Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698747915511.pdf (Namibia)
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Box 81341, Olympia, Windhoek; Tel/Fax: +26461 255973; Email: rdpparty@iway.na; Website: www.rdp.org.na Statement by Hon.

Steve Bezuidenhout, Member of Parliament on the 2011 / 2012 Budget.

24 March 2011 Hon Speaker, Hon Members of the National Assembly, Vision 2030 is summarized as: By the year 2030, Namibia should be an industrialised nation, enjoying high per capita income, a highly educated nation, abundant prosperity, and interpersonal harmony, peace and political stability.
Let us keep this in mind when we evaluate the expenditure proposals from Government in the Medium Is this budget a support Term Expenditure Framework.

structure as we work towards our vision; Are the Ministries, Agencies and Offices adequately funded to To me it does carry out its mandate; Are the serious challenges of the nation adequately addressed?

not appear as if the 2011 / 2012 National Budget supports this vision as our development investments display little or no support for its objectives.
The questions in our minds should be: Hon Speaker; Hon Members, allow me spend a very short OBJECTIVES of Vision 2030.

Some of these objectives are to: time highlighting some of the major (i) Transform Namibia into an industrialised competitive, life for all Namibians.

realising its maximum growth potential country of equal opportunities, which is globally in a sustainable manner, with improved quality of (ii) The transformation assistance.
from an aid-recipient country to one that is a provider of development (iii) Ensure that Namibia is a fair, gender-responsive, caring and committed nation, are able to realise their full potential, in a safe and decent living environment.
in which all citizens (iv) Develop a diversified, competent and highly productive human resources and institutions, fully utilising human potential, and achieving efficient and effective delivery of customer-focused services which are competitive not only nationally, but also regionally and internationally.

Achieving Vision 2030 is, as Hon Geingob is quoted, rightly or wrongly by local media during June 2010, a tall order (The Namibian.

Christof Malletsky's column titled "Deliver us from Vision 2030").
Our collective view should be that even if it is a tall order it is not necessarily insurmountable provided we have the focus, the will, synergies, implementable plans, financial resources and resource allocation to achieve what one we set out to achieve.

1 Surely this budget must reflect this tall order of a vision unless the Government has quietly abandoned Vision 2030 altogether.

On the 2011 / 2012 budget I have two sections namely 1) what worries me about this Budget and 2) some practical suggestions.
In the part "What Worries Me" the following: LEVEL OF BORROWING In the Brundland Report as published by Oxford University Press in 1987, the United Nations defines sustainable development as "development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs".

The level of borrowing is frightening to say the least.

commitments fail, our future generations have a massive problem.

Let me draw from recent history.


If two or more factors that will help us repay our looked unmanageable.

restructuring debts that In many economic crises from the late 1990s to date were financial situations that severely affected the country's economy growth and the lives of citizens.

As in South America (Argentina) and Europe (Greece, Ireland and the latest casualty the Prime Minister of Portugal), governments invariably ruled In 2001 Hon.
Domingo Cavallo, Argentina's out respected finance minister, even took to the pages of newspapers to call the idea of debt restructuring "ludicrous" and promise that "Argentina will not be alarmed by calls from arm chair critics.

IMF loans, securities "megaswap" and finally zero-deficit budgeting did not do the trick and short-for-Ionq unfortunately the inevitable happened.
During the last year we know what happened in Greece (demonstrations) and Ireland (fall of a government) and the bad news for citizens is that the financial instability is still not over.

Citizens in Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom are holding their collective breath and hope that their governments can out-maneuver public debt and the pressures it creates.
IMPLEMENTATION The intention of Government as expressed in paragraph 10 of the Hon Finance Minister's statement, and I quote, "starting this financial year, implement a targeted intervention implement."

programme for employment and economic growth."

Unquote.

The intended target of 104,000 jobs over the MTEFperiod, or about 2,898 direct and indirect jobs per month will be the Achilles heel of the Targeted Intervention Programme for Employment and Economic Growth (TIPEEG).
The operative word is "will the Government will GOVERNANCE OF TIPEEG.

The importance of governance in economic development has been understood by more and more institutions and countries in recent years.

Personally, the decisive factors in the modern economy.

Overstaffed organizations, poor administrative efficiency, rampant corruption and the inability to deliver the required standard of service, greatly hamper economic growth, development and job creation.
Countries have paid a high price for the absence of good governance, which is one of the fundamental criteria of serious investors.

regard Good governance as one of I INADEQUATE ALLOCATIONS.

the budget strategy from 2001 to date should have been to support for the ideas As indicated earlier, and ideals of Vision 2030.

In this budget there are still ministries that have not received adequate allocation of funds to carry out their mandate.
Here I think specifically of the Ministry of Information, Communication and Technology, the Ministry of Trade and Industry and, to a slightly lesser extend, the Ministry of Home Affairs.

Unless I misunderstand the contribution these Ministries should make in 2 support of Vision 2030 I would argue that during the motivation stage of the various votes.

their budgetary allocations are inadequate.

I will elaborate I now come to the second part of my contribution.
Appropriation against all odds I want to make some suggestions to the Government.

If we have to proceed with the 2011/2012 incur.

On the issue of unprecedented levels of borrowing, Mr. Everett M. Dirksen, a US senator from 1951 to is attributed with the phrase and I quote "A billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you're 1969, In Namibia we will have the talking about real money."

Unquote.

Real money needs to be paid back.

biggest borrowing since independence.


The Hon Minister of Finance has adequately explained the level of debt we will factors do not materialize we can run the risk of a financial and economic nightmare.

How and when will we or future generations pay back this money?

We need to re-think this level of borrowing.


