The Kenya Revenue Authority Commissioner General FCPA Githii Mburu MGH, CBS, has been appointed as one of the three Vice Chair for the OECD Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes for a period of three years, with effect from January 2023. His appointment was communicated during the 15^th Global Forum Plenary meeting held in Spain on 9^th -11^th November 2022.

This follows the successful completion of the Commissioner General’s two-year term as the Chairperson for the Africa Initiative, the regional body whose objective is to enhance the potential of tax transparency and exchange of information (EOI) for Africa by ensuring that African countries are equipped to explore improvements in global transparency to better tackle tax evasion.

The Commissioner General with the other two Vice-Chairs will support the Chair of the Global Forum on strategies to influence and promote cooperation among tax authorities on Exchange of Information on Requests (EOIR), Automatic Exchange of Information (AEOI), capacity building and technical assistance on strategies to deter tax evasion. This includes preparing and guiding the future work of the Global Forum as a Vice-Chair of the Steering Group, which comprises the Chair (France) and the Vice-Chairs of the Global Forum (Italy, Japan and Kenya), along with 16 other members. This appointment elevates Kenya and Africa’s profile in tax transparency and participation at the Global Forum.

During the Commissioner General’s leadership at the Africa Initiative, the Initiative intensified efforts to build strong political buy-in aimed at unpacking the benefits of tax transparency and EOI for all African countries. Kenya hosted the 11^th Meeting of the Africa Initiative in June 2022, a high-level strategic engagement to advocate for tax transparency and EOI at the continental level, promotion of the Yaoundé Declaration and demonstrating the impact of tax transparency and EOI in domestic resource mobilisation.

In 2021, the number of requests for information grew by over 26%, narrowing the gap between the requests sent and the requests received. In addition, African countries identified over €37.2 million in additional revenues due to EOIR. The implementation of the AEOI standard continues to advance in the continent, with Tunisia becoming the 10th country in the region to commit to start by 2024.

Kenya joined the Global Forum on Transparency and Exchange of Information for Tax Purposes in 2009 enabling Kenya to receive information from over 130 jurisdictions. The Forum is the leading international body working on the implementation of global transparency in tax matters and exchange of information standards around the world.

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