VIP, NIP and SDA Blockades Harm the State of BiH as Much as the Theft of 'Patriots'

By: A. Vrabac 

These days, invoices for the use of VIP lounges at Vienna Airport for Denis Zvizdić (NIP) and Bakir Izetbegović (SDA) have been published. The BiH Embassy in Austria is seeking reimbursement of funds from the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, which is standard practice.

Those two invoices alone amount to nearly 14,000 KM. With the December pension, retirees in the Federation of BiH received 50 KM each. From these 14,000 KM, 280 such supplements could have been distributed.

And this is just a small fraction of the insatiable administration that enjoys rights abroad which it believes it is entitled to. Monthly salaries are amounts that an average BiH worker cannot earn even in half a year if they receive the average salary in the Federation of BiH of 1,000 KM. And we know that a large number of workers receive a total of 500 KM.

Most parliamentarians, including Zvizdić and Izetbegović, have been in positions for years where they receive enormously high salaries, jubilee awards, pension severance packages on the day of retirement, and the very next day they continue their work.

And while for months we have been hearing about blockades, that everything is stalled, that numerous projects are questionable, their salaries are the only thing that moves. Every month the salary arrives regularly, as the saying goes, 'whether you work or not, the radio plays.'

In recent days, we have also witnessed numerous appeals for help in the treatment of our fellow citizens. And our people are good, sensitive to others' misfortune, so money is collected. But there are fewer and fewer people, and more and more sick.

Those who swear so much by the people and citizens they represent are legally plundering this state. As much as blockades of institutions weaken BiH, so much damage is caused by all those who have been enriching themselves at its expense for years. When have you heard of anyone giving up a driver, benefits, calling for salary cuts or the abolition of certain bonuses?

Most citizens could not even name a dozen parliamentarians and delegates in the BiH Parliamentary Assembly, and there are 57 of them. They cost this state about 300,000 KM monthly. Among them are those who block it, do not recognize its institutions, do not respect its flag or anthem, nor its capital city. Among them are those who swear by the state, yet plunder it in every possible way, put private interests before state interests, appoint those who have been accused multiple times and mentioned in dishonorable acts.

Esteemed Professor Senadin Lavić rightly assessed when he said that ignorance and immorality are the main characteristics of the politics currently dominating public life in Bosnia.

This is not a criticism only of state parliamentarians. It is similar at all other levels of government, parliaments, governments, assemblies. Public money is used for enrichment, for trips they would never have taken had they not happened to be what they are. No shame, no honor.

It is certain that the coming months will bring new invoices and bills that will make us hold our heads because they were paid with our money. Perhaps soon we will discover how much the state-funded New Year's trips, excursions to Dubai for the chosen and select cost, so they could eat what they cannot even pronounce, drink what they would never have at home or in their own house...

And for years we have been going in circles. About a hundred people have taken positions, only the arrangement is different. From one election cycle to another, or until death separates them. Just try to imagine a person who has spent almost their entire 'working' life (30 to 40 years) as a parliamentarian, and you cannot remember a single question they asked, a single debate to which they contributed.

And perhaps the time has truly come when the wise fall silent, the fool speaks up, and the scoundrel gets rich.