Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1698749107397.pdf (Namibia)
REPUBLIC OF NAMIBIA BUDGET STATEMENT FOR VOTE 01: OFFICE OF THE PRESIEDNT, FINANCIAL YEAR 2017/2018 BY HON.

FRANS KAPOFI, MINISTER OF PRESIDENTIAL AFFAIRS 30 MARCH 2017 WINDHOEK "Check:Against Delivery 1 Honourable Speaker, I rise to table the budget for Vote 1: Office of the President for the 2017/2018 Financial Year.

At the outset, I wish to provide background information to set the context within which the budget for Vote 1 was prepared and is being motivated.
The Namibian Constitution Third Amendment Act, 2014 (Act No.8 of 2014), established the Presidency.

According to the Act, the Presidency consists of the President and the Vice President.
Organizationally and administratively, the Presidency consists of the following components, namely the Private Office of the President, the Office of the Vice President, Directorate Former Presidents Support Services, and the Departments responsible for Household and Administration; Executive Policy Services and Marginalized and Communities of Presidential Affairs is part of these components.

and Disability Affairs.


The Minister Research, Veterans Affairs; In addition, personnel within the Presidency are responsible for providing support services to the First Lady and to former Heads of State.

This new realignment has brought the issues dealing with veterans' affairs, marginalized communities and the purview of the persons with disabilities directly under Presidency.
there is an independent budget vote It should be noted that dealing with Veterans Affairs namely, Vote 31, which is tabled separately from Vote 1.

Vote 31 is administered separately by an Accounting Officer (Permanent Secretary), separate from Vote 1.

I wish to inform the House that in order to bring about greater administrative and co-ordination efficiencies, a process has been initiated to place the units dealing with persons with disabilities and marginalized communities under Vote 31.
This process will be finalized soon.

2 For present purposes however, allocations as they appear in the Appropriation Bill.

I will present the budget Honourable Speaker, The budget allocation for Vote 1 was compiled with a single to purpose in mind, namely to secure resources provide effective and efficient support services to enable the President to achieve his electoral mandate, given to him by 87 percent of Namibian voters.
in order Building on the enduring legacies left behind by our Founding President, H.E Sam Shafiishuna Nujoma and our Second President H.E Hifikepunye Pohamba, H.E.

Dr. Hage Geingob has set his sights on delivering on the prosperity mandate for all Namibians.
for accelerated to deliver on this bold VISIon, the President has In order conceived a number of strategies and policy interventions, foremost of which is the Harambee Prosperity Plan, which was launched last year and identifies specific areas and economic activities has become part of the household lexicon here at home and introduced has abroad.

This new narrative that our President been well received and gained traction.
The implementation of adequate these administrative support, and logistical services through a high performing support structure, while being fully aware and conscious of the financial constraints facing our country.

implementation.

Harambee initiatives provision required the of Our point of departure is that the tough times should not be seen as insurmountable impediments, but they should serve as a motivation for us to rededicate ourselves to the achievement of the goals we have set for ourselves.
With this in mind, I find to quote a proverb that says: when the going it appropriate 3 the tough get going.

We will continue to forge gets tough, ahead in executing our duties during these tough times.

This is the context in which the budget for Vote 1 was prepared and is being motivated.

Honourable Speaker, It the President is unfortunate Recently, fulfilled one of his promises and voluntarily released the remuneration packages of all Public the release of this Office Bearers.
information and used to cast aspersions on the person of the President and to second guess his actions.

The President did what he did in the interest of promoting transparency and good governance.

This should therefore be a welcome initiative.

has been misinterpreted that The President has also led by example by donating a portion of his salary to poor communities.

This is part of his personal contribution to the fight against poverty in our society.
Some media houses have distorted this initiative by stating that the President makes up for the money through Daily Subsistence Allowances (DSA).

It should be stated that DSA is provided strictly in line with established rules and regulations related to the upkeep of political office bearers and civil servants when they travel away from their duty stations.

There is nothing sinister about it.

Aspersions have also been cast regarding the conditions of service of Presidential Advisors.
As Dr. Geingob has pointed out, it was going to cost the country more if the high quality work being done by the advisors were to be outsourced to external consultants, on the basis of going market rates.

These Presidential Advisors are Namibians who have served our country well to the best of their abilities.

4 the recent diatribes and denunciations against the Therefore, and counter and his office are uncalled for President productive.
Let us all emulate the example set by our President and thereby contribute to the eradication of poverty in our country.

I am happy to state that many Namibians, including the private sector have heeded this call.

Honourable Speaker, The budget estimate for 2017/2018 Financial Year for Vote 1 is and Four Million, Five N$604,584,000.00 (Six Hundred Hundred and Eight Four Thousand Namibia Dollars).
In comparison with 2016/2017 Financial Year budget estimate, which was N$ 642, 878, 000.00 (Six Hundred and Forty Two this Million, Eight Hundred and Seventy Eight Thousand), represents a reduction of 14% or N$35, 906, 200.00 (Thirty Five Million, Nine Hundred and Six Thousand and Two Hundred Namibia Dollars).
The budget appropriation to Vote 1: Office of the President is divided as follows: (a) OPERATIONAL BUDGET: N$458,507,000.00 (Four Hundred and Fifty Eight Million, Five Hundred and Seven Thousand Namibia Dollars).

(b) DEVELOPMENT BUDGET: N$146,077,000-00 (One Hundred and Forty Six Million and Seventy Seven Thousand Namibia Dollars).
The budget allocation to the Office the President supports four (4) programmes namely: (a) (b) (c) (d) Security Management and Support Services Marignalised Communities Protection of the National Constitution Democracy Consolidation.

