By eastafrican gazette
The Society of Professional Physical Planners of Uganda has elected its first leadership in an attempt to combat fraudulent physical planners.
This comes as the government has launched a crackdown on imposters posing as physical planners in the sector.
Amanda Ngabirano, Chairperson of the National Physical Planning Board, expressed concern about unscrupulous physical planners who have engaged in poor planning practices, which are a major source of poor development plans, unethical planning practices, and violations of minimum physical planning standards.
“For every profession, there are always those bad elements that come in, and they come in even more if we don’t have a body that controls and regulates the entry of such professions. So we have been having them, and now we think this is going to stop. The quacks have been there; the quacks will still be there, but that is the work of the body to catch the quacks and expose them to the public,” she adds.
Physical planning involves designing and organizing physical spaces in urban or rural areas to ensure efficient land use, infrastructure development, and environmental sustainability.
![](https://eastafricangazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Ngabirano.jpg)
Now the new leadership and professionals in the same field is to help the government weed out the quacks.
The leadership consists of a nine-member council led by Charles Nampendho. They now replace the interim council, which was commissioned by the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development in 2023 under Section 23 (5) of the Physical Planners Registration Act 2023, which required them to hold elections within a year.
The leadership aims to ensure that only the correct people do the job by bringing all physical planners together.
They also expect that their leadership will foster positive working relationship with the numerous Local Governments, which was previously lacking.
![](https://eastafricangazette.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Physical-planners-after-elections-1024x682.jpg)
Nampendho stated that the new leadership will strengthen accountability for the job of physical planners and eliminate subpar physical planners.
The Physical Planners Registration Bill, 2020, was introduced to Parliament by the Ministry of Lands, Housing, and Urban Development to address the issue of errant physical planners and other difficulties in the physical planning industry, which was passed by Parliament into law, and signed by President Yoweri Museveni.
The Physical Planners’ Registration Act, among others, establishes the Physical Planners Registration Board, provides for the registration of physical planners, and provides for disciplinary procedures for errant physical planners.