Ministries placed on performance watchlist

Eight key government ministries will come under the spotlight in coming months with the launch of a pilot programme aimed at linking public spending directly to tangible results.

The ministries of education, health, home affairs, agriculture, finance, industrialisation, environment, and works and transport have been selected to spearhead the outcome-based budgeting pilot, a reform Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare says will fundamentally change how government performance is measured.

"For too long, public sector performance has been measured by what we spend rather than what we achieve," Ngurare said yesterday.

"A hospital's performance cannot be judged solely by its recurrent budget. It must be judged by patient outcomes. A school's allocation is not its measure of success, the quality of learning is."

Instead of being assessed on how much they spend, ministries will be required to demonstrate measurable outcomes, ranging from improved healthcare and education results to better infrastructure delivery, public services and economic growth.

Ngurare announced the initiative while opening the 2026/27 budget reform rollout workshop in Windhoek, attended by ministers, executive directors and development partners.

The prime minister said government can no longer measure success by budget size or expenditure levels alone, adding that "every dollar must benefit Namibians".

He stressed that public spending should translate into tangible improvements such as job creation, better infrastructure, improved public services and higher living standards.

Ministries will be expected to submit their first outcome-based budget reports later this year, and Ngurare warned that their performance will be closely monitored.

"I will be paying close attention to those reports," he said.

Juggling finances

The reform comes as government seeks to navigate mounting fiscal pressures, including a public debt stock of N$174.6 billion, equivalent to 65.2% of gross domestic product (GDP), while aiming to reduce the fiscal deficit from 5.5% of GDP in 2026/27 to 3.3% by 2028/29.

Ngurare said achieving that target will require government to identify and sustain annual savings of approximately N$2.3 billion over the current medium-term expenditure framework.

"This is not simply a technical adjustment in our fiscal tables; it is a strategic national imperative," he said.

The prime minister cautioned that expenditure restraint alone would not be enough to improve the country's fiscal position, adding that stronger economic growth and more effective public investment would be equally important.

Ngurare also warned government departments to refrain from transferring resources earmarked for development projects, such as roads, schools, water infrastructure and digital systems, to fund recurrent expenditure.

"In order to ensure impactful fixed capital formation, I want to be unambiguous on one point: the virement of resources from development budgets to fund recurrent operational expenditure must be brought to an end," he said.

"Every Namibian dollar diverted from a school, a road, a water infrastructure project or a digital platform today is a debt we pass on to our children in the form of poverty and underdevelopment."

The prime minister further warned accounting officers and executive directors that compliance with the new reforms would be monitored and publicly assessed.

"The Ministry of Finance and the National Planning Commission will track, measure and publicly report on compliance," he said.

He added that government is ready to intervene where implementation failures are identified.