Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Boss Githii Mburu has been appointed the first Chairperson of the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes Africa Initiative.
A statement by the taxman on Sunday, December 13, indicated that Mburu was appointed to provide leadership for a one year term.
His appointment was preceded by the member countries ratification of a proposal to extend the Africa Initiative operating term and mandate for a further three year period beyond December 2020.
Speaking when he addressed the Global Forum Virtual Plenary session on Friday evening, Mr Mburu expressed his commitment to champion the adoption of robust tax evasion programmes across Africa.
“While the global community has moved to combat tax evasion and other forms of illicit financial flows (IFFs), the African continent has lagged. For this reason, I commit to actively champion efforts to unlock the potential of tax transparency and Exchange of Information for African countries,” stated Mburu.
The Africa Initiative is a continental programme launched in 2014 by the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes (the Global Forum), its African members and various partners.
The organisation aims at unpacking the benefits of tax transparency and exchange of information (EOI) to fight tax evasion and other illicit financial flows (IFFs) and serve African countries’ development.
Mburu explained that the Africa Initiative comprising of 32 African countries, 11 regional and international partners, will strive to ensure that the member states are equipped to optimise the improvements in global tax transparency.
He further noted that the Africa Initiative will also foster programmes to tackle tax evasion and other forms of Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs).
During the Plenary session, the delegates noted that the progress made in attaining the objective of the Africa Initiative was aptly captured in the Tax Transparency in Africa Report, which provided comparable statistics on this agenda annually.
The latest Tax Transparency in Africa Report, launched in June this year, showed significant progress on the two pillars of the Africa Initiative including raising political awareness (national support) and commitment in Africa, and developing capacities in African countries in tax transparency and EOI.
Through the Africa Initiative, the number of African countries involved in international work on tax transparency has grown.
In 2009, only 4 African countries were members of the Global Forum. Now, Africa is well represented with 32 African countries serving as members of the Global Forum.
