Board of architects’ bets on new legislation to gag fraud members

The regulatory board of architects and quantity surveyors (BORAQS) wants the proposed legislation which seeks to increase fines for rogue members to be fast-tracked in order to bar unqualified contactors from invading the industry as well as control frequent cases of buildings collapse.

The proposal by BORAQS seeks to raise penalty for members whose professional works result into destruction and deaths from poorly constructed buildings by up to Sh.1million from the current Sh5, 000 an architect is permitted to pay as a fine for unethical work.

“The current CAP is too low, we are banking on the revised one to help sort these problems that are traced to Quacks masquerading as professionals and rogue contractors who are responsible for shoddy work,” said boraqs chairman Cosmas Maweu, during the board’s ongoing Continuous Professional Development two-day seminar in Nairobi.

Draft policy was first schemed in February this year but is yet to come to force – barring the authority from issuing stiffer penalty to members found forfeiting its construction standards.

The Board said yesterday that it was optimistic the legislation would be achieved soon and that all the requirements were in place after presenting its recommendations to the Attorney General’s office and is currently awaiting the presentation of the proposal before the parliament passes it into law.

“Most of the work is nearly complete and upon its conclusion, the new law should pave way for the implementation of our five-year strategic plan which would then allow the Board to have a new inspectorate to oversee all the projects being undertaken across the country,” commented Moses Nyakiongera, Quantity surveyor in the Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban development, who said the enforcement of building laws and regulations has been hampered by acute lack of technical and supervisory staff.

Lands Ministry acting CS Fred Matiang’i further said that the ministry is in the process of beginning a review of Urban and Cities Act as a regulatory arrangement as an effort to attract investments in the building and construction industry.

The sector has registered a growth rate of over 400 percent in the last decade from Sh40billion to Sh200billion, and continues to witness intensive construction of several public and private building projects and other infrastructure projects.

“The ministry will ensure the country’s built environment is brought to standards similar to those in other parts of the world and through the board the legislation will seek to curb proliferation of poorly-constructed buildings,” he said.

Available data from the Ministry shows that over the last two decades Kenya has witnessed unprecedented urban growth which has severely strained the ability of urban area administrations to provide adequate professional services to match housing and related infrastructure demands.