Tourism Fund (TF) chairman Samson Some has confirmed that the agency is funding the controversial Sh31.7 billion Bomas of Kenya renovation through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
Mr Some’s revelation lifts the lid on a closely guarded Executive secret that even Tourism Cabinet Secretary Rebecca Miano and the Bomas of Kenya management were unable to disclose to Parliament when pressed for answers.
The upgrade will transform the country’s cultural facility into Bomas International Convention Centre (BICC), a modern facility.
Tourism Fund Board Chairman Mr Samson Some.
Photo credit: Jared Nyataya | Nation Media Group
At a previous meeting with the Public Investments Committee (PIC) of the National Assembly in charge of Social Service, Administration, and Agriculture, the Bomas of Kenya management could not divulge the source of funds for the project, saying it is a security project undertaken by KDF.
However, Mr Some, whose term as chairperson, TF Board of Trustees ends on February 14, 2026, put the doubts to rest in an interview with Nation, revealing that the financing is a PPP model through TF collections.
“A percentage of our levy collection will be committed annually by the fund as a repayment to the people who are investing in the project,” says Mr Some.
Former Deputy President Rigathi Gachagua caused uproar when he sensationally claimed that the country’s cultural facility had been sold by the government to a foreign entity, a claim that the government denied.
Mr Some disclosed that “what the government was very clear is that by mobilising private sector money, we could get this facility available to the industry immediately.”
The entrance to Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi on December 20, 2025.
Photo credit: Evans Habil | Nation Media Group
“Then what would happen is that this repayment would be done through collections internally from the industry, and it couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment,” he says.
The renovations aim to upgrade the cultural facility into a modern conference venue with an 11,000-seater capacity.
Despite prodding from the National Assembly, the State Department for Culture, Arts and Heritage also failed to provide the project's funding modalities, including project costs, the source and funding arrangements, as well as the timelines involved.
This came as the Liaison Committee of the National Assembly, while processing the 2025 Budget Policy Statement (BPS), called for an audit of the Sh500 million spent by the Bomas of Kenya management on feasibility studies of the renovation of the project through a Public-Private Partnership (PPP) model.
The Liaison Committee, in a report to the National Assembly, raised doubts over the executive’s guarded secret about the finer details of upgrading the State-owned cultural facility.
“Renovations at Bomas of Kenya are currently in the initial stages of constructing an ultra-modern conference facility. However, the State Department for Culture, Arts and Heritage has not furnished the committee with funding modalities for the project,” the committee, chaired by Deputy Speaker Gladys Boss said.
The project funding modalities, according to the committee, included costs, source of funding, arrangements, and timelines.
But even as Mr Some made the disclosure, he did not provide details of the financing agreement, for instance, how many years of Tourism Fund financing, the total amount the fund is supposed to inject into the project, and the interest rate applied.
The Public Procurement and Asset Disposal Act of 2015 requires that, before a government body starts a tendering process, it must have a budget for the goods, works, or services it intends to procure.
An entrance to Bomas of Kenya in Nairobi on December 20,2025
Photo credit: Evance Habil | Nation Media Group
The tender for the upgrade of the BICC into a modern facility had been awarded to Summa Turizm Yatirimciligi Sirketi Construction, a Turkish firm, in November 2023 at Sh31.7 billion before it was terminated by the Ministry of Defense due to lack of funds and a change in the scope of works.
But the Public Procurement Administrative Review Board (PPARB) ruled that the Ministry of Defence could only cancel a tender before its award.
The MPs have also previously raised questions over why Bomas of Kenya, a State agency outside the Ministry of Tourism and Wildlife, would be financed by Tourism Fund proceeds despite critical government agencies under the Ministry facing financial difficulties.
The Executive Order No. 2 of 2023 placed the Bomas of Kenya under the Ministry of Gender, Culture, the Arts, and Heritage.
For instance, the Ronald Ngala Utalii College , which is supposed to be financed by the proceeds of the Tourism Fund and TPF remains incomplete for more than 15 years since its construction started.
The college, located in Vipingo, Kilifi County, was meant to get the hospitality sector training load off the government-owned Nairobi’s Utalii College.
The Tourism Research Institute (TRI), which is mandated to collect and analyse tourism statistics across the country as well as establish a tourism data portal, remains underfunded.
