Council of Ministers of BiH continues controversial practice of appointing acting officials

The Council of Ministers of BiH has continued the practice of appointing acting heads of institutions, although regulations do not provide clear rules for this type of appointment. At the session held on July 6, 2017, there were even two appointments of acting officials, so the acting director of the Agency for Forensic Examinations and Expertise and the acting deputy director of the Agency for Education and Professional Training of Personnel were appointed. The temporary appointments are in both cases for 60 days, Transparency International announced, as reported by the Patria agency.

Earlier, the Council of Ministers twice appointed an acting assistant director for internal control in the Service for Foreigners' Affairs for 60 days, and the current director of the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers and Data Exchange (IDDEEA) was also first appointed as an acting official. Transparency International in BiH (TI BiH) then received a response from the Ministry of Civil Affairs that during the appointment, the conditions prescribed by the Law on Civil Service in the Institutions of BiH or other special regulations were not checked at all, and that in the case of acting appointments, the person does not necessarily have to meet all the conditions required for the specific position. The controversial practices of temporary appointments are repeated multiple times and relate to a disproportionately long period, and in addition, no clear procedures, rules and criteria are prescribed, thus creating space for political appointments.

TI BiH appeals to the Council of Ministers to refrain from appointing acting heads of institutions until this issue is clearly regulated in a way that such appointments can be made in a transparent procedure, only under predetermined conditions and for a precisely defined period. In order to overcome this situation, it is necessary, first of all, to initiate amendments to the Law on Amendments to the Law on Ministerial Appointments, Appointments of the Council of Ministers and Other Appointments of Bosnia and Herzegovina.