KRA Set to Buy 30 Body Cameras in War Against Corruption

The Kenya Revenue Authority (KRA) is seeking to buy 30 bodycams to curb tax cheating and enable the taxman to monitor staffs who receive bribes from taxpayers, resulting in tax evasion.

In a statement published in local dailies, the taxman says it will purchase 30 cameras. Other items that the taxman will be buying include a ruggedized laptop (5), satellite phones (10), and a portable hand-held scanner (2).

“The Kenya Revenue Authority now invites sealed Bids from eligible Bidders for Supply and Delivery of Asson Enforcement and Communication Equipment….,” said the Taxman.

KRA had earlier said that this would apply to workers working in the domestic tax department and customs and border control. The use of cameras is expected to start in areas with big tickets such as the border points, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Mombasa port, and the Inland Container Depot.

KRA officials have been accused of helping to fraudulently clear cargo and alter tax returns to assist taxpayers in evading tax payments, leading to massive tax losses.

In 2019, the taxman fired 75 employees over corruption claims which saw the taxman lose billions of shillings in tax leakages. Sixty-one of those arrested were from the domestic taxes department and 14 were from customs and border control.

KRA revealed that it loses an estimated 12 billion shillings yearly from excise tax evasion alone. In response to this, the taxman has continued to employ technological strategies to assist seal revenue loopholes. One of the strategies KRA has employed is the web-based system, iWhistle. The system allows the public to unanimously report corruption.

This has enabled the authority to gather corruption and tax evasion-related information from the public while concealing the anonymity of the reporters. The authority has also rolled out the Tax Invoice Management System (TIMS), which aims at plugging loopholes resulting from weaknesses in the ETR regime.

The system will help in the standardization and authentication of tax invoices at the time of generation by the trader and transmission to KRA on a real-time or near-real-time basis.

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