GEMA-nization of the Kenya Revenue Authority

[job]

This is honestly shameful beyond proportions. Moi never went this far in his entire 24 year misrule. This is a crisis in the making. Can't Kenyans just love each other and observe some degree of equity.



LDP MPs accuse KRA of nepotism

By Francis Openda

Three Liberal Democratic Party Members of Parliament yesterday accused the Kenya Revenue Authority of tribalism and nepotism in the hiring and firing of workers.

MPs Otieno Kajwang (Mbita), Jakoyo Midiwo (Gem) and Archbishop Stephen Ondiek (Ugenya) said tribalism and nepotism are rampant at KRA.

The MPs said what was going on at KRA reflected the trend elsewhere as appointments to Government and State corporations were no longer done on merit but depended on one’s community or who one knows.

The MPs called for President Kibaki’s intervention, saying nepotism in public institutions was generating hatred among communities.

Addressing a news conference at Parliament Buildings, the three said the recent sacking of eight senior KRA officers was not based on professional grounds but was driven by tribalism. The MPs tabled a list of more than 20 senior KRA officers whom they said were from one region.

Mid-this week, KRA suspended 14 officers over failure to meet targets.

The officers suspended include Calisto Jamesa, Jeremiah Mailutha, Akinyi Gikonyo, a Mr Oloo, Paul Oburi and a Mr Ominde, among others. But KRA Commissioner General Mr Michael Waweru refuted claims by the MPs.

Waweru said if he were a tribalist he would not have promoted Calistos Jamesa and Mrs Akinyi Gikonyo as Deputy Commissioners of Customs when he took over the authority.

"I found them when they were both assistant commissioners and promoted them," he argued.

Waweru said the interdiction of KRA senior managers was purely administrative, adding that those affected will appear before KRA Disciplinary Committee next week.

KRA said the officers were sacked for non-performance and failing to meet set revenue targets.

But yesterday, the MPs wondered why only officers from one region were non-performing.

"It is common knowledge both from within and outside the authority that the affected officers are some of the most technically endowed, experienced, principled and hardworking personnel with high level of integrity," said Kajwang.

The MP said the issue of falling revenue at the department of customs arose following the introduction of the Simba Information System implemented in July last year.

During his Budget speech, Finance Minister Amos Kimunya acknowledged the negative impact of the reforms on KRA, Kajwang said.

Kajwang said the negative impact of KRA reforms could not be blamed on select officers who were victims of the reforms.

He said the sacked officers have in the past performed well and surpassed set targets yet were now being accused of non-performance. He accused KRA of flouting its code of conduct in disciplining the officers.

Kajwang said no written report detailing the offence committed, statements and any evidence was raised by the Commissioner of Customs and forwarded to the Senior Deputy Commissioner Human Resources.

The Senior Deputy Commissioner Human Resources would have charged the officers with the offence.

The employees would then be required to defend themselves within a specified period after which the Head of Department would be required to comment on their defense.

The case would then be forwarded to the disciplinary committee for examination and recommendations to the Commissioner-General.

Having failed to do this KRA should give reasons for the suspensions or immediately reinstate the officers, the Mbita MP said.

The MPs said the Parliamentary Committee on Finance, the Public Service Commission, Kenya National Commission on Human Rights and the Kenya Anti-Corruption Commission should look into the matter to establish if there is a case of abuse of office.

"We consider this matter to be of great public concern and interest and should therefore be dealt with without delay," said Kajwang.

Midiwo said ethnicity and inequitable distribution of resources have driven countries to war and Kenya should guard against this.

"All the top echelons at KRA are from one ethnic community and this has been systematically going on for the last two years," he said.

Ondiek said it was not practical for only one community to run such a critical public institution.

Who is who at KRA?

1. Commissioner General: Mr Michael Waweru.

2. Board Secretary: Mrs Ngang’a.

3. Senior Deputy Commissioner, Investigation and Enforcement: Mr Joseph Nduati

4. Deputy Commissioner, Investigation and Enforcement: Mr Namu Nguru

5. Deputy Commissioner, Administration: Mr Karimi

6. Deputy Commissioner Procurement: Ms Murichu.

7. Commissioner Customs: Mrs Wambui Namu.

8. Senior Deputy Commissioner (Customs): Ms Githinji.

9. Deputy Commissioner, Enforcement (Customs): Mr Maina.

10. Deputy Commissioner, Finance: Ms Wachira.

11. Commissioner DTD (LTO)- Mr Njiraini.

12. Deputy Commissioner: Mrs Mwangi.

13. Senior Deputy Commissioner, Finance: Mrs King’ori.

14. Senior Assistant Commissioner, Security: Major Kariuki.

15. Senior Deputy Commissioner, Southern Region: Wagachira.

Those who were suspended

1. Senior Asssistant Commissioner: Mr Jeremiah Mailutha.

2. Senior Assistant Commissioner: Mr Jemase Calisto.

3. Senior Assistant commissioner: Ms Akinyi.

4. Assistant commissioner: Mr. Etole.

5. Assistant commissioner: Mr Khaguli.

6. Assistant commissioner: Mr Ominde.

7. Assistant commissioner: Mr Oburi.

8. Assistant Commissioner: Mr Kitonyi.

[job]

Sunday Standard Editorial:

The Kibaki promise of fairplay falls apart
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When President Mwai Kibaki took over the reins of power on December 30, 2002 ,one of the many solemn promises he made to a cheering nation was his intention to pull the country from the abyss of ethnic polarity and mould a Kenya that every citizen would be proud of.

