Bandić: KS Assembly turned into a cheap reality show

By Mamer Bandić, delegate in the KS Assembly and member of the Presidency of the Party of BiH

As head of the Party of BiH club, at the last Second continuation of the 14th working session of the KS Assembly (SKS), I requested a half-hour break, which, in accordance with the Rules of Procedure, is an indisputable right of the heads of party clubs and is absolutely defined in such a way that no one can question it. In explaining the request, I cited performing the noon prayer as the reason.

Since there is no legal basis to refuse the request of the head of any party club, the presiding officer of the SKS and the president of the Bosniak Club are extremely inappropriately misusing the podium by calling my request populist. It is impossible to list all examples when the SKS leadership, after concluding the debate and voting, completely contrary to the Rules of Procedure, makes inappropriate comments or discusses outside of the Rules of Procedure.

The presiding officer of the SKS should know that performing prayers, especially in the month of Ramadan, is not populism but a duty of every believer – a Muslim. His absence for performing the Hajj was not commented on by anyone, especially not in such a base and inappropriate manner, even though the work of the KS Assembly was blocked because of it. As a politician, he should know that a political ban on any believer from adhering to the tenets of her/his religion, and inappropriate public commentary on someone's identity, represent a textbook example of political populism. The fact that he does not understand this only speaks to his personal culture, his lack of assimilation into a pluralistic and urban society, and his chronic lack of tolerance and respect for people who do not belong to the narrow circle of genetically predetermined ikebanas of Zagreb and Belgrade.

Several hours later, a colleague from another club requested a break, and they turned that break into an almost two-hour interruption. This violates the Rules of Procedure, because in accordance with the provisions of the Rules of Procedure, the Assembly must vote on any break longer than half an hour. Of course, in this case, the SKS did not vote, but its barely literate leadership placed itself above the Rules of Procedure, which they are obliged to respect.

This way of conducting sessions, in which the SKS leadership uses its position to belittle delegates, is only one of the continuous examples of inappropriate conduct and violation of the relevant provisions of the Rules of Procedure. The SKS leadership conducts sessions as if they were sessions of the parliamentary majority, completely ignoring the procedural rights of delegates who do not belong to that majority. By permanently violating the Rules of Procedure, the work of the SKS has been reduced to a one-minded forum, reserved only for the political activities of the ruling majority.

There are countless similar examples where the SKS leadership, by violating the Rules of Procedure, prevents the freedom of political action and stifles the freedom of speech of opposition parties, disrespects the dignity of the institution through continuous provocations and ridicule of delegates, reducing serious discussions to the level of a street circus in which we are constantly dancing on the edge of an incident because the extra-procedural, extremely uncivilized and inappropriate actions of the SKS leadership have become the rule.

It increasingly reminds me of the old lyrics by Rambo Amadeus:
"When primitives ride to power.
Dignity and honor are out of the game."

And indeed, as in his lyrics, in our daily parliamentary practice, there are people who do not understand the purpose of the Rules of Procedure while sitting in the Assembly. These people do not understand that the Rules of Procedure regulate legal rules as a binding legal framework for lawful conduct and action of delegates. It is truly unbelievable that someone nominates such people, without knowledge of the subject matter and basic behavioral culture, to lead anything, let alone the Assembly! The SKS leadership must understand and learn that the actions and procedures of delegates in the SKS must be in accordance with the legal rules contained in the Rules of Procedure, which represent the boundary of lawful conduct and action of this legislative body. Any action that is not in accordance with the legal rules defined by the Rules of Procedure is aimed at destroying the legal framework. This applies equally to all of us delegates, including those who, as first among equals, sit in the SKS leadership and conduct sessions.

Politically and legally inferior, inarticulate and uncultured people have turned this once affirmative political forum and mirror of our Canton's political pluralism into the most ordinary marketplace for trading political influence. Through autocratic violence against the law, they undermine all principles of democratic functioning of the highest legislative body, thereby completely euthanizing its pluralistic political and cultural spirit, turning Sarajevo into a totalitarian village. A provincial village where we must all think and live as the authorities command, or we lose all rights, even the right to our own opinion and way of life, just because we are who we are.

The culmination of this Orwellian neo-totalitarianism of false democrats, liberals, and socialists was the eviction of the Party of BiH Club from the premises we used for our political work in the SKS building. The SKS Assembly, under the leadership of such characters, increasingly resembles a cheap reality show for the entertainment of the broad masses, and less and less a serious legislative institution. Only with such politically limited characters is it possible to deceive and lie to everyone at every step – members of the veteran population and martyr families during employment, young people when allocating funds for housing solutions, top students when refunding tuition fees, their own employees when paying judgments in labor disputes, returnees when allocating funds for return, legends of our country Bogić Bogićević and Ismet Gavrankapetanović, and finally the citizens of Sarajevo – that their tomorrow will be better under the leadership of such people.

Given these assembly experiences, I think we have too high expectations of people who are unable to apply the Rules of Procedure, a full 49 pages of consolidated text, to successfully negotiate serious state issues with the duo Čović-Dodik, or to successfully solve our local, communal problems! That is simply an unrealistic expectation and a huge delusion.

The well-known biblical saying is that when the blind lead the blind, both fall into a pit! With such a government, we citizens of Sarajevo and all people who love our only homeland, Bosnia and Herzegovina, rightfully ask: How deep a pit awaits us tomorrow?