Šepić: SDA must be a party where opinions can be freely expressed

Senad Šepić, SDA representative in the Parliament of BiH, reacted to the conclusions published after the session of the KO SDA USK, and Patria transmits the reaction in full.

The session of the Monitoring Committee of the VE has just ended, where I spoke about the situation in BiH and sought support for the economic development and European path of the country. I have been in Strasbourg all week, together with other members of the Delegation, at the autumn session of the PACE.

I open my email and see that the conclusions from the session of the Cantonal Executive Board of SDA, held two days ago, have arrived, and in one conclusion it says: "SDA USK does not support any media appearances that go in the direction of questioning the authority of the party leadership at all levels. This especially refers to the appearances of Senad Šepić, as a representative in the Parliament of BiH and president of the OO SDA Cazin..." 
Since this is not the first time my name has been used in this way, I want to say a few things.

First, I am certain that in my media appearances I have never mentioned KO SDA USK, and therefore it is particularly strange that this body is being manipulated and asked to adopt such a conclusion. Second, as a rule, I do not question anyone's authority. I agree with some actions people take, with some I do not, but I have the responsibility and obligation to express my position and say what I think about it, and the public should judge what is good and what they will accept. That is how I understand democracy and representing the people who elected me. BiH is a democratic country, and political parties in BiH, and SDA in particular, must be a democratic party in which people can freely speak and act in the interest of the people, who will thus evaluate their work, and not a party in which those who lose elections can position themselves by dealing with and destroying those to whom the people have given their trust to represent them. Some colleagues from the session wrote to me about what the discussions on this conclusion looked like. The loudest, they say, was Kamber from Sanski Most. A man who lost the elections, to whom the people did not give their trust in the October elections. And then he wrote so-called blogs against me and got a position in the Parliament of FBIH, and then in all the highest bodies of SDA as a reward for that role. It is because of these and similar cases that I speak about the necessity of democratization of the Party and I will continue to advocate for it even more loudly.

And finally, since I connect these events with a recent conversation with the president of KO SDA USK, colleague Kadić, who told me that after my interview with Oslobođenje, President Izetbegović called him by phone and asked him to "take some measures against me," and then I also have in mind the conversation with President Izetbegović that we recently had, where he expressed completely different views on my work and activities, this time publicly, for the protection of everyone's authority, I call for not manipulating the majority of honest people in the Party bodies who do not have complete information and for not adopting conclusions that prevent people from speaking freely and truthfully, and I also expect President Izetbegović to declare himself, to confirm or distance himself from such allegations, because one excludes the other. I have no other way but to clarify and act like this at the moment. Because everything has its limit, and there is a lot of serious work that I want to deal with, and that we all should deal with, because that is why people elect us.