President Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday appointed former Head of Civil Service Francis Muthaura to chair the board of Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA).
The President also appointed Carole Kariuki and Isaac Awuondo to chair boards of Special Economic Zones and Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) respectively.
In a May 23 Gazette notice, Uhuru indicated that 71-year old Muthaura would serve as the Chairperson of the Kenya Revenue Authority, up to October 20, 2019.
[caption caption="President Uhuru Kenyatta with Ambassador Muthaura"]
[/caption]
The president further revoked the appointment of Edward Sambili - a former Central Bank of Kenya deputy governor - who has been serving as the KRA chairman.
Muthaura served under his close ally former President Mwai Kibaki as the Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of Civil Service until his resignation in January 2012.
He has also been serving as the chairman of Lapsset Corridor Development Authority - Eastern Africa’s largest infrastructure project that brings together Kenya, Ethiopia and South Sudan.
Kariuki has been the Chief Executive Officer at Kenya Private Sector Alliance while Awuondo has been the Group Managing Director of Commercial Bank of Africa (CBA).
Muthaura's resignation in 2012 alongside the then Finance Minister Uhuru Kenyatta marked a bowing to the piling pressure due to the criminal charges they were facing at the International Criminal Court (ICC) alongside the infamous "Ocampo 6".
The new KRA board chairperson was instrumental in the formation of the grand coalition government that ended the political stalemate and violence that followed the controversial 2007 General Election.
University of Nairobi's Institute of Diplomacy describes Muthaura as "a premier administrator, a diplomat, a tough negotiator, a champion of regional integration, a reformer and a visionary leader.
[caption caption="Francis Muthaura with the "Ocampo 6""]
[/caption]
The institute, however, notes that Ambassador Muthaura has "at all times been and lived his life in the mould of a consummate civil servant" which may explain why he has been preferred as the KRA board chairperson.
