Treasury Cabinet Secretary Henry Rotich has appointed James Mburu as the new Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General.
The KRA board shortlisted five people last month for the top post. The five included; Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya (ICPAK) national chairman Julius Mwatu, KRA Commissioner for Intelligence and Strategic Operations, James Githii Mburu, former KPMG partner Richard Boro Ndung'u, the Executive Director of the Commonwealth Association of Tax Administrators Duncan Otieno Onduru, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) regional advisor in charge of East and Central Africa on tax matters Andrew Kazora Okello.
At first, 30 people had applied for the job according to KRA Chairman Francis Muthaura. Of the thirty, only two were women.
“By the closing date thirty applications were received of which 28 were from male candidates and two from female candidates,” said Mr Muthaura as quoted by Business Daily.
And on Thursday, Mr Rotich settled on James Mburu, who until his appointment, has been KRA Commissioner for Intelligence and Strategic Planning. He will be taking over officially from John Njiraini on July 1st.
"In exercise of powers conferred in section 11(1) of the Kenya Revenue Authority Act, The Cabinet Secretary in charge of Treasury and National Planning appoints James Mburu to be the Commissioner General of Kenya Revenue Authority for a period of three years with effect from 1st July 2019," read the Special notice.
The incoming Commissioner General will be tasked to look for new revenue sources that can fund the expanding budget of the country. In 2019/20, the budget estimates are likely to be Sh2.8 trillion.
KRA has been managing only Sh600 billion collection annually with most of the budget being financed by domestic and external debts.