Public servants should not bear blame for Namibia's debt crisis, says Mwashindange
Michael Mwashindange, shadow minister of finance for the Independent Patriots for Change IPC, has cautioned the Namibian government against using the country's rising public debt to justify cuts to public servants' salaries. He stated that Namibia's fiscal crisis is primarily a governance issue, not merely a wage-bill problem. Mwashindange's remarks came in response to the International Monetary Fund's IMF assessment, which projects Namibia's public debt to reach approximately 67.1% of gross domestic product GDP by the end of the 2024/25 financial year, potentially rising to 71% over the medium term. The IMF has recommended reforms to moderate personnel expenditure, subsidies, and transfers. Mwashindange emphasized that fiscal discipline should not burden public servants like teachers, nurses, police officers, and soldiers with the consequences of past poor fiscal management. He urged the government to address waste, duplication, inefficient procurement, and underperforming public enterprises, while also improving revenue collection. He warned against indiscriminate job cuts due to high unemployment, especially among youth, and advised that future oil and gas revenues should be used for debt reduction, sovereign savings, and productive infrastructure investment, rather than to justify further borrowing. Mwashindange concluded that Namibia cannot borrow its way out of a fiscal crisis and that the government must confront the debt and spending emergency.
