Court Declares KRA's Hiring Of 1406 Revenue Service Assistants Illegal

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) has suffered a huge blow after the High Court in Nairobi deemed the recruitment of 1,406 Revenue Service Assistants (RSA) unconstitutional.

In the ruling delivered on Monday, March 4, Justice William Musyoka found that a bigger percentage of the advertised slots were allocated to two communities.

This was deemed in violation of the law on diversity, inclusion and regional balance in line with the Constitution of Kenya.

“A declaration that the June 2023 recruitment of the 1,406 revenue service assistants was unconstitutional, as it offends the preamble to the Constitution and the provisions of Articles 10, 27, 56 and 232(g)(h)(i) of the Constitution,” read the ruling in part.

Justice Musyoka also barred KRA from making recruitments and appointments to any staff at all levels until the authority puts in place an ethnic diversity and regional balance policy.

“An order barring the respondents from recruiting and appointing staff at all levels, until an ethnic diversity and regional balance policy is deployed, giving effect to the values and principles stated in the preamble and Article 232(g)(b)(i) of the Constitution, which policy should be in place within 30 days of this order,” the judge further ruled.

In his decision, the judge also found that the October 2023 advertisement for the recruitment of 600 graduate trainees by KRA was unconstitutional and violated Articles 10, 27, 56, 232 and 260 of the Constitution.

The orders were issued after Peter Kabinga Orogo lodged a petition in court last year in October challenging the recruitment process on grounds that about 55.8 per cent of persons hired are from two communities and not representative of the data from the last population census.

Revenue Service Assistants (RSAs) were the recently recruited KRA field officers domiciled in the Domestic Taxes Department. They were located and operated across Tax Service Offices (TSOs). 

Their main role involved field visits to monitor compliance and facilitate tax base expansion initiatives, helping KRA to achieve its overall objective of collecting revenue on behalf of the government. 

The over 1,400 RSAs had undergone a training program comprising technical tax modules on Value Added Tax, Customs and KRA business systems; and security training at Recruits Training College in Eldoret and were qualified to aid the authority in enhancing its mandate regarding tax collection before their graduation in late August 2023.

The training was spearheaded by the Kenya School of Revenue Administration (KESRA) and delivered in partnership with the Kenya Defense Forces (KDF). KESRA handled all tax, customs and KRA-related training which comprised 80% of all training, and KDF supported the process through the discipline module. 

Due to the complexity and the challenges associated with the RSA's role in dealing with diverse taxpayers and a myriad of taxation issues, the training was to inculcate discipline, and patriotism and help trainees achieve physical fitness for the demanding revenue field job. 

"The role of the revenue assistant officers is purely intelligence-gathering and management to detect, deter and stem tax evasion.

"It is related to fieldwork and it requires physical fitness alertness and swift and tactical skills hence the revenue service assistance program had a dimension of paramilitary training for effective policing interventions against VAT and excise tax leakages," National Treasury & Economic Planning Cabinet Secretary Njuguna Ndung'u explained in defence of the RSA when he appeared before the National Assembly on September 27, 2023.

The tax authority, which deployed the servicemen across the country on September 25, aimed to support taxpayers in updating the correct details on their iTax profiles, and registration of trading businesses that are not registered with KRA.

This included the addition of applicable obligations, verification of details such as location, and contact information and support of taxpayers to comply with other tax regulations.

A KRA Revenue Service Assistant (RSA) attending to a businesswoman in Nairobi on September 27, 2023. /KENYA REVENUE AUTHORITY