Uk and Nikšić's government fill the missing money from citizens' pockets

(Patria) - Mid-2025 will be remembered by citizens, especially those living in Sarajevo Canton (KS), but also generally in the Federation of BiH, for severe blows to their household budgets.

Price hikes are coming one after another, and besides inflation and the enormous surge in prices of basic foodstuffs, the authorities are doing their utmost to make life even more difficult with higher bills for water, heating, public transport, and electricity.

The alienated/imposed troika government is reaching deep into the pockets of its voters, as well as those who are not, to patch up newly created budget holes. It apparently does not know any other way.

One of those who, at least a year and a half ago, was announcing various price increases is the former minister in the Government of KS and president of the Cantonal Council of the Party for Bosnia and Herzegovina Sarajevo, Almir Bečarević.

It was precisely because of his resistance to price hikes that he was removed from the position of minister of communal economy, infrastructure, spatial planning, construction and environmental protection in November 2023.

In an interview with the Patria News Agency (NAP), Bečarević says he would like KS Prime Minister Nihad Uk to finally resign and realize that he is leading an "mostly criminal government".

- This recent development regarding Bjelašnica is exactly what I was giving statements about to the State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA). Everything that happened regarding the arrests of certain ministers and everything that was done on Bjelašnica is enough reason for Uk to resign and properly step away from the position he holds - states Bečarević.

Regarding the imposed Government of the FBiH, he says that the increase in electricity prices, already the second since last year, is a sufficient reason for a serious reset in its functioning.

- The debts they are taking on and what happened with electricity - I think it is not a good path or direction for the FBiH Government - assesses Bečarević.

The scenario in which everything will become more expensive was announced by our interlocutor back in November 2023, when he was removed from the position of minister in the KS Government.

- Even then, we in the KS Government were proposed to increase the prices of utility services. After that removal, I said in various media appearances that all utility services in KS would become more expensive.

I also announced that electricity would become more expensive at the federal level. I roughly predicted that it would not be in the percentages that were requested, but it is heading in that direction because the price will jump again in the next interaction - notes Bečarević.

He also says that the recent increase in water prices in Sarajevo Canton will not be enough for the company Vodovod i kanalizacija (ViK), which will again seek higher bills for citizens.


Bečarević: This leads nowhere

- The prices of waste disposal will also increase, as well as prices at KJKP Pokop. I really don't know what citizens can generally expect given this huge onslaught of price increases.

We announced this and that is why we were removed from the Government because we did not agree to these increases. We wanted the companies to be restructured first because there is no longer any accountability there.

Without restructuring those companies, these increases are insane, because in that way they are only putting out the first fire, and they will have to put them out several more times - states Bečarević.

He believes that the current Government of KS, led by Prime Minister Nihad Uk, has lost all purpose.

- If your ministers are arrested every few months, it is logical that you no longer govern that government. Here I say, now the messages of what I said when I was at SIPA regarding Bjelašnica have appeared.

There is no leader anymore, no one to stop all this, or to demand what is normal to demand from public utility companies - to raise the level of their service.

You cannot demand a price increase without raising the level of your service. I was passing through Stari Grad today and I regret not taking pictures of those containers full of garbage.

ViK has even introduced water restrictions in certain parts of the city... I repeat, all meaning has been lost and I really cannot understand that those who lead these governments do not see where all this is going.

They are reaching into citizens' pockets and in that way solving the problem of the inability to manage those companies due to political interference.

They do not control a single director, they do not control anything that happens in utility companies. A huge reset is needed so that they finally understand that this leads nowhere - says Bečarević.

He emphasizes the huge problem facing the Government of Sarajevo Canton - the lack of money.

- They lack money. They have indebted the Canton to the level of at least 650-700 million marks. And apart from the railway, you can't see anything else. But a government cannot boast only about trams and the railway; it has other responsibilities as well.

The current debt of the KS Government, including the part they inherited, amounts to almost one billion KM, and now they are borrowing an additional 90 million for investments and covering the budget deficit.

And anyone who comes to their position after the elections will have a huge problem because the KS Government has almost reached the maximum amount it can legally borrow - warns Bečarević.

According to his words, both Uk's and the Federal government led by Nermin Nikšić are reaching into citizens' pockets to make up for the money they lack.

- They have no other way. If the KS Government does not reach into citizens' pockets - how will it borrow, how will it settle the obligations coming due in the budget if there is no money left in it?

According to current forecasts, in the last three months they will literally have no money for anything. That is why they have embarked on this new borrowing of 90 million KM.

And that is, in fact, I think, the last borrowing of any significant scale, because they will reach the legal maximum - concludes Bečarević in an interview with NAP.

(D.K.)