Namibia: Give the people their say in the budget, IPPR

The Institute of Public Policy Research (IPPR) yesterday called for Government to introduce a “Citizens’ Budget”, a simplified document that would spell out what Government is trying to do with the taxpayer’s billions in laymen’s terms.

 

 “Such an easy-to-read, simple overview of the budget highlights would allow a larger share of Namibians to understand the National Budget and make their voices heard when it comes to formulating its priorities,” Matthias Schmidt said in a briefing paper on the matter.

 

The lack of a Citizens’ Budget, a document freely available in countries like South Africa, Nigeria, India, New Zealand and the United Kingdom, directly contributed to Namibia’s average score in the Open Budget Index (OBI) 2008. The country was ranked 36th out of 85 surveyed countries.

 

Although the OBI commended Government for the comprehensive information contained in its bulky documents, the watchdog pointed out that it is difficult to keep book of the spending, revenues and borrowing during the fiscal year.

 

“It further suggested that citizen participation in budget debates could be improved, for example by holding budget hearings in the National Assembly in which the public can participate,” Schmidt said.
“Namibia suffers from a lack of civil society participation in issues of the state, and the national budget is a prime example of that,” he said.

 

Schmidt said besides some media comment after the budget is tabled every year, the budget discussion usually dies down quickly after it has been approved by Parliament.

 

“This may be partly attributed to the fact that the budget proposal has never been amended as a result of the parliamentary or public debate. It is therefore all the more important to ensure that the views of the people are already heard when the budget proposal is being drawn up,” Schmidt said.
Namibians debating the budget issue on The Namibian’s Facebook budget site, feel the same.

 

“No one from the general public can influence the way Government spends money and does its planning for the national budget. The opposition in Parliament cannot change the budget either, because it is kept a secret and the opposition MPs and the public only find out what is in the new budget when the Finance Minister tables it in the House. As a result, the so-called ‘budget debate’ in Parliament is a farce and a waste of time,” one of the contributors posted.

 

Budget documents that are easy to understand and easy to come by, will greatly boost public participation, Schmidt said.

 

Currently, plenty of information is available, but the documents are too thick and complicated for ordinary Namibians to understand, he said. The quality of the existing documents are also questionable. There are plenty of discrepancies in the estimates, both between and within documents.

 

The Ministry of Finance tries to give a broad picture in their annual two-page summary, “Namibia’s budget at a glance”, but it is insufficient in its current state, Schmidt said. Namibians need to know what concrete measures Government intends to take, not just sums of money, he said.

 

“Namibia may have more need than other countries to increase participation in budgetary issues: Despite being classified as a middle-income country, large parts of the population are affected by severe poverty. The state therefore has to fulfil a significant redistributive function, providing services and social safety nets to the vulnerable,” Schmidt said.

 

“It is all the more important top involve those with the most at stake from public programmes and policies, namely the poor and less educated, in the determination of budget priorities,” he said.
Governments themselves should push for transparency, Schmidt said.

 

“It allows the voting public to give feedback on its spending priorities and – if necessary – make adjustments, thereby increasing a government’s chances of staying in office.”

 

Want to contribute to The Namibian’s budget debate on Facebook? Simply log onto Facebook (www.facebook.com) and search “The Budget 2010-11/The Namibian”. You can also e-mail your views to budget@namibian.com.na or sms to 99902.

(sms costs N$1)

 

 

-February 18, 2010 by Jo-Maré Duddy

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Source: www.namibian.com.na/news/marketplace/full-story/archive/2010/february/article/give-the-people-their-say-in-the-budget-ippr/ (accessed on 18.02.10)