The Namibian budget was tabled on the 25th of February, but now, four days later, the estimates of revenue and expenditure, which are in effect the budget, are still not available to the public, and it appears, still not available to parliamentarians either.
As such, the budget was tabled with little more than high-levels numbers, captured in the speech, and a few more detailed numbers in the Medium Term Expenditure Framework (also not yet digitally available and hard to come by in hard copy). However, noteworthy in its absence was the estimates document, which raises the question as to whether the budget has yet been genuinely tabled at all?
That this is a great blow for transparency, little doubt can exist. Access to the estimates documents is vital for accountability, as it is the only way that the public can assess how public funds, for whom the Government is entrusted as custodian, are being spent. This forms part of a vital social contract between the public and the Government, and this contract is currently being flaunted.
Moreover, with debt levels increasing, investors, domestic and external, are likely to be keeping a close eye on the fiscus, and this lack of transparency is unlikely to be viewed in a positive light. In this regard, the budget speech made emphasis of the importance of international funding and the role it has played over the past financial year. However, not a lot of gratitude appears to be shown towards these investors, with a late dissemination and a lack of electronic availability of these critical documents. We are further concerned that this is the second time in as many years that the estimates documents have not been made available to the public for many days after the tabling of the budget, and we remain cognisant of the fact that if this remains unchallenged, it may not be the last time either.
While a conspiracy theorist may suggest that this act of withholding the detail of revenue and expenditure is due to a willful effort to hide something from the analysts and public, we feel this is unlikely. However, the alternative, options; that either the numbers are not yet complete, or that there is simply a lack of interest and urgency in sharing these; are hardly any better. Moreover, the Ministry has been eerily quiet on the issue, and has yet to say anything publicly as to why these numbers are not yet available.
There is generally a lot of hype around the budget release, but this hype fast becomes old news. By the time the Ministry finally releases their numbers, it may well be the case that much of the public has lost interest. This is highly concerning given that the Government is spending in excess of N$66 billion of the public’s money in the next calendar year alone. Moreover, there has been a historical disconnect between the budget speech’s stated priorities, and actual expenditure priorities, which is likely to go unchecked should the detailed numbers remain unreleased.
What should be done?
All of the budget documents should be completed and uploaded to the website of the Ministry of Finance as the Minister starts his speech in parliament. This will allow for the Namibian public, investors in Namibian debt and various analysts, to inspect the fiscal actions of Government, who it must be repeated, is but a custodian of public funds. As these funds remain the money of the people, the people have a right to know how Government plans to raise and spend them.