As part of its efforts to eliminate corruption from the tax body, the Kenya Revenue Authority has dismissed 19 employees during the second quarter of the 2024/2025 financial year (October–December).
A detailed report outlining various actions the body had undertaken to reduce graft and bolster integrity at the authority disclosed these statistics.
The 19 dismissals represented a notable rise compared to the nine recorded during the same period of the 2023/2024 financial year.
KRA stated, “This showcases the Authority’s resolute position on dealing with integrity-related matters. Moreover, there was a notable drop in staff warnings, decreasing from 15 cases in Q2 of FY 2023/2024 to only 2. This indicates a movement away from less severe corrective measures.
The number of staff warnings issued by the authority also saw a significant decrease, dropping from 15 in Q2 of FY 2023/2024 to just two. The count of staff members exonerated from allegations also decreased to eight cases, in contrast to 23 in the preceding fiscal year.
Simultaneously, stern warnings increased to 7 cases from two, with the KRA stating that this increase demonstrated the authority’s “zero-tolerance policy towards corruption”. The misconduct cases included in some of the warnings were dishonesty, fraud, negligence of duty, absenteeism, conflict of interest, and impersonation.
The authority states that the renewed emphasis on integrity has been strengthened by strong measures aimed at improving accountability and rebuilding public trust.
One reason for the improvement in professionalism at the authority is the tendency to utilize technologies like iWhistle, a web-based platform that enables anonymous reporting of corruption and tax evasion by the public.
Due to the technology, KRA announced tax estimates of KSh 4.39 billion for the 2024/2025 financial year following the authority’s receipt of 246 corruption reports.
It seems that motivating whistleblowing by providing 5% of the recovered tax has aided the KRA’s efforts. KRA Commissioner General Mr. Humphrey Wattanga acknowledged that the recent partnership with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission was strategic.
KRA’s introduction of lifestyle audits to detect illegal wealth among employees seems to have further enhanced integrity within the authority. 117 employees were vetted in six conducted lifestyle audits.