Kenyans embraced this dream to its fullest meaning – convinced that a litany of woes that had gripped the country under the Kanu regime had finally found the antidote in the Kibaki Administration.

The dream was further emboldened by the fact that most of the brigades in the new regime were considered paragons of virtue. They had endeared themselves to the electorate as valiant soldiers in the army against corruption, tribalism, poverty, and other ills that had bedevilled the nation for about four decades under Kanu.

One and a half years before the expiry of his five-year contract with Kenyans, the Kibaki Administration is far from delivering on a number of its key promises. Indeed, many Kenyans believe that the Kibaki Administration has either condoned or perfected the vices it had vowed to eradicate.

The dark clouds of tribalism and nepotism hang ominously above the country. This has manifested itself in the way certain individuals have either been propelled to plum positions in the public service or dropped on spurious considerations.

The saga around the sacking of top Kenya Revenue Authority officials has once more brought to the fore the issue of reward and punishment in the Public Service. Looking at the list of top officials in the organisation, exclusively published in The Saturday Standard yesterday, one gets the feeling that tribalism has once again become the barometer of merit in public institutions.

Though it may not necessarily have been the case, current disquiet at KRA has given political charlatans, and opportunists a substantiated foundation on which to wage their war. Such is what informed the claim by some MPs that the recent suspension of top KRA officials was ethnic-driven.

While the reason for their sacking is not clear, it raises concern that only officers from certain regions underperformed. The composition of the KRA top brass is simply a microcosm of what is happening in other public offices, especially with regard to positions that are either considered lucrative or sensitive.

It is not just in key appointments, the allocation of resources is also skewed and seems to favour specific regions — most of them running far ahead of others. A case is the recent allocation of funds for roads. Political considerations rather than need seemed to be the determining factor.

During President Kibaki’s inauguration, he promised that his Government would streamline procurement procedures and close all loopholes that facilitated massive waste and plunder of national resources.

Three and a half years down the line, this nation has lost billions of shillings as a result of single sourcing of contracts. The Anglo Leasing scams are monuments of shame of the broken promise.

Despite the much-touted alleged growth of the economy, a majority of Kenyans still wallow in poverty as a select few amass. The protracted political controversies that have dogged the Kibaki Administration have dealt a severe blow to the dream of reconstructing the country’s economy. For how can a nation progress when its key lieutenants are perpetually at war?

As the old adage goes: Actions speak louder than words. There has been a lot of chest thumping and rhetoric on the alleged milestones of this Government.

So much is the illusion that the Government has come up with "Proud to be Kenyan" slogan, which it wants every citizen to parrot.

Beyond the illusion, how many ordinary Kenyans can mount the pedestal of success and shout that, they are proud to be Kenyans?



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[mzee]

I do agree with JOB.


Revolutions are defined as drastic changes in specific areas of a culture and could be political, economic, or social nature and always involve major changes in the way the governed and governed. Most political revolutions have more often than not involved the violent overthrow of regimes. The French revolution for instance occurred because the monarchy under Louis XVI was viewed as oppressive and corrupt and the social structure was rigid and did not allow for social mobility. The poor, uneducated class made up 98 percent of the population. While the upper classes of nobility and clergy only made up a mere 2 percent of the entire population. It is no wonder the people of France rose up in a spirit of nationalism to overthrow the oppressive system and establish a society controlled by them. Thanks lord, since independence Kenya has not had a violent revolution. As per the state of things, we might soon need a peaceful but radical revolution, which should dramatically shift the way things have been done so far.

The way things are done in Kenya can make one sick. One of the daily newspapers reported the following recently "we should stop pretending that we can ever be one people, sharing equally in the national resource. Two years ago, they took to Othaya Sh595 million for water development and to the larger Meru Sh429 million. The rest of Kenya’s 72 districts got Sh5 million each. This was in a year when tax collection was as follows: Central Province Sh1.8 billion, Nyanza Sh6.9 billion, Western Sh5.5 billion, Rift Valley Sh5.56 billion, North-Eastern Sh43 million, Coast Sh2.7 billion and Eastern Sh920 million”. The above seriously angered many Kenyans, yet nothing has changed, the Kibaki government is completely silent.

