Allowances for city askaris aimed at ending corruption
Nairobi City Council askaris during Operation Clamp Down on Koinange Street on July 31, 2013. FILE PHOTO | WILLIAM OERI |
What you need to know:
- The askaris have been accused of seeking bribes from motorists, hawkers and those arrested for breaching county by-laws.
- The security workers were paid Sh1.9 billion, nearly a fifth of Nairobi’s wage bill.
Nairobi County has introduced a special allowance for city askaris to stem bribe-taking under an ambitious reform plan that will also see the security officials accorded ranks similar to those in the police force.
Chief Security Officer Francis Munyambu said the operation allowance was agreed on last month and would be paid through the officials’ payslips.
The askaris have been accused of seeking bribes from motorists, hawkers and those arrested for breaching county by-laws.
“It will go a long way to motivate the officers to perform their work without expecting any form of gift, without harassment and employing the culture of being ‘servant of the people’,” Mr Munyambu said.
The 2,333 county security officers constitute about 16 per cent of City Hall’s personnel and the new allowance is expected to put pressure on the ballooning wage bill that stood at Sh10.3 billion in the year ending June, accounting for 58 per cent of the county’s Sh17.8 billion spending.
The security workers were paid Sh1.9 billion, nearly a fifth of Nairobi’s wage bill. The city’s traffic marshals, whose rank is equivalent to that of low-ranking security officials, had a basic salary of between Sh25,000 and Sh30,000 per month.
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