The National Constitutional Amendment Committee (NCAC) submitted the National Revenue Authority Amendment Bill 2023 to the Ministry of Justice on Thursday.
Addressing reporters after submitting the bill to the minister of Justice, Gichira Kibara, Chairperson of the NCAC, said the bill is important as it empowers the commissioner general to collect revenues.
“It is important that the Commissioner General who is in charge of the revenue authority be fully empowered to be able to collect revenue and to have the authority to do his work without being interfered with,” Kibara said.
He revealed that they have been working on the bill since last month and said the National Revenue Authority (NRA) is an important institution charged with the responsibility of collecting revenue used by the government for development purposes.
Kibara noted that the bill will ensure accountability to the taxpayers as it attempts to close all the loopholes in revenue collection.
“As you are aware the revenue authority all over the world faces the challenge of people who do not want to pay taxes so they must be able to ensure that everybody pays tax and we believe with the new amendments we have brought in, the authority will be very well placed to be able to collect all the revenues but also not just to collect also to account to the people for the collection of revenue,” he said.
On his part, Joseph Malek Arop, the Deputy Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs said the bill is very important and will help financial institutions and the NRA to perform their duties.
“The ministry of justice does appreciate the National Constitutional Amendment Committee for the effort that has been done and also we are waiting for more legislation related to financial institutions and other legislations,” Malek said.
He revealed that they will ensure the bill is submitted to the council of ministers in a week before it is sent to the parliament for enactment.