12mm Plastering Standard! Get it!

Kenya

2 min read

Such measures reduce the cost of training workers and can foster sustained growth in output per worker, something we have shied away from for the glorification of mega infrastructural investment.

NAIROBI, Kenya, October 6, 2023/-- Whenever you engage with marketing targeting the urbanized middle-class in Kenya – particularly, those dealing in automobiles and appliances – the tagline; “precision engineering” is plastered somewhere. Perhaps, you have heard these sales talk:

“Madam, this is a German precision engineered machine.”

“Hapana! Hapana! We only stock high quality European brands, the lowest we can go is Turkey!”

“We only deal with premium imported brands! Local brands, Kienyeji you look elsewhere!”

In the Kenya Kwanza election manifesto, the standardization of building components was clearly pointed out. The President went further to convince Kenyans the need of having a standard door, window, and bed. This was to mainly uplift the standards of the market (both demand & supply side), where the Jua Kali play a greater part, as well as drive an explosion in productivity.

What's this 12mm Plastering?

In construction, the standard for internal cement or sand plastering is 12mm thick, that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t opt for other alternatives, but still an internal plaster board is 12mm.

I remember our year-master in third year, architectural school lamenting that fundis (tradespeople) had come up with their own way of plastering due to many issues, one being that architects had slacken with their duty to give proper specifications and supervise work on site. I have been in the same mix where a fundi can’t differentiate the plaster thickness of a wall and that of floor tiling (a maximum of 25mm thickness.)

Standardization as a gear to prosperity

American Pioneers like Henry Ford wouldn't have had the big success they enjoy to date, were it not for the standardization policy pushed by Herbert Hoover, secretary of commerce in the 1920s. With a National Bureau of Standards and a compliant industry, the United States was able to build an economic and military powerhouse that reigns supreme today.

This can be replicated here in Kenya, the “New Beacon of Hope” in Africa. Through the able leadership of our President William Ruto, Kenya's Economic Renaissance is ready to kick off with a tempo akin to the Industrial Revolution of the early 19th century.

I would urge the Kenyan government to maintain the overhaul of the Kenya Bureau of Standards. And it should not shy away from rectifying retrogressive and antiquated laws that have curtailed us from progress for ages. Some of these laws can be found in the construction industry, a sector where I ply my trade.

With proper prescriptions we can increase efficiency and safety in the construction sector. It might not solve immediately the problem of collapsing buildings in Nairobi and Kiambu, but it will certainly bring sanity in a sector begging for it.

In addition, such measures reduce the cost of training workers and can foster sustained growth in output per worker, something we have shied away from for the glorification of mega infrastructural investment.

As a Kenyan who's optimistic of the opportunities that lie in the frontiers of this country, I hope the current regime sticks to the enforcement of standards down to the screws, nuts and bolts. When I buy some paint and a roll of hoop iron from a hardware in Kiirua in the next 2 years, I hope the Kenya Bureau of Standards has done its work.

By Phineahs Munene

email feedback to phineahs [at] wazomoja.com

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