Private security guards push for law change to give them firearms

Private Security Regulatory Authority director general Fazul Mahamed said the authority will soon introduce in Parliament an amendment to Section 53 of the Private Security Regulation Act No. 13 of 2016 to authorise issuance of firearms to security guards.

Fazul spoke when he presided over the opening of the mass registration of the Private Security Guards and bouncers on Saturday, March 30.

Mahamed said every March 30 will be the Guards Force Day. This is aimed at insisting the minimum salary of the group be pegged to Sh30,000. Also at the meeting were bouncers, stewards and close-protection officers.

Mahamed used the occasion to criticise the Central Organisation of Trade Unions, accusing it of failing to fight for the rights of security guards.

“Security guards toil day and night to pay their monthly contribution to COTU yet the union does not fight for their interests. It has become another money-making scheme," Fazul said.

He said he will not sit at a high table and earn millions every year, yet the people he is supposed to work for are suffering and languishing in poverty.

“This day shall stand as a beacon of strength and solidarity for security guards, marking the restoration of their dignity and respect,” He said.

It shall mark the day, security guards across the country convene at Uhuru Park and proclaim their dignity, honour and respect,” he said.

He also warned private security companies that have neglected to pay guards the government-set minimum wage of Sh30,000 that they risk deregistration.

Mahamed said they have set standards for vetting and licensing security companies. They have digitised the database of all private security service providers.

Further, they established five regional offices across the country, and trained and issued Guard Force Numbers (GFN) to more than 100,000 security officers under the private security training curriculum.

“We have further developed policies, some of which have been adopted verbatim by the Cabinet, such as the regulation of Airbnbs.”

The Authority's adoption of technology in its operations is top notch and a security guard can apply for registration with just a touch of a button by dialling *222*33#, Mahamed said.

PSRA through the Ministry of Interior has come up with four draft regulations aimed at addressing evolving security challenges and ensuring greater accountability.

The regulations, if enacted, will require stringent reporting and compliance standards that will compel unprecedented newfound transparency, offering clients and the public at large greater insight into their practices.