Eng. Margaret Ogai Championing Engineering Excellence And Public Safety

By John Kar­iu­ki

Worth Not­ing:

• Ogai did not shy away from address­ing the crit­i­cal issue of com­pli­ance and pro­fes­sion­al integri­ty. She reit­er­at­ed the Board’s unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to ensur­ing strict adher­ence to the Engi­neer­ing Code of Con­duct, warn­ing that errant prac­ti­tion­ers would face dis­ci­pli­nary action.
• “We’ve observed a wor­ry­ing trend where unli­censed indi­vid­u­als are tak­ing on engi­neer­ing work meant for qual­i­fied pro­fes­sion­als. This not only under­mines the pro­fes­sion but also pos­es seri­ous risks to pub­lic safe­ty. We must upscale com­pli­ance efforts and pro­tect the integri­ty of engi­neer­ing ser­vices,” she stat­ed.
• To stream­line enforce­ment, Eng. Ogai revealed a for­ward-think­ing plan to estab­lish a cen­tral­ized, inte­grat­ed licens­ing por­tal. This dig­i­tal plat­form will enhance trans­paren­cy, boost reg­u­la­tion, and ensure that only qual­i­fied engi­neers prac­tice in the coun­try.

Eng. Mar­garet Ogai, the Reg­is­trar and Chief Exec­u­tive Offi­cer of the Engi­neers Board of Kenya (EBK), cap­ti­vat­ed audi­ences dur­ing a live media break­fast inter­view on Tues­day morn­ing. The ses­sion, host­ed by one of the country’s lead­ing media hous­es, was themed “Reg­u­lat­ing Engi­neer­ing Ser­vices for Pub­lic Safe­ty and Welfare”—a sub­ject she addressed with remark­able clar­i­ty and author­i­ty.

Under Eng. Ogai’s vision­ary lead­er­ship, Kenya’s engi­neer­ing pro­fes­sion has wit­nessed a remark­able trans­for­ma­tion, earn­ing both local and glob­al recog­ni­tion. She empha­sized the piv­otal role engi­neers play in dri­ving nation­al growth and devel­op­ment, not­ing that the country’s progress—from expan­sive road net­works to tow­er­ing skyscrapers—is a direct result of home­grown engi­neer­ing excel­lence.

A trail­blaz­er in her own right as the first female CEO of the EBK, Eng. Ogai proud­ly high­light­ed strides made in pro­mot­ing gen­der equal­i­ty with­in the pro­fes­sion. She revealed that out of the 22,000 engi­neer­ing stu­dents cur­rent­ly pur­su­ing degrees in Kenyan uni­ver­si­ties, at least 30% are women—a notable improve­ment in a field his­tor­i­cal­ly dom­i­nat­ed by men.

“We are work­ing tire­less­ly with like-mind­ed insti­tu­tions to mar­ket engi­neer­ing as a lucra­tive career choice while also dis­man­tling the out­dat­ed stereo­types that have long dis­cour­aged women from join­ing the pro­fes­sion,” she affirmed.

Eng. Ogai did not shy away from address­ing the crit­i­cal issue of com­pli­ance and pro­fes­sion­al integri­ty. She reit­er­at­ed the Board’s unwa­ver­ing com­mit­ment to ensur­ing strict adher­ence to the Engi­neer­ing Code of Con­duct, warn­ing that errant prac­ti­tion­ers would face dis­ci­pli­nary action.

“We’ve observed a wor­ry­ing trend where unli­censed indi­vid­u­als are tak­ing on engi­neer­ing work meant for qual­i­fied pro­fes­sion­als. This not only under­mines the pro­fes­sion but also pos­es seri­ous risks to pub­lic safe­ty. We must upscale com­pli­ance efforts and pro­tect the integri­ty of engi­neer­ing ser­vices,” she stat­ed.

To stream­line enforce­ment, Eng. Ogai revealed a for­ward-think­ing plan to estab­lish a cen­tral­ized, inte­grat­ed licens­ing por­tal. This dig­i­tal plat­form will enhance trans­paren­cy, boost reg­u­la­tion, and ensure that only qual­i­fied engi­neers prac­tice in the coun­try.

Eng. Mata­lan­ga, a respect­ed con­sult­ing engi­neer and a mem­ber of the World Fed­er­a­tion of Engi­neer­ing Organ­i­sa­tions (WFEO) Exec­u­tive Board, echoed Eng. Ogai’s sen­ti­ments on the need for strin­gent reg­u­la­tion in the indus­try. Speak­ing as a sea­soned prac­ti­tion­er, he empha­sized the neces­si­ty of engi­neers exe­cut­ing their work with high lev­els of accu­ra­cy and pre­ci­sion.

“Engi­neer­ing is a dis­ci­pline where even the small­est mis­take can have cat­a­stroph­ic con­se­quences. Poor­ly exe­cut­ed projects lead to infra­struc­ture fail­ures, loss of lives, and destruc­tion of prop­er­ty, such as build­ing col­laps­es. We must ensure that all engi­neer­ing work is done by licensed and com­pe­tent pro­fes­sion­als to safe­guard pub­lic safe­ty,” Eng. Mata­lan­ga stat­ed.

His insights rein­forced the impor­tance of eth­i­cal prac­tice and adher­ence to pro­fes­sion­al stan­dards in pre­vent­ing dis­as­ters and ensur­ing the dura­bil­i­ty of Kenya’s infra­struc­ture.

Look­ing beyond Kenya’s bor­ders, Eng. Ogai out­lined a bold vision to secure inter­na­tion­al accred­i­ta­tion for Kenya’s engi­neer­ing pro­grams. She announced that the Board had recent­ly under­gone an assess­ment by inter­na­tion­al eval­u­a­tors, a cru­cial step in ensur­ing Kenyan engi­neers can seam­less­ly work abroad with­out under­go­ing addi­tion­al train­ing.

“Our goal is to have inter­na­tion­al­ly accred­it­ed pro­grams so that when our engi­neers seek employ­ment in Aus­tralia, Europe, or any oth­er part of the world, their qual­i­fi­ca­tions will be rec­og­nized. This will not only ele­vate their careers but also address the glob­al short­age of engi­neer­ing pro­fes­sion­als,” she not­ed.

Eng. Ogai con­clud­ed by urg­ing the pub­lic to active­ly par­tic­i­pate in safe­guard­ing the pro­fes­sion. She empha­sized the impor­tance of con­sult­ing licensed engi­neers for any tech­ni­cal projects to ensure pub­lic safe­ty.

“Engi­neer­ing is at the heart of our country’s devel­op­ment. By work­ing together—professionals, insti­tu­tions, and the public—we can build a safer, more pros­per­ous Kenya,” she said pas­sion­ate­ly.

As Eng. Mar­garet Ogai and oth­er key fig­ures like Eng. Mata­lan­ga con­tin­ue to advo­cate for reg­u­la­to­ry com­pli­ance, gen­der inclu­siv­i­ty, and glob­al recog­ni­tion, Kenya’s engi­neers are well-posi­tioned to play a cru­cial role in both nation­al and inter­na­tion­al devel­op­ment.