5 I will discuss these programmes and their respective financial allocations in more detail.

Programme 1 - Security Management and Support Services This programme caters for ensuring national security through Intelligence Service the operations of the Namibia Central (NCIS).
the allocation to this programme is as follows: In the new Financial Year, Operational Development Total N$218,101,000-00 N$146,077,000-00 N$363,080,000-00 to order detect threats allocation will ensure effective gathering of The budget intelligence to Namibia's in constitutional and democratic order as well as sharing of to intelligence with stakeholders and role players in order protect interest of Namibia, whether political, economic, military or cultural.
The main objective of the the NCIS detects and identifies programme is to ensure that threats or potential threats to the security of Namibia and thereby contributing to the maintenance of peace, security and stability in the country.

the national Programme 2 - Marginalized communities and Persons with Disability Our President made a conscious decision to bring greater face extreme visibility to issues affecting communities that poverty economic and the Divisions dealing with these mainstreams.
matters as well as those dealing with issues affecting persons with the Presidency.

exclusion from the In this regard, have been placed disabilities directly social under and 6 With regard to marginalized communities, the allocation in the new Financial Year is: Operational Development Total N$ 65,807,000-00 N$ 0-00 N$ 65,807,000-00 Programme.
Support the These resources are used among other activities, to address the high illiteracy rate amongst San communities through the San responsible Unit Education coordinates facilitates enrolment of students in tertiary institutions and provides to learners and students.

It also coordinates financial support the construction of school facilities and teachers houses at various settlement centres.
of beneficiaries, identification The under initiative this programme Another the Post- resettlement Support Program for targeted communities.

It includes the implementation of Agronomic and Horticultural projects as well as the supply of materials and equipment.

Under this programme, San Communities from Oshivelo were relocated to Farm Ondera in the Oshikoto Region.

is The allocation to the unit catering for People with Disabilities .
IS: Operational Development Total N$32,448,000-00 N$ 0-00 N$32,448,000-00 With these resources, implement several key the unit will projects that were not implemented in the last Financial Year, of Persons with including Disabilities; Development the National Disability of Mainstreaming Plan, and the Restructuring of the Disability the Baseline Registration 7 Resource Centres.

Other projects to be implemented during the 2017/18 Budget Cycle are: 1.

Production of a directory for disability services, 2.
Development of a checklist for accessibility compliance (Audit ), 3.

Introduction of disability study programme at NUST with effect from July 2017 and many others.
the OIMIAs, private should continue to work together It should be noted that, disability is a cross-cutting issue, thus sector, NGOs and development all partners to accelerate the socio-economic integration of persons with disabilities on the in the the "Whole of Government Approach" basis of implementation of development programmes and projects.

The the organizations of Unit will, in this Financial Year, support persons with and building through disability, technical support.
It will also develop customer service charter service delivery and setting out customer care.

commitments to better capacity Programme 3 - Protection of the National Constitution The purpose of this programme is to comply with Chapter 5 and other relevant provisions of the Constitution in order to maintain peace and stability and good governance.

It also supports the execution of executive functions; hosting of state and official functions and undertaking official missions locally and abroad.
The allocation is sub-divided into two, namely the Office of the President and the Office of the Vice President.
For the Office of the President, the allocation is: Operational Development Total N$108,604,000-00 N$ 0-00 N$108,604,000-00 8 And, for the Vice President, the allocation is: Operational Development Total N$ 11,508,000-00 N$ 0-00 N$ 11,508,000-00 the The execution of the budget allocation under this programmes such as overall aim to achieve several Strategic Outputs compliance with and implementation of national development policies; effective and strengthening and further efficient execution of functions; consolidation of of democratic governance; and the enhancement of trade and economic development among others.
improvement Constitution; formulation diplomatic relations; Programme 4 - Democracy Promotion and Consolidation that this programme reasons.

The nation is aware The allocation under covers expenditure related to the activities of the Former Presidents, for instance inside and outside the country for when they have to travel various our Senior Statesmen, the Former Heads of State, are invited from time to time to lead election observer missions in the SADC Region and elsewhere on the continent.
President Geingob has also established the Presidential Advisory Council, which provides a platform for our Former Heads of State to interact with the President on a regular basis and thereby contribute to the process of nation building and further consolidation of our democracy.

These are important roles that, all of us, as Namibians should be proud of.
For the new Financial Year, the allocation is as follows: Operational Development Total N$23,137,000-00 N$ 0-00 N$23,137,000-00 9 From a strategic standpoint, the programme is complimentary to the work of the Head of State and aims to achieve several outputs related to improving democratic governance while supporting economic development and social advancement.
These are noble objectives in the growth and consolidation of democracy in our country, as an actor on regional, continental and international stages.

Honourable Speaker, As first citizen and our country's chief diplomat and guardian of the portal to the Namibian House, our President has a duty to interact with the rest of the world and to promote our national fora in the region, on the continent and in other parts of the world.

The work that our President is doing is yielding tangible results.
at different interests Last year, we witnessed an oversubscribed and first of its kind Namibia International Investment Conference which attracted investors from different parts of the world.

Several enquiries and follows ups have already been made regarding the implementation of these projects.

We look forward to the creation of jobs, and economic growth through the implementation of these projects.

technology transfer constraints and pressures.


As such, like other countries in the Region, Namibia is It is true that, the facing budgetary necessary adjustments had to be made in order to align expenditure to available resources.
This demonstrates that the leadership of this country is prepared to take the tough decisions now in order to ensure a brighter is what prudence calls for and we must remain fully confident in the leadership that our President has provided to the nation during these challenging times.

future.

That 10 the measures taken and the that There should be not doubt resources allocated through this Appropriation Bill will yield the desired outcomes.

Namibia is a resilient country.


We will emerge from this curve as a stronger country on a trajectory of growth.

I call upon the House to support the allocation to Vote 1: Office of the President.

I thank you.