President William Ruto has revoked the appointments of four members of the Kenya Revenue Authority Board of Directors made by Treasury Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung’u.
During a media roundtable interview with different TV stations on Sunday, Ruto said he had revoked some of the board members Ndung’u had appointed to give room to the private sector to also play a role in the management of Kenya’s taxes.
Ruto appointed four new directors to the board on December 13, replacing the original five members in a gazette notice.
Part of the notice said, “The appointments of Wilkister M. Simiyu, Fancy C. Too, Michael Kamau Kamiru, Darshan Shah, and Samir Ibrahim are revoked.”
Using the authority granted by the State Corporations Act’s Section 7(3), Ruto named new board members to hold office from December 15, 2026, to January 12, 2026.
“I, President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander-in-Chief of the Defence Forces, appoint Hadi Sheikh Abdullahi, Richard Boro Ndun’gu, Lydia Cherono Rono and Amolo Ngweno to be members of the Board of Directors of the Kenya Revenue Authority from December 15, 2023, up to the 12th January 2026,” the gazette said.
Ruto also told Kenyans, point blank, that taxes will not be lowered anytime soon.
Ruto said he cannot lower taxes because the government will grind to a halt.
The Head of State said the country is facing a tough economic time owing to the current debt situation that has necessitated the existing taxes.
“In every Sh10 that I am collecting, seven go to taxes. Do you want me to go the direction other countries are going by defaulting on loans?” he said.
“While it is true that tomorrow I can say let us reduce the taxes, it is also true that tomorrow for every Sh10 I collect, Sh7 goes to paying debt.”
President Ruto said the only option is for Kenyans to pay the taxes for the country to remain afloat.
He said it is from the collected taxes that they can meet the day-to-day operations of the government.
