Who will replace Enda Pavić-Pečenković?

The Government of Sarajevo Canton is losing another minister after Endi Pavić-Pečenković was issued measures prohibiting her from performing the function of minister in the KS Government, as well as bans on meeting and contacting witnesses. Enda Pavić-Pečenković is accused of illegally amending the rulebook of the Ministry of Labor, Social Policy, Displaced Persons and Refugees of KS to enable the employment of the sister of the accused Ibrahim Obhođaš. This concerns the "Koverta" case, which involves 14 individuals against whom an indictment has been confirmed.

This means that the management of the Ministry, under whose jurisdiction all social welfare institutions fall, will be taken over either by the secretary or by one of the ministers in the Government of Sarajevo Canton. Given that Pavić-Pečenković belongs to the SDP quota, this ministry should be managed by one of the other ministers from the SDP. In the KS Government, the SDP also has Adnan Šeta, Minister of Transport, Kenan Magoda, Minister of Culture and Sports, and Enis Hasanović, Minister of Health. However, there is a problem with gender representation in the KS Government, as well as national representation, so it is more likely that a new minister will be appointed.

When the then Minister of Higher Education Adna Mesihović (now a representative in the KS Assembly) was arrested in April 2025, the management of the ministry was shared by Naša stranka and NIP until the appointment of Dušanka Bošković in October 2025.

Incidentally, since the first reconstruction of the KS Government in November 2023, when ministers from the Party for BiH were replaced by ministers from the ranks of Za nove generacije, the then representative Damir Marjanović (Afan Kalamujić and Adna Mesihović), this will be the third replacement of a minister due to criminal investigations and restraining measures.

In November 2024, the then Minister of Public Utilities Bojan Bošnjak (Naša stranka) was arrested. He spent several months in custody, after which restraining measures were imposed, and he was dismissed in March 2025. In April, Mladen Pandurević was appointed as the new minister. To date, no indictment has been filed against Bošnjak in the case of Ibro Berilo and others, and the KS Prosecutor's Office had to hand over the case to POSKOK before the indictment itself. However, POSKOK did not file an indictment.

Adna Mesihović was suspended after her arrest and during her time in custody, and in August 2025 she accepted the mandate of a representative in the KS Assembly, following the withdrawal of Damir Marjanović. At the October session, Mesihović was relieved of her ministerial duties and took her seat in the representative benches. She is now charged together with Pavić-Pečenković in the "Koverta" case.

How long it will take to appoint a new Minister of Labor and Social Policy, or whether the SDP ministers will rotate in this position, will be known in the coming days.