KRA exit: How Ruto ordered Wattanga to resign as Commissioner General

Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner-General Humphrey Wattanga Mulongo has been fired.

President William Ruto on Wednesday asked Wattanga to submit his resignation. His firing has not yet been made public and he is expected to leave office within a few days.

Sources intimated to The Standard that to save face, the President asked him to resign.

“The big man is not happy with the way things are going on at KRA. So he called him and told him to hand over his resignation. The commissioner-general had no choice and he has not yet handed his resignation to the board but he is good as gone,” said our source at State House.

Wattanga was appointed as the KRA Commissioner-General on August 22, 2023, by National Treasury Cabinet Secretary Prof Njuguna Ndung’u following a competitive recruitment process. He was sworn in on August 24, 2023, becoming the seventh commissioner and succeeding Githii Mburu, who had resigned in February 2023. His tenure was for a term of three years.

Confirming his exit, KRA Chairman Ndiritu Muriithi said “During his tenure, Wattanga played a key role in advancing KRA’s mandate and was instrumental in organisational restructuring reforms. The board extends appreciation to Mr Wattanga for his contribution.”

Dr Lilian Nyawanda, Commissioner of Customs and Border Control, takes over as acting Commissioner-General.

Before his appointment, he served as the Managing Director of Meghraj Capital and was the Vice Chairman of the Commission on Revenue Allocation from 2017 to 2022. He also worked as a Senior Partner at Afcorp Investment in Johannesburg, South Africa, from 2004 to 2017.

Upon taking office, Wattanga committed to integrating technology to simplify tax administration and drive compliance. He aimed to leverage data analytics and artificial intelligence to analyse taxpayer data and expand the tax base.

By early 2026, Wattanga reported several key achievements. In the third quarter of the 2025/26 financial year (ending March 31, 2026), KRA collected Sh2.038 trillion, an 11.4 per cent growth compared to Sh1.829 trillion collected in the same period the previous year, though it was slightly below the target of Sh2.122 trillion.

He highlighted the rollout of the Electronic Tax Invoice Management System (eTIMS) to curb Value Added Tax fraud and the introduction of “GavaConnect,” an API platform allowing businesses to embed tax services. Additionally, KRA launched a WhatsApp-based tax filing service powered by an AI chatbot named “Shuru” and a USSD solution (*222#5#) to reach taxpayers without smartphones.

In April 2025, Wattanga launched a new patrol boat (KRA 009) for the authority’s Marine Unit to combat illicit trade, contraband, and smuggling along Kenya’s coastline and territorial waters. He stated that between October and December 2024, the customs department recorded 1,164 enforcement offences, collecting more than Sh491 million in taxes and Sh77 million in fines.

Wattanga’s tenure has also been marked by significant challenges regarding revenue targets and parliamentary scrutiny over alleged tax evasion.

Shortly after his appointment, Wattanga faced the National Assembly Committee on Finance and National Planning to explain a Sh79 billion revenue shortfall in the first quarter of the 2023/24 financial year. He cited economic headwinds such as rising interest rates, reduced government spending on development projects, and low private sector business operations as reasons for the 88.1 per cent performance rate.

In September and October 2024, Wattanga was embroiled in a scandal involving the alleged loss of approximately Sh64 billion in revenue due to the misdeclaration of palm oil imports by Louis Dreyfus Company . The allegations stated that the company imported refined oil but declared it as crude oil to evade a 35 per cent import duty.

On September 24, 2024, Wattanga appeared before the Finance Committee but was ejected after presenting voluminous documents at the last minute. The MPs ruled they could not proceed without having internalised the documents, which should have been submitted by September 6.

On October 3, 2024, after Wattanga failed to appear for a follow-up hearing and requested to reschedule for November 26 (two months later), the committee issued him a seven-day ultimatum. Legislators accused him of “dereliction of duty,” “taking the parliamentary committee for granted,” and demonstrating a “lack of seriousness.”

Early this week, in their quarterly updates, the Kenya Revenue Authority collected Sh84 billion less than planned in the first nine months of the current financial year. This leaves it with a whopping Sh932 billion to raise in the final three months (April, May and June) to meet its annual target, official data showed on Tuesday.

Between July 2025 and March this year, KRA said it collected Sh2.038 trillion, falling short of its target of Sh2.122 trillion, a performance rate of 96.1 per cent.

The shortfall poses a considerable challenge to President Ruto’s reorganised administration and its ambitious economic plans, with just 18 months to the General Election.

For the full financial year ending June 30 this year, KRA aims to collect Sh2.97 trillion. That means it must raise Sh932 billion in just 91 days, from April 1 to June 30 this year.

The first three quarters of the financial year runs from July to March (nine months total). The final quarter runs from April to the end of June.

To achieve its Sh2.97 trillion target by the end of June, KRA needs to collect Sh310.7 billion each month over the next three months. That is 37 per cent higher than the Sh226 billion monthly average it managed over the previous nine months.

Daily, the agency must collect in about Sh10.24 billion.

Analysts note, however, that collecting more than Sh10 billion every day, nearly double the ordinary pace, will be extremely difficult while households and businesses continue to face elevated costs and subdued demand.

The shortfall was recorded despite the KRA’s recent aggressive tax collection efforts.

The authority admitted that revenue performance was delivered “within a still-constrained macroeconomic environment marked by subdued household purchasing power, soft consumer demand, elevated business costs, and continued global trade uncertainty.”

It further cited “revenue mobilisation being impeded by impacts from some of the above factors,” while noting that certain economic indicators provided a positive counterbalance. The economy grew at a faster pace of 4.9 per cent in the third quarter of 2025, compared to 4.2 per cent a year earlier. Inflation stood at 4.4 per cent in March 2026, driven by food and transport price increases.

“With one quarter remaining in the financial year, KRA remains firmly focused on intensifying compliance interventions, sustaining growth momentum, and closing the remaining gap toward the annual target of Sh2.97 trillion,” the taxman said.

Any further substantial miss could compel the government to seek alternative financing or revise its spending plans.

The missed targets come at a critical time for the Ruto government, which has been pushing for aggressive tax reforms and collections to fund its development agenda and reduce reliance on borrowing. The continued struggle to meet revenue goals could exert further pressure on public services and potentially lead to new austerity measures.

The considerable deficit in tax collection raises concerns about the government’s ability to finance its planned expenditures for the current fiscal year, analysts said.

Despite the headwinds, KRA recorded 11.4 per cent year-on-year growth, up from Sh1.829 trillion collected in the same period of the 2024-25 financial year.

Domestic taxes remained the largest contributor at Sh1.301 trillion, representing 10.4 per cent growth. Customs and Border Control exceeded its own target with a 100.9 per cent performance rate, delivering Sh733.7 billion, a 13.3 per cent increase.

Agency revenue collected on behalf of other government entities amounted to Sh204.45 billion, a 10.7 per cent rise, while exchequer revenue for the National Treasury stood at Sh1.834 trillion, reflecting 11.5 per cent growth but missing its target with a 95.5 per cent performance rate.