Just a few days ago, some MPs produced a list of top official of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA), which stunk of nepotism to say the least. Fifteen out of fifteen top KRA officials were confirmed to hail from the Mt. Kenya region. To make matters worse, it also emerged that KRA had sacked all top employees who did not come from the named region. Even though KRA Commissioner General Mr Michael Waweru claims that, the officers were sacked due to non-performance and failing to meet set revenue targets, the fact that employees from Mt. Kenya region were not affected raises eyebrows. It seems that KRA was ethnically cleansed.

It is such blatant tribalism, which make people to want to change regimes by any means necessary. Why should such a central authority be controlled entirely by one tribe? Is this conducive for democracy or in a country with forty plus tribes? The MP for Mbita Otieno Kajwang had the following to say about the matter, "It is common knowledge both from within and outside the authority that the affected officers are some of the most technically endowed, experienced, principled and hardworking personnel with high level of integrity," I only hope that Hon. Otieno Kajwang is completely wrong for if he is right we are in for big trouble.

President Kibaki has constitutional powers to create districts, but has been going about the same in manner a reminiscent of the Moi´s regime. He is using the creation of districts to divide and even bribe regions, tribes and individuals. Even though he has, the constitutional right to create districts, common sense tells us that he should consult widely before doing so. Unilateral decisions were the cause of Biafra war. The former Eastern Region under Lt. Col. Ojukwu saw the act of the creation of states by decree without consultation as wrong and declared the region an independent state of "Biafra". The Federal Government in Lagos saw this as an act of secession and illegal and set to bring the region back to the fold by force of arms hence the civil war. It is also the same kind of tribalism, which sparked genocide in Rwanda.

The Government should see to it that national resources are shared equally among its citizens, after all every region pays taxes. Even as he is preparing for a second term re-election, president Kibaki has shown Kenyans that he does not care about their well-being. He has shown that all he is dong is for self-preservation and if he has to trample on them on his way there, so be it. He has clearly shown that he knows about politics of survival better than former presidents Moi and Kenyatta. Not only has he sidestepped what he was elected for by breaking almost all election promises but his hands off style has lead to serious nepotism. It is not therefore surprising that a government anti-corruption body ranked the Office of the President as the most corrupt department in a recent survey.

The president is a well-educated man but has constantly made some very uneducated mistakes. He has enough political experience but has made some very amateurish moves that at times threatened the very cohesion of the country. He has slowly but steadily taken the country back to where it was before Narc took power. Funnily enough, there are all sorts of moves on his part to rule for five more years. However, Kenyans have become wiser and will never let him, for he is a person whose actions or inaction can turn tribe against tribe, region against region and cause civil war. The trend of open nepotism in KRA, which is a reflection of what is happening in all governmental departments, scares many. This madness has to stop if Kenya is to continue being stable. The only way to ensure this is to show Kibaki the door in December 2007.

[kamalet]

Then a Deputy Commissioner in charge of HR from Timbuktu came out to defend the indefensible......!

Those foreigners from Timbuktu that were suspended actually held key revenue collection posts whilst their kikuyu-kenyan senior colleagues could not even be trusted with revenue collection, but mundane administrative jobs....well apart from one of them who is in charge of Southern Region!

[mzee]

KAMALET,
I do believe that the tribal cabal at KRA had carefully studied how things go down in other departments. But instead of doing it the "civilized" way they decided to go for an over kill. To them, there was no reason doing the same thing two or three times. They had to ethnically sterilize the place in one sweep. After all they have a big brother at the state house. And word in the air is: "its our time to eat" and the attitude is "lets show them" . The tribal cabal is however heading for a major clash with Kenyans.

You see, our ministers like poking their noses in everything. Have you heard the minister who`s docket KRA fall say a word. Oh no, for the suspended fellows as you rightly alluded are not Kenyans they are Timbuktians and KRA has according to tribal arithmetic done the right thing

[politicalmaniac]

Mzee,
Its tough not to feel sick in view of the inept tribalistic corrupt GOVT led by this somnolent sloth.
But fear not. Help is on the way.
You think Kenyans are not seeing this? I am not shocked that the likes garsen croc eating Mbwatanas, kiunjuris, saitotis, kituyis, and kivuthas are not baying for kickback1 blood over this issue, but rather speaking loudly by their defeaning silence. They have gotten theirs.

But time will tell. We are an amnestic society and it is this fact that makes me sick, not the stealing, or corruption, ineptness or tribalism this GOVT practices. These vices can be corrected. Its The Amnesia, the tendency to shrug our collective shoulders and say 'haisuru', that seems to be imprinted on our national genetic psyche, that makes me wanna puke ,.

My biggest worry you say? The lack of ID cards and hence voter cards in certain regions.

And whats this incoherent psychobable rant about Timbuktuu all about ?