SDA and Izetbegović on the path of corruption

By Amra Vrabac

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There will be scandals, there will be corruption wherever there is power, a sentence with which SDA president Bakir Izetbegović stripped bare all the truth about the political reality in BiH, but also the truth about the party he has led since May 26, 2015, when he was elected president at the 6th Congress after the death of Sulejman Tihić.

The faction around Izetbegović began to strengthen, and with it, the shady dealings of party leaders. For years, there were talks about the SDA's chief personnel officer Asim Sarajlić, who enjoyed Izetbegović's support. Sarajlić was in charge of "finalizing" jobs, hands, votes, coalitions, and thus, the overthrow of the KS Government, which was formed by the "six-party coalition", was orchestrated by Sarajlić, offering the "Nenadić project". Elmedin Konaković, president of People and Justice and a former long-time member of the SDA, who knows how the "SDA and Asim's system" works, spoke about this. He said that Sarajlić once boasted to a group of people that the Nenadić project was his idea. He visited Fahrudin Radončić, Željko Komšić, and the coalition was agreed upon. Friday the 13th, although as Izetbegović told some people it is fatal, could, as things stand now, be fatal for the SDA. The KS Government is on shaky ground, and Aljoša Čampara's recent departure from the SDA's party bodies, and from the party itself, has only solidified the new majority needed to dismiss the KS Government.

Things started to go downhill when Semir Efendić, one of the rebels and critics within the SDA, released an audio recording in which the "Asim Sarajlić" system can be heard in action. Faced with reality, and in order to mitigate the damage to the SDA leadership, as Sarajlić could not act without Izetbegović's approval, he remorsefully resigned from all party positions. He himself leaves room for the possibility that he will no longer be a delegate in the BiH Parliament, anticipating a court process in this affair. Sarajlić is already involved in one case due to influence peddling in public company appointments. Even six months after the affair was revealed, Sarajlić has not yet been summoned by investigative bodies.

And from then until today, he has enjoyed Izetbegović's greatest support, who stands by him with words that he was "seriously wounded twice defending his country". 

He repeated the same yesterday after the SDA Collegium session, where Čampara's resignation was discussed, which he submitted due to that affair. When asked how he commented on Čampara's claims from his resignation letter that nepotism and corruption rule the party, Izetbegović answers promptly:

"Those are not the real reasons why Mr. Čampara is potentially leaving the SDA," said the SDA president, not denying that corruption and nepotism rule the party. How could he, when he said there would be corruption wherever there is power. And the SDA has quite a bit of it.

Izetbegović claims that Sarajlić removed himself from the party, although it is an open secret that he still manages personnel matters from the shadows. And while Izetbegović claims that Sarajlić was chosen by the people and that he will not take away that right, it is clear that there is another reason known to Izetbegović.

Izetbegović denied his responsibility for people leaving the party, claiming it was due to some dissatisfaction. So, if there is so much dissatisfaction from various people, isn't it logical to ask what the problem is and where the SDA is heading. But Izetbegović bases his security on voters who will vote for the SDA no matter what any individual or president does, even if they admit that corruption is the matrix of behavior in power.  

"So far, we have had people leaving the SDA five or six times, and regularly there is some dissatisfaction with democracy or lack thereof in the SDA, with the path it is taking, and then we go to the elections and get our 350,000 votes," said Izetbegović.

The path that Izetbegović has chosen for the SDA will eventually have to stop somewhere, whether it will be sooner or later is a question for these "guaranteed 350,000 voters".