Members of parliament in the National Council have called on the government to make mental health a national health priority, supported by adequate budgetary resources.

Members of Parliament contributing to the budget allocation for agriculture and land reform requested the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries, Water and Land Reform to provide more financial and technical support to communal farmers to boost productivity.

The ministry has been allocated about N$1 billion

Sport, youth, and national service programmes have been allocated a budget of N$750 million.

The funding is aimed at supporting social development and creating opportunities for young people.

Out of the total amount, N$35 million will go towards running youth development programmes.

The governor of the Kavango West Region, Verna Sinimbo, has questioned whether census statistics are considered when allocating the regional budget. 

She made these remarks during the Regional Profile presentation at Nkurenkuru.

Members of Parliament made contributions to the N$682 million allocation to the Information and Communication Technology Ministry.

They mostly raise issues on cybersecurity, network accessibility and state media.

The National Assembly has approved an amount of about N$12.9 billion to be allocated to the Ministry of Finance.

Members of Parliament shared their views and suggestions on the budget prior to the approval of the vote.

The National Planning Commission (NPC) has been allocated a N$283 million budget, a move Prime Minister Elijah Ngurare hailed as key to fulfilling the objectives of the sixth National Development Plan (NDP6).

Speaker of the National Assembly Saara Kuugongelwa-Amadhila motivated a budget allocation of over N$410 million for the National Assembly and N$134 million for the National Council for the 2026-27 financial years.

Discussions on the Appropriation Bill commenced today, with MPs stating that more should be put towards development projects rather than operational costs, which now exceed N$80 billion, with only N$3,6 billion allocated towards development expenditure.

Despite a budget allocation of more than N$1 million in the 2023/24 financial year, construction of a vehicle testing centre at Oranjemund is yet to commence.