CCI Action: Fair Public Competitions, Equal Opportunity for All

Today in Sarajevo, the street action "Fair Public Competitions - Equal Opportunity for Everyone" was held, organized by the Centers for Civil Initiatives (CCI) as part of the campaign "Competent, Not Connected", whose goal is the depoliticization and de-partization of appointments and employment in the public sector in BiH, reports Patria News Agency.

As part of the street action, citizens had the opportunity to sign a petition demanding fair employment in civil service, healthcare, education, public enterprises, etc. Personal abilities, knowledge, experience, and integrity of candidates must be the decisive factor in appointments and employment in the public sector. Not party or family connections.

Also, on this occasion, citizens were informed in more detail about the results of the monitoring of appointments and employment in the public sector in BiH.

- Current regulations almost entirely fail to protect the principles of independent, objective, and professional verification, as well as the employment and appointment of the best candidates in public administration. The issue of conducting public competitions remains one of the critical points in the employment process in public administration. In the absence of clearly defined procedures and criteria for appointments and employment within public administration, i.e., public institutions, enterprises, and other public entities, all public resources very easily become prey to the executive power - stated Ana Lučić, from CCI.

CCI's monitoring findings show that the employment process is generally very non-transparent. Observed through 4 criteria: that all competitions are published on the websites of the employing bodies, that they are published in daily newspapers, that all criteria for evaluation in the competition are available to candidates, and that the composition of the commissions is announced when the competition is announced, it was concluded that the current transparency index of the employment process is only 32, on a scale of 0 to 100. Due to all of the above, it is necessary to amend or adopt new laws on civil service as soon as possible, following the example of the Una-Sana Canton and Canton Sarajevo, at all levels, and in accordance with the SIGMA principles of public administration reform.

After the adoption of the aforementioned laws, it is necessary to adopt sub-legal implementation regulations that should regulate public competitions in more detail in a way that ensures fair and just selection, choice, and employment in public administration of the best among the candidates. All citizens who wish to support this campaign can sign the petition electronically on the platform www.sposobnimanepodobnim.ba or they can do so via the Facebook page #Sposobnim, a ne podobnim, by sharing their views, stories, or photos expressing their resistance to the control of social wealth, public money, and jobs by a connected minority.