When President William Ruto took over the reigns of power last year, he talked tough about the country's taxation regime, signaling a radical surgery at the Kenya Revenue Authority.

James Githii Mburu, who resigned on Thursday as KRA's Commissioner General, had his days numbered in a Ruto presidency.

Ruto, who during the presidential campaigns railed against the taxman's harsh and discriminatory taxation policies, claimed top KRA officials were involved in political errands.

The then United Democratic Alliance Presidential candidate launched scathing attacks at the KRA leadership claiming they were being used to harass and destroy businesses owned by his allies.

When he accepted the UDA nomination as the party's presidential candidate, Ruto promised to end what he termed as state capture of KRA through radical reforms.

"On our first day we will free the DCI, we will free the KRA from the state capture, they have weaponised DCI, KRA and the EACC to run political errands," Ruto said as his supporters cheered him on at the Kasarani gymnasium.

When Ruto picked UDA party Elections Board Chairperson Anthony Mwaura as the KRA board chairperson, it was only a matter of when changes would be triggered at Times Towers.

Mwaura was appointed chairman in November in changes that also saw the appointment of five new directors on January 12.

With an unfriendly government and a board headed by an assertive chairman Mburu's days at KRA's corner office were numbered.

On Thursday, and true to his earlier admission during an exclusive interview with the Star in December, Mwaura cracked the whip targeting KRA's top managers.

Mburu, who has been KRA's Director General since 2019, was pushed out in radical changes that also affected four other directors.

“It is not a matter of if but when the heads will roll here at KRA,” Mwaura told the Star in December.

Mburu was replaced in an acting capacity with CS Rispah Simiyu until the position is substantively and competitive.

President Ruto had long trained his eyes on Mburu and top commissioners after several of his allies were arrested and prosecuted when he served as Deputy President over tax evasion allegations.

When he took office, Ruto ordered the KRA to desist from seizing the assets of suspected tax evaders and disabling businesses through forcible occupations and blockade of bank accounts.

“I have told the Commissioner-General (CG) that he must tell his people to stop and we have no choice because I do not want to fight with people but they must stop,” Ruto said during the annual taxpayers’ day on October 28.

“I have given enough information to CG to sort out that mess and I have told him, if he doesn’t sort out the mess, I’ll sort it out myself.”

Before his elevation as KRA commissioner general, Mburu had served as KRA's head of intelligence, a department that took the lead role in identifying taxa evaders.

His docket is responsible for intelligence management, corruption investigations, cyber surveillance, and local and international tax information exchange.

As chief of intelligence, Mburu was the man behind the intelligence gathering machinery that became a nightmare for many alleged tax cheats.

During his tenure, several of Ruto's political and business allies claimed they were unfairly targeted with irregular tax demands.

Some of the businesses that had been closed down then have been reopened after Ruto took over power while other tax-related charges against his allies have been withdrawn from court.

In October, speaking during the KRA Taxpayers Day, Ruto said there should be consultation and engagement between the authority and citizens instead of harassing them while collecting taxes.

"KRA should embrace consultations and engagement with the citizens whenever there are problems on payment of taxes instead of harassing them," he said.

The President promised key reforms at KRA including renaming the agency as part of a culture change to make the authority people friendly.

"We want to make it a people-friendly, customer-centric organization. I am of the view that we rename it The Kenya Revenue Service. In line with the proposed transformation," Ruto said.