Justice Francis Gikonyo ruled that Anthony Mwaura’s appointment as Chair of the Board of Directors at the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) was unlawful due to pending corruption charges against him.
“The appointment was procedurally flawed and illegal. The court cannot condone such illegality,” stated Justice Gikonyo.
The judge emphasized that the appointment violated both statutory law and constitutional provisions, despite Mwaura’s claim that the criminal case had been resolved in his favor.
Mwaura had argued that there was no legal barrier to his appointment, but the judge disagreed.
“Appointing him while charges were pending is problematic. The court cannot endorse Mwaura’s argument, as it would set a dangerous precedent for legitimizing unlawful actions by appointing authorities,” the judge added.
“Mwaura was appointed as Chairman of KRA in November 2022 by President William Ruto. Following this appointment, a legal challenge was brought by Dr. Benjamin Gikenyi based in Nakuru, questioning the validity of Mwaura’s appointment.
Gikenyi informed the court that at the time of his appointment, Mwaura was facing multiple criminal charges in the Milimani Anti-Corruption Court related to alleged misappropriation of significant funds from the Nairobi County Government. However, Mwaura was acquitted of these charges in February this year.
Mwaura, along with former Nairobi Governor Mike Sonko and others, had been accused of embezzling Sh357 million from the county government.
In a gazette notice dated November 17, President Ruto stated, ‘In exercise of the powers conferred by section 6(2)(a) of the Kenya Revenue Authority Act, I, William Ruto, President of the Republic of Kenya and Commander in Chief of the Defense Forces, appoint Anthony Ng’ang’a Mwaura to be the Chairperson of the Kenya Revenue Authority, for a period of three (3) years, with effect from the 18th November 2022.'”