5 shortlisted in KRA's Njiraini succession race

What you need to know:

  • In a notice published on Tuesday in local dailies, KRA said Mr Julius Waita Mwatu, Mr Richard Boro Ndung'u, Mr Andrew Kazora Okello, Mr James Githii Mburu and Mr Duncan Otieno Onduru were the front-runners for the commissioner-general post.

It is a man's world in the John Njiraini succession race after the Kenya Revenue Authority shortlisted five candidates out of 30 applicants, including two women.

In a notice published on Tuesday in local dailies, KRA said Mr Julius Waita Mwatu, Mr Richard Boro Ndung'u, Mr Andrew Kazora Okello, Mr James Githii Mburu and Mr Duncan Otieno Onduru were the front-runners for the commissioner-general post.

The taxman said by the closure of the application window, 30 applications had been received, out of which 28 were from men.

"The applications were scrutinised for conformity with the requirements published in the media advertisements, following which the KRA board approved five candidates for attendance of final interviews," KRA said.

NJIRAINI'S EXIT

The KRA board now wants any persons with information that can help assess the suitability of the five candidates to write to it before May 31.

The hiring of a new commissioner-general will bring to an end of the controversial term of Mr Njiraini.

The DG attained the mandatory retirement age of 60 on December 19, 2017.

But when the government scrapped the retirement age of chief executive officers of state corporations, the move effectively defeated a lawsuit by activist Okiya Omtatah against his tenure.

A second suit to push him out failed too.

Audit firm PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), which has been contracted to recruit the next commissioner-general, is expected to give the process legitimacy.

Mr Njiraini’s exit and sourcing of his replacement fuelled a boardroom war at KRA that had a dramatic end after it pulled President Uhuru Kenyatta’s hand to send nearly the entire board packing.