An association of Kenyan engineers has called on the government to carry an audit on all foreign engineers working in the country, decrying the increasing numbers of the expatriates.
The Forum for Restoration of Professional Engineering in Kenya (Forpe) said that a report by the Registrar of the Engineers Board of Kenya (EBK) indicated that the country only has five foreign engineers yet the number is more.
Forpe Organising Secretary Martin Aluga said that according to a 2019 gazette notice by the EBK registrar, the five temporary engineers are two Ugandans, one Jamaican, a Serbian and a Rwandese with no engineer from either China or Japan.
CHINESE ENGINEERS
“This means that no single engineer from China or Japan is working in Kenya. This is not true as the construction sector in the country is flooded by expatriates with most coming from China and Japan,” said Mr Aluga while addressing journalists in Nairobi.
He now wants the Ministry of Transport and Infrastructure and that of Interior to carry out an audit to determine the number of all foreign engineers working in the country and the numbers made public.
SECURITY
Mr Aluga also called on the government to guarantee the safety and security of local engineers working with their foreign counterparts as well as address their welfare and working conditions with the employers.
“We condemn physical attacks on engineers, especially from the Chinese, in the course of their duties as well as unlawful dismissals. Kenya should not have foreigners working in engineering projects which can be handled by local engineers,” he said.
EBK MEMBERS
The association also urged the government to expeditiously appoint members of EBK which has been missing in action since March.
They gave Transport CS James Macharia two weeks to do so failure to which they said they will petition the President to take action.
“The parent ministry started the process of constituting the board in March but six months later the process has not been concluded even though nominations were concluded in March 2019.
“The absence of the board has affected the registration of engineers and inspection of construction sites and this has put the safety of the public at risk,” he said.
INTERNSHIPS
At the same time, Mr Aluga called on the government to develop and ratify a national policy on structured engineering apprenticeship programme that will make it mandatory for graduates to get sponsored internship from the government before their licensing.
This, he explained, will help bridge the ever widening gap between professional and graduate engineers in the country which stands at 2,046 against 13,178.
He noted that EBK advertised for only 40 slots out of the 13,178 in its register without a proper schedule for the remaining ones.
“It is mandatory for a graduate engineer to undergo a practical three-year internship under the supervision of a professional engineer after graduating from engineering school yet there are no guidelines on where to train with the existing administrative policy handicapped and unfinanced,” said the organising secretary.