Ćulum does not announce internal competitions nor promotions: Bosniak managers in SIPA are sought with a magnifying glass!

Written by: Amra Vrabac

In the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA), still headed by Darko Ćulum beyond his mandate given that his first term expired in July 2024, an unprecedented situation prevails. Ćulum churns out pension decisions, complaints pile up, and positions remain vacant because the director refuses to announce internal competitions or assign existing staff to these positions.

Thus, since January 21, the position of Chief of the Criminal Investigation Department (KIO) has been vacant following the retirement of Suad Hasanović.

As of tomorrow, February 28, 2026, the position of Chief of the Sarajevo Regional Office will also become vacant because Edin Malkić is retiring.

Although we asked SIPA about internal competitions to fill leadership positions due to retirements and whether Ćulum takes into account the national representation of managerial staff, given that information coming from SIPA indicates that Bosniaks are disadvantaged when it comes to leadership positions, we received no response.

And according to official data we obtained on February 6 from SIPA, there were six Bosniaks, eight Serbs (including Ćulum), and two Croats (including Deputy Director Dragan Andrić, appointed in early November 2025) in leadership positions.

As of tomorrow, Bosniaks will have one less position, and in this year alone, 35 police officers are due to retire. Since the beginning of the year, Ćulum has already issued about a dozen decisions. On Ćulum's orders, SIPA has requested extracts from records for its employees from certain Ministries of Interior and other police agencies, even though this is only done upon the personal request of the police officer, and has demanded that missing payments be made. Several police officers who received pension decisions have complained to the BiH Police Officers' Appeals Board. The Board was appointed only a few days ago and has not yet been constituted. Some appeals will certainly be accepted because the decisions were made contrary to the law.

Although Ćulum claims he has not appointed anyone to the position of KIO chief, these duties are performed by Igor Kujača. He is also the head of the Department for Combating Organized Crime, Human Trafficking, Drugs, and Other Criminal Offenses, even though there are Bosniak officers by rank who could take over this position, as well as the position of Chief of the Sarajevo Regional Office.

Also on the way out of SIPA is Vahidin Šahinpašić, who is awaiting appointment as Deputy Director of the Federal Police Administration. With his departure, the number of Bosniak managerial staff will drop to four out of 16 positions. The situation is even worse regarding the structure of chief inspectors. Of the four Bosniaks, with the departures of Malkić and Šahinpašić, only two chief inspectors remain. By the end of July, Jasmin Gogić must also retire, leaving only one Bosniak in the rank of chief inspector, indicating that the promotion procedure must be urgently implemented.

Earlier, from SIPA, when the story of staff retirements and the need to amend the Law on Police Officers to extend the working life was brought up, they claimed there was no reason for concern and that everything could be resolved through promotions and the recruitment of cadets. However, for three months now, Ćulum has not announced either internal competitions or competitions for promotions, so there is plenty of reason for concern.

During 2025, 33 police officers were retired, including 10 Bosniaks, 14 Serbs, and 9 Croats. During 2026, 35 Bosniaks, 13 Serbs, and five Croats are set to retire. Thus, in two years, SIPA has 45 fewer Bosniaks, and that is only based on retirements. And what about departures due to job changes or leaving the agency for other reasons.

At this moment, the national structure of employees in SIPA does not reflect the results of the 1991 Census, according to which police agencies are still being staffed. Now the number of Bosniaks is lower than the number of Serbs, which has never happened before, and all previous directors were Serbs, but attention was paid to national balance.

We previously reported that there are no longer any Bosniaks in leadership positions in the Special Unit, and Bosniaks were also deprived of the position of Commander of the Special Support Unit after Enes Karić left to become Director of the Directorate for Coordination of Police Bodies in 2023. Dalibor Milošević was appointed commander. The two Bosniaks who were in leadership positions have retired, and new ones have not been appointed.

And while SIPA Director Darko Ćulum, whom the BiH Council of Ministers keeps in this position despite a four-month absence and transfer to the RS Ministry of Interior during the attack on the constitutional order by the entity authorities of the RS, is targeting Bosniak cadres, Bosniak politics, or what passes for it in the BiH Council of Ministers, remains completely silent.

The Troika missed a unique opportunity to resolve Ćulum's position, but instead voted for the appointment of Andrić, thereby allowing the SNSD and HDZ to fully take over the leadership of the State Investigation and Protection Agency. With this attitude, they have shown that they do not know, do not understand, and do not protect the interests of Bosniaks in BiH institutions, which are falling one by one under the control of these allies every day. It will take years, perhaps decades, to return things to some acceptable point. One can no longer even speak of stolen institutions, but of completely surrendered ones, in order to preserve their own ministerial chairs and petty profits.

At a time when global security is in focus, Elmedin Konaković, Zukan Helez, and Sevlid Hurtić have completely failed in protecting the interests of Bosniaks in state police agencies. Although the roots of misguided policies in SIPA go back a bit further in the past, everything has now come due. Instead of solutions and struggle, from the Troika there is silence and evasion of responsibility.