Law to fill critical void, architects say

An imminent legislation governing architecture and engineering services in the country, once enacted, will fill a critical void by enabling practitioners to limit chaotic operations, provide quality services and be competitive in the region and afar, the president of the Architects Association of Rwanda (AAR), Vianney H.J. Kamiya, told The New Times on Wednesday.The Minister of Infrastructure, Albert Nsengiyumva, had on Tuesday tabled the bill in the Chamber of Deputies, urging the House to prioritise it as there was no law governing architects and engineers in the country.According to the AAR President, the current void in the legal framework is a major hindrance especially as local practitioners are not legally recognised or well-organised to appropriately cooperate with key international groupings.“This law comes in to fill the void so that we can have a level (playing) field that we can base on to see how to best serve the community,” Kamiya said.“It is going to give us a legal framework to work with our colleagues from other countries – member institutes of the African Union of Architecture (AUA), the East Africa Institute of Architects (EAIA), and the International Union of Architects (IUA), a global network dedicated to the architectural profession”.He noted that the law would act as an incentive “to enhance the profession. “When we go to countries where they have bodies of registration, the question we are asked is ‘are you registered or not?’ There are many people out there practicing but we do not know who they are and how many they are, but those who are in our records are about 30. Those who have fulfilled all the requirements are just about 15.”Kamiya noted that the law would also help consumers because once the profession is well-organised, architects and engineers would not do things arbitrarily.Meanwhile, architects in the East African Community (EAC) met in Kampala, Uganda, in July last year, to sign an agreement to operates across borders without restraints.

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Law to fill critical void, architects say