Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner-General James Githii Mburu has exited the agency after more than three years at the helm amid a major shake-up that has also affected heads of departments.
In a statement, KRA Board chairman Antony Mwaura said Mr Mburu had resigned to pursue personal interests.
Mr Mburu was a long-time insider at KRA's audit and intelligence units before he was appointed as KRA Commissioner-General in July 2019 for a three-year term. His term was extended for a further two years and was set to end in June next year.
KRA has now appointed Rispah Simiyu, the current Commissioner of Domestic Taxes, as acting Commissioner-General.
“The Board has today received the resignation letter of Commissioner-General FCPA Githii Mburu who resigned to pursue personal interests. Following the resignation, the Board has appointed FCCA Rispah Simiyu, advocate, to be the acting Commissioner-General KRA with effect from February 23, 2023 until the position is substantively and competitively filled,” said KRA.
“The Board appreciates Mr Mburu for the service he rendered to KRA and the Republic of Kenya and wishes him very well in his future endeavors.”
The agency describes Ms Simiyu as "a seasoned and grounded tax professional with over 19 years of experience". Before joining KRA in 2018, she served as Regional Tax Manager East Africa at Standard Chartered Bank Kenya. She began her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) in 2001 and rose to the position of Tax Manager.
Pamela Ahago, who has been serving as KRA regional coordinator for Western, has been appointed as the acting Commissioner of Domestic Taxes, replacing Ms Simiyu.
David Mwangi has been appointed as the acting Commissioner Customs and Border Control replacing Lilian Nyawanda.
Ms Nyawanda had been appointed to the role in March 2021 in a double appointment that also saw Dr Edward Karanja appointed as the Commissioner for Investigations and Enforcement.
In the new shakeup, Dr Karanja has also been dropped as the Commissioner for Investigations and Enforcement and the role handed to David Yego in an acting capacity. Mr Yego has been serving as the Commissioner for Regional Coordination.
KRA has also dropped Dr Terra Saidimu who has been serving as the Commissioner for Intelligence and Strategic Operations.
The agency has merged the Intelligence and Strategic Operations docket with that of Investigations and Enforcement, with the merged docket being run by Mr Yego.
KRA has however retained Dr Mohammed Omar as the Commissioner Strategy Innovation and Risk Management, Dr Fred Mugambi as Commissioner in charge of the Kenya School of Revenue Administration (KESRA) and Paul Mutuku as Commissioner for Legal Services and Board Coordination.
The shakeup comes months after President William Ruto in March last year promised to “free” the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC), KRA and Directorate of Criminal Investigations (DCI) from “state capture” if elected.
