Opposition trashes budget Namibia
Opposition trashes budget
Members of opposition parties in Parliament have described the 2021/22 national budget tabled last week as a “glimmer of false hope”, not a true reflection of the socio-economic situation in Namibia, as pulling the country “closer to technical insolvency, bankruptcy, and eventual liquidation”.
“[Don't] be fooled by the notion that countries don't go bankrupt. They do and can also be liquidated and the Chinese will take over,” castigated Rally for Democracy and Progress MP Mike Kavekotora.
He warned that the debt level has become unsustainable and risky at 76% of the Gross National Product saying Government's borrowing is mostly to finance operations instead of creating sustainable jobs.
Kavekotora further criticised finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi for failing to inform the nation about the multi-billion dollar loans that are maturing this year.
Kavekotora said the budget fails to address basic needs like food security, land delivery, housing, health, education, water and sanitation.
Popular Democratic Movement MP Nico Smit said Namibia only survives because it lives on borrowed money.
“The government has now really become the elephant in the room, devouring every last little bit of economic life that may be generated by the private sector,” Smit said, adding that the economic growth from 2012 to 2015 has been “obliterated”, “dumping the rest of Namibia into an economic quagmire”.
“We are on the brink of a classic debt trap, and once that trap has been sprung, escape will be difficult and far more painful than the past five years,” Smit said.
United Democratic Front MP Dudu Murorua also expressed his concern over Namibia's growing debt to foreign countries, which he said sets a trap of neo-colonialism.
Various opposition leaders have also lamented the small allocation to the agricultural sector – three times less than the allocation to defence.
OVERHAUL THE BUDGETARY FRAMEWORK
Kavekotora warned the government to restructure the economy and adopt a long-term strategy “to get out of this franchise economy”.
“I tried without success to demonstrate the detrimental effect of a franchise economy but you simply did not listen,” Kavekotora said to the finance minister.“As long as you and your government refuse to acknowledge that you do not have the monopoly on knowledge, the Namibian economy will not perform at optimal levels. You will continue to enrich other countries and those elites connected to Swapo. SME's will continue to suffer and ordinary Namibians will not participate in the mainstream economic activities.”
Smit suggested a complete overhaul of the budgetary framework to stop wastages and restart the economy, starting with an aggressive separation of the operational and development budgets.
“We need investment now. That can only happen if government ministries stop looting their development budgets to hide their operational inefficiencies,” Smit said.
He suggested that all projects of whatever nature be taken away from the respective ministries and be allocated to one single entity that is capable of planning, designing, implementing, and monitoring all capital projects.
Smit further suggested that the operational budget be funded only by the normal revenue stream, that no projects of a capital nature be funded through the development budget, and that capital budgets not be bound to 12- to 36-month horizons.
He recommended that no ministry or government agency, other than his proposed designated manager of the development budget, have any mandate on spending development money.
Smit said the development budget should at least be 25% of the value of the operational budget - “the bigger, the better” - and that interest payments must be handled as an operational expense by the finance ministry as part of its so-called statutory expenses.
Photo: PDM MP Nico Smit making his contribution to the budget.
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