The Ministry of Lands, Housing and Urban Development has rejected the proposal by architects in Uganda to be categorized as physical planners, saying these are different professions.
Government’s position was pronounced by Judith Nabakooba (pictured above), Minister of Lands while appearing before Parliament’s Physical Infrastructure Committee and Ministry of Lands that is scrutunising The Physical Planners Registration Bill 2021.
Nabakooba warned the Committee from falling for schemes by architects and surveyors, saying if they want to be registered as Physical Planners, they should go back to school and acquire requisite qualifications in order to earn the privilege instead of making ambiguous demands.
“They want physical planners to remain ambiguous and not streamlined yet Government has prioritised regulating physical planning to avoid disaster like is happening in other nations where slums are everywhere,” Nabakooba explained.
She added: “We can’t say you don’t work together but that doesn’t stop us from streamlining. Many people have been practicing physical planning in quotes, but it doesn’t mean they went to school and acquired a degree or diploma in physical planning. Some could have acquired skills through experience, but there are those who went to school and studied physical planning.”
Nabakooba’s remarks were in response to questions raised by MPs who sought Government’s position on request by Association of Uganda Architects to have architects registered as physical planners and why the Bill doesn’t provide for special exams for them to qualify as physical planners.
Robert Kasolo (Iki Iki County) remarked, “The architects are also coming on board to say, they have been doing physical planning, they study physical planning for a year and the practice in other countries is that architects who specialize in physical planning are no longer architects, what is your view on that?”
Amanda Ngabirano, Chairperson Physical Planning Board told the Committee that the battle for recognition between architects and physical planning has been going on world over and in Uganda, yet the two professions should be complementing each other but also respect the boundaries of each profession.
Ngabirano explained, “There is no physical planner who should claim that he is an architect and vis-as-vie unless they study a post graduate, unless if they specialize in urban planning but that doesn’t make you a profession that we should call them physical planners.”
She cited an architectural mistake committed around garden city in Kampala where the outlet and inlet to the facility enter into a roundabout.
To seal off the protest was Vincent Byendamira Ateenyi, Acting Director, Physical Planning at Ministry of Lands wondered why architects want to be registered as architects yet they don’t have the same provision in the Architects Act to have Physical Planners registered as architects.
“I thank the architects for wanting to associate as physical planners, but it is only in Uganda where other professionals would want to be registered as physical planners. For me I don’t see why architects want to do that,” said Byendamira.
According to Minister Nabakooba, The Physical Planners Registration Bill 2021 was enacted in order to provide a legal framework for the profession, whose players have operated without any legal framework thus exposing it to unethical planning practices and violation of minimum physical planning standards.
“This has led to degradation of the environment, encroachment on public areas such as open spaces and road reserves, depletion of natural resources and disorganized urban and rural,” said Nabakooba.
Gideon Thembo (Busongora South) however described the bill as shallow, saying it falls short of providing punitive measures to curtail unethical practices among physical planners.
However, Minister Nabakooba denied the allegations citing a provision that seeks to criminalise fraudulent practices where anyoe found guilty of causes or permiting an incorrect entry into register or falsely pretends to be a physical planner is liable on conviction to pay a fine of 48 currency points equivalent to Shs960,000 or imprisonment 2years or both.
