Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner-General Humphrey Wattanga has continued to make significant changes to the agency’s top leadership less than two months after being sworn in.
Mr Wattanga announced the deployment and transfer of at least 23 customs chief executives in order to “streamline activities,” according to KRA.
The changes come after a first round of re-deployments at the organisations earlier this month, which affected senior officers such as Ms Rispah Simiyu, who served as Commissioner-General until Mr Wattanga was appointed.
“As part of ongoing commitment to ensuring the highest level of operational efficiency, the need for strategic personnel placement is imperative,” Mr Wattanga said in a staff communication.
Port Operations, the Inland Container Deport Nairobi (ICDN), the Revenue Monitoring Unit, the Petroleum Monitoring Unit, and regions such as Western, Rift Valley, and Northern have all been affected.
Mr Swaleh Faraj Teher will now be the Chief Manager of Port Operations, reporting to Mr George Oloo Aduwi at the ICDN and Ms Jane Wanjira Ombui at the Revenue Monitoring Unit.
Bernard Mutuma Kibiti will lead the Petroleum Monitoring Unit, while John Kennedy Bisonga will lead the Rift Valley and Grace Tito Lekasi will lead the Western Region.
“The transfers are made with the belief that the changes will optimize our core mandate of revenue collections, streamline activities and ensure that our staff are best placed where their expertise can be utilised to the fullest,” Mr Wattanga said.
Ms Simiyu, who served as acting Commissioner-General between February and August when Mr Wattanga was appointed, was named Commissioner of Domestic Taxes by KRA last month.
Ms Simiyu took over for Mr Githii Mburu, who served as Commissioner-General for three years and seven months until February, roughly six months after President William Ruto took office.
Since taking office last year, the government has made several changes to the KRA, including the appointment of former United Democratic Alliance (UDA) elections board chairman Anthony Mwaura as chairman in November last year.
