Malawi VP Chilima challenges engineers to up standards
Vice President Saulos Chilima on Friday opened a virtual Malawi Engineering Institution Annual General Meeting (AGM) from his office at the seat of government Capital Hill in Lilongwe with a call to the engineers to up standards in the delivery of services to the nation.
Chilima emphasized that the engineering profession is among the pivotal professions that are key to the attainment of the Tonse Alliance agenda and its services cut across the administration’s conjoined manifesto.
However, the Vice President bemoaned the poor quality of infrastructures mushrooming in the country’s cities, strategic towns and trading centres, saying this is a demonstration that there is still room for improvement in the sector.
“Recently, we have witnessed infrastructure failures. For example, failed bridge embankment at Chapananga in Chikwawa, collapsed Biti Kalanje bridge in Mangochi and many other project failures, not to mention poor quality infrastructures that have mushroomed in our towns and cities,” said Chilima.
He continued: “ I therefore, urge the new board to commit to ensuring that engineers remain professional by maintaining their standards, acquiring new knowledge, upholding professional code of ethics and being patriotic to their professional calling.”
Chilima, who is also Minister of Economic Planning and Development and Public Sector Reforms,
said the AGM provides an opportunity to celebrate the important contributions of engineers and engineering to sustainable development and good life and to usher in a new lease of life to the profession by electing the first ever MEI Board of Directors.
The country’s second-in-command emphasized that engineers are very critical with regard to achieving Sustainable Development Goals, observing that they are the ones who develop and implement technologies and systems.
“It is engineers who develop transport, communication, energy, mining, agriculture, manufacturing and other various infrastructures such as roads and bridges. It is engineers who come up with innovations that benefit the people and enable them lead a better life among other activities.
“Therefore, it is against this background that Government has been in the forefront in ensuring that our engineers have the space to be able to offer the best services in the country. Therefore, the ever-rising stakeholder expectations and an increasing desire for quality in engineering infrastructure provides a reasonable justification that this new lease of life to the engineering fraternity, will bring in the much-needed competence, professionalism, quality and ethics,” said the Vice President.
He further stated that the Tonse Administration denotes that the engineering profession ought to be at the core of delivery of an enabling environment for economic development.
Chilima therefore urged those to be elected into the MEI Board to commit to work closely with the government to ensure that the aspirations and expectations of the people of Malawi are fulfilled.
“We demand nothing less than high quality professional advice and engagement with Government and other stakeholders. As the Honourable Deputy Minister has mentioned, the Malawi Engineering Institution Act of 2019 repealed the Engineers Act (1972) in order to provide a stronger and more effective legal framework. This was done in order to address challenges and promote quality and ethical practice of engineering.”
He said the new Board should therefore be committed to the implementation of the provisions of the Act to ensure that the desired outcomes and benefits of the Act are accelerated for the good of the people of Malawi,.
Recently, President.Lazarus Chakwera launched the National Transformational 2063 Agenda linked to the continental/African-driven aspirations manifested in Agenda 2063.
Chilima therefore stressed that the achievement of high quality standards in the infrastructure sector will clearly demonstrate the MEI‘s influence in the realization of the ambitious agenda.
He called on engineers to think outside the box.
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I am glad that Newton Kambala a D6 Engineer from Poly is in cabinet. He will advise you better.
Challenge engineers to do what
Fix the economy first then challenges can come
The only challenge to engineering standards is political influence and tendering processes.The lowest bidder is to do the project.This purely dilutes standards because engineers are forced to do chop chop job just to look cost effective but compromising strength and quality of infrastructures.
The challenge is we are under not serious. engineers are turned into administrators as trainee managers. the work they do is nothing to do with problem solving. Lecturers without industry experience is another problem. lets challenge them and see whether they are really failures as you say. provide them with resources. mukalankhulenso kwa amene amachita za town planning. they should go into districts and help town expansion projects. Towns boundaries are being extended without services. shame.
As long we know the word standard only as a brand name of a bank, as long we have an office under government called Malawi Bureau of Standards, which does nothing apart from running after money instead to teach us and improve standards! As long there is no standard followed in public offices and institutions ( even learning institutions), because corruption and fraud is rampant, you Mr VP can not expect, that it will be different amongst engineers! Look at ESCOM, Waterboards, Roadfunds and so on. Engineers are misused by politicians like you for the sake of money, money and… Read more »
All we hear is I challenge I challenge.
It’s easy to challenge.
“Chilikwanzako nkumati chigwire mnyanga”
Am glad the DP spoke to these guys. To be honest our engineers in Malawi have got everything to be ashamed of. If you consider that these guys go through rigorous training and that they are supposed to be creators of solutions related to infrasture development, am sorry to say their training and the results we see in this country we can safely say we have nothing to be proud of. These guys are lagging behind in designing and quality control. They haven’t pushed enough that we have approved materials in the building industry. Why are we still using inferior… Read more »
I 9agree with you. The engineers are to blame ethically. They have accepted to be used by politicians in exchange with materialistic cosmetic life. They have failed to stand up for their hardly earned knowledge ,principles and values of engineering. Their contact with politicians have left them with the deadly contagious Corruption disease.
Possibly the university may introduce Engineering Ethics in the engineering curriculum .
Further, some of these people heading engineering organisations are nit engineers yet they sit in meetings and make decisions and commitments on behalf of engineers.
“Infrastructure of a nation speak about the Engineers”. Let me tell you no Engineer takes his own money to develop infrastructure. The will of those in power decide what and Engineer does.
The Mchinji road round about should be redone by who ever did it
It is upside down and topples o we
The land trains as they go around on
The same spot b about six trucks
Have toppled and lives and ngoods
At high risk
Hmm.. bwana you keep repeating this same old statement, which makes it just all talk.
You start led ‘saying’ this since you were in DPP, maybe it’s high time you stop ‘saying’ and start DOING something about it.
Yes look at the round about at MRAMc
Mchinji road,
This was too poorly done and we have had over six heavy land trains top over
On the same spot on the round about
Just because some of these Engineers
Seem not to understand the laws of motion.
That round about should BN have had what bwe call in physics BANKING
ANGLE ,SO AS TO HOLD THE VEHICLE’S
ON THE ROAD ON THE ROUND ABOUT ESPECIALLY
WHO ACTUALLY DID THIS ROUND ABOUT AND SHOULD DEFINITELY REDO
IT TO SAVE LIVES AND GOODS
Let’s wait and see the fruits of this meeting.
All these structures mushrooming across our main citties …. One asks do we really have leadership in this nation? Or else maybe as a nation we are still sleeping?
If Kamuzu engaged a red star campaign more than 25 years ago what more today?