Coalition Returns Fehima Bekana to Key Ministry Position Managing 300 Million KM

The return of Fehima Bekana to the position of Secretary General of the Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is yet another catastrophic personnel failure of the ruling SDA-SBB-HDZBiH coalition, writes the Patria News Agency.

Bekana has been returned to the position of secretary in the Ministry, despite multiple criminal complaints filed against him at the Cantonal Prosecutor's Office in Sarajevo.

Employees accuse Bekana of nepotism, abuse of official authority, and embezzlement of funds.

Bekana was temporarily suspended from his job by an OHR decision but was reinstated in 2004 due to strong political connections. With their help, he has managed to maintain his position to this day.

Officially, Bekana retired at the end of 2015. A few weeks later, the Administrative Inspection of the Federal Ministry of Justice (Minister Mato Jozić (HDZBiH)) reinstated him.

A source from the Ministry told Patria that Bekana was reinstated illegally. Allegedly, data regarding his years of service were falsified. The Prosecutor's Office has not yet investigated this case.

The Federal Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs is one of the key ministries in the FBiH Government, managing over 300 million KM annually and supporting around 500,000 beneficiaries. After the coalition of SDA, HDZ BiH, and SBB was formed, this ministry was allocated to SBB, headed by Vesko Drljača.

Media outlets previously reported that Bekana is, without a doubt, a record holder for the number of close relatives he has employed in public service or appointed to administrative and supervisory boards. In October 2014, "Oslobođenje" reported that Elma Kamerić, Bekana's daughter, is the President of the Supervisory Board of the Drin Institute for the Care of Mentally Disabled Persons and an employee of the Federal Employment Bureau.

The newspaper also reported that Samira Zeba, the daughter of Bekana's brother, was appointed to the Supervisory Board of the Institute for the Upbringing of Boys and Youth in Sarajevo, and Indira Dujmović, another daughter of his brother, works in the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs.

- They are the daughters of myself and my brother. However, they are not in those positions because they are my family, but because they got hired through competitions and showed the best results – Bekana stated.

These three are just part of Bekana's family whom he employed in state institutions. Federal Television published a list of

15 of Bekana's closest associates working in various state institutions.

At the end of February last year, Bekana was again in the public eye after he seized the ministry's seal. He kept the ministry blocked for several weeks. While he held the seal, he made several appointments to various positions within the Ministry.

Bekana carried out the same scenario four years earlier. He was not held accountable for either the first or the second incident.