Minister disappointed at level of Budget debate

FINANCE Minister Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila on Tuesday expressed disappointment about the level of debate on the National Budget in the National Assembly over the past two weeks.

Responding to comments, queries and concerns expressed by MPs from both sides of the House, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said while many had made valuable contributions, interjections were often totally unrelated to the Budget. More than that, she often found the comments not constructive at all.”It would be in the interest of the debating culture of this House, in the interest of the quality of our deliberations and in the interest of the Namibian people if we could this precious time allocated to us to make constructive comments to the point and not abuse the forum,” she said.The Finance Minister said Government was very committed to producing a transparent Budget that was accessible not only to MPs but ordinary people on the street.”I wish the debate in this House and in public had paid more attention to our efforts in reforming public finance management and in moving from line-item budgeting to programme budgeting,” she said.She said she hoped comments made in the next round of debate, when each Ministry will motivate its budget, would make specific reference to Government programmes, activities and performance measures.Regarding complaints by opposition parties that they had not been asked to make an input during the Budget’s planning stages, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila put it to them bluntly that their expectation of being involved were out of line.”The fact that the opposition parties are not approached as individual units to make an input into the Budget has to do with the fact that the opposition simply does not form part of Government! This might be a bitter pill for some members of the opposition to swallow, but it is the direct result of the overwhelming mandate that Swapo has received from the Namibian people,” she said to applause from the Swapo benches.However, she said she was disappointed by RP leader Henk Mudge’s comment that the budgetary debate was “futile” if it could not lead to changes being made.She said the Budget was submitted to Parliament for the purpose of scrutiny, to justify Government’s views and actions to the public, and also to listen and improve on these.The Minister said suggestions on future budgets would gladly be accepted well before the Budget was completed and would be considered in the light of its impact on the economy and Government’s fiscal policy.More than that, she often found the comments not constructive at all.”It would be in the interest of the debating culture of this House, in the interest of the quality of our deliberations and in the interest of the Namibian people if we could this precious time allocated to us to make constructive comments to the point and not abuse the forum,” she said.The Finance Minister said Government was very committed to producing a transparent Budget that was accessible not only to MPs but ordinary people on the street.”I wish the debate in this House and in public had paid more attention to our efforts in reforming public finance management and in moving from line-item budgeting to programme budgeting,” she said.She said she hoped comments made in the next round of debate, when each Ministry will motivate its budget, would make specific reference to Government programmes, activities and performance measures.Regarding complaints by opposition parties that they had not been asked to make an input during the Budget’s planning stages, Kuugongelwa-Amadhila put it to them bluntly that their expectation of being involved were out of line.”The fact that the opposition parties are not approached as individual units to make an input into the Budget has to do with the fact that the opposition simply does not form part of Government! This might be a bitter pill for some members of the opposition to swallow, but it is the direct result of the overwhelming mandate that Swapo has received from the Namibian people,” she said to applause from the Swapo benches.However, she said she was disappointed by RP leader Henk Mudge’s comment that the budgetary debate was “futile” if it could not lead to changes being made.She said the Budget was submitted to Parliament for the purpose of scrutiny, to justify Government’s views and actions to the public, and also to listen and improve on these.The Minister said suggestions on future budgets would gladly be accepted well before the Budget was completed and would be considered in the light of its impact on the economy and Government’s fiscal policy.