Date: Friday 27th November 2015
How difficult can it be for a prominent revamped government department to process an application for approval of architectural drawings? Quick answer - very difficult, if you are dealing with a Ghanaian governmental department. It might sound harsh and unbelievable to you, but it is true.
Two months ago in September, I put in an application for a set of architectural drawings to be approved by State Housing Company [SHC] for a building I intend putting up at Nyaniba Estates.
Four weeks ago, I got a call from an employee at SHC asking me to have a new copy of my vesting assets made out to me, as the one I submitted was not properly done. Fair enough. I engaged the services of a lawyer friend who got this done for me within 2 weeks. When I submitted my new Vesting Assets, my assumption was that whoever called me must have been from the legal department at SHC, so I asked the lady at SHC reception to have the vesting assets handed over to the legal team. The next day, I called for an update on my application. I was told that they could not find my documents. After a couple of days, it turned out that the person who initially called me to have a new vesting assets issued to me had placed my documents into “archive”. His reason was because he had not heard back from me - what!!! Did you ever think of calling me on the number you originally called me on who you requested that my Vesting Assets needed to be properly done?
The next day, my documents were sent up to the Legal department to be worked on. When I called up for a progress update, I was informed by the Lawyer at SHC that she could not find the vesting assets that was given to her by reception - what!!. OK, I said to her, let me rush home and get a photocopy I have. I rushed home, got the copy I had and went back to SHC.
I was back at SHC the next day. It now dawned on me that if I was going to get my architectural drawing approved, I would need to sit on these guys and the only way to do that was to be there at their offices. Since I was going to spend some “idle” time there, I took my Surfline Router and laptop. I planned of being productive whilst my file was being worked on as it is passed from one department to another.
Upstairs in the Legal office, I was told that before the lawyer could sign off, my file had to be approved by Auditing. Who is in charge of Auditing I asked. I was given a name but was also informed that he was not in the office yet. I went back downstairs to reception and waited for the head of Auditing to arrive at work. After about an hour he turned up and I quickly jump up out of my seat and introduced myself. I made sure that he was aware of the urgency of my request and he assured me that he would work on my file ASAP. It wasn’t long till my file was handed back to the Legal team. The next bottle neck I faced was someone had failed to add notes to my file, as a result,the lawyer was reluctant to sign off on my file. One of the ladies in the Legal team called the person supposed to add notes to my file. He was not in the office - what!!! where is he then I asked? No one seemed to know.
I just could not get my head round this. Surely if a government employee is either running late for work or has an assignment somewhere, there should be a central point where the location of employees can be quickly confirmed. The receptionist was kind enough to give me this guys mobile number. When I called, it was 2.30pm. He answered his phone and told me that he was on his way to the office. Called him an hour later. Same response - I am on my way in to the office. Sent him a text message at 3.45pm stressing the importance of him completing his portion of my file. Called him again at 4.15pm. I finally decided to call it a day at 4.30pm.
The funny thing is that the receptionist was the only one during the course of the events on Friday to vocally express her disgust to the way things are being run at SHC. She started with how a application for drawings approval can take so long to why some employees can just vanish from work for long periods of time.
Update as of 1.00pm Saturday - Received intel from a reliable source that my application is one step away from being approved.
I am back at SHC on Monday morning at 8.00am.
Update to follow next week.
Monday 30th November
I am currently sitting in the reception area at SHC. I have been here since 8.00am this morning. The time is currently 10.45am. It appears that my file is now with the Legal department. I am assuming that someone in Legal has to approve it [most likely the lawyer, and there, a letter will be typed out confirming approval.
11.00am - I have been informed that SHC Lawyer needs to sing off my file, then it goes to the Managing Director and back to Legal to be issued to me.
2.00pm - The receptionist has informed me that SHC lawyer rung the office and informed her staff that she is going for a checkup and will not be back in the office - Really? Patience is all I ask for. In view of this new development, there is no point of me hanging around. I will have to return tomorrow morning. I am off to Barclays in Osu to bank a cheque and buy some fruits.
Further updates to follow tomorrow morning.
Before I conclude this update for today, I can now see the Government's logic in privatizing. The workers in the Government institutions run them as if they own them. How on each are these department s supposed to make any profits?
How many people did I count coming into the SHC offices for work after 9.00am [bear in mind that SHC opens to the public at 8.00am]. Yes your guess is as good as mine!
Tuesday 1st December.
I called the receptionist at SHC three times from 8.00am to 2.00pm. The Lawyer had not arrived at work. I took a taxi to SHC offices. I was informed by the receptionist that the lawyer will be out of the office all day because she is working on an external issue.
Me: Is the Managing Director in?
Receptionist: No, he has left for the day
Me: Is there anyone who can sign this document for me? [This was a dumb question really because with the MD out of the office, what was the point?]
Receptionist: No, because the lawyer's name was used in preparing the document, she would need to sign it
Me: OK, thanks, I will be back tomorrow morning.
Tuesday 1st December @ 4.00pm
I called my lawyer friend who has a practice in Nyaniba, to see if he could assist. He told me that SHC has been without a permanent lawyer for a while, so it appears the current is new. Anyway, he gave me the name and number of the lawyer's secretary. I will give him a call tomorrow morning. I think I have met him in the reception area a few times.
Friday 5th December.
I am at the State Housing Company again. Yesterday I was introduced to the Company's Geological Surveyor. He was given my file. I was told that before my drawings can be stamped by the Company [by this I mean the stamping of all the architects drawings], the Senior Surveyor will need to approve the the drawings. He clearly was not happy about being suddenly dumped with this task, and I agree with him. Something has seriously gone wrong with the process. Unfortunately the company lawyer and MD have signed off on the file but there are still several tasks to be completed. After studying the contents of my file he looked up at me and told me that he could not sign off on the drawings
Why I asked...
He explained that the site plan included in the architect's drawing was wrong. The coordinates used for the site plan were not what the SHC had on its file. He said that even if he did sign off on the drawing, the architects at LaDAMA would pick up on the mistake and reject it.
My heart sunk. I wasn't going to reschedule my departure flight again. I had already done this once and incurred a fee of £100.00.
He had a solution to the problem, he said. He asked one of the draftsmen to trace out a copy of the correct site plan for me. I was then to asked to take the page that had the error site plan to a photocopying shop and have the correct site plan imposed on the page that had the wrong site plan.
So here I was again back at SHC with the corrections waiting for the Senior Surveyor to turn up for work and do his job. Luckily for me the Senior Architect arrived at work and the receptionist, bless her, asked him to assist me.
In the end, which was around 4.30pm, my drawings had been stamped and I rushed down to LaDAMA in Labadi to apply for my building permit. I took the opportunity to ask my cousin to meet me there as I was flying back to the UK on the 7th of December and needed to introduce my cousin to my contact at LaDAMA. This was essential as I needed someone to chase up on getting the building permit issued as quick as possible.
By 6.30pm, I was done with LaDAMA.
I had to pay GHC 1,350.00. This is the breakdown
GHC 750.00 for the building permit
GHC 600.00 for Fire Report. Yes a Fire Report. The ground floor of the building I am putting up will serve as Open Offices, so I need a Fire Report from The Ghana Fire Service.
Lessons Learnt....
The minute you submit any form of documentation to a Government agency to have something worked on for you, DO NOT assume that your request will filter up/down to the end stage because it is being actioned by the relevant people involved to get it completed. Follow up on it the next day, and the next. Actually follow up on it EVERY day until whatever your request is has been completed.