Namibia is advancing plans to establish a Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) to strengthen Parliament’s capacity to scrutinise public finances and hold the Executive accountable.
Speaking at the 9th African Network of Parliamentary Budget Offices (AN-PBO) Annual Conference in Swakopmund on Monday, National Assembly Speaker Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said Namibia remains in the early stages of establishing its own PBO.
She said the office would provide Parliament with independent fiscal analysis, forecasting and technical advice to strengthen oversight of government spending and borrowing.
“Therefore, it gives me great pride to reaffirm today the Namibian Parliament’s resolute commitment to the establishment of our own Parliamentary Budget Office. 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.
Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said establishing a PBO would support efforts to improve transparency in the budget process, strengthen evidence-based fiscal policymaking and ensure public resources are used efficiently.
She said Namibia’s development priorities require stronger technical oversight capabilities within Parliament, while the country’s move towards outcome-based budgeting places greater responsibility on lawmakers to monitor government performance.
“As a country, we have embarked on Outcome-Based Budgeting aligned with public service delivery and citizen needs. In the Outcome-Based Budgeting, Parliament is a Performance Overseer with the duty to hold the Executive accountable,” Kuugongelwa-Amadhila said.
She called on participating African parliaments to share their experiences and approaches to budget analysis, the use of digital technologies for fiscal tracking and strengthening institutional resilience.
The five-day conference, running from 21 to 25 September, brings together parliamentarians, Parliamentary Budget Offices and fiscal oversight institutions from across Africa to discuss ways of strengthening legislative oversight of public finances.
The conference is being held under the theme, “The Role of PBOs in Supporting their Legislatures’ Oversight Towards Realising Africa’s Agenda 2063.”
