KRA officials put to task over 2021 deal on revenue collection in city

The Kenya Revenue Authority was put to task to explain the basis for its nine officials have been involved in revenue collection at City Hall.

The taxman was tasked with revenue collection in 2021 during the regime of defunct Nairobi Metropolitan Services.

The presence of KRA staff and queries over county revenue collection system led to formation of a special committee late last year to investigate the whole revenue collection process.

On January 23, the Ad-Hoc committee chaired by Majority Leader Peter Imwatok noted that the KRA staff had worked for one year without a legal framework.

In response, both the County Secretary Patrick Analo and a legal officer from KRA admitted that there was no existing framework yet.

The authority's legal officer told the committee that they had come up with a proposed framework, which was forwarded to the county government for approval.

"The framework needed further consultation," the legal officer explained.

However, Finance County Executive Member Charles Kerich stated that a memorandum of understanding will be put in place for the county to work with the taxman.

Who's paying?

He told the committee that the nine officials were not drawing salaries from the county government.

"Up to date, we have not processed any payment because we have no legally binding document to make us pay them," Kerich said.

KRA Deputy Commissioner Anastacia Githuba has been leading the team of nine tax officials.

Githuba, however, told the committee that Governor Johnson Sakaja requested the secondment of the officials to help in the transition.

During the probe, committee members, among them Silas Matara, further sought to know the basis used to settle on the nine.

Githuba explained that after Sakaja wrote to KRA requesting for some officials, a legal framework plan was attached to a response letter to the county government.

"The board approved the names of the nine officers and the response letter to the county over the request had an attachment of a legal framework that ought to have been deliberated upon by the county and KRA," she said.

Githuba added that for the period that the KRA officials have been at City Hall, they have been earning salaries from their employer and not City Hall.