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04.02.2009 Business & Finance

Shield Premium Paint supports GIA…to flush out quack Architects

04.02.2009 LISTEN
By Daniel Nonor - Ghanaian Chronicle

The increasing number of quack Architects in the country has prompted the former President of the Ghana Institute of Architects (GIA), Architect William Nii Teiko Evans-Anfom to appeal to the public to help smoke out such characters. “It is against the law for anyone to use the title of an Architect, if one had not been certified as a professional Architect,” said Mr. Evans Anfom.

Speaking at the Institute's induction ceremony of new officers of the GIA for the 2008 to 2010 period in Accra, Mr. Evans-Anfom revealed that the Architects Registration Council, in collaboration with GIA, had put together a monitoring committee and would depend on members of the public to help track the quack ones in their midst.

According to the out-going GIA boss, the main problem confronting the Institute had to do with the monitoring and enforcement of building and planning regulations, saying “Though the regulations exist, their enforcement suffered from political interference from the work of the Town and Country Planning authorities, under staffing and lack of capacity building of staff.

He noted that a research conducted with the support of the Business and Advocacy challenge (BUSAC) fund, the GIA was ready to deal with some of the problems and constraints of the building regulations in the country, and stated that some people out of ignorance often built without the appropriate permit.

Ms Josephine Akoto-Bamfo, who took the audience through some of the research findings on the theme -”Addressing the adverse impact of non-enforcement of building and development controls” pointed out that “A lot of buildings permits were pending at districts offices across the country because Municipal & Districts Chief Executives(MDCEs) had not had time to approve them.” She said.

She suggested the introduction of Information Communication Technology (ITC) in the approval of permits and urged the government to set up a development court to prosecute offenders of building regulations in Ghana.

The ceremony also witnessed the handing over of the the GIA presidency from Architect William Nii Teiko Evans-Anfom to Architect Osei Kwame Agyeman.

Shield Premium paint, currently the brand that has been the preference for the building industry and a top range acrylic paint on the local market sponsored the program.

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