COALITION COLLAPSE Will the KS Government be dismissed before new ministers are appointed?

SARAJEVO, (Patria) – The KS Government is still operating with a reduced composition, given that the position of the KS Minister of Health is vacant, and only since August 26 has this portfolio been managed by the Minister of Economy, Draško Jeličić (DF).

The position of Minister of Health has been pending for almost two months after Rusmir Mesihović resigned in the second half of July. The Minister of Labour and Social Policy, Jasna Agić (SBB), also resigned, but she is still performing her duties as minister, as no official dismissal has occurred.

At the session that was adjourned on August 20, the dismissals and appointments of new ministers of Labour and Social Policy, Anela Mešić (SBB), and Health, Draženka Malićbegović (DF), were supposed to be considered, but due to the unclear stance of SBB towards the coalition in KS, it is likely that no ministers will be appointed.

Due to accumulated obligations in the context of the coronavirus pandemic, KS Prime Minister Mario Nenadić decided that Jeličić, who is also from DF, would take over the Ministry of Health.

SBB President Fahrudin Radončić stated at a press conference held on August 24 that there would be no appointment of two ministers and that SDA should not schedule a session. Since then, no one has mentioned dismissals and appointments anymore.

The opposition (NiP, Naša stranka, SDP BiH, NBL-Independent Representatives), which has 17 representatives, has announced a reconstruction of the KS Government. Although no one wants to say who will be the 18th, and perhaps 19th, vote, it is clear that it will be someone from either SDA or SBB.

SDA representative Aljoša Čampara, appearing on Face TV on August 22, neither confirmed nor denied that he would join the opposition to dismiss the current Government. On September 1, Čampara requested that the KS Assembly adopt the Law on Amendments to the Law on Internal Affairs of KS and the Law on Amendments to the Law on Police Officers by urgent procedure at its first upcoming session. Whether this will be decisive for Čampara's decision will be seen in the coming days.

Although these legal solutions were previously sent to the KS Government by the Minister of Internal Affairs, Ismir Jusko (SBB), the Minister of Finance, Jasmin Halebić (SBB), submitted as many as 21 amendments before the session, halting the procedure for adopting these legal solutions, which would enable the employment of police officers, and by the end of the year, KS will be short of more than 500 police officers.