Africa-Press – Namibia.
The Landless People’s Movement (LPM) has accused President Netumbo Nandi-Ndaitwah’s administration of employing the national budget as a political instrument to sway voters in anticipation of the 2025 Regional Council and Local Authority elections, rather than addressing Namibia’s profound economic challenges.
LPM leader Bernadus Swartbooi stated during a press briefing yesterday that the 2025/2026 national budget serves as a vote-buying scheme disguised as development and offers no real economic relief to struggling Namibians.
According to Swartbooi, “the government is selling false hope. This is a campaign budget that is intended to generate temporary excitement, while ignoring the true problems of unemployment, poverty, and inequality; it is not a budget for the people.”
Swartbooi argued that the N$60 billion budget falls short of offering long-term economic solutions in favour of populist pledges like youth registration drives and social welfare incentives.
“The government has no plan for job creation or industrial growth, but it wants to appease voters by offering free registration and small grants,” he said.
He charged that the finance minister had misled the public by using 2023 data that was not current. Swartbooi pointed out that government utilise outdated data to support fresh expenditures.
“How can two years’ worth of data be used to make future plans? It is an affront to accountability”, he argued.
Eneas Emvula, LPM Deputy Operative Secretary, said Namibia is in a precarious financial situation due to the country’s debt, which has grown to 61.9% of GDP.
“The country is living on borrowed money. The government keeps raising wages and spending on defence, but there isn’t any obvious investment in businesses that can make money,” said Emvula.
He criticized the government for prioritising non-productive areas, while slashing funding from important productive sectors like housing, education, and agriculture.
“The same budget allots more to security and administration than to sectors that actually employ people, while telling the youth to wait for opportunities,” Emvula remarked.
Emvula claims that unbalanced goals and a lack of fiscal restraint are choking Namibia’s economy.
The lack of openness in the way the money will be allocated across ministries was another issue brought up by Swartbooi.
The LPM leader urged Namibians to examine the budget closely and not fall for what he called “election-season generosity.”
“This budget reflects panic rather than progress,” he declared. “This budget is the Swapo-led government’s final attempt to hold onto power as their ideas run out.”
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