Nothing inspiring in Shiimi’s budget – Kavekotora
Rally for Democracy and Progress (RDP) member of parliament (MP) Mike Kavekotora has said he was really disappointed when going through finance minister Iipumbu Shiimi's budget statement that nothing new or inspiring was contained in the budget, apart from the theme.
Shiimi in February tabled in the National Assembly a N$61.5 billion budget for the 2022/23 financial year that indicated a total revenue projection of N$59.7 billion, some 11.7% higher than the estimated revenue for the current financial year.
Shiimi dedicated this year's budget to the youth and presented it under the theme of ‘Reimaging, a Better Future for the Youth', which echoes President Hage Geingob's theme for the year 2022.
As such, through this budget, the government aims to focus on interventions specifically to uplift the youth through sports, entrepreneurship, and targeted business financing. The budget is currently under discussion in the National Assembly, the country's upper house of parliament.
“Shiimi, you tabled a budget with a very inspiring and attractive theme of reimaging a Better Future for the Youth. I was really disappointed when going through your budget statement that nothing new inspiring is contained in this budget apart from the theme,” Kavekotora said while contributing to the debate last week.
“Everything in this budget, apart from inviting young people in sports attire to parliament, is what you and previous ministers of finance have been telling us all these years,” he added.
Giving 'parental' advice to Shiimi, Kavekotora said the youth of today are well-informed compared to their peers of yesterday.
“Their level of understanding is much higher than what you can imagine. Their minds are independent, and won't trust you blindly. They can conduct an independent analysis and make a distinction between lip service and a genuine attempt to address their plight,” he said.
He said the youth of today can independently quantify the total amount allocated to them, compare and contrast that with other allocations, and draw their own conclusion.
So, a mere elevation of the youth in the theme of his (Shiimi) budget speech is not good enough.
“You need to do more to demonstrate your seriousness when acknowledging that the youth population remains the most significant resource which could propel our economy onto a competitive and sustainable growth path,” he said.
“Minister Shiimi, let us for a minute unbundle the budgetary allocation for the youth and apply materiality, relevancy and impact tests on these allocations, taking into account that unemployment is the biggest challenge facing our youth today,” he added.