Division of state institutions into three parts: Council of Ministers establishing ADS BiH departments in Banja Luka and Mostar?

(Patria) - The session of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina, scheduled for today, October 17, 2024, starting at 1:00 PM, includes an item on the proposal for the Rulebook on Amendments and Supplements to the Rulebook on the Internal Organization of the Civil Service Agency.

Following the unnecessary expansion of sectors in Mostar and Banja Luka and the increase in the number of employees of the Communications Regulatory Agency, it is now proposed to establish two new, independent internal organizational units of the Civil Service Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina - in Mostar and Banja Luka.

This is just a continuation of the policy of dividing state institutions one by one into three parts.

The Civil Service Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (hereinafter: ADS BiH) is an extremely important state institution, and its director, appointed at the proposal of HDZ, has been leading it since last year.

Article 1 of the proposed Rulebook, which amends "Article 2 (Internal Organization)" of the current Rulebook, stipulates the following:

(1) "The Agency consists of basic organizational units – sectors, which consist of internal organizational units – departments and independent organizational units outside the Agency's headquarters in Mostar and Banja Luka".

(4) "Independent internal organizational units outside the Agency's headquarters are Departments in Mostar and Banja Luka, which are established due to the special nature of certain jobs".

Article 4 proposes that a new Article 6a be added after Article 6 of the current Rulebook, which relates to the competencies of the Agency's departments in Mostar and Banja Luka.

"The Agency's Departments in Mostar and Banja Luka are competent for certain jobs performed outside the Agency's headquarters and related to:

a) coordinating the Agency's cooperation and communication with Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions based in Mostar and Banja Luka regarding all matters within the Agency's jurisdiction, which includes the area of employment and appointment of civil servants, as well as training of civil servants;

b) reviewing candidate applications in terms of timeliness, completeness, correctness, and fulfillment of job advertisement requirements, as well as informing candidates about the status of applications for competitions conducted by the Agency in accordance with the Law on Civil Service, as well as preparing notifications to candidates about the rejection of applications if the selection committees do not do so; conducting exams (public, written, oral) in competition procedures; preparing notifications to candidates about their success in the competition procedure in the prescribed manner; publishing competition results in the prescribed and customary manner;

c) professional and technical assistance and support in administering independent selection committees that conduct competition procedures outside the Agency's headquarters, i.e., in Mostar or Banja Luka, based on public advertisements issued by the Agency on behalf of institutions;

d) assistance in administering professional development of civil servants during training conducted in Mostar and Banja Luka, organized by the Sector for Training and Information Technologies within the Agency."

Article 5 plans for the departments in Mostar and Banja Luka to have a total of eight employees - four in each department (Head of Department, two professional advisors for appointments, training, and professional-administrative assistance and user support, and a clerk for administrative-technical user support and office work).

Therefore, the establishment of new departments of the Civil Service Agency in Mostar and Banja Luka is proposed, which contradicts the Decision of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina which established the Agency's headquarters in Sarajevo ("Official Gazette of BiH" No. 16/02).

Article 28 of the Decision on the Principles for Determining the Internal Organization of Administrative Bodies of Bosnia and Herzegovina stipulates that organizational units outside the administrative body's headquarters can only be established if provided for by law or a Council of Ministers regulation, or if the special nature of certain jobs requires it.

The explanation of the Rulebook Proposal does not clarify what constitutes the "special nature of certain jobs" in this case, nor can it be concluded from the proposed Article 4 that the departments in Mostar and Banja Luka would perform any jobs that the Agency does not already perform in Sarajevo, nor that it concerns the "special nature of certain jobs".

It is undisputed that establishing independent internal organizational units outside the headquarters of the Civil Service Agency is against the law.

Of course, establishing the two new departments mentioned above would require significant budget funds, several hundred thousand convertible marks annually (for renting or purchasing office space, equipping the space with office furniture and materials, operating costs, employee salaries, etc.). Given the aforementioned, spending additional budget funds on new employment (8 officials) and other costs is completely unjustified.

The Law on ADS BiH establishes the basic function of the Civil Service Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina - to carry out the employment process of civil servants at the request of institutions. Accordingly, the Agency in Sarajevo has adequate human resources, a hall, and equipment for testing candidates, as well as an office for conducting interviews. It is clear that there is no justified need for establishing offices in Mostar and Banja Luka.

It is now also proposed to increase the total number of employees in the Civil Service Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina from 36 to 54, i.e., by one third, which is completely unjustified. The Agency needs to be strengthened in terms of personnel in accordance with the existing Rulebook on Internal Organization, and the Agency should, in accordance with the law, take over the implementation of all competition procedures for the recruitment of civil servants in the Indirect Taxation Authority, as the Office for the Audit of Institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina has been instructing for years.

In addition to the above, it is a fact that in six Bosnia and Herzegovina institutions based in Mostar, only 28% of Bosniaks are employed, i.e., less than a third, while in institutions based in Banja Luka, less than 20% of Bosniaks are employed. In fact, the Agency's past work must be reviewed, as its results are catastrophic for Bosniaks, and the implementation of such an idea should not be allowed.

And this agency, responsible for employment and compliance with the law regarding the national structure of civil servants in other state institutions, itself acts contrary to the law.

Currently, the national structure of civil servants in the Agency is 5 Bosniaks, 6 Croats, 8 Serbs, and 2 Others.

Therefore, the number of employed Bosniaks in the Agency is less than a quarter, and it should be 50%.