The report about investigations into a building that collapsed and killed six people last month has been made public. The report confirms worries of many who had suspected gross flouting of construction procedures as the cause.

There was gross disregard of basic construction rules in the building of the structure in Nyagatare District last month. The Report by the taskforce commissioned to investigate the catastrophe, which was made public has established.

The report notes that the cause of the building collapse was the use of poor construction materials not befitting a four storey structure. The Engineers body should take action against the engineer who was in charge of the project. Now, that the report has been released, the question is what next. We need to see action taken against those responsible and also to put stringent measures to avoid such occurrences in future.

The Engineer who was in charge of the project depicted a high level of professional negligence and a breach of the code of ethics and rules that govern engineers.

If this person was a registered engineer, punitive measures including de-registering him will send a strong warning to other Engineers that such gross professional dishonesty cannot be tolerated.  Such people put the profession in disrepute. 

Even reports that the owner of the building  had no papers as required by the law, allowing him to build a storey building, no clearance from the land centre, no plan of how the project would be implemented, and no architectural designs showing strength of the building, are  even more disturbing.   Punitive measures should be taken against those responsible to send a strong message to those who might want to do the same.