Budget debate postponed as MPs demand transparency

Opposition political parties have threatened to boycott budget discussions in parliament until they are provided with the full documents that will allow them to engage with the appropriation bill in depth.

The finance and social grants management minister, Ericah Shafudah, tabled the N$106.3 billion national budget in the National Assembly on Thursday last week.

The opposition parties’ threat followed the postponement of this week’s budget debate to 8 April. This was announced by the National Assembly in a statement on Tuesday, although reasons were not given.

Affirmative Repositioning leader Job Amupanda told The Namibian they will not debate the budget without documents.

Amupanda on his social platform on Tuesday said the documents the opposition requested last week had not been provided, precluding any discussion or debates on the budget.

Body of Christ Party president Festus Thomas agreed, saying his party wants to ensure the budget is passed following due dilligence.

“The people voted for us to represent them in parliament. We do not want to have harsh discussions without knowing what is actually in the documents. We need to see who are the beneficiaries, how the budget was formulated and which ministry got how much and why,” said Thomas in an interview with The Namibian yesterday.

Thomas emphasised the importance of leaders being sufficiently informed, allowing them to make decisions that speak to the interests of all Namibians. He also urged the finance ministry to ensure that documents are made available by next week Tuesday.

The Independent Patriots for Change (IPC) say they are disappointed by the decision to postpone parliamentary sittings.

Party spokesperson Immanuel Nashinge describes the decision as unilateral. “The IPC expresses deep concern over the unilateral decision by the speaker of the National Assembly, Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, to postpone today’s parliamentary sitting – which was set to deliberate on the critical appropriation bill – without citing any valid standing rule or consulting the chief whips of other opposition political parties,” he said on Tuesday.

Nashinge argues that parliament must not be held hostage by executive incompetence or partisan manoeuvering. The IPC, he says, has sought an immediate explanation from the speaker on the rule invoked for the postponement, as well as a commitment that future sittings will not be arbitrarily delayed without cross-party consultation as provided for in the standing rules.

During an interview with Desert FM yesterday, National Democratic Party (NDP) leader Martin Lukato said if parliament had agreed to his proposal to give parliamentarians two weeks to study the budget, the National Assembly would not have needed to make such an abrupt decision.

He said the two weeks were going to be adequate for documents to be provided and studied. “But now [the parliamentary sitting] is postponed to next week. I commend the speaker for doing so because it is the right thing,” Lukato said.

Lukato clarified that during the induction workshop for members of parliament, the speaker announced that parliament will be postponed to allow ample time to scrutinise the budget documents.

“I thought all political parties represented on the whips forum in the National Assembly were consulted, and agreed on the postponement.”