As advised by Hon Nyamu, and I support him in that, we can spread the borrowing over a longer period as there is also sufficient uncertainty on the capacity to It does not work for a absorb this level of borrowing.

We cannot borrow ourselves out of trouble.

household, or a company and it certainly cannot work for a country.
ignore good advice intransigents and negative pride only pay the from various fronts and be blinded by stubbornness, heavy price in future.

If any of the repayment Let us not As governance approaches change to be more transparent and accountable, the following to achieve the noble goals of this Budget: I suggest to Government As the saying goes "You cannot manage what you cannot measure."

the implementation of action plans will be the Achilles heel of TIPEEG.
Here I will strongly request tools will implementation plans, quarterly progress and accountability Such management reports.

responsibility of oversight and, when strengthen the National Assembly to fulfil its constitutional necessary, to adjust, accelerate, propose remedies if and when we see early warning signs that the aims of TIPEEGcannot be fulfilled during the 2011/2012 financial year.

I will later deal with the issue of possible amendments.
As I said earlier On the unemployment unemployment and poverty situation in Namibia: front, I offer some examples of how we can address in the short term the • Apply the national budget as a stimulus tool for the private sector to create sustainable jobs; • The regional spread of unemployment was captured in the 2008 Labour Survey.

We have schools, hostels, police stations, hospitals and other public buildings all over the country that need maintenance and or upgrading and we have a development budget.
Let us marry these three components the unemployed, the public building infrastructure and our development budget to ensure the creation of the necessary employment opportunities.

• We need to rethink, relook and balance our work permit policies of allowing non- Namibians in ~reas where Namibians can supply the required skills.

\ In the longer term we need ~o be patient and innovative.
The answers and choices are not going to be easy, but as a country we] need to forge ahead with addressing the challenges of unemployment, hunger, sustainable social safety nets and poverty.

Hon Speaker, Hon Member liOfthe National Assembly, longer term.

These are by no means exhaustive or comprehensive.


I want to touch on a few areas of focus in the \ 3 HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT The importance of human resources in economic development is self-evident as economic activities are carried out by people and for people.

Since their independence many African countries experienced a In rapid population growth on the one hand and slow development of human resources on the other.

tandem there was also sluggish economic growth.


Over years these factors have moved in different directions, resulting in serious and negative impacts on the various countries on our continent.

According to information on the Tunisian and Egyptian revolutions and the ongoing situations in other Arab States the core challenges of those governments is a disjoint of a developed human resource with no or limited job opportunities.

Education is a major component of human resource development.
His Excellency President Abdou Diout of Senegal told an October 1997 meeting of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa that, and I quote "only through education, will the continent and its sons and daughters be able to meet the demands and challenges of the 21st century".

for Africa's development Similarly, a primary tool expertise; as a model environment for human rights, and enable African academics to play an active part scholars.
in a speech, former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan argued that the university must become in the new century.
Universities can help develop African they can enhance the analysis of African problems: strengthen domestic institutions; serve for the practice of good governance, enhance conflict resolution and respect in the global community of The Kigali Institute of SCience, Technology and Management (KIST) in Rwanda have produced more technology graduates for the country since the Rwandan Government's strong focus on ICT.
When the institute opened in 1997, the country had fewer than 50 technology-trained professionals.

KIST is now graduating over 200 technology-trained professionals a year.

Closer to home we need to raise the bar of our education excellence to produce the necessary human to support our economic growth.
Our own institutions of higher learning namely UNAM and capital Polytechnic must be supported, encouraged and empowered to do the similar interventions to support our future growth path, but we need to allocate more financial resources to support innovation.

the population and a In Namibia like in the rest of Africa, women constitute a major chunk of significant percentage of the rural and urban labor force.

Women are producing food and provide enormous social services to families and communities.
They spend many hours a day doing manual labor, domestic work, raising children and fending for their families.

They play the role of "holding up half the sky" and as a country Namibia, both public and private sectors need to invest more in women empowerment In the absence of any publicized detail action plans I would for the benefit of the nation.

argue that this strong force, the women, is also left behind.
DOMESTIC SAVINGS FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT China's economic growth is found to have a long-running relationship between household savings, enterprise savings and economic development.

A distinct and clear domestic savings policy can sustain our national desire to use local savings to support economic growth in the medium to long term.

Hon Speaker, indicated that we will deal with the relevant domestic savings for economic development will be one such issue.
I will not dwell on the issue of domestic savings as the Hon Minister of Finance has financial sector issues in the foreseeable future and I hope ' The desire and the will to attain the ideals of Vision 2030 alone should allow this august House to, and when needed to have the ability to adjust the Appropriation Bill.
if If we refuse to, against common 4 in real terms abandon its sense and sound advice, allow adjustments to the Budget Parliament will mandate of oversight and its power and functions as contained in Article 63 of the Namibian Constitution.

The possibility of amendments should not arise to a question of us and them, but what is Stubbornness, in the best negative pride and intransigents will, in the long run, hamper our collective responsibility to address issues of great concern to our nation.
interest of Government's ability to execute its plans and programmes.

In summary, Hon Speaker, Hon Members of Parliament, unemployment and widespread poverty via our budgetary instrument it is not insurmountable.

The virtues and subsequent benefits of innovative short term job creation, long term development of our human capital expansion, growth and the ideals of Vision 2030, the investment good governance and application of domestic savings for economic development are unquestionable.
the task at hand to effectively address is enormous but, as I said earlier, the through our education sector to support our economic in women as agents for development, We need to follow the same route taken by many industrialized and emerging economies.

We also innovative and work as a collective and we will overcome these need to be bold, courageous, challenges.

I thank you.

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