Govt grants N$3m to political parties

CABINET yesterday approved an allocation of N$3 million to be shared among the country’s political parties.

Opposition parties in particular have been in dire straits over the past few months after they were slashed from the list of institutions to receive funds through the Additional Budget in October. Political parties represented in the National Assembly are allocated a percentage of the State’s revenue through the main Budget, but with final figures for the previous year not finalised at the time, parties receive the remainder of the allocation through the Additional Appropriation Bill.With the treasury ending up with much less to dish out than predicted last year, political parties were told they would have to get by without State funding.DTA leader Katuutire Kaura said it was just short of a miracle that his party had not yet been hauled before the courts for defaulting on paying its staff and for not being able to meet its numerous financial obligations.Parties have been even more hard-pressed for funds this year in the wake of the Grootfontein by-election last month, and campaigning for the upcoming Tsumeb by-elections.”It’s been going very, very badly.We are just scratching everywhere.It’s been tough to say the least.We’ve been pulling ourselves by our bootstraps,” said Kaura.Sources close to the Congress of Democrats (CoD) told The Namibian last week that the party stood to lose regional offices and vehicles on hire-purchase because of its desperate financial position.Since the shock announcement last year, party Whips have been desperately negotiating with the Finance Ministry to re-evaluate their position.Last April, more than N$16 million was divided among parties represented in the National Assembly.They were expecting another N$5 million – but this figure has now been reduced by N$2 million.The DTA and the CoD now stand to receive about N$300 000 each.Last week Swapo Party Whip Ben Amathila said Swapo was not necessarily better off than the opposition, despite its broader revenue base.He said the party had many commitments and a much larger electorate to serve.Swapo will get the lion’s share of the additional funds – about N$1,3 million.Kaura said last night that the extra funds would see his party through until this year’s main Budget.CoD leader Ben Ulenga said last night that parties should not be expected to be grateful for Government’s decision to award extra funding as they were entitled to financial support from the State.He described as “sabotage” the move to deny parties what he said was their due.”It is a very insecure and frightening situation for the parties.It means we as political parties can’t rely on this source of funding.”Finance Permanent Secretary Calle Schlettwein explained to The Namibian that the formula was only an indication of the maximum amount parties could expect to receive and that the funding was determinant on the financial ability of the country in any particular financial year.He said parties could expect to receive the funds as soon as the end of this week.Political parties represented in the National Assembly are allocated a percentage of the State’s revenue through the main Budget, but with final figures for the previous year not finalised at the time, parties receive the remainder of the allocation through the Additional Appropriation Bill.With the treasury ending up with much less to dish out than predicted last year, political parties were told they would have to get by without State funding.DTA leader Katuutire Kaura said it was just short of a miracle that his party had not yet been hauled before the courts for defaulting on paying its staff and for not being able to meet its numerous financial obligations.Parties have been even more hard-pressed for funds this year in the wake of the Grootfontein by-election last month, and campaigning for the upcoming Tsumeb by-elections.”It’s been going very, very badly.We are just scratching everywhere.It’s been tough to say the least.We’ve been pulling ourselves by our bootstraps,” said Kaura.Sources close to the Congress of Democrats (CoD) told The Namibian last week that the party stood to lose regional offices and vehicles on hire-purchase because of its desperate financial position.Since the shock announcement last year, party Whips have been desperately negotiating with the Finance Ministry to re-evaluate their position.Last April, more than N$16 million was divided among parties represented in the National Assembly.They were expecting another N$5 million – but this figure has now been reduced by N$2 million.The DTA and the CoD now stand to receive about N$300 000 each.Last week Swapo Party Whip Ben Amathila said Swapo was not necessarily better off than the opposition, despite its broader revenue base.He said the party had many commitments and a much larger electorate to serve.Swapo will get the lion’s share of the additional funds – about N$1,3 million.Kaura said last night that the extra funds would see his party through until this year’s main Budget.CoD leader Ben Ulenga said last night that parties should not be expected to be grateful for Government’s decision to award extra funding as they were entitled to financial support from the State.He described as “sabotage” the move to deny parties what he said was their due.”It is a very insecure and frightening situation for the parties.It means we as political parties can’t rely on this source of funding.”Finance Permanent Secretary Calle Schlettwein explained to The Namibian that the formula was only an indication of the maximum amount parties could expect to receive and that the funding was determinant on the financial ability of the country in any particular financial year.He said parties could expect to receive the funds as soon as the end of this week.