Top official lets her ‘handbag bodyguard’ do his job – PHOTOS
Higher Education PS Collete Suda is the latest high ranking government official to assign her bodyguard to carry her handbag in public.
The sight of burly bodyguards carrying the handbags of senior government officials is quickly becoming the norm, despite grumblings on social media.
Photos have surfaced online showing Ms Suda’s bodyguard clutching on her handbag in public for close to 20 minutes as she attended a meeting at the Kenya School of Monetary Studies.
In the photos taken on Wednesday, the heavily built bodyguard clad in a suit and a matching tie is seen freely conversing to his colleagues as he waited for his boss.
In August, two women Cabinet Secretaries, Raychelle Omamo and Sicily Kariuki, were pictured walking alongside smartly dressed bodyguards who were carrying their handbags.
Kenya Police however defended the female Cabinet Secretaries from accusations of misusing their male bodyguards.
Police spokesman Charles Owino clarified that there is “nothing wrong” with male bodyguards carrying handbags for their VIP bosses.
“Let us not perpetuate discrimination against women. If the same police officers carry briefcases for men, why then cant they carry handbags for women? If you guard someone’s body what is wrong with carrying someone’s bag? posed Owino.
Besides carrying handbags, male bodyguards are said to privately complain of harassment from their bosses, including verbal abuse, plus working for long and odd hours without compensation.