THE Engineering Institution of Zambia (EIZ) has elected George Sitali as its new president to replace Bernard Chiwala.
And Works and Supply Minister Yamfwa Mukanga has urged EIZ to position itself as Government national advisor on technology and national development.
Stephen Simukanga was elected as vice president for membership and Continuous Professional Development (CPD) while Abel Ngandu was elected as vice president for finance and administration.
Evans Mauta was elected as EIZ vice president in charge of policy, public relations and national development committee.
Returning officer Selane Mwenechanya announced the results at AVANI Victoria Falls Victoria Falls on Saturday after the EIZ Annual General Meeting (AGM).
Eugene Haanzele was elected as Engineering Organisations’ representative while Lillian Muwina was elected as Engineers’ representative.
Elizabeth Namakando was elected as Technologists’ representative while Cosmas Chuula was elected as craft persons’ representative.
Speaking during the official opening for the EIZ dinner on Saturday night, Mr Mukanga said EIZ should position itself as Government national advisor on technology and national development.
Mr Mukanga, who is also an engineer by profession, said most of the challenges affecting the country needed an engineering input and hence engineers should not relent.
“His Excellence, the President of the Republic of Zambia Mr Edgar Lungu is interested in working with EIZ and he is proud of your contribution to national development.
“Therefore, let is position ourselves as Government advisors’ number one from this year and many more years to come,” Mr Mukanga said.
He said Zambia could develop and achieve sustainable development if engineers deliberately took upon it themselves to be involved in developing the nation.
“Let us go home and create industries that will generate a new Zambia full of employment. An industrialised economy is a sustainable one while manufacturing and innovation are key to national development.
“We need to change this notion of trading as a nation. Zambia has resources and we need innovative ideas and start manufacturing to grow our economy and start buying Zambian products,” Mr Mukanga said.
He said Zambia could not continue to be importing products and hence engineers should help to come up with new ideas to develop the domestic economy.
And Mr Sitali said the current economic situation in the country presented challenges and opportunities for engineering professionals.
Mr Sitali called for team among all engineering professionals in Zambia to promote the country’s development agenda.
Speaking at the same dinner, Mr Chiwala said he was leaving the EIZ presidency better than when he found it saying the Institution was currently experiencing dramatic transformation.
EIZ also awarded 10 full scholarships to 10 engineering students at University of Zambia (UNZA), Copperbelt University (CBU), Natural Resources Development College (NRDC), Northern Technical College (NORTEC) and Lusaka Business and Technical College (LBTC).
certain institutions….!must be disbanded.we have more roads which do not meet the standards but certified by engineers to be fine.
Hope they`ll be change in the way EIZ does things. Every year we hear the same boring rhetoric from EIZ events. It is really sad that an institution that should`ve been taking a leading role in showing the nation how a professional association is run, seem to have no clue. At such an event EIZ members (from various streams) should have exhibited great engineering talent in terms various research and development initiatives, number of patents granted to EIZ members in the course of the year, exhibition of various innovative products and inventions designed by Zambian engineers. Zambia has young engineers with potential, what these young engineers lack is leadership from EIZ and veterans.
Engineers just on paper. Shame!
Negativity won’t take us anywhere let’s come up with constructive ideas and criticise in order to edify.
But it is ‘tulu’, our zambian engineers cannot even manufacture/design or make a simple ‘copper washer’ despite the enormous copper ore we have underground, simple fact….
Even just a razor blade.
the comments are harsh but true unfortunately.Those disagreeing,when did you ever hear of a zambian engineer make something from scratch ? they have zero innovation skills,lack confidence and simply depend on already made products which they just come to plug and play when they arrive in zambia.even maintenance and troubleshooting has to be done by experts from other nations in most cases.so where is engineering in zambia?we cannot even make a rock crushing machine for our women who sit by the roads crushing rocks just to earn a living.Surely the EIZ is a failed institution with no credibility.Indeed as been pointed out it’s just Engineers on paper…otherwise most(90%) of our Engineers are GARBAGE!!
Not really garbage, they need a reorientation on what an engineer is supposed to do. If an engineer does not invent anything in their life time, they`re not worth being called engineer.
engineers need funds,stop blaming them but the government i went to a government school and through out my high school stepped in the lab twice to perform mediocre experiments testing for protein with our own eggs and potatoes ,my point is engineering isnt cheap and if we as a country need to develop in that field funding will be required just as in the west most brilliant engineers had amazing ideas but did not have funds one such an individual is nikola tesla and those with funding prevailed like edson so before you start crucifying EIZ try to be rational,i am an engineer myself automation engineer and software engineer
Let us work together. I am a Chemist…
when you fail to make copper washers…….te!
MY BROTHER GEORGE CONGRATULATION FOR BEING ELECTED PRESIDENT OF EIZ. GOD BLESS YOU MY BROTHER, CONTINUE SEEKING GOD SO THAT YOU MAY FULFILL YOUR ROLE AS THE LIGHT AND SALT OF THE EARTH.
opa, funding is attracted by tangible projects and results. Name one multi-million project presented by EIZ, a bring child of Zambian Engineers? What I’m saying is, let our engineers abandon their closets and put on the armor of confronting today’s and future technology with ideas that will benefit ZAMBIA.
I don`t agree with you on funding. If one`s has a smart idea money is an issue. There so many companies looking for smart ideas to solve real problems. Go on Google and say you`ve an idea to solve a particular problem, you`ll be flooded with enquiries within hours.
Our engineers and scientists in Zambia are too traditional and academic.
