The Commissioner for Large and Medium Taxpayers at the Kenya Revenue Authority, Rispah Simiyu, is set to leave her post next month, ending a five-year tenure that coincides with a broader leadership transition at the tax agency.
The KRA Board has hired PKF, a business advisory firm, to lead the recruitment of the next head of the Large and Medium Taxpayers Department, signaling that Ms Simiyu’s contract will not be extended.
It was not immediately clear whether or not she had applied for renewal of her contract for another five years as the current one ends next month.
Under the KRA Act, commissioners at the tax agency have operational autonomy, although they work under the taxman's board, currently chaired by Ndiritu Muriithi.
Ms Simiyu briefly served as acting KRA Commissioner General between February and August 2023, following the resignation of Githii Mburu.
Mr Mburu, who was in August 2023 replaced by Humphrey Wattanga, exited Times Tower’s 30th floor in February 2023, less than eight months after being handed a fresh five-year term by the previous regime of Uhuru Kenyatta.
His departure was part of the shake-up of top management at the KRA, which saw the board, then chaired by Antony Mwaura, replace commissioner for Investigations and Enforcement Edward Karanja and his counterpart for Intelligence & Strategic Operations, Terra Saidimu.
Commissioner for Customs & Border Control Department Lillian Nyawanda was, at the time, dropped and seconded to the National Treasury before quietly being recalled to her post.
Before and immediately after taking office, President William Ruto made no secret of his displeasure with KRA's previous aggressive clampdown on suspected high-profile tax cheats, accusing the taxman of targeting his allies for political persecution.
Mr Saidimu and Mr Karanja were at the core of the crackdown on tax cheats with high-profile arrests on Fridays —in what came to be known then as Kamata Kamata Fridays.
With Ms Simiyu’s impending departure, only Ms Nyawanda, head of Legal and Board Services, Paul Matuku, and Commissioner for Kenya School of Revenue Administration Fred Mugambi remain from the Uhuru-era top-level management team— at least at the commissioner’s rank.
PKF on Tuesday invited prospective candidates interested in leading the most critical department at the KRA to submit applications online by September 23.
The holder of the office will be tasked with “implementation and review of policies, strategies, standards and guidelines on assessment, collection and administration of revenue” from large and medium taxpayers who include high net-worth individuals (billionaires) and corporates like commercial banks.
Ms Simiyu, who previously served as KRA Deputy Commissioner in charge of Tax Dispute Resolution, was appointed Commissioner for the Domestic Taxes Department on October 22, 2020, following a recruitment process that attracted 32 applicants.
Under her leadership, domestic tax collections have risen from Sh1.039 trillion in the financial year 2020/21 to Sh1.688 trillion in the year ended June 2025.
Domestic taxes, which include income tax, have recorded steady growth from Sh1.039 trillion in the 2020/21 financial year to Sh1.297 trillion in 2021/22, Sh1.407 trillion in 2022/23, Sh1.611 trillion in 2023/24, and Sh1.688 trillion in 2024/25.
The department, which was late February 2025 split into Large and Medium Taxpayers and Micro and Small Taxpayers, only surpassed the set target in fiscal year 2021/22, although it consistently recorded a performance rate of more than 95 percent during the five years.
That performance has largely been attributed to enhanced compliance measures, modernisation of KRA systems like the electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS), and enhanced dispute resolution processes.
A tax expert with more than 19 years of professional experience, Ms Simiyu joined KRA in April 2018 after a career in the private sector, including as regional tax manager for East Africa at Standard Chartered Bank.
She also chaired the Tax Sub-Committee of the Kenya Bankers Association, training management and staff of commercial banks on emerging tax issues.
She started her career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where she rose to a tax manager position, honing expertise that has spanned Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.
Ms Simiyu is a qualified chartered accountant, fellow chartered and certified accountant (FCCA), and an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, with a Master of Laws degree from the University of Nairobi and a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of Dar es Salaam.
