Bandić: Everything that needs to be said about Koldžo, the citizens of Novo Sarajevo said four years ago

(Patria) - Candidate for the mayor of Novo Sarajevo municipality, Muamer Bandić, spoke out after Nedžad Koldžo, former mayor of this municipality and candidate in these elections on behalf of the Forward party, did so on two occasions.

"The party that Koldžo represents today should, in accordance with its name, move forward, not take us back to the past, reviving these political specters about which the citizens clearly expressed their opinion four years ago. This is the primary reason why I am calling on him to withdraw his false candidacy, which contributes to the continued collapse of our local community orchestrated by the Trojka parties.

Today, a man who spent as many as three terms as the mayor of Novo Sarajevo municipality claims that "someone is nervous because things are going badly on the ground." How, then, is the situation for this reserve candidate of the Trojka parties, Nedžad Koldžo, who was overwhelmingly swept out of the mayor's office, where he sat for a full 12 years, by the citizens of Novo Sarajevo four years ago?

During those 12 years of sovereign rule over our municipality, Koldžo will be remembered as a figure who diligently worked only to achieve his personal interests by favoring a company in which he has a co-ownership stake. He went so far as to use his position as mayor to seize common areas of apartment buildings in the Novo Sarajevo area, only to then assign them to his business partner, and ultimately to himself.

In doing so, Nedžad Koldžo acted as a "one man show," combining the position of mayor and head of the SDA Municipal Board, creating a network of corruption around himself, which is why the SDA party had to change its Statute to put an end to this abuse of power and position. He maintained his position through corruption and manipulation, assigning municipal business premises to councilors, which they then rented out, introducing organized crime into the local community.

During those three terms, he did not focus on the general interest or development of the Novo Sarajevo Municipality, but primarily on regulatory plans and favoring the construction-buddy lobby in illegally adding floors without any permits. And just as he was as mayor, he continued as a manager, driving the once-giant of the defense industry, the company "Zrak," into an abyss. The negative audit report from Koldžo's tenure at that company testifies to this.

Today, that failed politician presents himself as some kind of alternative and savior. I wonder, of what?

Probably of his failed policies from the past and the work of the Trojka in the last four years, during which our municipality was like a punishment, without any progress, development projects, or any commendable action by the municipal administration.

Four years ago, they promised a lot, and today at the local level, we can clearly see their limits, how much they know, and how much they can offer citizens. A big NOTHING! And a lot of propaganda spins, lies, and sowing hatred among people.

If they had any shame, they wouldn't have nominated their reserve candidate Koldžo in the municipality he destroyed. It would have been better if, in line with their way of working, they had fictitiously relocated him to another municipality, so that somewhere they don't know him, he could pretend to be a savior, and perhaps share a portion of ćevapi or baklava along the way.

But Nedžad Koldžo is not used to sharing, only taking. Thus, after being mayor of Novo Sarajevo, he continued to receive severance pay. It wasn't enough for him that he took so much during his three terms as head of the Municipality, but he continued to draw from the budget for another year after his term ended, costing the citizens approximately KM 50,000.

He says he ran at the request of citizens.

This statement is the height of pathos. He might as well say which citizens? The citizens of Pofalići, for whom he did not build a school or a sports field within the existing school during his three terms. Or perhaps at the request of the citizens of Vraca, for whom he failed to ensure that their children attend a school that existed in the education system before the war during his three terms. Or at the request of the citizens of Hrasno Brdo, for whom he did not provide any playgrounds for children and youth. Or the citizens of Grbavica, who even in the 21st century live in buildings covered with asbestos panels. Or those citizens whose legalization of buildings he prevented for years. This text would indeed be too long if I were to list all of Koldžo's (non)deeds...

The citizens of Novo Sarajevo have had enough of corruption, inaction, negligence, aesthetic kitsch, and the lies of the Trojka populists, who created the deception that is reflected in the candidacy of Mr. Koldžo," stated Bandić.