Mevludin Mekić Illegally Heads UNSA Management Board: Why Aren't the KS Government and Prime Minister Konaković Initiating His Dismissal?

The President of the University of Sarajevo Management Board, Mevludin Mekić, was appointed to this position in 2013, although the conditions of the Decision on the Appointment of UNSA Management Board Members Appointed by the KS Government were violated. However, for three years now, no one has initiated his dismissal, not even the KS Government, by whose quota he was appointed as one of the six members, reports the BiH news agency Patria.

Mekić was elected to this position despite being a professor at the University of Vitez in Travnik for over six years, thus violating Article 6 (paragraph e) which states "that they are not employed or involved in the teaching process or engaged on any other basis at a higher education institution, as an institution registered in BiH, regardless of the amount of compensation paid for the engagement". His engagement at another university was successfully concealed thanks to Rifat Škrijelj, who headed the Appointment Commission and directly lobbied for Mekić.

Incidentally, Mekić only came to BiH in 2006, and he has known Škrijelj since before, as they were both born in Montenegro. It is an open secret that the UNSA Management Board is actually managed by Škrijelj, who also aspires to the position of UNSA Rector as his second term as Dean of the Faculty of Science and Mathematics in Sarajevo is ending. Therefore, at the last session of the UNSA Management Board on December 29, 2015, the work of Rector Muharem Avdispahić was questioned, and his dismissal was even requested due to alleged "illegal work and failure to implement conclusions".

However, Škrijelj needs strong political support from the SDA for the Rector position, but it is increasingly heard that he does not have it within the divided Cantonal Board of the SDA.

At the same session, Dobrila Govedarica-Nevjestić (appointed by the KS Government) resigned because she disagreed with the work of the Management Board chaired by Mekić. The regularity of two other UNSA Management Board members appointed by the KS Government, Sifet Kukuruz and Azemina Njuhović, who work in the KS Ministry of Education, Science, and Youth, which is responsible for overseeing the legality of the University's work, is also questionable. Their responsibility should also be examined by the current relevant minister, Elvir Kazazović, if it has not been done before.

Irregularities surrounding the UNSA Management Board were also the reason why the esteemed professor Esad Duraković left the Management Board in January 2014, not wanting to participate in the erosion of UNSA's reputation and integrity.

Patria's sources from the Rectorate warn that the key lies with the KS Government, which could easily resolve the situation with the illegal Management Board by dismissing Mekić or changing the KS Government's Decision. No one has yet requested his dismissal, although according to the still valid KS Government Decision, Mekić himself should have resigned, as Article 14 states "in the event that during the term of any Management Board member, reasons arise for which the appointed member no longer meets the criteria or conditions as prescribed by law, this decision, or the conditions prescribed by the Statute, they are obliged to submit their resignation from the position of Management Board member".

Decision of the KS Government that Mekić violated in two articles

However, Mekić has clearly ignored this provision, even though he has been a professor at the University of Vitez in Travnik for years, and since mid-2015, he has also been an associate professor at the Faculty of Medicine in Sarajevo.

Mekić has been a lecturer at the University of Vitez in Travnik for over 6 years

As we have learned, Mekić has tried several times to arrange for the Decision to be amended, but he has not succeeded. Responsibility for the years-long illegal performance of the function of UNSA Management Board President also lies with the KS Prime Minister Elmedin Konaković (SDA).

- If Prime Minister Konaković sent the Financial Police to the faculties, why didn't he start from the top and first sort out the situation in the UNSA Management Board? Because the fish rots from the head, not the tail - states our source.

The reasons for Konaković's silence should also be sought in the fact that he supports Škrijelj and does not want to jeopardize the plans of the "imaginary Rector" in any way.

An extraordinary Senate session is scheduled for January 14, 2016, at which Rector Avdispahić and Senate members will discuss this issue, as well as the obstructions made by the Management Board at the last session by removing five significant items for the University of Sarajevo, which mostly relate to cooperation with other universities in the world and financial support. Rector Avdispahić has also informed Prime Minister Konaković about this, who has not yet made a statement.

Letter from Avdispahić to Prime Minister Konaković