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Government spenders to be penalised

    JOHANNESBURG

    NAMIBIA: Government spenders to be penalised
    The Namibian government was drafting an amendment to the State Finance Act which would make ministries' unauthorised spending of public funds a punishable offence, 'The Namibian' reported on Tuesday. The report quoted Finance Permanent Secretary Usutuaije Maamberua as saying that the new law would "make the accounting officers of various ministries accountable".

    He said the amendment had been approved by the cabinet. However, he said he could not reveal the types of punishment envisaged in the leglislation because the drafters were still busy. The report quoted a source as saying that the bill, which would only be tabled in the national assembly early next year, "will seek to get the teeth to discipline the acounting officers who lack financial discipline".

    The report, which said the law followed continuous government overspending, quoted Maamberua as saying: "Overspending cannot be condoned because it is poor planning and the government is doing its utmost to prevent overspending by line ministries." It said that an auditor-general's report tabled in the national assembly recently said seven ministries exceeded their budgets by a total of N$159 million.

    This article was produced by IRIN News while it was part of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Please send queries on copyright or liability to the UN. For more information: https://shop.un.org/rights-permissions

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