Budget watchdog still in infancy, says Speaker

Patience Makwele

Speaker of the National Assembly Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila says Namibia’s Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) remains in its infancy, with parliament still relying on support from sister legislatures and the African network to establish the institution.

Kuugongelwa-Amadhila made the remarks on Monday, during the opening of the ninth African Network of Parliamentary Budget Offices (AN-PBO) Annual Conference in Swakopmund.

She said parliament remains committed to establishing its own PBO but was still at an early stage of the process.

“We are still in the infant stages of this endeavour and would therefore rely on the support of our sister parliaments and the African Network for Parliamentary Budget Offices to realise this goal,” she said.

According to Kuugongelwa-Amadhila, the office is intended to give parliament independent technical capacity to scrutinise government spending, borrowing decisions, fiscal forecasts and budget allocations.

She said parliament could not effectively exercise its oversight responsibilities through political will alone.

“PBOs and IFIs empower legislators with independent analysis, rigorous fiscal forecasting, and the objective technical advice required to scrutinise executive spending and demand real development outcomes,” she said.

She also called for greater citizen participation in the budget process, saying borrowing decisions, economic policy shifts and budget allocations should reflect transparency, prudence and the collective interests of citizens.

Finance minister Ericah Shafudah said the need for stronger budget scrutiny comes as Namibia transitions to outcome-based budgeting, which shifts the focus from inputs and line items to what government spending actually achieves.

“What has this expenditure actually achieved for our people?” Shafudah said the new approach asks.

She said the transition requires new frameworks, capacity and stronger accountability across government, including at regional and local levels.

Shafudah said budget reform was not merely technical, but institutional, and would only succeed when the offices and officials responsible for scrutiny and analysis were empowered, resourced and modernised.

Meanwhile, chairperson of parliament’s standing committee on budget and finance Helaria Mukapuli said the committee, which was established in April 2025, was already tasked with examining the country’s revenue and expenditure estimates.

“This basically means that the committee has to examine the budget of the country. I think we can all agree this is a massive responsibility requiring real technical capacity and expertise, specifically a Parliamentary Budget Office,” Mukapuli said.

Mukapuli revealed that UNICEF has funded a consultant to provide technical support to the committee and is also supporting a phased approach towards operationalizing Namibia’s PBO.

She said establishing the office would require careful planning, phased implementation and sustained institutional commitment.

AN-PBO Governing Council chairperson Sulaiman Kiggundu, called on Namibia to navigate the remaining legal, institutional and administrative processes needed to establish and fully operationalise the PBO.

Kiggundu said the network was ready to provide technical support, peer exchange and institutional assistance as Namibia works towards establishing the office.

He said properly resourced PBOs strengthen fiscal analysis, budget scrutiny, debt management, revenue forecasting and parliamentary oversight.

“The true test of this Network is whether our work translates continental ambition into national budget discipline and, ultimately, into results that citizens can see and feel,” Kiggundu said.

The conference is being held under the theme, “The Role of PBOs in Supporting their Legislatures’ Oversight Towards Realizing Africa’s Agenda 2063.”