Karić refused to give money to Paralympians, but was the first to smile at them after the medal!

By: Amina Čorbo-Zećo

The City of Sarajevo, led by Mayor Benjamin Karić, allocated zero KM for the departure of the BiH Paralympic team to Paris for the Olympics. To make matters worse, it's not that the Paralympic Committee of BiH did not request funds, but the City of Sarajevo removed the Paralympic Committee of BiH from the public call because they did not have 80,000 KM in their own account, which is 20 percent of the total project funds!

Otherwise, a total of 400,000 KM was needed for the project of preparing Bosnian-Herzegovinian athletes for participation in the XVII "Summer Paralympic Games in Paris 2024".

„The Paralympic Committee of Bosnia and Herzegovina received money for this project from the Ministry of Culture and Sports of Sarajevo Canton in the amount of 250,000 KM and the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the amount of 70,000 KM“, stated the Paralympic Committee of BiH to Patria, adding:

„We received nothing from the City of Sarajevo, nor from other cantons, including the state level. We were removed from the public call by the City of Sarajevo because we did not have 80,000 KM in our own account, i.e., 20% of the total project funds.

The Paralympic Committee of BiH is registered as a citizens' association for sports, and as a non-profit organization, we do not have the possibility to earn income, nor to invoice any services. This is one of the reasons why we are unable to have our own funds, and its entire financing is based on donations and membership fees“, the Committee added.

We also asked the City of Sarajevo if and in what amount they financed the departure of the Paralympians to Paris, and the answer we received tried to mask the fact that it was ZERO KM.

„The City of Sarajevo supports young promising athletes, as well as champions, athletes, and sports collectives that achieve results at domestic and international events. Support for the work of sports associations and clubs is continuous, and the City has shown particular sensitivity towards representatives of the Paralympians who represented our country at the Olympics in Paris, through support for their clubs“, the response from the City of Sarajevo states.

Then they listed the individual amounts they paid to the clubs, but it is evident that these are other projects and that the Paralympic Committee of BiH has nothing to do with these revenues.

„The City of Sarajevo is among the first institutions to finance the Spid club, where Ismail Zulfić and Ismail Barlov train. Every year, funds are allocated from the Budget of the City of Sarajevo to support the club, and in 2023, Ismail Zulfić was awarded for his success at the World Series paraplano competition.

Support was also provided to the Volleyball Club of Disabled Persons Fantomi for the projects International Tournament Sarajevo Open 2024 and European Club Champions in the total amount of 14,000 KM in 2024, as well as to the Sitting Volleyball Club SPID in the amount of 8,000 KM. For the Sitting Volleyball Federation through the public call for top sports from the Budget for 2024, funds in the amount of 43,000 KM were allocated for the Golden Nations League“, say the City of Sarajevo, although we did not even ask them about this.

We remind you that Mayor Karić, who is currently in the election campaign for the mayor of Novo Sarajevo municipality, was among the first to address the Paralympians at the official welcome ceremony. The mayor's populist smiling approach has already become commonplace, and such a gross abuse of an official campaign has not yet been punished, even though she was doing it before the campaign even started.

For the pride they brought to the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina with their performance in Paris, achieving top results and two silver medals (sitting volleyball and swimming), she promised that the City of Sarajevo would reward them according to its capabilities, and the only truth is that they would not have even gone to Paris if they had depended on her or the City of Sarajevo.