Spreading fear in the Sarajevo Canton: Why does Kovačević not want to pay the salary for December?

Written by: Amra Varatanović

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The Minister of Finance in the Sarajevo Canton Government, Amel Kovačević, said that by the end of January, the Sarajevo Canton Assembly should adopt at least the Decision on Temporary Financing in order to enable the functioning of the Sarajevo Canton.

Kovačević claims that nothing from this year can be paid without that decision, but he did not explain who stopped the payments for December and why, for which funds were secured from last year's budget. Although before the salary, which is paid by the 11th of the month, employees would receive transportation allowances, this has still not happened. Other December allowances are also late, but the current government is without explanation. Unofficial information suggests that salaries should be paid by January 14.

In the Sarajevo Canton, since December 28, parallel structures have been in power, and the games of the political parties participating in the Sarajevo Canton Government and their presidents are breaking over the backs of 23,000 employees who receive salaries and allowances from the budget.

Today's attempt to hold a session of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, where the decision on temporary financing for the first three months of 2020 was supposed to be adopted, failed. Representatives led by People and Justice, Our Party, SDP BiH, NBL with Damir Nikšić, did not have a quorum for work (15) today, while representatives of the new majority SDA, SBB, DF, and BOSS left the assembly hall at the invitation of Mirza Čelik, a representative of SDA. Čelik was elected Chairman of the Assembly at the session of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly on December 28, although there is no seal on that decision. A day earlier, Elmedin Konaković withdrew from that position, and Danijela Kristić was elected Chairperson after the new majority rejected the agenda on December 26, when the Sarajevo Canton Budget for 2020 was supposed to be adopted.
 
The seal of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, which is necessary for the legal functioning of the Assembly and the certification of all acts to be legally valid, is in the possession of Konaković's coalition. Regardless of today's interruption of the session due to lack of quorum, it remains unclear why the payment of December salaries was not approved. The only reason could be to spread fear among employees or to show the power of the still current Sarajevo Canton Government over the citizens of the Sarajevo Canton who receive salaries from the Sarajevo Canton Budget. Regardless of the situation between the two assembly camps, the livelihood of 23,000 people and their families must not be endangered.

Such attempts can only be thwarted by citizens demanding that salaries be paid, as was also conveyed today by several unions. If there is no payment or a deadline for payment by Friday, thousands of employees from healthcare, education, and the police will come before the Sarajevo Canton, who have the right to demand their earned salary. The current government, led by Prime Minister Edin Forto, must not drag the citizens of the Sarajevo Canton into their calculations nor use them as a means of manipulation.

A new session of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly is scheduled for January 16, where a proposal to set a date for a session on a vote of no confidence in the Sarajevo Canton Government should be considered. Today, Čelik repeated that if the seal is not returned by that day, the new majority will not attend the session, but he announced the adoption of the decision on temporary financing by the end of January.