Unfit: KRA chairman appointment declared illegal
The challenges facing President William Ruto appear to be far from over with the High Court unleashing a fresh blow by declaring illegal the appointment of Anthony Mwaura as the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) chairperson at a time when he was facing charges of corruption and economic crimes.
On Monday, High Court Judge Francis Gikonyo faulted President Ruto’s move, noting that the executive action “suffered procedural infirmity and illegality.”
Mr Justice Gikonyo said Mr Mwaura’s eventual acquittal from those charges could not adequately make him clean since the move was an illegality in the first instance.
“The appointment herein suffers procedural infirmity and illegality as relevant material and vital aspects having annexures to the constitutional and legislative purpose of integrity were not taken into account in the actual process,” Judge Gikonyo noted.
On November 18, last year, President Ruto picked Mr Anthony Mwaura to serve as the chairman of the board of the Kenya Revenue Authority.
Mr Mwaura was instrumental in the run-up to the 2022 General Election, serving as the head of the dispute resolution tribunal in Dr Ruto’s United Democratic Alliance (UDA).
Mr Mwaura’s appointment was, however, contested by Dr Magare Gikenyi noting that at the time of gazetting his appointment, he was facing economic crimes and graft charges.
While noting that it was wrong to pick Mr Mwaura given the implications of the weighty case against him at the time, the Judge said it would be wrong for authorities to make appointments and later establish mechanisms to sanitize the said individuals.
In November last year, a state prosecutor walked out of the courtroom after the trial magistrate Eunice Nyutu declined his plea to adjourn the Kes357 million corruption case against Mr Mwaura, his wife Rose Njeri, and ex-Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko.
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Sh357 million graft case
At that time, the magistrate raised concern that she observed a pattern by the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) in filing for adjournment of the graft case facing the trio.
According to the court documents, Mr Mwaura, and the two others were accused of conspiring to embezzle a total of Kes357 million from Nairobi County Government, an offence allegedly committed between May 2018 and March 2029.
Following the prosecutor’s move to leave the courtroom, the magistrate marked the case closed and proceeded to ask the defence to file their submissions on a ruling on whether they have a case to answer.
Mr Mwaura replaced long-serving career civil servant Ambassador Francis Muthaura at the helm of KRA. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2024, Kenya’s total revenue collection hit Kes2.407 trillion, marking an 11.11 percent jump year-on-year.
