The day was November 4, 2022, and the venue was the Kenyatta International Convention Centre, Nairobi during the annual KRA taxpayers’ Day.
In a no-holds-barred speech, President William Ruto laid bare the rot at the Kenya Revenue Authority and openly lectured ex-KRA boss Githii Mburu over the excise stamps syndicate.
The President directly warned KRA staff that he had no intention to pick bones with them but warned that they had to stop the grand heist.
On the receiving end was Mburu, who despite knowing that his days were numbered after Ruto took over power, remained calm in his seat during the agency’s biggest annual showbiz.
“I have told the commissioner general to sort out this mess. If he doesn’t, I will sort it out myself,” Ruto addressed Mburu in a terse statement.
The President regretted that KRA staff had denied the government revenue by irregularly selling nearly 7 billion excise stamps and then pocketing the billions.
Drawing parallels, from Uganda and Tanzania, significantly lesser economies than Kenya, the President regretted that local revenues from such stamps were not even half what the two nations collect.
“We are selling 2.9 billion stamps for our excisable products while our neighbour Tanzania is selling 7.2 billion stamps and Uganda selling 9 billion stamps. Those two economies are smaller than ours,” Ruto said.
“This means that we should be selling between 10 billion and 12 billion stamps. The trouble is that the government is selling 2.9 billion stamps and there are people who are selling the balance of approximately 7 billion stamps.”
The President said he had instructed the commissioner general to urgently look into the matter and seal the leakages to shore up the government’s revenues.
“I have told the commissioner general that he must tell his people to stop. We have no choice because I don’t want to fight with people but they must stop,’ he said.
“I want to tell the good people in KRA that you must stop. I have given enough information to the commissioner general to sort out that mess.”
Mburu resigned on Thursday amid reports that he opted to quit rather than wait to be pushed out.
