Who is Adan Abdulla Mohamed, the new KRA boss?

New KRA boss Adan Mohamed / Screengrab

Adan Abdulla Mohamed has been appointed the new Commissioner General of the Kenya Revenue Authority for a three-year term effective May 18, 2026.

The appointment was announced through a special issue of the Kenya Gazette dated May 18, 2026, by Treasury Cabinet Secretary John Mbadi.

“In exercise of the powers conferred by section 11 (1) of the Kenya Revenue Authority Act, the Cabinet Secretary for the National Treasury appoints Adan Abdulla Mohamed to be the Commissioner General of Kenya Revenue Authority, for a period of three years, with effect from the 18th May, 2026,” the gazette notice stated.

The appointment marks the latest chapter in the career of one of Kenya’s most prominent corporate and public sector figures, whose experience spans banking, consulting, and government service.

Mohamed now takes over the leadership of KRA at a time when the tax agency remains central to the government’s efforts to increase revenue collection amid growing economic pressure and rising demands for domestic resource mobilisation.

Born in El Wak in Mandera County in the remote village of Kotulo to ethnic Somali parents from the Garre clan, the son of a chief understood both the realities of ordinary citizens and the responsibilities of leadership from an early age and would later rise to the top of Kenya’s corporate and public service ranks, despite beginning in modest circumstances.

He attended Mandera Primary School, where he was reportedly one of only two pupils who proceeded to high school. He later joined Kangaru High School in Embu before enrolling at the University of Nairobi, graduating in 1989 with a First Class Bachelor of Commerce degree.

At the University of Nairobi, he excelled particularly in accounting and analytical subjects. 

Mohamed began his professional career at PricewaterhouseCoopers, where he trained as a chartered accountant in London. He later moved into consulting and worked with Shell in Nigeria for three years before pursuing a Master of Business Administration degree at Harvard Business School, which he completed in 1998.

After returning to Kenya, he joined Barclays Bank Kenya as Finance Director and steadily rose through the ranks to become Managing Director for East and West Africa.

During his tenure at Barclays, the bank won the Banker Awards 2009, cementing his reputation as one of the region’s leading banking executives.

Mohamed later transitioned into government service after being nominated in 2013 by former President Uhuru Kenyatta as Cabinet Secretary for Industrialisation in the first administration under the 2010 Constitution.

He was sworn into office on May 15, 2013, where he spearheaded industrialisation and enterprise development initiatives aimed at boosting manufacturing and investment.

His appointment to KRA places him at the centre of Kenya’s revenue collection system as the government seeks to widen the tax base, improve compliance, and finance its economic programmes amid growing fiscal pressures.