KV Party for BiH: When will the Sarajevo Canton Government stop lying to citizens?

(Patria) - Until when will the Sarajevo Canton Government lie to the citizens of Sarajevo Canton? Until when will Prime Minister Nihad Uk be an ostrich with his head buried in the ground? Until when will Prime Minister Nihad Uk be a ventriloquist for the real owners of the Sarajevo Canton budget? Until when will Prime Minister Nihad Uk blame, and repeat like a parrot, that the weight and previous governments are responsible for the financial destruction of Sarajevo Canton?

These are the questions posed in a statement by the Cantonal Council of the Party for BiH Sarajevo, which wishes to inform the public that the sole culprit for the current financial situation in Sarajevo Canton is exclusively the Sarajevo Canton Government.

"Namely, just one example: revenues from the sale of buildings and residential facilities, cantonal administrative fees, cantonal court fees, income from granting rights to exploit natural resources, patents, and copyrights, and fines for misdemeanors were planned at 122 million KM, while the realization by the end of July 2025 amounted to only 22 million KM, or 18%.

To make the absurdity even greater, the sale of buildings and residential facilities was planned at 60 million KM, while the realization is 0 KM.

The Sarajevo Canton Government knows very well, as does the entire public, that there is a ban on disposing of state property and that any sale is impossible. The budget of Sarajevo Canton is a soap bubble, containing expenses that have no coverage in revenues, and now this is coming due. Therefore, the Sarajevo Canton Government, when proposing the budget, invented revenues that it knew would never be collected.

Asking budget users to postpone contracted payment obligations is nothing less than a sign of illiquidity, or suspending hiring is nothing less than a sign that there will be an overrun of approved funds under the salary and compensation line.

The reduction of the weight is just one of the reasons for the budget's illiquidity, but the reduction of the weight was known when the budget was being drafted, and everyone knew that by inventing revenues, this reduction was being covered.

Prime Minister Nihad Uk is leading the Sarajevo Canton Government into complete uncertainty and fiscal unsustainability, ignoring all negative effects in the last three months of 2025. The first loan to cover the deficit from previous years is being implemented, and it is the first step in the life of the Sarajevo Canton Government on credit, one with a 10-year term and a 3-year grace period.

The statements of the Prime Minister that others are to blame are shameful, ruinous, disparaging, and fabricated, because all of this was known at the time of the budget adoption, or if they did not know, then it is not appropriate for the Prime Minister to run a convenience store, let alone a government.

From the financially strongest canton, they are now creating an invalid that will need years to recover. Loans, invented revenues, and weak budget filling are the main reasons for this financial state of the budget, and the culprits are known, and they must be held accountable. Playing with finances is an irresponsibility for which, nevertheless, someone must answer.

As striking as the irresponsibility of the ruling structure towards the financial bloodstream of the largest canton in the Federation of BiH is on one hand, on the other hand, the arrogance in rejecting any suggestion from the opposition is incredible, because it was precisely to this situation regarding the budget of Sarajevo Canton that the Party for BiH continuously warned, even during the budget drafting," the statement reads.