Namibia - Military Spending

In January 2018 the Namibian Defense Force announced last week that it could no longer afford to pay the water and electricity bills for its military bases, or pay for food for its soldiers. It has requested that soldiers who were currently on holiday do not report for duty, and thousands of army personnel would be forced to take leave in March 2018.

The Ministry of Defence recognises that defence must take its place amongst the Government’s spending priorities. The central aim of the policy is to ensure that defence continues to account for no higher proportion of Government expenditure than is affordable. The MOD is therefore beholden to ensure that both its management systems and those of the NDF represent the best value for money that is possible. It is also recognized that the implications of this policy for the defence programmes are considerable and that its full implementation will therefore depend upon the economy’s ability to pay for them.

Maintenance of such security and defense architectures is costly. However, Namibia as a small country needs to maintain this security and defence architecture as an assurance for its own peace and stability. The nation should therefore be prepared to allocate sufficient resources to the security and defence sector. It should, however, be appreciated that it is not enough to build up a security and defence architecture.

The Ministry of Defence budget performance for the year ending March 31, 2014 is reported in the Government Accountability Report 2012/13 on pages 107-116. Similarly, the document on the Estimates of Revenue, Income and Expenditure 01 April 2014 - 31 March 2017 provides the detailed information on the Defence Ministry during the Medium Term Framework. For ease of reference the Defence Budget is described on pages 88-98. Moreover, the Appropriation Bill provides the global figure for the Financial Year 2014/15.

Furthermore, the document titled Development Programmes – Estimates of Expenditure: Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2014/15-2016/17 details on pages 106-120, the allocation to the Ministry of Defence for infrastructure development. In addition, detailed targets for the Medium Term Expenditure Framework are contained on pages 74-81 in the document titled Medium Term Expenditure Framework 2014/15-2016/17.

2011 Programme	Allocated Budget	Expenditure	Variance
Operations	2,427,400,000	2,436,867,000	-9,467
International Deployment	42,849,000	28,518,000	14,331
Construction Research & Development	544,525,000	540,967,000	3,558
Total	3,014,774,000	3,006,353,000	8,422
PERCENTAGE		99.72% spent	Only 0.28% under spent

Minister of Defence Hon Nahas Angula assured the nation that the N$ 6,6 billion budget for 2014/15 allocated to the Ministry of Defence will put to optimal use in the interest of the security and defence of the motherland. The Minister presented to the National Assembly the Defence Budget Estimate Appropriation Bill for 2012/15 Financial Year. The budget is substantial to the execution of national defence tasks and responsibility. In his statement, Minister based his support for the N$ 6,6 Billion on the costly national security and defence architectures that need to be maintained for the assurance of the country’s peace and stability.

According to the World Bank, military expenditures data from SIPRI are derived from the NATO definition, which includes all current and capital expenditures on the armed forces, including peacekeeping forces; defense ministries and other government agencies engaged in defense projects; paramilitary forces, if these are judged to be trained and equipped for military operations; and military space activities. Such expenditures include military and civil personnel, including retirement pensions of military personnel and social services for personnel; operation and maintenance; procurement; military research and development; and military aid (in the military expenditures of the donor country).

Excluded are civil defense and current expenditures for previous military activities, such as for veterans' benefits, demobilization, conversion, and destruction of weapons. This definition cannot be applied for all countries, however, since that would require much more detailed information than is available about what is included in military budgets and off-budget military expenditure items. (For example, military budgets might or might not cover civil defense, reserves and auxiliary forces, police and paramilitary forces, dual-purpose forces such as military and civilian police, military grants in kind, pensions for military personnel, and social security contributions paid by one part of government to another.)