The Ghana Institution of Engineering (GhIE) has officially licenced and inducted 57 beneficiary-artisans under its Craftsmen Register. The induction was held at the Engineers Centre in Accra on Monday as part of GhIE Annual Conference and Engineering week celebration, on-going in Accra from 28th March – 1st April 2022.
The induction marks official and legal acceptance of the artisans, who are beneficiaries of the Professionalisation of Artisans (ProfArts) projects, into the Engineering Council.
In his welcome address, Executive Director of GhIE Ing. David Nyante said a few years ago the GhIE embraced all engineering practitioners (craftsmen, technicians, technologists and engineers), hence changing the name from the Ghana Institution of Engineers to the Ghana Institution of Engineering; thus leaving no engineering practitioner behind in professionalising the practice of engineering.
He explained that these first-ever inductees have been possible because they took the opportunity offered by GhIE partners (Invest for Jobs of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and its implementing partners, GIZ GmbH, Vodafone Ghana, Robert Bosch Ghana, the Consolidated Bank Ghana and UVEX Arbeitsschutz GmbH, whose joint efforts have seen a successful implementation of the first phase of the ProfArts Project to professionalise them – so today thy can be inducted as craftsmen of the Ghana Institution of Engineering.
President of the GhIE, Prof. Charles Anum Adams, told the craftsmen inductees: “Today is a very important milestone in your career, where you are being admitted into a professional association and your names are being entered into the licencing register as professional craftsmen. It is a big deal, and you have every reason to be glad”.
The GhIE President said his institution envisages bringing over 2,000 craftsmen into the Institution before the end of his tenure as President. He therefore called on government to set up a professional apprenticeship scheme, as a healthy job creation strategy for the youth in professional trades which have future relevance.
Chairman of the Membership Committee of GhIE, Ing. Dr. Patrick A. Bekoe, explained that a total of 57 candidates in 4 Technical Divisions were given approval by Council, after going through rigorous training and meeting the minimum academic experience requirement stipulated in the Constitution and Bye Laws of the Institution. These candidates were selected from the Gt. Accra, Ashanti and Northern Regions. “Those who were inducted today were selected from Gt. Accra Region to mark the start of our Annual Engineering Conference,” Ing. Bekoe added. The 57 inductees included 27 Civil ProfArts, 6 Mechanical/Agric ProfArts and 24 Electrical/Electronic ProfArts.
In his remarks, Mr. John Duti, Team Leader of Invest for Jobs at GIZ-Ghana, stated that the ProfArts project is intended to improve the employment situation of local artisans and micro-enterprises in the construction sector and associated value chain – through technical skill upgrade training, business skills training, tool training, financial literacy training, and licencing under the Ghanaian craftsmen register of the Ghana Institution of Engineering.
The Director-General of Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET), Mrs. Mawusi Nudekor Awity, expressed delight and appreciation to GhIE and its partners for the initiative of bringing all artisans under the GhIE umbrella. She assured the institution of her office’s full support to the program, because it falls directly in line with the TVET mandate to equip people with the technical and professional skills needed for socioeconomic and industrial development of the country.
The Special Guest, Mr. Richard Adarkwah – who is also a craftsman, advised all craftsmen that the GhIE doors are open-wide to all craftsmen. He advised the newly-inducted professional artisans to let their work speak for itself, improve their working environment, work as professionals, and register their businesses so they can issue correct invoices and accept cheques from customers. He also reminded them to be identified by uniforms, keep good accounting books and resist profligate expenses so that they can make future progress
