Calls for review of security workers’ minimum wage as country marks Mashujaa Day
Interior PS Raymond Omollo inspects a guard of honour mounted by private security guards at the Jomo Kenyatta Stadium in Mamboleo, Kisumu on August 11, 2023.
Security guards in the country are calling for a review of their minimum living wage due to the high cost of living even as the country prepares to celebrate Mashujaa Day on Friday, October 20.
Through Kenya National Private Security Workers Union (KNSWU) secretary general Isaac Andabwa, the guards have appealed to President William Ruto to intervene and help improve their situation by ensuring a well-researched minimum living wage for guards that reflects the risky nature of their work.
On January 15, 2018, the Employment and Labour Relations Court ruled that day guards should be paid a gross salary of Sh14, 866 (basic of Sh12, 927 and house allowance of Sh1, 939), while night guards should be paid Sh16, 585 (basic of Sh14, 421 and house allowance of Sh2, 163).
However, according to the security guards' union, the 2018 minimum wage has never been implemented, five years later.
Mr Andabwa decried that private security guards are among the lowest-paid workers in the country and can barely afford goods and services.
"How can a private security guard in Nairobi survive on Sh10, 000? What these guards are paid is a mockery," said Mr Andabwa.
"We are requesting His Excellency the President to order for the arrears to be settled because workers are now losing their sense of belonging in this country and cannot afford two meals a day," he added.
In 2020, the government was to harmonise private security regulations to double the minimum wage for private guards from Sh14,000 to Sh25,000.
However, implementation of the law was delayed due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic.
