Tourism Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano has faced fierce backlash from National Assembly committee on Tourism and Wildlife lawmakers after failing, for the second consecutive time, to appear before the Committee during deliberations on the Ministry’s 2026/27 Budget Estimates, triggering accusations of negligence, misplaced priorities and disrespect toward Parliament’s oversight role.
The sharp criticism emerged during a tense sitting of the Kareke Mbiuki led- committee where lawmakers openly questioned the CS’s commitment to the ministry’s budget process after she delegated Tourism Principal Secretary John Ololtuaa to represent her once again.
Committee members became visibly agitated after the PS informed them that Ms Miano was unavailable because she was at State House preparing for a dinner hosting guests attending the Africa Forward Summit an explanation MPs dismissed as unacceptable given the significance of the budget meeting.
“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.
The committee chair faulted the CS for repeatedly failing to honour invitations by Parliament, warning that her absence was derailing scrutiny of the ministry’s financial plans.
“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.
Lawmakers argued that the repeated absences painted a picture of a ministry leadership disconnected from the realities of parliamentary accountability, particularly at a time when crucial funding decisions affecting tourism projects and development programmes were under review.
Abdi Chome accused the CS of prioritising events outside the core business of her docket instead of appearing before legislators to justify the ministry’s expenditure 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.
The frustration within the committee deepened when Captain Mohammed Ruweida disclosed that she had personally incurred extra costs to alter her travel schedule in order to attend the meeting, only for the Cabinet Secretary to fail to show up.
“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 Miano’s absence, the committee reluctantly allowed PS Ololtuaa to proceed with the presentation of the ministry’s proposed Sh17.5 billion budget for the 2026/27 financial year.
However, the session quickly descended into another confrontation after lawmakers accused the PS of appearing ill-prepared and unable to satisfactorily defend the ministry’s expenditure proposals.
Committee members took issue with several expenditure figures presented during the session, saying the amounts being cited could not be traced in the official financial documents submitted to the committee.
“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 Hon. Mbiuki.
In a stinging rebuke, the chairperson dismissed the PS from the session for a second time, saying the ministry team had failed to adequately prepare for one of the most important stages of the parliamentary budget process.
“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,” he said.
The dramatic session now leaves the Ministry of Tourism under mounting pressure ahead of its expected reappearance before the committee on Wednesday, where lawmakers are likely to demand tougher accountability from both the Cabinet Secretary and senior ministry officials over the handling of the ministry’s budget estimates.
