Will the 'six' deliver OSA to the Russians, only 'one side' among police agency chiefs will change

By: Amra Vrabac 

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A new meeting of coalition partners who will form the state government (SDP, NIP, Naša stranka, HDZ, SNSD, DNS) was held today in the Administrative Center of the RS Government in Lukavica.

A final agreement on scheduling a session of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament, where the new Council of Ministers of BiH should be confirmed, is on the table. Candidates for ministers and deputies are awaiting checks, and then appointments. 

But even more importantly, today the issue of heads of state agencies was discussed among coalition partners, including three police agencies (SIPA, DKPT, GP BiH) and the Intelligence-Security Agency. This was confirmed after the meeting by the future Minister of Foreign Affairs of BiH and president of NIP, Elmedin Konaković.

He said that the agreement is roughly that each side will retain its current positions with some corrections. 

In practice, it looks like this: parties around SDP will get the right to nominate the director of OSA, SNSD the deputy, and HDZ BiH the chief inspector. This is what the infamous depoliticization they signed in the guidelines looks like. And by appointing a cadre that SNSD will nominate, the path for pro-Russian activities within OSA is opened. 

When it comes to the three police agencies, Konaković pointed out that there is a national imbalance. And this is nothing new. It has been warned about for years, and it is particularly evident in the State Investigation and Protection Agency. It is run by cadres close to SNSD and HDZ, Darko Ćulum and Đuro Knežević. Several times, state representative Šemsudin Mehmedović spoke at sessions of the House of Representatives of the BiH Parliament about the lack of leadership positions in SIPA that should belong to Bosniaks, who are the most numerous in that agency. In addition, we should add the practice that has been present in the past few years, where only suitable individuals are promoted, and it is already known in advance which Croats and Serbs will be promoted. There was probably not too much discussion about this today, because, as we heard, the same positions will remain with minor corrections regarding statistics and quantity. 

And let's remind Konaković of the situation in other police agencies now that he has finally moved away from Sarajevo Canton. 

The Border Police of BiH is managed by Zoran Galić, close to HDZ, whose best cadres are accused of corruption and are being tried at the BiH Court. Galić himself said this today during the trial of Rejhan Raković. He stated that Raković is his best police officer, whom he personally appointed to the commission for the admission of 150 cadets, and that he is very sorry today. That competition was never completed, and Raković was arrested after the list of candidates was published. 100,000 KM and a list of cadets were found with him. As sorry as Galić was to testify today, it is equally difficult to hear that these cadres do not bother Konaković and his team. There are still police officers in GP BiH prone to illegal activities for which they have been convicted, and some of them were personally favored by Galić. The deputy position in GP BiH is almost unnecessary because all the work is done by Galić with selected associates. And one of them is a candidate for the director of the Federal Police Administration. 

We will remind Konaković that the competition procedure for six positions in these three police agencies was completed back in July, but the Council of Ministers of BiH never considered the ranking lists. Why would they? The same cadres of his partners would only rotate positions. Here's how. 

Two successful candidates were proposed for each position on the ranking list. For the position of director of the Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies, Mirsad Đelilović and Ensad Korman were proposed. For the deputy director of DKPT, Goran Amidžić and Đuro Knežević, the current deputy director of SIPA, were proposed. 

According to the ranking list for the director of the Border Police, the first-ranked is Robert Perić, close to HDZ BiH, and the second-ranked is Mirko Kuprešaković. Perić was previously elected as the commissioner of the HNK Ministry of Internal Affairs. For the deputy director of SIPA, the first-ranked is Zoran Galić, and the second-ranked is Vladimir Popović, both from GP BiH.  

For the deputy director of the Border Police, Fahrudin Halač and Amra Aljić were proposed. 

It is evident that the new government, which has not yet been formally confirmed, is already making plans to install its cadres, not "those loyal to their party bosses." Konaković did not remember to tell reporters today that the work of all police agency chiefs would be reviewed, or is that also a difficult topic that he will leave aside. 

What is additionally interesting is that although we heard from the actors gathered around SDP that negotiations would be conducted within BiH institutions, we admit to them that discussions on state issues are being held, but within the institutions of the RS. 

The new government will still have to declare itself on the submitted lists at the Council of Ministers of BiH, or reject them, which opens the way for a new competition. Until then, everyone will remain in their positions, no matter how difficult it is for the side coming from the Bosniak-Other quota to wait to remove certain cadres.