Anxiety as KRA alters list in race for top jobs
The Kenya Revenue Authority board has made changes on the shortlisted candidates for the three top jobs at the institution amid discontent from insiders over alleged foul play.
In the latest notice, the board omitted Ms Janet W. Kabiru from the list of those who had applied for the Commissioner General post, bringing the names to 15 for those who had applied.
But it included Mr Simon Peter Ole Nkeri to make eight the number of candidates who will face an interviewing panel in the second week of January next year to fill the position of Commissioner for Domestic Tax Department - Large Tax Payers Office.
KRA board chairman, Maj (rtd) Marsden Madoka, termed the changes as “omissions that may have been caused in the process of beating press deadlines to publish the lists” and refuted claims that the board had locked out some candidates from the job.
“This is not a constitutional office that requires us to give the President several names to choose from. Nevertheless, we want to give Kenyans the best person to fill the critical posts,” Maj (rtd) Madoka told the Nation on phone.
This is the first time that the KRA board has advertised the position of the Commissioner General as well as those of commissioners.
After the interview, the board will forward one name to the President to consider for the Commissioner General post and two others to the Finance minister to appoint as commissioners.
Sources within KRA, however, alleged that some applicants were left out in the final list of those who had applied, effectively locking them out of the race, claims Maj (rtd) Madoka rejected.
Beating deadline
“Anyone who applied for the various positions and were within the deadline was not left out,” he said.
Those in the race to fill the top KRA position include Barclays bank boss Adan Mohammed and four current commissioners.
The current Commissioner for Domestic Taxes in charge of large taxpayers, Mr John Njiraini, has also been shortlisted for the position of the Commissioner General alongside Customs Services Commissioner Wambui Namu, Ms Helen W. Bila, Commissioner, Support Services and Ms Alice Achieng Owuor, Commissioner of Domestic Revenue.
This is Mr Njiraini’s second attempt to head a major post after President Kibaki and Prime Minister Raila Odinga skipped him in the hotly-contested Controller of Budget post.
