Enough Krajina representatives who become more Sarajevan than Sarajevans when they step into the capital

In an interview with the BiH news agency Patria, Hamdija Lipovača, the current Prime Minister of USK and SDP candidate for the BiH Parliament, answered questions about the government crisis in USK, Sarajevo's relationship with Krajina, his political engagement, and whether he is truly a “dictator” as he is often called in public.

PATRIA: You are an SDP candidate for the BiH Parliamentary Assembly. You are leaving the position of Prime Minister in a Canton that has been shaken by economic and government crises for all these years, a crisis you were at the head of. In what condition are you leaving the USK government to your successor?

LIPOVAČA: First, I must correct the false statements. Never, not for a single moment in four years, has there been a government crisis in the Una-Sana Canton. A crisis in the Assembly, yes. And that has been going on for three mandates. Government crises in the Canton occurred during the time of some of my predecessors, Prime Ministers from the ranks of SDA, whose partners blocked decision-making by withdrawing personnel. I was not happy with all the personnel solutions of my “partners”, but we were never in crisis, without a quorum to work. Now, how the crisis in the Canton Assembly affected the work of the Government is another long story. The latest example is the deliberate refusal to convene an Assembly session to get approval for withdrawing funds from the IMF. That's 4.2 million for the payment of social benefits and a number of allowances. Why? So that my “partners” from SDA could shout slogans that something remained unpaid.

I cannot accept the claim about the economic crisis that has shaken this canton. The crisis is global. The crisis is in the entire region, in the entire BiH. But the Una-Sana Canton has managed to maintain financial stability, we have managed to initiate some pioneering processes, correct privatization injustices, as with DI Sanica, a company in bankruptcy that we bought and attached as a subsidiary of Una-Sana Forests and brought back jobs. My predecessors pride themselves on their self-effacement, although I would call it by its real name: they are silent about what I inherited from them: millions in debts based on final court judgments to workers in education, 14 million in debts to the hospital, a destroyed economy to the extent that the Privatization Agency itself is ripe for bankruptcy... What are we leaving behind? We are leaving the Canton without debts for salaries to budget users, we are leaving excellent projects in the field of environmental protection, agriculture, we are leaving prepared projects for the construction of a new judiciary building, a new Cantonal Hospital building, equipment that has started to arrive for the future clinical center...

PATRIA: Krajina has always been specific in political terms, so it has never been possible to predict which party would win in elections. Do you dare to predict? Who will be the winner of the elections in USK, or which parties will form the future coalition?

LIPOVAČA: I cannot agree with you on that either. Except for the part about Krajina being specific. In fact, people who seriously analyze political situations could quite accurately assess election outcomes. I consider myself one of them, but I would keep it to myself because we are talking at a time when the official campaign is nearing its end. I will only say that after the next elections, partnerships will have to be formed to “find the math”, as it is colloquially said, i.e., to create a majority. Now... often the deciding factor in all of this has been the least powerful parliamentary parties. Thus, the winners of the elections have often been political hostages of the smallest political parties. We have seen this at all levels of government, not just here. That is why I advocated and still advocate for the abolition of cantons as the most unnecessary level of government. Both when I was the mayor of Bihać and now and in the future, I always fight for the strengthening of municipalities and the strengthening of the state.

PATRIA: Numerous speculations are associated with you, from fleeing across the border to Croatia before demonstrators to threatening people. Often, your political opponents also call you a "dictator". What kind of politician is Hamdija Lipovača really?

LIPOVAČA: You yourself said that these are speculations. And that there have been countless of them. The truth is that I have never fled, from anyone. Unlike my predecessors who fled. I remember, because I myself, as an opposition member and social democrat at the time, stood with the striking educators. On the other hand, my political opponents, when they couldn't do it democratically, organized an attack on my family home where my wife and three young children were. Such things have a name. And you know what it is. And I didn't flee then either. I was the first in the square in Bihać when the first demonstrations were scheduled. After that act, I was disgusted as a human being, as a father and husband, I was angry. But as Prime Minister and acting Minister of Internal Affairs, I asked the police commissioner not to allow the police to use force. The instigators took advantage of that. I publicly apologize to every police officer who endured a blow. That is why I offered my mandate in February. When I heard that there were plans to attack the police and set buildings on fire. I said - “Here, I am giving my mandate to the Assembly that confirmed me. Not to the street! Not to a handful of instigators who benefited greatly from all of this.” In the end, what happened? Nothing. No one wants the seals, no one wants to be Prime Minister. And the person they put forward as my potential successor withdrew after ten days because he couldn't withstand the pressure.

Am I a dictator? No. I am difficult. Every associate of mine will say that. I am difficult to follow in my work, I do not tolerate delays, I do not stop to admire something we have done, I do not tolerate inventing 1000 ways something cannot be done. I demand one way it can be done and that it be done immediately and that we move on to the next project. That's not a secret. Anyone who agrees to join my team knows this and has no reason to complain. I am a social democrat and I am for social justice and I fight for everyone who needs help, but if you work with me, that's another matter. First, you have a job, you have a salary, and earn it. I don't need anyone who won't work and who will run away from going to villages and sleep during floods and be at the sea while the hospital is burning.

PATRIA: Why did you decide to run for the state Parliament? Besides the usual answer that the party organs decided, can you give us your personal opinion on the candidacy? Why the state level and not, for example, the FBiH Parliament?

LIPOVAČA: I gave up my mandate in the PS BiH after the last elections because the circumstances required me to stay in Krajina and take on the position of Prime Minister. Why am I again leading the SDP list for the Parliamentary Assembly from Krajina? Someone has to bang their fist there and call things by their real name. Krajina wants nothing foreign. Not from Sarajevo, not from Zenica, not from Banja Luka, not from Mostar... Krajina wants what it deserves. Enough of Krajina representatives who become more Sarajevan than Sarajevans when they step into the capital, instead of uniting to fight for Krajina.

WE ARE ALL BIH

PATRIA: If you are elected as a state representative, what will you initiate in the parliamentary procedure immediately after taking office?

LIPOVAČA: Anyone who has followed my political career knows that I do not deviate from my views on the need for constitutional changes, primarily I mean the abolition of cantons, strengthening municipalities and the state. I mean protecting the interests and equality of all peoples, and I mean Krajina and its position within BiH. To be more precise, a strong Krajina in a strong state. This state cannot exist without a strong Krajina; everyone knows how Bosnia was defended in Krajina when needed, that Krajina bled for the state, and no fighter, no mother from Krajina asked: why for Sarajevo? Now imagine how that mother from Krajina feels when she hears from Sarajevo: why for Krajina? Because we are all BiH. We are as strong together as each link is strong.

WHOEVER WINS MUST RESPECT THE ELECTORAL WILL OF THE CITIZENS

PATRIA: Your prediction of election results? So, the composition of the BiH Presidency, who will form the coalition at the state and federal levels?

LIPOVAČA: I have already explained why I do not want to give predictions of the results. We can agree that you ask me again after the elections, and I will honestly tell you whether I was wrong or not in my assessment. Whoever it is, the election result and the choice of citizens must be respected. I can only say for myself that I know what is mine in the coming years - to fight with all democratic methods for the rights of every person who has shown me trust and thus obliged me to fight for them, for Krajina, for a BiH where every person is equal, united in seeking ways for BiH to develop, create jobs and build a future and offer prospects for young people, not the fate of guest workers. Parents in this country did not raise children to cry for them when they see them off to construction sites. I have fought and will continue to fight for the strengthening of the state, not for the strengthening of the diaspora with our sons and daughters.