Nairobi — Tourism Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano came under sharp criticism from Members of Parliament after she failed to appear before the National Assembly Committee during deliberations on the Ministry’s 2026/27 Budget Estimates.
Committee members, led by Chairperson Kareke Mbiuki (Maara), faulted the Cabinet Secretary for missing the meeting for the second consecutive time, raising concerns over what they termed as disregard for a critical budgetary process.
The legislators grew more agitated after Tourism Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa, who appeared on behalf of the CS, informed the Committee that Ms Miano was unavailable because she was at State House preparing for a dinner hosting guests attending the Africa Forward Summit.
“Waziri should choose her priorities right. Today’s budget meeting was extremely crucial to her Ministry and she cannot skip it because of other assignments,” said Mbiuki.
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He added that the Cabinet Secretary had also missed a similar meeting the previous week, further delaying the budget scrutiny process.
“Last week, she skipped another meeting where we were expected to deliberate on budget matters that would have determined the success of today’s sitting,” he said.
Voi MP Abdi Chome criticised the CS for prioritising engagements outside her docket over a meeting central to the ministry’s funding plans.
“Today’s budget meeting was meant to deliberate on resource allocations for projects being undertaken by the ministry. If the CS is serious about her work, she should have been here much earlier than members,” he said.
Lamu East MP Captain Mohammed Ruweida expressed frustration.
She revealed that she had incurred extra costs to reschedule her travel plans in order to attend the session.
“I had to pay a fee to reschedule my flight to Mombasa so that I could participate in deliberations on financing development programmes within the ministry. It is unfortunate that the CS chose otherwise,” she said.
Despite the uproar over Ms Miano’s absence, the Committee allowed Principal Secretary Ololtuaa to proceed with the presentation of the ministry’s budget estimates.
However, the PS also found himself on the receiving end after struggling to adequately defend the ministry’s proposed Sh17.5 billion budget for the 2026/27 financial year.
Committee members accused him of presenting expenditure figures that were not clearly reflected in the financial documents tabled before them.
This prompted his dismissal from the session for a second time to allow for better preparation.
“The Committee has noted with concern that you are presenting huge amounts of money for projects that are not captured in the financial document before us,” said Mbiuki.
He added: “Budget matters are about figures, not stories. Since you are ill-prepared, the Committee has no option but to send you back for proper preparation.”
The Ministry of Tourism is now expected to reappear before the Committee on Wednesday to defend its budget estimates.
