Our origins
Initiated by Munir Abubakar Masoud to give KRA employees a specific, accountable union.
Munir Abubakar Masoud joined the East African Community Customs & Excise Department as a Customs Assistant (Trainee) on 1 December 1975, joined Kenya Customs & Excise on 1 July 1977, and joined the Kenya Revenue Authority on 1 July 1996 as an Assistant Examining Officer, rising to Senior Collector. After his dismissal on 28 September 1998 and subsequent retirement in the Authority's interest — both challenged in court (Judicial Review Misc. App. 351 of 1999; Nairobi HCCC No. 196 of 2000) — he concluded that individual officers could not check excesses alone and began organising for collective representation.
In May 1998 he began mobilising officers on the basis that KRA, as a parastatal, was entitled to union representation. That early drive stalled after his dismissal, leading to the formal Tax Collectors Union applications of 2002 and 2009 set out in the timeline below.
Customs Workers Union
During the East African Community, Customs officers belonged to the Customs Workers Union (Kenya). After 1977 they joined the Union of Kenya Civil Servants alongside Income Tax and Motor Vehicles colleagues.
Ban lifted 2001
The Union of Kenya Civil Servants was banned in the 1980s. The ban was lifted in December 2001 — shortly before the first TCU application in January 2002.
KRA gap from 1995
When KRA was created in May 1995, officers from Customs, Income Tax, VAT and Motor Vehicles were seconded to a parastatal with no union — unlike KPA, Railways or Posts & Telecoms which each had one.
Why a specific union
An individual officer has little weight against an employer on terms and conditions. A formal, recognised union joins those individual voices into a united force able to negotiate fairly — the concept behind TCU.
The case for KRA staff is practical: job insecurity, uneven discipline and dismissal without clear recourse, as documented from 1998 onward. The 2008 High Court judgment (Misc. App. 1683 of 2004, Justice Dulu, 22 Sept 2008) later confirmed neither BIFU(K) — KRA is not a financial institution — nor KUCFAW could lawfully represent KRA staff, pointing to the need for a specific union.
What we will not do
- Claim to be registered or recognised before we are.
- Promise pay, promotion or case outcomes.
- Request dues at this stage.
Milestones 1998–2011
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| May 1998 | First mobilisation; hundreds agree to join KUCFAW; stalls after dismissal |
| 21 Jan 2002 | 1st TCU application (18 Jan signed, receipt 924151); officials Muithya, Mbogo, Masoud, Kabata, Kongoninga, Mwanyalu, Wanyama |
| Feb–Apr 2002 | Objections: BIFU(K), KUCFAW, COTU(K), FKE; rebutted 12 Jun 2002 |
| 18 Sep 2003 | Masoud appointed BIFU Executive Officer (Coast) to recruit KRA; ~720 members by early 2004 |
| 6 Feb 2004 | ROTU refuses TCU; says KUCFAW suffices. Check-offs for 714 members lodged 3–5 May 2004; KRA refuses |
| 22 Sep 2008 | High Court: neither BIFU(K) nor KUCFAW has mandate for KRA — new specific application needed |
| 4 Mar 2009 | Sec.12 certificate + Sh15,000 fee; Gazette 2875 of 19 Mar 2010; refused 10 Dec 2010; Appeal No.2 of 2011 filed 10 Jan 2011 |
Full accounts in Publications archive. Record corrected openly, not silently edited.