MPs summon Najib Balala over misuse of tourism funds

A parliamentary committee has summoned Tourism Cabinet Secretary Najib Balala over mismanagement of the Tourism Promotion Fund (TPF).

This comes after the Public Investments Committee (PIC) of the National Assembly directed that the accounts of the Fund be audited.

Mr Balala chairs the board of the Fund, which was established two years ago to raise funds to support and develop the tourism sector.

Yesterday Mvita MP Abdulswamad Nassir, who chairs PIC, revealed that Mr Balala will be appearing before the MPs to explain how the Fund had utilised the money collected so far.

“This committee has summoned CS Balala tomorrow (today) to explain how the billions of shillings collected by the fund have been utilised since all the development projects under his ministry have either stalled or delayed,” said Mr Nassir.

“As of now, there’s no iota of evidence showing how this money is utilised,” the chairman added.

The Fund collects at least Sh1,100 per air ticket of a tourist travelling to Kenya.

“What we want to establish is who audits the funds collected by the Tourism Promotion Fund since it is not a State parastatal hence not subjected to audit by the Auditor-General,” said  Mr Nassir.

The PIC chairman’s comments come as the construction of the Ronald Ngala Utalii College in Kilifi County, which started years ago, continues to stall over lack of funds. The proceeds of the Fund were to finance such projects.

“We are concerned that the Kilifi project has been delayed for almost a decade while the TPF sits on the money meant for its development. These are the issues we expect the CS to respond to,” Mr Nassir added. TPF mandate includes providing funds to support development, promotion and branding of tourism sector.