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British American Tobacco Kenya reshuffles board after threatened Kenyan tax review

British American Tobacco Kenya reshuffles board after threatened Kenyan tax review
Marianne Thamm
By Marianne Thamm
24 Feb 2025
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Two senior British American Tobacco Kenya leaders have stepped aside after revenue authorities said they would investigate an apparent $28m tax discrepancy.

Days after the Kenyan Revenue Authority (KRA) announced it would audit British American Tobacco Kenya, (BAT Kenya) the corporation’s area director has resigned.

The KRA was prompted by a Bath University study exposing a $28-million tax discrepancy in the company’s profits.  

On Saturday, 22 February, BAT Kenya announced that André Joubert had resigned “after expressing his wish to exit the company”. Joubert, a chartered accountant, was the area director, BAT East & Southern Africa.



The multinational’s website describes the Pretoria University graduate as having worked in “the tobacco, mining, banking and audit industries and across several jurisdictions notably the United Kingdom, South Africa, Indonesia, Switzerland and Zimbabwe”.

The changes to the board include the exit of Sidney Wafula, who served as an alternate director since 2020, and take effect on 31 March.

Wafula, a graduate of The Catholic University of Eastern Africa, is a member of the Institute of Certified Public Accountants of Kenya. He previously worked in various positions for BAT in the Middle East & Caucasus and BAT Nigeria. He remains as head of finance for sub-Saharan Africa.

Shining a light 


The KRA on Wednesday, 20 February 2025, announced it would investigate evidence of a $28-million tax discrepancy involving British American Tobacco Kenya’s (BAT Kenya) declared profits between 2017 and 2018.

Analysis by the University of Bath’s Tobacco Control Research Group, the Investigative Desk, and Tax Justice Network Africa, has shown a 9.6-billion Kenyan shilling ($93-million) discrepancy for which “the company did not provide a plausible explanation”.

Read more: Kenya to investigate a $28m British American Tobacco tax ‘discrepancy’

The Bath study conducted an analysis of six years of BAT Kenya annual reports compared with production data the company had supplied to KRA. What they found indicated “a massive discrepancy of millions of cigarettes between what the company produced and said it sold”.

Authors Tim Luimes, Mirjam van der Puijl and editor-in-chief Marcel Metze concluded this “could indicate tax avoidance or evasion of up to 28-million USD in profit tax”.

The BAT Kenya announcement made no mention of the KRA announcement.

BAT Kenya board chairperson Rita Kavashe said:

“André Joubert, currently area director of BAT in sub-Saharan Africa, resigned as a director of the BAT Kenya board following a personal decision to retire from the BAT Group, effective 31 March 2025. André’s resignation consequently impacted Sidney Wafula’s appointment as André’s alternate on the board, necessitating his resignation.

“The changes were subsequently publicly announced in line with Kenya’s Capital Markets Authority Code of Corporate Governance for Issuers of Securities to the Public 2015.

“These resignations are not part of a Board reshuffle. Further, there is no connection whatsoever between these Board changes and the recent statement by the Kenya Revenue Authority, which noted the allegations made against BAT Kenya in a misleading report published by The Investigative Desk.

“I reiterate that BAT Kenya unequivocally rejects the allegations made in the report. As important, BAT Kenya is committed to conducting its business in line with applicable laws and regulations, as well as our company policies and guidelines that enable us to do the right thing and deliver with integrity.” DM

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