juicy”, while other officerswere appointed to the position of RLO in regions considered as barren as punishment, and out of spite.
There is simmering tension in SMD also because at the Regional Surveyor level, junior officers have been appointed over their seniors allegedly because of their ability to pay large sums of money to those at the top of SMD.
A Surveyor with just about ten years’ experience, we gathered, has been appointed as a regional surveyor whilst his seniors who have over twenty years’ experience are to be made deputy Regional Surveyors.
More so, Officers who completed university and submitted their first degrees to management and awaiting conversion to Assistant Geometic Engineers (AGE) were sidestepped and fresh recruitments were made to the same grade, AGE. The serving officers were then converted to AGE years later, thus becoming juniors in grade to those newly recruited officers.
The situation is not different at the Ghana School of Survey and Mapping (GSSM). Currently there is confusion amongst staff. They are constantly at each other’s throat while the school is facing accreditation issues.
Generally, the past managements have run a very corrupt administration where they exchange money for favors without regard to the administrative rank and what’s on the file of each Surveyor.
Stay tuned as this paper compiles the names of the culprit to name and shame.