Nakuru — The Eldoret High Court has suspended the implementation of a legal notice requiring security guards to be paid a monthly minimum salary of Sh30,000.
The notice by the Private Security Regulatory Authority (PSRA) was issued early this month, but was opposed by a section private security firms who claimed that it was not practical.
Last Thursday, the Association of North Rift Security Firms moved to the Eldoret High Court to challenge the move.
They were granted orders stopping implementation of the legal notice by Justice Wananda Anuro on December 1, pending hearing and determination of the case.
"In the interim, a temporary order of stay of Legal Notice No. PSRA/005/2023 dated 2/11/2023 and all consequential orders arising therefrom pending the hearing and determination of this application inter-parties be and are hereby issued," Justice Anuro ruled.
The case will come up for mention to conform compliance and for further directions on January 18, 2023.
The security firms' lawyers Kevin Kimaru and Emmanuel Mutai said the legal notice contravened consumer rights and labour laws.
According to the PRSA regulations issued by the authority's Director General Fazul Mohamed, a security guard should be earning a basic pay of Sh18,994.08, a house allowance of Sh2,849.11 and overtime allowance amounting to Sh8,156.81.
After statutory deductions, a guard would be going home with Sh26,415.25 net pay.
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The legal notice spelt a Sh2 million penalty for security firms that employed guards and paid less than the stipulated monthly salary.
"Section 69 of the Private Security Regulation Act No. 13 of 2016, thus states that a person who hires, employs or otherwise engages the services of any private security service provider and pays or remunerates below the mandated basic minimum wage prescribed herein commits an offence and shall be liable to a fine or to both such fine and imprisonment in the case of a natural person and Sh2 million in the case of a corporate," the regulator stated in a notice to security firms last month.
North Rift Security firms however said Fazul Mohamed's move would drive local companies out of business.
The Ministry of Labour had last year set the minimum wage for private night guards at Sh16,959 in major cities including Nairobi, Mombasa, Kisumu and Nakuru.
Under the labour Ministry guidelines, a security guard working in former municipalities was supposed to earn a minimum of Sh15,722 while their counterparts in other areas were expected to be earning Sh9,672 per month.
