NYS unveils plan to set up security firm
What you need to know:
- “The plan is for the NYS to be able to employ its graduates and compete with other security firms for private contracts,” it further notes.
- The other option will be for the company to be limited by shares and operate the same way University Enterprises and Services (UNES), a subsidiary wholly owned by the University of Nairobi does.
- Nearly 2,500 NYS graduates will soon relieve the police of some roles, to allow the overstretched National Police Service officers to focus on core duties of fighting crime.
The National Youth Service (NYS) plans to establish a security company that will employ its graduates.
The move is aimed at ensuring that the trainees’ talents do not go to waste after leaving the service, says a policy framework developed by the Ministry of Devolution and Planning.
The company is expected to be operational in the next financial year and will compete for jobs with more than 600 private security firms.
It will either be established as a subsidiary of the NYS or as a state corporation.
“The firm will serve as an exit strategy for NYS graduates. The assumption is having undergone the paramilitary programme, they will make more professional guards,” says the document.
The firm will provide several services including ticketing and crowd control at public events such as sports. It will also offer security for private corporations as well as government agencies.
EMPLOY ITS GRADUATES
“The plan is for the NYS to be able to employ its graduates and compete with other security firms for private contracts,” it further notes.
If established as a state corporation, it will be modelled on the Kenya Ordinance Factories Corporation, a parastatal under the Defence Ministry that produces military hardware and ammunition.
The other option will be for the company to be limited by shares and operate the same way University Enterprises and Services (UNES), a subsidiary wholly owned by the University of Nairobi does.
“The first activity should begin in the next financial year with the recruitment of 350 ex-NYS graduates,” the adds.
The firm is part of a larger plan aimed at empowering youth. It will be housed at the NYS headquarters in Nairobi.
Nearly 2,500 NYS graduates will soon relieve the police of some roles, to allow the overstretched National Police Service officers to focus on core duties of fighting crime.
Specially trained youth will be deployed to VIPs as drivers while others will help in controlling traffic in Nairobi. Some will be attached to government departments as sentries and messengers.
The plan is in line with the Justice Philip Ransley task force on police reforms, which in 2009, proposed the police to population ratio be 1:400.
