KS Government Reconstruction in Disarray: Marjanović Takes Office in Zagreb, but Appoints Personnel in Sarajevo

By Amra Vrabac

The reconstruction of the Sarajevo Canton Government should take place next month, but at this moment there is no official confirmation of how many ministers will leave the KS Government and from which parties.

The parties of the "trojka" (NIP, SDP, Naša stranka) in their plan to remove two ministers from the Party of BiH relied on several MPs who presented their demands for support. Part of that agreement is a change at the head of Sarajevogas, a company whose Supervisory Board includes personnel from the "Za nove generacije" movement. The former director, Edis Baković, resigned, and Hase Tirić was appointed in his place. The Supervisory Board refused to disclose Tirić's qualifications and previous experience to Interview.ba, stating that it is personal data.
The president of the Supervisory Board of Sarajevogas, Afan Kalamujić, is a candidate of the "Za nove generacije" party for the Minister of Finance in the KS Government. We hope his biography is not a secret.

By agreeing to have independent MPs "guard" their majority, the "trojka" parties have clearly agreed to political bargaining. We already know what some of them are asking for, and we will hear about others later. Besides Damir Marjanović, Redžo Lemezan, and Admela Hodžić, the fourth independent MP is Elza Gaković. Both left the Party of BiH.

Regarding Damir Marjanović, since September 1st, he has been the director of the Institute for Anthropology at the Institute for Anthropology Zagreb, founded by the Ministry of Science, Education, and Sports of the Republic of Croatia. Due to his new engagement and the absence he has already announced in the House of Peoples of the FBiH Parliament, Marjanović has not renounced his mandate. According to information available to Patria, his wife, an employee of the Faculty of Natural Sciences and Mathematics at the University of Sarajevo, has also requested a year of unpaid leave and suspension of salary.

As the director of the Institute from Croatia, Marjanović will propose a candidate to lead the higher education sector in KS. This will not be his first time. This information has also caused certain dilemmas among the "trojka" parties. Some MPs from the "trojka" parties do not fully agree with the announced reconstruction due to the damage that political acrobatics could cause.

Some professors from the University of Sarajevo, over whom this ministry has jurisdiction, are disappointed with the "trojka's" plan to hand over higher education to Marjanović again. The previous minister, Melika Husić-Mehmedović, who resigned in the summer of 2021 when the new Law on Higher Education of KS was adopted, was also his proposal.

"A particular problem in the announced reconstruction is the fact that the higher education sector, as one of the most important in the Canton, should be assigned to the "Za nove generacije" party, whose prominent MP, who has long shown ambition to be involved in higher education, recently became a public official of the Republic of Croatia, specifically in the field of higher education. It is inconceivable that a person in the service of another country has a decisive influence on such a strategic resource as higher education and, particularly, the University of Sarajevo, the most important higher education institution in Bosnia and Herzegovina. This is a fundamental conflict of loyalty. In such a case, it is realistic to expect that the interests of the official policy of the neighboring country will begin to be reflected in the future Ministry of Higher Education in various ways," a university professor told Patria on condition of anonymity.

Our interlocutor says that the Minister of Higher Education has enormous influence on the framework policy, on institutions, but also, very concretely, on the people, the professors, who work in those institutions.

"The very fear and suspicion, which is spreading among colleagues and is based on real grounds, will lead to an unfavorable atmosphere at the University. I hope that those who manage the reconstruction process will keep this in mind," he says.

What is particularly problematic is that the "trojka" parties are relying on a few individuals and turncoats.

"This does not guarantee stability, and it opens up another problem, the problem of the famous "swing vote." Namely, individuals without real democratic legitimacy find themselves in a position to blackmail and impose their personnel and programmatic solutions. Let's recall the case of Esed Radeljaš, or the currently active Isak dynasty. And here, it seems to me, this is the case, which speaks to the weakness of the political parties that make up the cantonal government. Therefore, for the citizens, this reconstruction brings nothing good," believes this university professor who is well acquainted with the current political situation.

It should be reminded that out of the four MPs who will help the "trojka" in the government reconstruction, only Damir Marjanović and Admela Hodžić won direct mandates.

Redžo Lemezan entered the KS Assembly after Nihad Uk was elected Prime Minister of the KS Government, and he later left Naša stranka. Elza Gaković entered the KS Assembly instead of Semir Efendić, who remained the mayor of the Novi Grad Municipality.