How did the entire leadership of SDP Novi Grad hire themselves and their spouses?

By Nermin Alihodžić

One of the first to recognize and point out the betrayal, scheming, and hypocrisy of the two-faced anti-Bosnian politics riddled with corruption and nepotism, which the imposed Prime Minister of the FBiH Government, Nermin Nikšić, began to implement in practice during the formation of the current government, were the members of the then largest and strongest municipal organization of SDP in the state of Bosnia and Herzegovina, more precisely twenty-seven members of the OO SDP Novi Grad Sarajevo.

This municipal organization, in the period after the general elections in 2022, was, based on the election results achieved, the most qualitatively staffed and best-organized municipal organization of SDP at the state level. However, its members were not allowed to choose and delegate the most capable among themselves and thus take responsibility for the trust given to its members by the citizens by voting for its candidates from the election list.

On the contrary, there was a purge of dissenters and those deemed unsuitable by Adnan Šteta, Damir Hadžić, Alma Hadžić, Vojin Mijatović, and Nermin Nikšić, people who would later lead and are leading all significant processes concerning non-statutory actions, scheming, and staffing of politically suitable rather than capable individuals, as well as behind-the-scenes actions and lobbying to extend the mandate of the non-statutory imposed Nermin Nikšić, justifying it with the "situation in the country".

Thus, four members of OO Novi Grad were expelled from the party membership without explanation or the right to appeal. Their sin was that they had already pointed out the crime and corruption of certain members and demanded that these individuals be removed from their positions and expelled from the party, as well as that internal party elections be held to elect a new party leadership and that the party return to the course of social democracy it once espoused, which is now nowhere to be found.

And what happened in OO Novi Grad that most members of this organization withdrew or requested their resignations and no longer wish to have anything to do with SDP?

Let's start from the head, as the order dictates. The current president of this municipal organization, Nermin Bojčić, is employed at JP Autoceste FBiH through Mirsad Nikšić, the brother of the imposed Prime Minister of the FBiH Government and non-statutory president of SDP, Nermin Nikšić.

Nermin Bojčić was simultaneously appointed as the President of the Supervisory Board of Ceste FBiH and two months ago hired his wife, Amira Bojčić, at the Federal Ministry for Refugees and Displaced Persons under party colleague Nerino Dizdar, who is a lackey of the imposed Nermin Nikšić.

All of the above is currently the subject of an investigation by the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office of Sarajevo Canton. Estimates are that, all things considered, the monthly income of this married couple is close to 10,000 KM. Incidentally, Nermin Bojčić wants to help his colleagues, so not so long ago he was seen during working hours participating in carrying things out of a building in Konjic where the president has an apartment and loading them onto an official truck!?

The Vice-President of SDP Novi Grad, but no less important, Abel Baltić, after being dismissed from the position of Director of JU Dom zdravlja KS due to numerous irregularities and criminal activities he committed, secured himself a position in the Municipal Council Novi Grad and the position of President of the Management Board of the Institute for Children and Youth Pazarić. With this, Baltić secured himself a monthly income of several thousand KM of budget funds.

The Vice-President of SDP Novi Grad, Dino Selimović, is employed with his wife Vanja Selimović at JP Aerodrom Sarajevo. However, Dino Selimović has also secured himself the position of President of the Management Board of JU Dom zdravlja KS, to which he was appointed by Abel Baltić so that Dino could continue where Abel left off, to provide him with materials for Management Board meetings and to cause problems for the current director who is trying to repair the damage Baltić caused during his term at the Health Center.

Selimović is a traffic engineer by profession, and it is logical to ask what kind of staffing policy SDP has to place someone with, to say the least, no experience with the Health Center at the head of one of the most important healthcare institutions in Sarajevo Canton? The statement from the beginning of the text about "placing politically suitable rather than capable individuals" is proven here.

The Vice-President of SDP Novi Grad, Haris Džihanić, has positioned himself as the President of the Management Board of the Center for Social Work KS, and then as Executive Director at KJKP Pokop.

The Vice-President of SDP Novi Grad, Amer Mudželet, has secured himself the position of Executive Director at KJKP Park, while at the same time appointing his wife to the Supervisory Board of the Sarajevo Canton Tourist Board.

As things stand, Mudželet is expected to be appointed General Director of KJKP Toplane KS in a few months. The fact that Amer graduated from the Faculty of Political Sciences, is a sociologist by profession, and has absolutely no connection to the mentioned company where about 150 engineers currently work for SDP comrades is irrelevant. It will be interesting to see what the sociologist will tell them at morning briefings and meetings and how he will explain the heating issues in Sarajevo Canton.

Selma Alić, also a member of SDP Novi Grad, is the sister of the current representative in the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, Belma Kapo. Selma has secured herself a position in the Municipal Council Novi Grad and is also employed at JU Dom zdravlja KS. Furthermore, six months ago, Selma's husband also got a job at this company, and this is currently the subject of an investigation by the KS Prosecutor's Office due to illegal employment during Abel Baltić's tenure.

The Vice-President of SDP Novi Grad, Damir Filipović, has secured himself a position in the Municipal Council Novi Grad and the position of Director at JP BH Pošte. He recently hired his wife, Berina Filipović, at the Cantonal Ministry of Labor, Social Policy, Displaced Persons and Refugees. This is also the subject of an investigation by SIPA and the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office.

The Vice-President of SDP Novi Grad, Bojan Vučković, has secured himself a position in the Municipal Council Novi Grad and the position of Assistant Mayor in the Municipality Centar for his wife Amra Hašimbegović Vuković, who was recently appointed to this position.

As this text is being read, one feels a sense of disgust, because keep in mind that all these appointments and nominations were preceded by a procedure, a charade of abusing tender procedures to achieve "employment for loved ones".

What kind of message is the imposed Nermin Nikšić sending to the citizens through his camarilla by appointing such people? The idea of social democracy has long been abandoned by SDP, and true patriots who have begun to leave this party en masse are increasingly realizing this. What remains of SDP and its cadres after the autumn of next year will be self-serving, an empty shell that the imposed Nikšić has led to ruin, and has erased the idea of social democracy from this party as if it had never been there.

SDP, as the largest party and leader of the "troika", has lost its compass. Disrespecting the statute, undermining internal party bodies, seizing power for oneself and the personal benefits of a narrow circle around Nikšić, rather than bringing qualitative and substantial changes to the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has shown that SDP is not a political option capable of initiating the much-needed positive processes in Bosnian-Herzegovinian society.

A stepmotherly attitude towards the domestic economy, making cuts in the Federation market without expert analysis and marginalizing expert opinions, creates economic insecurity for businesses and even more difficult living conditions for the most socially vulnerable categories.

The catastrophic reaction of the FBiH Government to last year's floods that affected parts of our country and the four-month repair of less than a hundred meters of destroyed railway in Donja Jablanica have exposed all the misery and suffering of the policy personified by Nermin Nikšić. When we add the fact that there was an option during the formation of the state-level government not to enter into a coalition with SNSD but with the opposition from RS, it is not surprising that we are experiencing the current political situation in our country.

Due to all of the above, the opposition must offer citizens economic programs to overcome the crisis, stimulate the economy, a program for energy transition, recovery of the energy sector, launching mass food production in our fields, major infrastructure projects, and the basic prerequisite for all of this is the rule of law. The beginning of these processes starts with respecting expertise and its opinions, and certainly not in the way it is currently being done.

The author is a member of the Coordination Body of the Party for BiH Novo Sarajevo and a former member of SDP