Namibia: Civil Society Wants Broader Participation in National Budget

Desie Heita

Windhoek - Civic organisations want to be actively involved in the formulation of the national budget to ensure that it addresses the crucial development aspects and reflects priorities of communities.

Starting next year, the civil society would meet with communities to solicit priorities they wish addressed in the national budget. The opinion expressed would go to the Ministry of Finance for consideration in the national budget.

Executive Director of Namibia Non-Governmental Organisation Forum (NANGOF), Anna Beukes, says currently, communities lack information on the budget process, and as a result, an average citizen is ignorant towards the budget. Further, NANGOF says, the budget formulation process is limited as there is neither consultation nor participation with communities.

"The current process of national budget formulation, as driven by the Ministry of Finance, is very limited in terms of wide consultations and participation of communities. Due to lack of wider consultation, some crucial aspects are easily missed," said Beukes.

NANGOF held a first-ever two-day national consultative conference on the national budget with representatives from all 13 regions of the country, as well as officials from the Ministry of Finance.

The purpose of the conference was to "take a critical look at the budget process from its preparatory phase to the presentation, provide in-depth knowledge about the budget decision making process, develop capacity of civil society to participate in budget analysis, and to raise the level and quality of the national budget debate."

The consultative meeting comes at a time when the International Budget Partnership' Open Budget Survey 2008 ranked Namibia as a country that gives little information on the budget to the public.

IBP report ranked Namibia as one of the countries providing incomplete information on budget and financial activities to the public, along with Zambia, Serbia and the Philippines. The report ranked Namibia at 47, saying Government's feedback to public on spending of money is somewhat curtailed, making it difficult for the public to hold it to task if need be.

The report suggests that this could change by giving citizens an opportunity through national budget debates. The survey used questionnaires to the public to evaluate the quantity and type of information available to the public in a country's budget documents.

The survey found that 80 percent of the world's governments fail to provide adequate information for the public to hold them accountable for managing their money. A total of 85 countries were evaluated.

"In Namibia, the proposal provides significant information to the public, meaning citizens have a comprehensive picture of the government's plans for taxing and spending for the upcoming year. However, it is difficult to track spending, revenue collection and borrowing during the year," said the IBP report. Robin Sherbourne of the Institute for Public Policy Research did the actual research on Namibia.

Beukes said civil societies must partake in the budgeting process as strategic development partners and watchdogs concerning any process, programme or project that affects the developmental aspirations and opportunities of communities.

"The formulation, implementation and management of the national budget is one such process and programme that has a crucial bearing on developmental opportunities of communities, and indeed, the whole of Namibia," said Beukes.

The meeting decided to formulate an annual shadow national budget, aptly called the people's budget that would precede the Government's national budget, to reflect priorities as expressed by the population, especially at grassroots level.

The meeting also agreed to "embark on a coordinated effort for civil society in the development of capacity and literacy in the budget process; raise awareness on the need for wider participation in the budget process; and strengthen the accountability and control process through watchdog role - where implementers at every level are held accountable by communities and constituents they serve".