Title: RICHARD WASIA: Kenyan university Senates: Who's who?
Thousands of graduates in Kenya find themselves at a crossroads, grappling with the inability to secure membership with professional bodies.
Despite amendments to the parliamentary acts aimed at accommodating emerging disciplines, the gatekeepers remain resolute in preserving the status quo. This situation has cast doubt on the legitimacy of professors and university senates for offering non-harmonised courses that can be contested by peers from other institutions.
Nairobi, Technical, Maseno and Kenyatta Universities assert a monopoly on recognition within the domain of registered physical planners, restricting the planning of built environments while neglecting the broader physical context.
Their graduates emerge as urban planners yet are registered solely as physical planners, whereas those graduating specifically as physical planners are compelled to pursue postgraduate in urban studies to attain recognition as such.
These assertions are contested by their counterparts from Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Massai Mara University, African Nazarene University and Jaramogi Oginga Odinga University. They contend that established programmes in non-built environments – such as land resource planning and management, land use planning and management, geography and agriculture and spatial and natural resource planning and management – are duly recognised by the Commission for University Education.
These curricula are meticulously designed to equip students with the scientific acumen and skills necessary to address complex issues in land management. The programmes cultivate physical planners and policy managers adept in land use planning across both private and public sectors.
Sustainable stewardship of land aligns with national land policy, effectively managing state, private and trust and community lands while providing a professional labour force of experts.
The regulator has been characterised as unjust in its preferential treatment of graduates from schools and departments within the built environment, while those from the non-built environments face the imposition of conditions necessitating the enhancement of their qualifications to postgraduate levels in urban studies-related disciplines.
Despite the significant backing from key funders, including the United Nations, the European Union and the Government of Kenya, for the physical planners in Kenya, advocating judicious management and utilisation of available land resources, gatekeeping has played a pivotal role in ensuring that urban land use professionals retain the authority to determine their preferred candidates for registration at the Physical Planner’s Registration Board.
It is rather absurd that the theme for the 18th annual planners’ conference, which took place last year in Mombasa county, was framed as: 'Planning towards sustainable food systems and ecosystems management; Realising a food secure and productive nation'. This year’s 19th annual regional planner’s convention, themed: Transformative planning for people, land and country; Strengthening land governance, food systems and climate resilience through inclusive development planning', reflects a burgeoning emphasis on planning that is not only people-centred but also geared towards the sustainability of food production in rural areas, necessitating the involvement of all stakeholders. This serves as a compelling testament that the role planners extend beyond urban contexts as mandated by the board regulating the registration of physical planners, encompassing all eight known land uses.
The domain of urban planning in Kenya has undergone significant transformation to accommodate the burgeoning planning industry. In 1996, the Parliamentary Physical Planning Act was enacted to regulate planning within city councils and municipalities. The Physical Planner’s Board was formed the same year to regulate the induction and registration of urban planners, licensing them to practice in the same capacities within the city councils and municipalities.
Subsequently, in 2011, the Urban Areas and Cities Act was introduced to classify, govern and manage urban areas, cities and municipalities across the nation.
The year
2019 heralded the Physical and Land Use Planning Act, which permits the
non-built environment planners to be acknowledged and actively participate in
land resource planning. The legislation has established an impartial planning
framework encompassing nine distinct land uses, without elevating any specific
discipline, university professors or academic institutions above others.
It is evident that as the nation strives to advance
its development agenda towards vertical expansion, it must be guided by the
plethora of professional stakeholders. It is rather astonishing that the process
for an urban or town planner to be accredited to practise as a lead expert in
environmental and physical planning is relatively straightforward, whereas the reverse
scenario remains unattainable. This disparity has engendered a significant
loophole, resulting in the unfortunate loss of parts of Karura Forest, Ngong
Forest and other Nairobi City’s green lungs to land fragmentation.
While such practices may appear politically and
economically advantageous, they present a substantial sustainability challenge,
particularly as this issue threatens to extend to adjacent ecosystems
where the extent of degradation is yet to be ascertained. Our commitment lies
in fostering the integration of science and arts to devise solutions, such as
building technologies and sustainable ecosystems, which will guide the
harmonious management of all interactions between the built and non-built
environments.
Being a very fragile ecosystem, agricultural
land use constitutes the predominant segment of Kenya’s landscape. However, it
is experiencing a contraction in land area due to several factors, including
rapid urbanisation, land subdivision resulting from inheritance and the
ramifications of climate change. Urban planners not only provide inadequate
professional guidance to address these challenges but may exacerbate the situation
by promoting further subdivisions.
Counties within the sugar belts, namely Trans
Nzoia, Bungoma, Kakamega, Busia, Kisumu, Siaya, Migori and Kwale, as well as tea and coffeee zones, which include Nyeri, Kiambu, Murang’a, Kirinyaga, Bungoma,
Vihiga, Nandi, Kericho, Kisii, Nyamira, Meru, Embu, Machakos, Taita Taveta,
Nakuru, Uasin Gishu and Trans Nzoia, and the cotton growing zones, ie western
Kenya (Busia, Bungoma), Nyanza, (siaya, Homa Bay, Kisumu, Migori), Rift Valley,
(Baringo, Elgeyo Marakwet, West Pokot) Eastern Kenya, (Kitui, Machakos,
Makueni, Meru, Embu, Tharaka Nithi), Coast, (Lamu, Tana River, Taita, Taveta,
Kwale and Kilifi), along with certain areas in Central Kenya (Kirinyaga and Murang’a)
and the corn belt comprising Western Kenya (Bungoma, Kakamega, Busia), Rift Valley,
(Trans Nzoia, Uasin Gishu, Nakuru, Kericho and Narok), Central, (Murang’a, Kiambu, Kirinyaga), Eastern, (Machakos, Makueni,
Kitui and Meru), would significantly benefit from the engagement of qualified
professionals from the natural resource planning, either as a distinct planning
profession or through their incorporation and registration as certified physical
planners.
Counties hosting wildlife conservancies such as
Kajiado (Amboseli National Park, Rimpa Estate Wildlife Conservancy, Shompole
Wildlife Conservancy, and Mount Suswa Conservancy), Taita Taveta, Narok,
Turkana, Marsabit and Laikipia should collaborate with natural space planners to
achieve sustainable development amidst competition in rapid urbanisation and
wildlife conservation.
Counties abundant in minerals and natural resources including coastal regions (Kwale, Kilifi, Taita Taveta have titanium
and zircon), Western region, (Homa Bay, West Pokot, Turkana and Nandi Counties
have gold), Central and Eastern Kenya, (Kitui, Embu, Makueni and Isiolo
Counties have copper and graphite), Rift Valley, (Kericho and Elgeyo Marakwet
have active prospects, alongside Kajiado which possess soda ash, limestone, fluorspar,
trona and Boron) would greatly benefit from the expertise of natural resource
planners while ensuring sustainability.
The Council of Governors ought to heed the imperative of embracing graduates trained in accredited institutions offering physical planning courses to unlock revenue streams from these neglected resource-rich areas. It is crucial to identify the gaps that have hindered counties from capitalising on untapped revenues from their dominant resource-producing potential.
The national government, through the National Assembly, plays a pivotal role in enacting legislation that safeguards the natural resource planners from the predominance of urban planners who currently dominate the top management bodies, such as the Physical Planner’s Registration Board, the Council of Governors and the county offices of Lands, Housing, Physical Planning and Urban Development.
The writer comments on topical
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