Ksh13B US Company Hires 200 Kenyans for Special Mission

A personnel working on a laptop at Citizen company located in New York, USA
A personnel working on a laptop at Citizen company located in New York, USA

An American-based company, Citizen, has contracted 200 Kenyans to monitor US emergency scanners.

According to the New York Post, the New York-based company outsourced the contractors in Nairobi who are set to begin work on Wednesday, October 6. 

The work primarily involves listening to emergency scanners and drafting up reports on police, emergency calls and radio feeds.

An image of the Citizen App
An image of the Citizen App
File

The safety reports are then sent out through an application to about seven million users across 30 US states.

The report involves newsworthy items such as police responding to a shooting incident or firemen responding to building fires.

The task was previously handled by New York-based employees from the Central Operations department, however, reports indicate that the new move has caused uncertainty over their job security after their duties shrunk.

An employee working at the company criticised the new move, adding that the new contractors are all very young and inexperienced.

"We are actually at a really low point for quality," they told the New York Post.

Reports indicated that the US employees' benefits such as free meals were taken away. Paid time off policies have also been restricted. The company was founded in March 2017 and is currently valued at Ksh13.3 billion. 

Various American citizens have relied on the app to get alerts on nearby incidents and crime.

According to digitaltrends, a US-based publication, the app has been downloaded over 234,000 times in the past few months. 

An aerial view of New York city
An aerial view of New York city
File