Seventeen new land surveyors were sworn in yesterday and President Irfaan Ali urged them to let the law direct their actions.
“You belong to an important profession; one in which your character and reputation matters. As land surveyors, you will also be expected to embody ethical responsibility…Land surveyors are expected to act with the utmost competence at all times and to exhibit the highest standards of personal and professional probity…Let the law direct your actions,” Ali said while delivering remarks at the simple swearing in ceremony which was held at the Baridi Benab at State House.
The new surveyors, who include four women, are from two batches of candidates who registered in 2018 and 2019.
The new surveyors each received their instrument of practice yesterday morning after taking the oath before Ali.
The oath, Ali observed, is a “simple” one with profound implications. “It commits you to give your best and serve faithfully as land surveyor,” he said.
He cautioned them against thinking that they “have arrived” and instead emphasised that the journey has just begin. “Things are changing, dynamics are changing, technology is changing, skill set is changing and it requires continuous change in your output. You have to learn, to unlearn to relearn,” he said.
In 2014, the National Assembly passed the Land Surveyors Profession Act. “The act is your rule book… The act must become your guide as you engage in the practice of land surveying,” Ali said.
According to Ali, with the economy evolving at a rapid pace, the country is in need of land surveyors.
Over the next ten years, Ali said, demand for land will also increase the need for land surveyors. “Our economy is expanding. Economic development will skyrocket over the next ten years and beyond. Mega projects are planned for the energy and transport sector. The tourism sector will experience economic take off. More than 50,000 house lots will be developed over the next five year. Private sector development will also intensify. A booming economy will generate a high demand for more surveying services,” he explained.
Ali said that his government is committed to providing advanced training for land surveyors.
As a result, he noted that priority is being placed on the implementation of a comprehensive system of education which is aimed at producing the skills necessary to drive the country’s economic transformation. “Government is committed to training and advancing the training of land surveyors. But in so doing, we will not compromise the rigor which should characterise the training programmes and examination of surveyors,” he added.
Ali also noted that the new land surveyors will be the pacesetters in the changing dynamics of their profession.
“Over the next ten years, opportunities will bound, particularly for educated, smart, high skilled, trained and talented young people. This cohort of land surveyors is therefore a pace setter in producing the quality skills needed for national development,” he said.
Under the government’s 20,000 scholarships programme, Ali said there will be specific provision for land surveyors.
Meanwhile, Commissioner (ag) of the Guyana Lands and Survey Commission (GL&SC) Enrique Monize during his brief remarks implored the land surveyors to maintain the ethics and discipline that go with the practice of the profession.
He also urged them to pursue their tertiary education, which is lacking in the field.
“You are all young women and men and what I would like to see most of all is for persons in the profession to obtain tertiary education in this field…..I therefore urge you to stay focused, [and] continue studying,” Monize said.
The new land surveyors are Afridi Alli, Kelwin Gittens, Amanda Bobb-Semple, Tearra Fredericks, Ashton Blair, Aclint Weekes, Anop Chetram, Alex Pearson, Dale Fraser, Colin Henry, Akeem Benjamin, Terrence Griffith, Lisa Allicock, Alex Lord, Dahron Hopkinson, Natasha Rameswar and Alejandro Latchman
