Halima Abdallah K
26 October 2008
Nairobi — Architects from East Africa want to play a more active role in government construction and planning departments to correct the current mess in the region's urban centres.
According to the architects, underqualified or unqualified personnel have usurped the role of professionals with political heads such as mayors and councillors taking over technical roles like approval of plans.
"The cities are not properly planned because we have left the planning to politicians -- mayors and councillors -- and locked out the professionals," said Gideon Mulyungi, president of the East Africa Institute of Architects and also Permanent Secretary in Kenya's Ministry of Works.
These views were expressed at the East Africa Institute of Architects tri-annual assembly held in Kampala recently. The meeting was held under the theme "Urban Development: The role of architects and the local authority."
Rwanda and Kenya are the leaders in East Africa in terms of employing the services of the architects in planning and designing.
In Rwanda, there is a masterplan for Kigali developed by architects while Kenya has an entire ministry -- Nairobi Metropolitan -- dedicated to re-planning and redesigning Nairobi and its outskirts to a radius of 100km.
In Uganda, the position of the architects falls below the city engineer, instead of the other way round. The lower position was even scrapped from Kampala City Council on World Bank advice, according to Kampala's Mayor Hajji Nasser Sebaggala.
Mr Sebaggala admits some shortfalls though: "We have not drawn a line between development and politics," he said.
However, politicians complained of lack of awareness of architectural services among the public. For those in the know, they added, the high fees that architect charge steer them towards cheaper, affordable draftsmen.
Also discussed was the continued collapse of buildings and construction sites in Kenya and Uganda. Architects and engineers put the blame on negligence and failure to use professionals.
Among the buildings that have collapsed recently in Uganda, only the NSSF building employed the services of professionals, according to the president of Uganda's Society of Architects, William Katatumba.
He added that architects need to be vigilant and see to it that professionalism prevails.
"The council will monitor the practices of members of the societies to ensure that quality of their work is of professional standards," said Mr Katatumba.
The architects plan to have a standard course in their universities and carry on accreditation for any university that opts to offer the course. In Uganda, there are only two accredited universities.
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