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The dispute between Cotu-Kenya boss Francis Atwoli and Private Security Regulatory Authority (PSRA) director general Fazul Mahamed has escalated.

Atwoli has written to Interior Cabinet Secretary Kithure Kindiki asking him to reverse alleged illegal directives issued by Mahamed.

The Cotu chief claims Mahamed issued the directives unilaterally without involving the PSRA board.

Atwoli and Mahamed have been embroiled in a tussle over the management of Cotu, an umbrella workers’ union.

Among other things, the men have been trading angry words since the PSRA opened a forensic investigation into trade union membership fee deductions from the salaries of private security officers and remittances made to Cotu in the past 36 months.

Atwoli was also angered by Mahamed’s order to security firms to immediately stop deducting union fees from the guards’ pay and remittances to Cotu.

Atwoli has accused Mahamed of antagonising employers in the security sector, claiming this is a major threat to industrial peace and harmony in Kenya.

The PSRA recently directed security firms to submit a schedule of deductions and remittances and all finance-related correspondence between the companies and Cotu regarding the issue.

He also appointed a team of auditors to probe the collection and use of money deducted from at least 1.3 million guards.

But in a June 24, 2024 letter to Kindiki, Atwoli claimed that the changes at the PSRA were unconstitutional as the authority’s board is not fully constituted.

“Cotu has two nominees sitting on the Board of PSRA and are taken aback to witness that these changes are taking place at PSRA without a fully constituted Board whose duties among others would be to competitively recruit another CEO and proceed to oversee the transition of PSRA,” Atwoli said in the letter.

’Unilateral hiring’

He also accused Mahamed of selectively issuing licences to security firms and unilaterally hiring workers for the authority, arguing that this had made the PRSA lose public trust.

Atwoli appealed to Kindiki to convene a meeting of stakeholders in the private security industry to review the status of the sector, which he claims is under siege.

“Cotu would be glad if your office would proceed to have an audit on the reported selective issuance of operating licences to various security firms as well as an Audit of the Staff employed at the authority so as to regain the much-needed public confidence in the Authority as the new CEO takes over,” he wrote.