Asenso-Boakye charges engineering council to ensure sector professionalism

The Minister for Works and Housing, Francis Asenso-Boakye has inaugurated a six-member Technical Committee of the Engineering Council with a call on the regulating body to use every legal means available in the Act that established the institution to ensure that industry practice is well regulated to secure the highest professional standards in Accra.

The Engineering Council is a regulatory body under the Ministry of Works and Housing, mandated by the Council’s Regulations, 2020 (L.I. 2410) to among other things, certify and license individuals and appropriate corporate engineering bodies for initial and continuing registration as stipulated by law under the Engineering Council Act, 2011 (Act 819) while ensuring that members undertake works in accordance with the highest standards of engineering practice in the country.

The Works and Housing Minister observed that though majority of engineers go through rigorous professional training to maintain high professional standards, some few engineers do not.

This situation, Asenso-Boakye observed, has resulted in the collapse of buildings and other forms of infrastructure with projects failing to meet their design lives due to poor engineering.

Asenso-Boakye indicated that the provision of infrastructural base to support the country’s growth requires forward thinking and innovative engineering input, noting that the Technical Committees are expected to work with all relevant stakeholders, locally and internationally to meet global engineering standards.

“Our engineers cannot make much impact if they operate in isolation. They do not only have to interact with the public, but also, with their international counterparts with whom they can share knowledge and experiences to enrich the profession in the country” the Minister said.

With increasing technological advancement in engineering, Asenso-Boakye challenged the Education and Training Committee to develop and promote educational programmes that will stir up the innovative capacities of engineers towards addressing existing challenges in the country’s efforts to meet the Sustainable Development Goals.

The inaugurated Six Technical Committees are Finance and Administration, License and Registration, Standards and Professional Practice, Public and International Affairs, Disciplinary, Ethics and Legal and Education and Training.

The Chairman for the Licensing and Registration Committee, Dr Kwame Boakye, urged members of all the Committees to strive to build a strong engineering community guided by the ethos and principles of the Engineering Council.

Philip Asiawo

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