By Nasratu Kargbo
Members of Parliament have unanimously agreed that an engineer should have had at least twelve years’ experience before being part of the Professional Engineering Regulatory Council. This caveat was made on the 1st March 2022 in parliament whilst debating on the bill entitled “Professional Engineering Regulatory Council Act 2022”.
Parliament came to the twelve years consensus after a heated debate over the initial law had stated that engineers should have at least fifteen years’ experience before joining the council. MP Abdul Kargbo who is an engineer argued that the law limits young people from being part of the council and therefore pleaded that the number of years is reduced to ten.
Kargbo added that this law has over the years served as a discriminatory factor for young engineers, stressing that fifteen years was too much. He said that if that’s the case, then the council will include mostly old engineers.
MP Daniel Koroma also agreed with Kargbo, but from a different perspective. He suggested that all legislation should be uniform and mentioned the white paper’s recommendation that states that qualification for one to be a high court judge is ten years. He, therefore, pleaded that the requirement for the Professional Engineering Regulatory Council to be ten or twelve years.
The Speaker Abass Cherenor Bundu had insisted on fifteen years, noting that they should not water down the profession, but at the end of the day, the house was able to come to a compromise and agreed on twelve years.
MPs also spoke firmly on gender equality, laying emphasis that women should be given the opportunity to be part of the council, and also stated that the fine for impersonation should be ten million Leones or three years imprisonment. Other aspects such as administration, the composition of the executive, etc. were thoroughly examined by the committee of the house.
The Deputy Minister of Works and Public Assets Philip Tetema Tondoneh assured the MPs that the ministry will ensure the Act is implemented, adding that office spaces will be created, recruitment made and professionals registered.
The Professional Engineering Regulatory Council Act was established to regulate all engineering practices in the country. The law regulates practices in the profession which include registration, discipline amongst many other things.
After the bill went through examination by the committee of the house, parliament passed the bill into law, with some amendments.
Copyright © 2022 Politico Online (02/03/22)
