PERHAPS discussion and dissection of the Budget just seems like too much hard work for many MPs, because it means that if they're to make a positive input, they would need to have scrutinised, or at least read, aspects of it! So they choose the easier option, which is to berate the main opposition parties for trying to negate a process they have reason to believe was flawed in various respects.

Whether the Opposition are right or wrong in seeking redress in the courts, our democracy provides for just these kinds of checks and balances, and the fact that such legal challenges are possible in Namibia, reflects positively on our Constitution.

It is not as though Swapo have denied themselves the opportunity to do precisely the same thing when it suits them! The Budget needs to be looked at from the point of view of whether it is in keeping with our national priorities.

It is an absolutely key document, which should be rigorously analysed sooner rather than later.

The broader public have little understanding of it, unless there are aspects that affect them directly or immediately, like on personal taxation or price hikes on items they consume.

It is therefore important that MPs try to educate the public on just why it is important to know what is happening with our revenues and expenditure for example.

The people have a right to have input regarding these allocations.

Legitimate questions can and should be raised about spending priorities, and just how Government in general, and the Finance Minister in particular, determine these.

If spending on Police is cut back, as is indeed the case, we need to have an explanation as to why, at this point in our history, with a spiralling crime rate, such an apparently ludicrous decision is taken.

There needs to be fiscal pruning, no doubt about it, but then why couldn't a massive movie project, or a luxury dwelling for that matter, be put on hold so that Namibians could have the benefit of crime-free streets? Likewise an increase in the amount allocated to so-called 'intelligence gathering' or 'security' as well as Defence, needs to be explained, and if at all possible, justified against the background of cuts in education and healthcare and no increase in social pensions.

With the recent divisions in Swapo, many of the leadership know that they themselves came under the scrutiny of this agency, and I'm sure they'd agree, it was a waste both of time and money, for they are all patriots, at the end of the day, whose worst crime was to have a different opinion.

How, therefore, can the Minister responsible for 'intelligence' justify this spending? I would personally be very interested to hear a breakdown of just why they need a massive amount of money, and precisely what security threats they've defused, if at all.

The monumental State House currently being built is a disgrace.

I'm almost certain the incumbent President doesn't particularly want or need it.

And perhaps it's not such an outlandish idea, as someone suggested, to turn it into a luxury hotel to try and generate revenue from a white elephant if ever there was one.

There's been a change in Ministers, what with President Pohamba's choice of Cabinet, and there must be a certain amount of confusion in these ranks about the various budgetary allocations that some have inherited, rather than those in which they've had a direct say.

It would doubtless be a helpful exercise for this reason, to engage in lively debate about the Budget given that the President has also said that Ministers must know more about their portfolios in order to oversee their Ministries more effectively.

So instead of engaging in time-wasting exercises and lambasting the opposition parties for simply exercising their democratic rights, Ministers and other MPs need to start proving to the public just why they've been chosen to be where they are, and prove to Namibians that their salaries, if not those of the Opposition, are money well spent!

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