Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner-General Humphrey Wattanga has explained why he skipped an invitation to appear before a House committee.
National Assembly’s Committee on Cohesion and Equal Opportunity has since indicated it will summon Wattanga for not showing up for the 14th consecutive time over queries on whether KRA has met the ethnic composition requirement for its staff.
“This is the 14th consecutive time that the Commissioner General has snubbed our invitations. We are not going to listen to you or extend another invitation,” Committee chair Adan Haji said.
But Wattanga, in a letter to the committee dated February 16, 2024, said he had received an invitation to attend a Cabinet retreat the week beginning February 19, 2024, in Naivasha.
“For this reason, I will be unavailable to attend the meeting as planned,” he said in his letter to the Clerk of the National Assembly, Samuel Njoroge.
“Therefore, I wish to be represented by Nancy Ngetich, acting Commissioner of Corporate Support Services and Benson Kiruja, the Deputy Commissioner of Supply Chain Management who are well-versed with the matters at hand.”
On Tuesday, Wattanga sent Ng’etich to represent him in answering questions raised by the committee.
The committee, however, said it wanted him to appear in person before members.
Ng’etich told MPs that she was ready to make a presentation on behalf of Wattanga but could not take accountability at the level of the Commissioner General.
The committee is seeking to ascertain whether the KRA has met the constitutional requirements that not more than a third of the ethnic community should occupy jobs in a public entity.
The law requires ethnic balance in the public service to make it reflect the face of Kenya.
In 2019, the KRA revealed that management positions at the authority are dominated by executives from Central Kenya.
