Namibia’s new deputy ministers’ appointments raise budget concerns

Political analysts and parties say the recent appointment of deputy ministers by president Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah will cost the government millions as the executive becomes bloated.

They see the plan as poorly thought out, as it increases budget expenditure.

The seven new deputy ministers will receive salaries of N$65 000 per month, or N$780 000 per annum. This will cost the government nearly N$1.7 million per year in additional salaries for public office bearers.

This is also in addition to the salary of a new minister in the Office of the President. In 2021, former finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi said ministers earned N$1.1 million per annum, including allowances.

Political analyst Henning Melber yesterday said the move partly signals a reversal of the initial trimming of government positions as a cost-saving measure.

“It suggests that the initial preparatory time of almost four months between being elected and moving into office was not optimally used for strategic, forward-looking planning. The president seems tempted to be impressed by rather spontaneous announcements and decisions which at times are not well thought through,” said Melber.

He said the appointment of another minister to the president’s office indicates a tendency towards more centralised power, expanding the president’s direct influence and control over the executive authority.

Melber believes the appointment is driven more by internal party considerations than by efforts to strengthen central governance and service delivery.

Former ambassador Pius Dunaiski says Nandi-Ndaitwah reversed her pledge to slim down a bloated executive – signalling that political survival now outweighs fiscal discipline.

“This shift reflects a broader pattern of broken promises. Commitments to mass housing, jobs, free tertiary education and a N$3 000 pension have proven unrealistic or been quietly abandoned, eroding public trust,” Dunaiski says.

COMPROMISED

Omusati regional secretary of the Independent Patriots for Change, Matatias Nakweenda, says it compromises the ability of the appointees to effectively execute triple duties as members of parliament (MPs), deputy ministers and regional councillors.

“The concern is that serving in multiple roles will compromise regional councillors’ ability to serve their constituencies in an effective way, as they may be too busy with national administrative duties,” he says.

Rehoboth Urban West constituency councillor Harald Kambrude says the challenge for MPs will be balancing their time between serving as regional councillors and fulfilling their roles within the executive structure.

Despite the challenges, he says because National Council sessions are held quarterly, the new deputy ministers will have more time on the ground to serve their regions.

WITHDRAWN

National Council secretary Tousy Namiseb, in an interview with the Namibian Broadcasting Corporation, said the new appointees will be removed from all six standing parliamentary committees, as they now fall under the executive and must report to the MPs.

“It will be inappropriate for a deputy minister to serve in an oversight committee because the committee will interrogate what the ministries are doing. For this purpose, we will withdraw the seven appointees from participating in the committees but their legislative duties to debate budgets and other issues remain the same,” he said.

He said as long as the appointees do not resign from parliament, their regional status remains.

Namiseb added that they will receive only one salary as deputy ministers, along with other benefits, and that their files will be transferred to the relevant ministries.

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