The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Commissioner General has been at the center of a massive tax evasion scandal, where billions have been lost while ordinary Kenyans are being squeezed dry.
As per the reports by Nation Africa, under his leadership, KRA has aggressively gone after small traders, shutting down businesses and forcing struggling Kenyans to pay every last cent in taxes, yet at the same time, he has personally overseen the escape of Sh7 billion in taxes owed by powerful individuals and corporations.
The real tax cheat here is not just the so-called “big fish” avoiding their dues it is the man running KRA himself. This scandal is not just about negligence. The Commissioner General has been instrumental in allowing tax evasion to thrive while pretending to enforce the law.
A clear example is the Athi Water Works Development Agency case, where over Sh567.7 million in withholding tax was never deducted from a contractor’s payments. KRA identified this issue back in 2022, but instead of acting, the the commissioner general allowed the case to drag on until 2025, when it was thrown out due to unnecessary delays.
This is not incompetence; it is deliberate protection of tax evaders.Under his leadership, KRA has failed to collect billions from state agencies and influential individuals.
Over the past year, ten government institutions lost cases against KRA, amounting to Sh6.5 billion in unpaid taxes. Instead of following through on these collections, KRA, under the Director General’s watch, has conveniently let them off the hook.
In 2018, KRA admitted that Sh8 billion was missing from state bodies, and President Ruto later revealed that inter-government tax disputes had cost the country Sh22 billion.
Yet, despite all these losses, KRA has focused all its energy on small businesses, harassing ordinary traders while billions disappear under the Director General’s protection.
The corruption inside KRA is not happening in isolation it is happening because the man at the top is allowing it. Reports have exposed KRA officials working with businesses to forge excise stamps, leading to massive tax losses.
In one of the biggest tax fraud cases, This could not have happened without approval or at least the blind eye of the Commissioner General. He is the one ensuring that these schemes go unchecked, while pretending to run tax enforcement.
The truth is that KRA’s Commissioner General is not just failing he is part of the problem. He has created a system where small businesses are suffocated while billionaires and government institutions get away without paying taxes. He has personally overseen cases where tax evaders are allowed to walk free, and under his leadership, corruption inside KRA has flourished.
The real “big fish” in this scandal is not just the billionaires avoiding taxes it is the man at the helm of KRA, who has turned tax collection into a tool for enriching himself and his allies while punishing the ordinary Kenyan.
