The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has seconded its Commissioner for Large & Medium Taxpayers Rispah Simiyu to the National Treasury barely a week after disclosing that she will not be renewing her contract for another five years.
KRA Commissioner-General Humphrey Wattanga, said the change was part of the “ongoing efforts to strengthen institutional capacity, enhance service delivery and drive organisational excellence”.
It remains unclear what role she will take up at the Treasury and becomes the second KRA Commissioner to be seconded to the Treasury since 2023. KRA previously seconded Commissioner for Customs & Border Control Lilian Nyawanda to the Treasury during the previous managerial changes in February 2023.
Nyawanda, who at the time had served a third of her five-year contract, worked as an adviser to the Principal Secretary Chris Kiptoo for eight months before quietly being recalled to her position.
Unlike Nyawanda, who still had three-quarters of her contract to serve, Ms Simiyu’s first term has about a month to run, and her position was advertised on September 2, with applications open until September 23.
KRA commissioners work under a five-year contract, renewable once.
In the meantime, Doreen Mbingi, the Deputy Commissioner for Compliance East & South of Nairobi, has been appointed to head the most critical department at the KRA in an acting capacity pending substantive appointment.
Ms Simiyu exits the Times Tower, where she joined in April 2018 after a career in the private sector, serving as deputy commissioner for Tax Dispute Resolution before ascending to her immediate post on October 22, 2020, following a competitive recruitment process that attracted 32 applicants.
Alongside her departure, KRA confirmed the appointment of Nancy Ng’etich as Commissioner for the Shared Services Department on Thursday. She becomes the first of four acting commissioners to be confirmed.
Ms Ng’etich has been acting Commissioner since February 2023, overseeing organisational reforms, human resource alignment with KRA’s strategic focus on advancing technology adoption to support revenue mobilisation. Previously, she served as Deputy Commissioner for Policy and International Affairs in the Customs & Border Control Department.
An advocate of the High Court, Ms Ng’etich previously worked in the private sector, serving as senior manager for customs and tax advisory at Ernst & Young LLP.
“She has played a pivotal role in customs reforms, trade facilitation, African Continental Free Trade Area negotiations, and East African Community customs policy,” Mr Wattanga wrote in a press statement.
“As KRA, we reaffirm our commitment to fulfilling our mandate of revenue mobilisation for national development, while delivering efficient, fair, and transparent services to all taxpayers across the country.”
The Commissioner-General, who took the reins at Times Tower in August 2023, said recently he is betting on simplification, technology, and a culture shift to deliver on his mandate.
“The whole premise here is to foster voluntary or cooperative compliance,” Mr Wattanga said on August 25.
“We want to make KRA accessible within the environment of taxpayers, we are listening to their pain points, and we believe that compliance can actually be simple.”
