TIRI MASAWI
Namibia Tax Payers will pay N$30 million to finance the construction of additional offices for Members of Parliament in the supplementary budget.
This was announced by Minister of Finance Ericah Shafudah on Tuesday while tabling a supplementary budget meant to cater for an expenditure shortfall of N$3.2 billion for the financial years 2025/26.
“The National Assembly is to receive additional N$15million to cater for a shortfall on personnel expenditure and Parliamentary Committees’ oversight and a further N$30million to purchase a building for Members of Parliament Office accommodation,” she said.
Shafudah also revealed an additional budget to cater for the free tertiary education concept proposed by President Netumb Nandi-Ndaitwah starting next year.
“ An amount of N$814 million is proposed for consideration to the Ministry of Education, Innovation, Youth, Sports, Arts and Culture; of which N$663 million is to cater for registration fees and tuition fees for the first quarter (January-March 2026) in line with the approved stance on Subsidised Free Tertiary Education. The other N$151 million is for the recruitment of 665 teachers,” she said.
The Finance minister also availed N$185 million was to the Ministry of Health and Social Services to assist in the recruitment for 1537 health personnel
“An amount of N$61 million availed to the Ministry of Finance under Contingency Provision. An additional N$50 million to Vote: President to cater for personnel expenditure and related goods and services for the oil and gas unit, security equipment, and maintenance The replenishment of the National Emergency Disaster Fund under the Office of the Prime Minister is recommended to receive an additional N$50 million to cater for the increased turnout of beneficiaries in the concluded drought relief programme,” she said.
According to Shafudha the Electoral Commission will receive an amount of N$30 million to cater for the shortfall caused by additional by-elections during the 2025/26 financial year.
Shafudha added that, “In summary, we have increased the operational budget for 2025 to 26 by N$826 million to a total of N$80.6 billion, while the development budget has decreased from N$9.6 billion to N$8.8 billion, representing a 9.38 percent reduction. Debt servicing cost is revised upwards from N$13.7 billion (14.8% of revenue) to N$14.3 billion (16.1% of revenue).”
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