According to the Draft Budget for 2024, our future boils down to three words - borrowing, nepotism and populism

Written by: Muamer Bandić (MP of the Party for BiH in the Assembly of the Sarajevo Canton)

The proposed Draft Budget of the Sarajevo Canton for 2024 contains no development components that would lead us to conclude that this is a development budget. There are also no new rights in the area of social protection that would indicate that this is a social budget.

It is even more unbelievable that this Draft does not incorporate the policies established through the Development Strategy of the Sarajevo Canton. And if this Government were committed to the rule of law and equality of citizens before the law, the Draft Budget itself would have planned funds for the payment of claims arising from final and enforceable court judgments, in order to resolve a long-standing problem.

For example, one way to settle lawsuit claims could be through credit borrowing. The interest rate on any credit borrowing is significantly lower than the statutory interest rate of 12%, and this would send a serious message to the citizens of the Sarajevo Canton that this Government respects laws and final court decisions, and does not place itself above them.

If this Government were committed to the rule of law and equality of citizens before the law, it would pay the claims arising from court judgments according to the Law on Enforcement Procedure, which implies a payment order based on an enforcement decision, not on some agreement.

Now imagine that you, as a citizen, lost a court case and claims come to you according to the Law on Enforcement Procedure, what would happen to you? Your account would be blocked and forced collection would be carried out, and you would probably end up on the street, while the Sarajevo Canton has been ignoring and dragging out the payment of its workers' claims for years and nothing happens.

So much for the story about the rule of law and equality in this country. Likewise, I equally do not understand how we will have the face tomorrow to point a finger at the authorities in the smaller BiH entity for not respecting court decisions in BiH when the Government of the Sarajevo Canton does not respect them either.

That's how little it takes to lose credibility and integrity, because, unfortunately, the masters of selling fog and improvisation are determined to continue with the previous practice of cheating and deceiving their own employees. Furthermore, I expect that the Government of the Sarajevo Canton will very soon carry out a new redistribution of funds in the budget for the current year, and reallocate the 13 million KM designated for payments of court claims according to the Law on Enforcement Procedure.

This sequence of events implies that in the next budget year, a public call will be issued, which will knowingly violate the Law on Enforcement Procedure, and again offer priority in payment of claims to damaged and cheated workers who agree to an illegal settlement by which they waive the legally prescribed interest.

I really don't know if there is a similar example anywhere in the world - that the executive authority, which violated the rights of employees, and that violation of rights was confirmed by the competent court, which awarded a certain amount of money as satisfaction and issued an enforcement decision - and that the order of enforcement of the decision is decided by the same authority that lost the court case? Such a thing is impossible in democratic states, and is typical only for totalitarian regimes!

Only in Bosnia and Herzegovina does the government cheat its employees, who are the backbone of the public administration system, while expecting the system to function flawlessly. And then we will all wonder where so much corruption in our society comes from, while we close our eyes and remain silent towards a Government that deliberately produces corruption and for which corruption is the only known modus operandi!

Only this government cheats education workers who educate and raise our children. Only this government cheats police officers who take care of our safety. Only this government cheats firefighters who save us. Only this government cheats healthcare workers who treat us. And all these frauds ultimately burden the budget, that is, the citizens. And only in such a corrupt political system does no one in power bear responsibility for such abuses.

From this Government, I will again demand that it settle financial claims from employment relationships based on final and enforceable court decisions awarded to employees in the bodies and institutions of the Sarajevo Canton, and make the payment in accordance with the Law on Enforcement Procedure of the Federation of BiH, and enable the implementation of enforcement decisions from the decision of the Constitutional Court of BiH AP-3761/20.

I will demand that funds for the payment of these claims, together with interest, be secured through credit borrowing, in order to stop this illegal practice. Only when we respect and execute court decisions can we talk about the rule of law and equality before the law. Everything else is deception and throwing dust in the eyes of the citizens!

I absolutely cannot understand, nor accept as a human being, that the Government is unable to resolve the long-standing problem by force of law for retired workers of KJKP GRAS, where for about 120 workers, contributions for pension and disability insurance have not been paid from January 1, 2009 until the day of retirement!?

These former employees of the cantonal public company have been unsuccessfully fighting for their legally guaranteed rights and earned pensions for over a decade. It is absurd that the Ministry of Transport burdens the Sarajevo Canton with hundreds of millions of KM in funds, yet money cannot be found to solve the problem for these people who invested 40 years of their lives into the Sarajevo Canton!?

And this is our reality that the authorities do not want to talk about, nor will the Government of the Sarajevo Canton deal with it, judging by the proposed Draft Budget for 2024. According to the proposed Draft Budget, the policies of the Troika in the future can be summed up in three words: borrowing, nepotism and populism. This is truly, from the ground up, the change we were asking for!