Saving Soldiers Okerić and Katica!

(Patria) - Muamer Bandić, a member of the Party of Social Democracy Presidency and a representative in the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, speaks to the Patria Agency about the current security situation in this canton, the behavior of the government composed of the "Trojka" parties (NiP, SDP, Naša stranka), and the responsibility of officials in key positions affecting security trends.

Patria: The security situation in the Sarajevo Canton (KS) is seriously compromised. It has been about 50 days since the opposition in KS requested an urgent session on this problem, but the government has not reacted. Are the citizens of KS safe?

Bandić: It has been clear to us for months that the security situation in the Sarajevo Canton is catastrophic and tending to worsen further. A little over a month ago, representatives of opposition parties in the KS Assembly (SKS) submitted a request for an urgent thematic session on security, which the arrogant leadership of the SKS completely ignored.

The invisible cantonal prime minister, Nihad Uk, cynically told us at the time that we were engaging in populism because the citizens of Sarajevo do not go out in the evening due to the cold, not because of the deteriorated security situation. Minister Admir Katica, who by virtue of his office is the most responsible person for security in KS, has not even commented. And when we see how he rejected personal responsibility a few days ago, which is inseparable from his position, it is entirely clear that this man has slept through all these years as the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of KS and is most responsible for the anarchy reigning on the city streets.

Patria: It is interesting that representatives of the parties in power in KS went to the Tuzla Canton to demand the dismissal of their Minister of Internal Affairs, while at the same time refusing to address the same problem in Sarajevo. How much can populist politics and actions further worsen the environment in which we live?

Bandić: To make the absurd tragedy of this circus government even greater, while they ignored the justified demands of the opposition in the assembly and the pleas of Sarajevo citizens, they simultaneously demanded the resignations of ministers in Tuzla due to the "deteriorated security situation." The only difference between these two cities is that they are in power in Sarajevo, but not in Tuzla. And where they are in power, they populistly flee from their own responsibility, ignorance, and inability to enforce the law and establish order. And they especially flee from holding accountable the people they appointed and gave control over the security sector of the Sarajevo Canton.

This is the only reason why Aljoša Čampara spoke out after a month of daily security incidents on the streets of Sarajevo. To save the (reputation of the) coalition, so it doesn't look like the opposition forced an urgent session, he threw a lifeline to his party soldiers, who are otherwise of modest abilities, the president of the Security Commission and the speaker of the SKS, and the Minister of Internal Affairs.

The Speaker of the Sarajevo Canton Assembly, lost in the intricacies of the Rules of Procedure which he has failed to master with understanding in over nine years of work, chairs SKS sessions like a comical mimicry of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet just before the fall of the Iron Curtain. The Minister of Internal Affairs of KS, lulled into a winter sleep by a well-paid ministerial position and clearly unaware that this function requires work, order, discipline, and responsibility towards citizens.

Patria: Who is responsible for the overall situation? Can the public in KS expect dismissals or perhaps resignations as moral acts?

Bandić: Responsibility is the key word here, which the "Trojka," and none of these inferior party soldiers, apparently do not have in their vocabulary. If they did, the thematic SKS session on security would have been held a month ago, not announced for another ten days. As it is, the only purpose of this session will be to dilute the topic and avoid responsibility for the inaction of the cantonal prime minister, the cantonal minister of internal affairs, and the joint criminal washing of the arrogance and ignorance of the SKS leadership. For the umpteenth time, we will witness the already worn-out populist deception, in which the government plays the opposition to itself, without taking an iota of responsibility for the results of its own inaction and the chaos it has produced.

Perhaps we will be lucky, and as a solution, they will form some commission composed of overly intelligent, overly honest, overly brave, and genetically predetermined interpreters of our reality who, after a year of receiving compensation from the budget, will hypocritically conclude that everything is fine with security in Sarajevo, and that citizens still don't go out at night because of the cold. Be one hundred percent sure that the leaders of the "Trojka" will not even consider sacrificing their obedient soldiers to save the citizens of Sarajevo from this failed experiment!