Bandić: KS citizens are paying a high price for the wrong choice - The "Trojka" without vision and transparency is pushing us into debt slavery

By Muamer Bandić, MP in the KS Assembly and member of the GV of the Party for BiH

We finished the marathon, 13th working session of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly at dawn, at which the Budget of the Sarajevo Canton for 2024 was adopted in the amount of 1,530,505,602 KM.

With the implementation of this budget, the Sarajevo Canton will be indebted by more than 600,000,000 KM, of which more than 120,000,000 KM is debt from domestic banks, which results in a significantly higher interest rate.

The ruling "Trojka" has planned the sale of cantonal land and facilities in the amount of around 90,000,000 KM in this budget.

Lack of Vision

The Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina did not support this budget because we believe that the policies of the ruling "Trojka" are leading the Sarajevo Canton and its citizens into debt slavery. Due to the lack of ideas on how to mitigate the consequences caused by the reduction in indirect tax revenues, the "Trojka" has devised a solution (un)favorable credit debt of the Sarajevo Canton and the sale of its assets.

The largest part of the projects is realized exclusively from credit debt. Unfortunately, to make the absurdity even greater, there is no plan for the implementation of these projects according to priorities, i.e., according to the readiness of the project documentation for implementation, but projects are being pushed ahead of schedule to serve the interests of individuals. This budget does not plan systemic solutions that would put Sarajevo's resources into function for economic development, which is a concrete indicator of the lack of vision for the development of the Sarajevo Canton.

The Party for BiH cannot support a Budget in which funds for housing young people are planned in the meager amount of 500,000 KM. We have already seen this year that the funds of 5 million KM for this purpose are insufficient, and for us, the proposal of this Government to plan ten times less in 2024 is devastating, and even more devastating is that our amendment, which would allocate 15,000,000 KM for this purpose, was not accepted.

Discrimination of Children

The Party for BiH cannot support a Budget that does not grant students of private primary and secondary schools, and students with developmental disabilities in private primary and secondary schools, the right to free transportation and free textbooks, as students in public schools have. Any form of discrimination against students is unacceptable to us.

What is particularly unacceptable to us is that students with disabilities attending private schools are not provided with teaching assistants, nor are students with developmental disabilities. Thus, the ruling establishment has sent a wonderful New Year's message to the young people of our city, which briefly states that they should seek respect and a better life elsewhere.

The Party for BiH does not accept the blackmailing attitude of the KS Government towards civil servants, employees, or claimants of funds based on enforceable court judgments from employment. Namely, the KS Government continues to blackmail its employees by giving priority in execution to those who renounce legal interest compared to those who collect their claims according to the Law on Enforcement Procedure.

Given the Government's lack of interest in at least starting to resolve this issue, in the next year we will see a new increase of a few million KM in the internal debt of the Sarajevo Canton solely on this item, and employees of public institutions will remain without their own money for a long time thanks to a Government that does not respect court decisions, thus rapidly bringing us closer to the democratic values of Balkan, ideological Russian governorates.

Truly a thrifty budgeting, isn't it!?

The political activity of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina is oriented towards improving the overall political environment through the construction of an efficient and functional system of cantonal public administration, which is a guarantee of the rule of law, legal security for all citizens, and quality public services.

Our activity is not destructive, as our most honest, smartest, and most transparent political "visionaries" present it, but constructive and oriented towards the needs of citizens, not narrow political elites. Our political goals are projects from which citizens can benefit and which are realized in accordance with the constitution, laws, and other regulations, not behind-the-scenes agreements at private gatherings. And this is quite evident from the amendments we have proposed.

New Debt for Public Transport

In this context, we supported the Work Program of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly for 2024, the Law on Execution of the KS Budget for 2024, the Proposal of the Decision by which the Ministry for Veterans' Affairs of KS is given consent to proceed with signing property-legal contracts, the Proposal of the Decision on giving consent to the Financial Plan of the KS Health Insurance Fund for 2024 and the Decision on the execution of the Financial Plan of the KS Health Insurance Fund for 2024, and the Proposal of the Decision on giving consent to the Rules of the Public Institution "Memorial Center Sarajevo".

At this 13th marathon session, the ruling majority also pushed through new debt for the Sarajevo Canton of another 35 million euros for the implementation of the project "Sarajevo City Transport - Additional Funds". It is a true mastery of governance, which even the famous Machiavelli did not include in his advice to rulers, when you manage to bring the people to a fait accompli, so they pay twice for the same job. The mastery of governance is even greater when neither the people, nor those who rule in their name, have any idea at what interest rate they are taking "additional" funds.

Interest Rate - Unknown

The KS Government is thus in the Ripley's Believe It or Not section because, in the Decision on accepting the debt under the Financing Agreement between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Investment Bank (EIB) for the implementation of the project "Sarajevo City Transport - Additional Funds", pushed through literally at dawn, under the "interest rate" section, it states: "fixed or variable and agreed upon before the disbursement of the tranche".

I am not an expert, but I know enough as an ordinary person that when taking out a loan, certain things must be crystal clear, such as the numbers and the amount of the interest rate. The Government of the Sarajevo Canton is therefore taking out a loan in the amount of 35 million euros for a job that has already been paid for and is taking it out at an unknown interest rate. To be clear, they have indebted us by 35 million euros, and we have no idea how much money we have to return in total. The only thing transparent about all of this is that we will be repaying this loan for 20 years, which means we are leaving debt to our children and grandchildren. What else can be said but: They really fixed it, all credit to them! Truly, another thrifty move, right FROM THE FOUNDATION!

How much the ruling clique cares about the passing of this Decision is shown by the fact that they dragged out the session all day to exhaust everyone who was against it and those who asked to see the contracts or financial reports for the 21 million euros already spent. The money of Sarajevo citizens is being spent without any control or insight into either the contracts or the financial reports. The citizens might get a new tram line, but they will also be left with decades-long debts. The new trams will certainly not be owned by the public company GRAS, but by some new company, known only to the main actors in this deception.

That morning, around five o'clock after the adoption of this Decision, while I was looking for my colleague Šaljić's car in the dark, a colleague from the SDA Club called me and said, "After this point, I understood the key reason why SBiH was removed from power in KS. You were a hindrance to the implementation of these kleptomaniacal projects, because accurate information seems to be unavailable to anyone, and they assessed that you would not support it."

All of this reminded me of a scene from the movie No Man's Land when one of the characters says: "Damn me if these guys know where they are taking us." I am completely sure of one thing: by managing the Sarajevo Canton in this way, we are slowly but surely eroding and weakening the public administration system, while financially strengthening individuals and allowing people from the shadows to get rich at the expense of citizens, while we all together, as a society, are irretrievably sinking.

And for that, neither Dragan Čović nor Milorad Dodik are to blame; we are to blame ourselves for having faith in inhuman and greedy criminals. Someone wake me up from this nightmare!