Recently, I spoke with a young engineer who was describing his ordeal in being registered as an engineer within St. Lucia. He indicated to me that after three years of effort, he believes he is close to completion of this important aspect of his career.
I believe the Engineering Registration Board has become a law unto itself in creating procedures that have no basis in law. The Act is clear as to the requirements for Registration, yet the Board over the years has introduced various conditions which they have said should form part of the registration process. No young engineer should be subjected to three years of frustration to be registered.
The hypocrisy however is that the conditions that are inscribed in law were the basis of the registration of the Board members as engineers. How could you now say that these provisions in the Act are allowing inexperienced engineers to become registered, when the same conditions released you into the market place? It is morally wrong!!
Both the Engineering Registration Board and the Association of Professional Engineers must see themselves as important players in the development of the St. Lucian society. Sadly, they have failed to play that important role. Where was the voice of the Association when the discussion on the design of the Gros Islet Highway was ongoing? Where was the Association when the profanity of the over-expenditure on the Vieux Fort to Soufriere Road was being discussed?
The Association of Professional Engineers must be the independent voice to guide public opinion on engineering matters. It is an apolitical body and must be prepared to criticize any administration on its failings relating to an engineering matter. This is the expectation of the public, and this is where the respect for the profession comes into play.
In a small society as ours in St. Lucia, the market determines to a large extent the choice of an engineer by the public to perform services. No one will take a young engineer with two years experience to build a five storey structure. The young engineer is more than capable of handling the design issues on the project, but the client will be more comfortable with an engineer with twenty years experience. I see part of the role of the Engineering Registration Board as one working with the local Professional Body in developing the ethics of young engineers.
One of the failures of the engineering programme at the University of the West Indies in my era was the exclusion of any structured component that deals with ethics. This is the most important character that has to be developed in a young engineer. It is not design skills and knowledge of contract law. Unfortunately, I will be one to proclaim from the mountain top that the engineering body in St. Lucia needs an Ethics Vaccine to cure a possible pandemic.
Recently, I was talking with a very senior and well respected engineer in St. Lucia and he was lamenting the greed he saw in the emerging crop of engineers. He said the emphasis was in making a fast dollar and not the love of the profession. He said this covetousness has driven engineers to levels of corruption that breaks his heart and the profession has suffered greatly as a result. It was an extreme position but one that I have personally seen in part.
It is time the engineers in St. Lucia stop the sand mining with their heads and begin to look at how this noble profession can be improved in the eyes of the public. Why is there disinterest in young engineers in coming to meetings of the Association? Why is the Engineering Registration Board being allowed to go unchecked in their pursuit to establish procedural approaches to registration that have no basis in law?
One of the areas that both bodies can be involved in is the matter of oil exploration. Both bodies should use their regional and an international contact to push the debate on oil exploration, even inviting a petroleum engineer to speak on the topic is a start.
I have no doubt in my mind that St. Lucia has oil deposits. It is unfortunate that the debate has been diverted into other peripheral issues, but I believe history will be very kind to Earl Huntley for starting the process of oil exploration.
The energy level of the government has to be increased in the pursuit of this new hydrocarbons industry. It is my opinion that the Engineering bodies can push the debate along.
I firmly believe that there has to be a vigorous approach towards the whole idea of oil exploration. We have two of the biggest players in the market as our neighbours. Trinidad and Tobago is a giant in the field of natural gas production and the associated downstream. Trinidad is the world’s largest producer of methanol; it is also the major supplier of natural gas to the US market. In the natural gas cartel which is the equivalent to OPEC, it sits with the big players like Russia.
Venezuela is a major member of OPEC, with huge deposits of oil. Both countries are less than 300 miles away with long historical ties. The obvious irony is that Trinidad has offered its expertise to the West African countries, and we have failed to position ourselves for similar assistance. I can only conclude that Dr. Anthony was not as convinced as Earl Huntley on oil deposits in St. Lucia and thus never raised the topic with Prime Minister Manning. Mr. Manning is a geologist by profession, and undoubtedly the man credited with the transformational change from oil based to a gas based economy in Trinidad and Tobago
We have to make the transition from ‘green gold’ to ‘black gold’. Both the Association of Professional Engineers and the Engineering Registration Board can play vital roles in pushing this agenda.