KRA picks Rispah Simiyu to replace Elizabeth Meyo at the domestic tax unit

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has appointed Rispah Simiyu as the new Commissioner for Domestic Taxes.

Ms Simiyu, currently the deputy commissioner in charge of the Tax Dispute Resolution, takes on her new role from October 22.

A certified public accountant and an advocate of the High Court, Ms Simiyu succeeds Elizabeth Meyo who has retired, ending over two decades working across various departments at the tax agency.

The KRA board of directors in a statement said that Ms Simiyu edged out four candidates whose names it did not disclose, completing a recruitment process that started in August and had attracted 32 applicants.

She will be expected to increase tax collections at the department which accounts for 65 per cent of KRA’s revenue.

“Ms Simiyu assumes the position following a competitive recruitment exercise conducted by the KRA Board and an external consultant,” the board chairman Francis Muthaura said on Wednesday.

“Ms Simiyu is a seasoned and grounded tax professional with over 19 years of experience.”

Prior to her appointment to the Tax Dispute Resolution in 2018, Ms Simiyu was the regional tax manager (East African region) for Standard Chartered Bank Kenya.

She was previously a tax manager at audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), where she consulted on tax matters in Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda.

Her appointment comes at a time KRA has intensified crackdown on tax cheats in a bid to meet collection targets set by the National Treasury.

The taxman’s revenue target for the year to June is Sh1.42 trillion and KRA is banking on nabbing tax cheats to drive the collections amid the coronavirus interruptions on the economy.

KRA is currently probing some 1,309 firms and wealthy individuals that owe it Sh259 billion, marking the biggest crackdown on tax cheats.