Bandić: The Three have brought Sarajevo to its knees

By Muamer Bandić

Is there anyone from the Three who has the decency to explain to the citizens how it is possible that they have indebted us by more than 850 million KM with their policies, while the Government has less than 5 million KM for debts to suppliers in primary and secondary schools? Where has the money gone? The former Prime Minister of the Three in the Sarajevo Canton, Edin Forto, once claimed that "there is money if there is no theft", so the question arises, is there theft?

Recent student protests in Sarajevo have shown that the Sarajevo Canton Government, while engaging in PR self-promotion, has no problem endangering the lives of students and citizens through its own inaction. Students have only scratched the surface and opened Pandora's box of accumulated problems that both the previous, and especially this - by many considered the most incompetent Government in the history of the Sarajevo Canton - have been sweeping under the rug for years.

The pre-election promises were attractive, but it is clear today that they had no real basis. While students are trying to fight for the minimum of their rights through protests, and young people trying to solve their housing issues for the first time are hitting a wall called the Sarajevo Canton Government, another serious problem is emerging - the debts of the Ministry of Education and Upbringing to suppliers exceeding 5 million KM.

These are services that cover everything from food delivery to student transportation for trips and excursions.

Schools and administrative bodies of primary and secondary education have been almost completely disempowered by the Ministry when it comes to recruitment tenders. The Ministry has taken over almost 90 percent of the schools' responsibilities, even though they are independent legal entities. At the same time, when it comes to suppliers, schools have been left in the lurch and brought to a situation where partners are starting to cancel their services.

The system is set up in such a way that educational institutions cannot function without regular payments from the Ministry and the Canton. The biggest victims of this, according to many the most inefficient Government in the history of the Sarajevo Canton, will once again be children and teaching staff.

And how have the "arrogant and politically immature rulers" brought us to our knees?

The root of the problem is that they have seriously overestimated themselves and their own abilities, engaging in megalomaniacal projects ideal for photo opportunities and self-promotion. On that path, they trampled on everything - programs, plans, and even laws whenever it suited them. The Ministry of Education and Upbringing is more concerned with the political takeover of institutions through the employment of cronies than with improving the educational process.

For years, I have been warning that neither the Government nor the Assembly of the Sarajevo Canton respect the plans and programs they have adopted themselves. Even legislative work is subordinated to personal interests and a desperate effort to complete certain projects before the next elections. And at any cost, just so they can pose for photos and feign success. Whether this is constitutional and legal, the Three do not care at all. So-called "hockey" laws, as well as new credit borrowings to complete projects for which we are already indebted, serve this purpose.

Moreover, no one knows what we are additionally indebted for, nor how much interest citizens will pay back. It is precisely such ad hoc policies that have brought the Canton to its knees, so children could be left without school lunches tomorrow.

This problem, in which schools find themselves, is just the tip of the iceberg. The Sarajevo Canton Government does not fulfill its obligations wherever it can, except where ministers can take photos for social media and gain some cheap political points. The consequences of such a populist way of managing the public sector do not concern them at all. Their only goal is to 'put a good face on it' and politically survive until the next elections.

Therefore, from this Government and parliamentary majority, we can only expect new debts, unconstitutional laws, and new and greater deceptions towards pupils, students, youth, teaching staff, enforcers of final court rulings, and the population in general. They simply don't care, and someone else will deal with the deficits they leave behind, they have already taken care of themselves.
With the Three, we are truly living that old Turkish proverb which says: When a clown moves into a palace, he does not become king, but the palace turns into a circus!