The disgruntled guards staged a sit-in outside the US Embassy in Nairobi’s Gigiri area/MOSES MUOKI
NAIROBI, Kenya, Apr 20 – KK Security guards attached to the United States Embassy in Nairobi demonstrated Thursday over what they termed as poor pay, despite the high cost of living in the country.
The more than 200 guards who had worked overnight refused to proceed home and demanded the firm’s East Africa Managing Director Nick Arnold address their grievances.
According to the guards who spoke to Capital FM News, they want a pay increment from their current basic salary of Sh17,000 to Sh38,000, which they say has not been reviewed for more than a decade.
They were carrying placards indicating that they would not resume work until their salary was increased.
The guards employed placards to express their frustration/MOSES MUOKI
“Punda Amechoka” the placards read.
It took police officers to convince them to leave for home and later report for their night shift.
“We have been lied to for so long. We won’t take it anymore,” they were heard saying.
Arnold was reluctant addressing their grievances in public and urged them to be “true to their calling and handle the matter in a professional way. We cannot discuss it here. It is really important that we are able to communicate in a proper forum.”
“It is not fair for everybody. You guys need to go and sleep and prepare for the night shift,” he urged.
The police were called in to disperse the guards/MOSES MUOKI
A meeting has been set on Saturday, where the Managing Director will host their representatives in drafting a new contract.
Arnold declined to address journalists.
The Embassy has more than 900 security guards all from KK Security.
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