It is unfortunate but true that their performance is dismal. However, the reason for that is most are not given the chance to prove themselves, instead being used as maintenance foreman etc. What innovation would one expect from them. Govt needs to fund research if we expect better!
Mukanga is being disingenuous. Lungu and PF are happy with Zambians being traders. They sneer day in, day out about bakachema. These PFools are afraid of any section of society that is independent of PF’s favours such as trading space between lanes on the roads. If engineers start showing their independence and, for example, question the bizzarely high cost of the “massive infrastructure developments”, be assured that the same Mukanga will come after their throats.
Software Engineers, exceptional!
Can someone design a nshima cooker please. We can’t be using cooking sticks forever.
Congrats to the new executive of EIZ
Isn’t the truth that at best you have misunderstood and at worst you are ignorant about what is expected of engineers? For example, why would any sane person or engineer for that matter want to spend scarce time and resources to “invent” a razor blade, design a machine to make the razor blade and then proceed to start manufacturing that razor blade? What would be the price of that razor blade? Who would fund such a project when razor blades were invented many years ago and are now available on the shelf at one kwacha?
@The Truth, speaking of misunderstanding, it’s either you are blind or deaf. Razor blades are not today’s invention more so is engineering. What people are trying to put across is the fruitless position assumed by our engineers. And there goes your fish story “Funding” bs.
Sir, any thing in existence or on the market cannot be an invention. Invention is novel i.e. not there anywhere in the whole world.
How much money is required to be spent on research, how much can you afford to allocate and how much does this country spend on research? Do you think that all engineers have to be designers? Are engineers from the developed world all design engineers and there are no engineers who do the many things that Zambian engineers do such as maintenance, trouble shooting, lecturing, software development etc? What about the engineers who install and maintain sophisticated equipment and make sure that it continues to operate satisfactorily without danger to the users? What about the engineers who assess and specify what is required for a particular application so that you the unappreciative consumers can enjoy your beer or milk without thinking twice how that consumable came to your table?
The biggest problem with our country is ignorance, especially ignorance of sophisticated fields like engineering. The unfortunate part of it is that the same ignorant chaps will claim to know it all and even try to drive national opinion. Just look at how the electricity load shedding due to low dam levels caused by poor rainfall was treated by even some so called national leaders? The comments were appallingly ignorant and at best smacked of someone drunk with a form of sophisticated illiteracy, and yet they expected us all to listen to them!
Congratulations Mr George Sitali for your recent election as the new President for the Engineering Institution of Zambia (EIZ). I pray and hope that you will execute the duties and objectives of your association with the level of passion this noble profession is currently crying out for. As a citizen, Engineers are custodians of the health & safety of its nationals when it comes to quality designs and integrity of buildings. The recent events of problems with designs and consequences of poorly executed building works in some parts of the world such as the flyover bridge project in India,collapsed office blocks in Nigeria, Collapsed Office blocks in Pakistan etc, should serve as a work up call for the all those trusted and delegated with the responsibilities to ensure that quality, health…
Dear Mr. George Sitali, In-coming EIZ President.
Here is a non-partisan project for the in-coming EIZ President to sink his teeth in and help generate revenue for our Country. It spans across a number of disciplines including Engineering (Fluid Mechanics, chemistry), among others.
As we all know, we live in a fluid of Air i.e. Atmosphere.
It is a fact that ZAMBIA pollutes the Atmosphere at a MUCH LOWER rate than the so-called developed Countries like here in UK. It is also a fact that OUR CARBON SINKS (virgin Forests) are working for other Countries around the World who are polluting more than us. Therefore, Zambia is in credit. As we know, these CARBON CREDITS and are measurable units under UN criteria.
Due to these facts, Zambia qualifies to sell some of its carbon credit to…
Cont’d … carbon credit to Countries that are polluting over their limit. A case in point, Kenya has been selling and raising revenue for years now.
Now, common sense tells me these carbon credits are NOT cumulative per Country year-on-year. So the question is:- Why are we not selling our carbon credits? We are definitely losing out as a nation year -on-year. Could it be we have not even done a feasibility study for our Country beyond what Satellite scanned images of our virgin forests have done?
The end result in this Project should be to earn money by selling Carbon Credits like Kenya. EIZ to provide leadership. Stand up and be counted for once. A template for Terms of Reference can be derived from info online.
Year of change indeed. First it was LAZ, now it is EIZ, next it is ECL.
Yes a year of change. Beware! change can be for worse or better, can only hope for the latter.
@ Monk Sq Analysis,IT WAS ALREADY DONE WAY BACK IN 1978 AT A JETS FAIR!!!THE USUAL FUNDING ISSUES OF A PRODUCTION LINE.THE TRUTH IS WE AS A COUNTRY MUST INVEST IN TECHNICAL EDUCATION AND MAKE IT FREE.AS OF TODAY WE HAVE GUYS ABUKUCHI KWAKWA MAKING THE USELESS DICISIONS .LOOK AT THE PROLIFIRATION OF UNIVERSITIES & THE COURSES THEY ARE OFFERING,IT IS A SCANDAL
………….Zambia as a country will not realize the benefits of Engineering as long as no monetary allocation is made for Research and Development. Also, as long as Zambia continue to promote Social Sciences at the expense of Technical courses (Engineering), surely, we will always continue to cry of lack of innovation and creativity among Engineers. Just look at what has happened to J.E.T.S. Does it receive the required support???? definitely, the answer is no!!!!!!!! ……….but it all starts from such Innovative grouping of young Technical people.