On Wednesday 8th September 2021, SLIE visited the Sierra Leone Maritime Administration at the Maritime building, Government Wharf . The SLIE team led by Ing. Louise Chaytor, Thomas Michael Salankole, and Abdul Kaadiru Kallon Graduate Engineers introduced the Continuous Professional Development Framework developed by SLIE/PERC, and details of its importance to SLMA representatives. In attendance were, Ms. Christiana Roberts, acting Human Resources Manager, Ing. Ansumana Massaquoi, Eric Blake, Mohamed Deen-Conteh Search and Rescue Coordinator, Mohamed Osman Kamara, Safety Inspector and Mohamed Sidiki Sesay Inspector.
Ing. Louise Chaytor, asserted that after graduation, engineers need to keep their skills up to date and contribute to the body of knowledge of the engineering profession. She shared that the professional development units acquired during the year will now be used to determine the annual renewal of membership. Engineers need to acquire a minimum of 16 professional development units in a four-year cycle.
Ing Chaytor emphasized that engineers need to plan on their CPD activities, undertake them, record them, and reflect on the benefits of the activities and report them to PERC through the SLIE Secretariat. Periodically, an auditor will audit the activities that have been done. This CPD framework is similar to the standard in other countries. Finally, the SLIE team visited to learn what training needs the SLMA engineers had in order to develop an annual curriculum.
The Acting Human Resource Manager Christiana Roberts, thanked and appreciated the SLIE team for the meeting, she stated that the Maritime Administration has a lot of engineers, some of which are graduate engineers, professional engineers with more than ten years of experience, and technicians. She said there was a need for continuous professional development and welcomed the idea of the CPD framework and said it could be considered in their performance management system. She also promised to encourage all engineers to not only be registered with the SLIE but fully participate in their activities.
Ing. Ansumana Massaquoi, a Senior Engineer at the SL Maritime Administration, who is a graduate of Fourah Bay College, University of Sierra Leone also welcomed the idea and said they have been looking forward to seeing such development from SLIE. He went on to highlight reasons why he and some other colleagues at the Maritime Administration have not been participating or registered with the institution. He listed the following: 1. The Institution is not known to students until the final year or when graduates have a job. 2. The Salary scale for engineers is not regulated. 3. SLIE is not concerned about the welfare of graduate engineers and 4. there seemed to be nothing to benefit from the membership.
Mohamed Deen-Conteh, Search and Rescue Coordinator, Mohamed O. Kamara and Mohamed Sidiki Sesay Inspectors, who are technicians expressed their disappointment that SLIE does not recognize technicians but only graduates from Fourah Bay College for membership as compared to Ghana and the UK. Mr. Deen-Conteh said he had obtained an Higher National Diploma and later completed his City and Guilds certificates but was not recognized as a mechanical engineer by SLIE. However, he was able to gain membership of the British IET where he progressed from Technical Member of IET to professional engineer. He felt strongly that SLIE/PERC should consider membership of technicians. These concerns were addressed by Ing. Chaytor who explained that technician membership is being seriously considered and will be made available in the future.
The Graduate Engineers, Thomas Salankole and Abdul Kallon influenced Maritime engineers by explaining how far they have come benefiting from the institution through the Young Engineers Corp and seminars since the Presidency of Ing. Trudy Morgan. They also encouraged them to help change the narrative and perception about the institution by asking each other how can they can be of help to the institution for sustainable development and improve standards in Engineering practice in Sierra Leone. The meeting ended on a positive note with maritime engineers and technicians agreeing to work with the SLIE/PERC and learn more about the CPD Framework. A CPD Booklet was presented to their team.
