Further politicisation of the clinically dead public administration reform

BANJA LUKA, (Patria) - Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH), the Foreign Policy Initiative BiH (VPI) and the NGO Zašto Ne call on the Council of Ministers of BiH to once again reconsider the Proposal for a Decision on amending and supplementing the Decision on establishing the offices of the coordinator for public administration reform within the Cabinet of the Chair of the Council of Ministers of BiH, which concerns the appointment of the chief coordinator for public administration reform.

The mentioned amendment stipulates that the chief coordinator for public administration reform and his deputies shall be appointed and dismissed by the Chair of the Council of Ministers of BiH, instead of the Council of Ministers of BiH as defined by the current Decision. Under the same Decision, the chief coordinator would now be appointed in the capacity of an advisor. We believe that the amendment to the Decision should have been aimed at resolving the status of the institution, its scope of competence in line with SIGMA principles, and strengthening its role, rather than merely addressing the issue of appointing the head of the institution. Furthermore, the proposed solution of appointing in the capacity of an advisor does not contribute to ensuring the principle of merit in the selection of the head, but further politicises the public administration.

"According to the Law on Administration, an advisor is not a senior civil servant, and his job description does not correspond to the tasks performed by the Coordinator for Public Administration Reform and his deputies.

We warn that the Council of Ministers of BiH, instead of dealing with issues of personal status and appointments, should focus on adopting the Public Administration Reform Strategy and Action Plan, given that the previous Strategy expired back in 2014, has been under adoption for five years, and half of its implementation period has already elapsed", stated TI.