Cabinet confirms furniture allowances for politicians

GOVERNMENT has finally broken its silence over revelations of increased allowances for political office bearers.

More than a week ago The Namibian reported that Cabinet, in a document classified as ‘secret’, approved hefty home furniture allowances for both Government and opposition political office bearers. Responding to the article yesterday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Nangolo Mbumba did not dispute the contents of the report by The Namibian.Instead he took issue with the continuous reference to the Cabinet document of July 22 2003 as “secret”.”The big ado about “secret” Cabinet documents was… unnecessary.It is a practice in Namibia to mark all Cabinet documents ‘secret’ until such time that a collective decision has been taken,” Mbumba said.”…Cabinet has certified the decision at its following meeting and declassified the document.”According to the Minister, Cabinet decisions that were in the public interest were normally announced through the media, but the one in question was exceptional because it apparently “served to correct an issue that should have been implemented a long, long time ago”.”Since the public was informed about the recommendations in the Wascom document, the Government did not see any reason to announce the implementation of the overdue recommendation,” he said.Responding to the article yesterday, Information and Broadcasting Minister Nangolo Mbumba did not dispute the contents of the report by The Namibian.Instead he took issue with the continuous reference to the Cabinet document of July 22 2003 as “secret”.”The big ado about “secret” Cabinet documents was… unnecessary.It is a practice in Namibia to mark all Cabinet documents ‘secret’ until such time that a collective decision has been taken,” Mbumba said.”…Cabinet has certified the decision at its following meeting and declassified the document.”According to the Minister, Cabinet decisions that were in the public interest were normally announced through the media, but the one in question was exceptional because it apparently “served to correct an issue that should have been implemented a long, long time ago”.”Since the public was informed about the recommendations in the Wascom document, the Government did not see any reason to announce the implementation of the overdue recommendation,” he said.