The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) Board has announced that it will not renew the contract of Commissioner General Humphrey Wattanga, effectively marking the end of his tenure.
In a press release dated April 8, 2026, the Board said Wattanga will proceed on terminal leave in line with his contract.
The statement positions the move as part of a leadership transition at the tax authority.
The Board commended Wattanga for his service, stating that he played a key role in advancing the Authority’s mandate and was instrumental in organisational restructuring reforms during his time in office.
“In the interim, the Board has appointed Dr Lilian Nyawanda as the Acting Commissioner General,” the statement said.
Lilian Nyawanda currently serves as the Commissioner of Customs and Border Control at KRA and will hold the position pending the recruitment of a substantive Commissioner General through a competitive process.
The Board added that the Authority remains committed to discharging its mandate effectively and efficiently in the public interest.
Wattanga was appointed the Commissioner General of the Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) on August 22, 2023.
Prior to his appointment, he was the Managing Director of Meghraj Capital Group, the investment banking advisory arm of the Meghraj Group and an international firm founded by Meghji Pethraj Shah (MP Shah).
In this role, he provided strategic leadership on mergers, acquisitions, partnerships and joint ventures, equity and debt raising and cross-border investments for markets in East Africa, India and Japan. Before joining Meghraj Group, Wattanga served a six-year term as Commissioner and Vice Chair of the Commission on Revenue Allocation (CRA) until December 2022.
Wattanga is a corporate finance professional with over 20 years of international experience in mobilising capital and structuring financial transactions in the public and private sectors. He has also been keen on the application of technology to increase efficiency in organisations.
Wattanga began his career in the United States, working for the largest telecommunications company (AT&T) before relocating to South Africa for a decade as a Senior Partner of AFCORP Investments Limited, a specialist corporate finance and transaction advisory firm undertaking and structuring capital raising transactions across the continent.
Wattanga played a key role in the conceptualisation, design, development and implementation of a groundbreaking mobile gateway platform that linked Kenya's mobile money platforms to the Nairobi Securities Exchange, which was used to launch the M-Akiba bond.
At CRA, he led the performance review of numerous county revenue collection systems and guided a multi-agency effort to specify and develop a Single Integrated County Revenue Management System.
Wattanga has served as a member of the investment committee of Kenya Climate Ventures (KCV), a pioneering climate-smart investment platform that supports small and medium-sized enterprises. He is a Platinum member of the Kenya Institute of Bankers.
Wattanga holds a Master of Business Administration in Information Systems Strategy and Economics from the Wharton School of Business (University of Pennsylvania) and is an alumnus of Harvard University, where he graduated cum laude with a Bachelor's in Biochemical Sciences.
Comments 0
Sign in to join the conversation
Sign In Create AccountNo comments yet. Be the first to share your thoughts!