NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 16 – The Kenya Institute of Management (KIM) is spearheading the creation of a Bill that will introduce regulation of the ‘management practice’ in the country.
KIM Executive Director Mwangi Ngumo said on Thursday that the Kenya Institute of Management Bill 2009 will among other things establish a code of conduct and standards within which management will be practiced. The Bill is due for presentation to Parliament in August.
“As we speak most managers have grown and nurtured their careers from a number of different backgrounds and so putting them on the spot over any issues of management malpractice is almost impossible,” Dr Ngumo explained.
Members will consequently be allowed to practice as Certified Public Managers after undergoing training and peer review based on international management standards.
“The world is now a global village and people are working across borders and in this light it would be important that we create a professional body that can back up the credentials of individuals vying for various management positions,” he said.
He said the Bill which is subject to stakeholders’ input and review has borrowed heavily from best practices in the Commonwealth especially in Britain where managers have to subscribe to best practices in management.
Dr Mwangi said the Bill will further ensure that KIM becomes a corporate body with perpetual succession under a common seal since as it stands KIM is a limited company by guarantee without share capital and has no perpetual succession.
“With the enactment of this Bill, management will be formally recognised by law as a profession and KIM will have powers to enforce managers’ code of conduct,” Dr Ngumo said.
He pointed out that the enactment of such a Bill will be a major boost to the work of other related institutions like the Kenya Anti Corruption Commission and the Public Procurement Oversight Authority and will strengthen other related laws such as the Public Officers’ Ethics Act.
Membership to KIM has been voluntary and will remain the same but as soon as a management professional becomes a member, he will then be subject to code of conduct and peer review.
Saboti MP Eugene Wamalwa will be charged with pushing the Bill in Parliament and is calling on various stakeholders to attend a forum on Friday to discuss this Bill.
“We are positive that this Bill will inject more professionalism, especially in transforming the public service where Certified Public Managers will be more individually accountable for their actions,” Mr Wamalwa said.
If this draft Bill goes through, KIM will be following in the footsteps of other professional bodies like the Law Society of Kenya, the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya or the Institute of Certified Public Secretaries of Kenya which promote best practices by admitting and disciplining errant members of their profession.
