Ruto Orders Crackdown on Kenyan Security Firms Skirting Minimum Wage Increase
President William Ruto has directed Kenyan authorities to move against private security companies that have failed to pass on the government’s 15 percent minimum wage increase to their workers, according to a report by Capital FM and carried by AllAfrica. The directive signals a sharper enforcement stance toward an industry long criticised for non-compliance with labour regulations.
Kenya’s minimum wage is set through periodic gazetted orders under the Labour Institutions Act and the Regulation of Wages Act, and the current cycle includes the 15 percent adjustment that the government approved. Private security guards, one of the largest formal employment cohorts in the country, have historically been among the lowest-paid workers, with firms often citing contract costs and client reluctance to absorb higher wages as reasons for delays in implementation.
The sector employs hundreds of thousands of guards across residential estates, commercial buildings, banks and public institutions, making wage compliance a politically sensitive issue. Trade unions representing security workers have repeatedly raised complaints that gazetted increases are absorbed by employers rather than passed on to employees, prompting calls for stronger inspection regimes by county labour officers and the Directorate of Employment Services.
Ruto’s intervention places the responsibility on the relevant ministries to identify non-compliant firms and ensure that arrears, where owed, are remitted to workers. The presidency did not publish a deadline or a specific enforcement mechanism in the initial announcement, leaving the operational details to be worked out by labour inspectors and industry regulators.
The move comes amid broader scrutiny of working conditions across Kenya’s informal and outsourced labour markets, where contract structures and subcontracting chains have made wage compliance difficult to monitor. Analysts say the credibility of the wage order will depend on whether the promised enforcement translates into visible penalties and back-pay recoveries for affected guards.
Sources
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