Army engineers to get certified
Eng. Odongo addresses engineers. PHOTO BY EPHRAIM KASOZI
What you need to know:
Professionals. Arrangements have been finalized to certify 60 engineers whose applications have been pending approval before the board.
Uganda Engineers Registration Board (UERB) has started outreach programmes to certify professional engineers.
The move, according to Eng. Michael Odongo, the chairman of UERB, seeks to develop numbers of certified professionals to compete with other countries in the East African Community.
“We have professionals with right qualifications, doing excellent work that we want to promote and certify,” he said.
“Government is pushing to create a medium income economy and we must have high class structures like roads, bridges and engineering is the core agenda,” he added.
Eng. Odongo, also the Executive Director of the Uganda Road Fund made the remarks during a meeting with officers of the Engineering Brigade in the Uganda Peoples’ Defence Force (UPDF) at Mbuya.
He described the UPDF as a fertile ground for professional development but insisted that the engineers in the respective departments needed to adhere to the rules governing profession.
The law provides that all engineers, upon attainment of a degree in engineering should first work as a junior engineer for a minimum of two years, and then hold a position of responsibility of an engineer for another two years under supervision by a senior person.
Eng. Odongo said that certification of graduate engineers is one measure to use to promote artisans (diploma holders) and nurture them into professional and experienced personnel with a view of eliminating masqueraders and quacks from the profession.
Eng. John Bosco Kariisa, the Assistant Commissioner in the Ministry of Defence welcomed the move, saying engineering ethics and quality of work at the UPDF goes hand in hand with life.
“We are taking the issue very serious that we are going to communicate it to management to pick it pass it into order. This is because our people (engineers) have done great jobs in the various operations where engineering has been at the center like building defence bases, creating security roads and protecting lives,” said Eng. Kariisa.
