The row pitting security stakeholders in regard to issuing guns to private guards deepened yesterday after private security workers said the plan should not be delayed.
The Kenya National Private Security Workers Union dismissed assertions by the regulator suggesting that watchmen cannot be assigned guns until the law is amended.
Isaac Andabwa, the union secretary general, told the Star yesterday that the plan to arm guards has been taken out of context.
He spoke in response to Erick Okeyo – vice chair of the Private Security Regulatory Authority, who said guards cannot get guns before the law is changed.
Andabwa said the plan is not to arm the over 500,000 guards countrywide haphazardly.
He said the law being cited as a barrier has provisions which can be explored to ensure guards get the tools of trade needed for their job.
Andabwa said the question at the moment is about who should be armed, where, when, and how it should be executed.
“We will design a proper way of issuing the guns. There are some assignments – like watchmen stationed at gates, which don’t need guns.”
He said the weapons will be strictly for security workers handling high-risk assignments such as escort for cash-in-transit.
These are some of the issues that are likely to feature in a meeting called at Harambee House today bringing together all members of the security regulatory authority.
The union boss further allayed fears the guns may be misused adding that already, there are private security agencies who have given guns to officers in some units “with no incidents reported”.
“We are planning to assign guns to undercover guards. They will be in plain clothes and will monitor access control points, not man the gates of the entities we protect,” Andabwa said.
On storage, he said they are in talks with the government to allow established companies - such as G4S, KK, and BM security, build armouries for the weapons’ safe-keeping.
“We are not going to create armouries in Kawangware or Kibera. The established companies will be requested to build a central armoury where the guns can be issued on demand. Both employers and guards will be tasked to be responsible for the weapon assigned to them,” Andabwa said.
He said the union appreciates that the government has acknowledged that private security guards are sources of 80 per cent of intelligence.
“The private security has never been institutionalised like is the case now, hence, we need to go slow on attacking members of the authority established to guide our operations,” the unionist said.
This was in response to Okeyo’s dismissal of PSRA chief executive Fazul Mahamed’s assurance that guards will get guns by June.
But Andabwa said the regulatory authority is not about Fazul but about the security reforms.