• Private security firm official says calls for back-up are ignored by government agents
• However, Luanda police boss says they work well together in guarding institutions
Image: ANDREW KASUKU
The bad blood between private guards and government security agents has been the major reason why insecurity has remained a major challenge in the country, a stakeholder says.
Luanda security firm co-director Gaulkey Kweya says coordination between private and government security agents to face insecurity has remained a tall order.
He says government law enforcement have always despised private guards and always look for loopholes to undermine them.
"In some cases where private guards are offering security services, when a robbery occurs and they call for back-up from government security agents, the government agents will always buy time so that they don't incur losses," Kweya said.
"Sometimes when we have a guard who has been involved in malpractice, government agents will go for the uniform and start threatening that firm."
Kweya says the government law enforcers have created a poor working relationship with the private guard firms.
Seeking their help has remained a challenge, forcing private guards to figure out how they can handle insecurity problems on their own.
However, Luanda subcounty police commander David Ndirangu dismissed the claims of having bad blood between them and private guards.
He said if they were in bad terms, they could not have been working with them in manning institutions like banks, hotels and parastatals.
"We are having a good relationship with these private guards, and we help each other so well and where necessary," Ndirangu said.
He said for government law enforcers can't be everywhere, so they rely on private guards to help them weed out insecurity issues, and they value them a lot.
"On that issue of tarnishing the name of a security firm, it's not true," he said.
"We do understand that in some situations, we might have one or two in our firms who do not comply with the laws, but they are faced as individuals and not as a firm."
Ndirangu said it would be unfair to criminalise the entire security firm, which creates employment for Kenyans, due to one individual who can be arrested and charged in a court of law.
Meanwhile, Kweya said they are facing challenges with the Kenya Revenue Authority while filing their monthly income.
He said KRA wants their money on time, but the institutions they are serving delay to pay due to delayed release of funds from the government.
"In some cases, we are contracted by these big companies that do construction on roads, mainly these Chinese," he said.
"You will never know when they are paid, so you keep on begging for payment for services provided, and sometimes we are not paid at all."
He said whether the institutions have been paid or not, those guards must be paid because they have worked and they won’t listen to "stories".
On the other hand, Ndirangu advised against hiring old men and women who can’t provide the required services due to cheap labour.