KS Government and Hindsight: Controls and Oversight Demanded After Tragedies and Incidents, What Have You Been Doing Until Now?

Ministers under investigation, banned from performing duties due to abuse of position and corruption, strained relations among coalition partners, a shaky majority – all of this marked the past year, during which two ministers were dismissed: Bojan Bošnjak from Our Party and Adna Mesihović (ZNG). Both were detained, and their dismissals followed months after their arrests.

The extent to which the KS Government, led by the inadequate Nihad Uk, takes the KS Assembly seriously is shown by the session held on May 5th, following the vote to dismiss Uk's government on March 6th. In the section of the hall where KS Government members sit, the chairs remained empty, with only Uk present, and occasionally two ministers, Admir Katica (Ministry of Interior) and Zlatko Mijatović (Ministry of Economy), when laws from their respective departments were discussed. Due to the absence of other ministers, numerous deputies' questions remained unanswered.

At today's press conference of the Communal Economy Trade Union, it was stated that the relevant minister, Mladen Pandurević, who replaced the dismissed Bošnjak, does not even attend KS Government sessions. Consequently, a new collective agreement has not been signed for months, leading to the announcement of a warning strike next week. And it's not as if there aren't other problems in the communal economy.

Last week, the Municipal Court in Sarajevo imposed a ban on performing duties on the Minister of Labour, Social Affairs, Displaced Persons and Refugees, Endi Pavić Pečenković (SDP BiH), who is one of the 14 defendants in the "Koverta" case. Given the ban on performing her ministerial duties, this portfolio has been taken over by the Minister of Education, Naida Hota-Muminović (NIP). For now, there is no information on whether Pavić-Pečenković will be dismissed, but judging by previous examples from the KS Government, everything will likely remain at her suspension.

It was clear that the situation between coalition partners was not good even before Nihad Uk's resignation.

Thus, today the SDP BiH Club in the KS Assembly lashed out at the management of KSC Skenderija, headed by Šenaj Avdić (Our Party). At the end of April, a part of the concrete structure of this facility collapsed, and the management subsequently decided to suspend all events and activities in the facility.

The SDP today demanded an urgent determination of political and managerial responsibility following the collapse of a part of the roof at the Skenderija Center, which, by sheer luck, resulted in no human casualties.

“This is not an ‘unfortunate accident’. This is the result of years of ignoring warnings, systemic neglect, and a complete lack of responsible management of one of the most important sports and cultural facilities in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It is particularly unacceptable that due to someone's negligence, Skenderija's operations have been completely suspended today, halting sports, cultural, and economic activities of significance for the entire city and country. Someone must be held accountable for the fact that Sarajevo has lost one of its key public spaces. Citizens have the right to know who allowed Skenderija to be brought to a life-threatening and completely non-functional state over the years,” the SDP stated.

KSC Skenderija has been managed by Our Party cadres, so the SDP should seek answers from that address.

Since 2019, with the exception of 2020, the Canton of Sarajevo, and thus all cantonal institutions, have been managed by the parties of the "Trojka" and their cadres. Even if they claimed that everything was neglected before them, there was ample time to start improving things with record budgets.

However, instead of the prosperity and renaissance promised by Elmedin Konaković, Nermin Nikšić, and Sabina Ćudić, today we have unsafe and closed cantonal institutions, streets littered with garbage, months-long repairs on the water supply network, corruption allegations in almost every tender, politically divided institutions, and waiting lists for jobs…

There are numerous criticisms of the health and education systems despite the investment of tens of millions of marks.

When the tragic tram accident occurred on February 12th, in which 23-year-old Erdoan Morankić died and minor Ella Jovanović was seriously injured, KS Prime Minister Nihad Uk resigned. Although accepted, the KS Government continues to function.

At protest gatherings of youth and students held during February and March, demands were made for the withdrawal of all old trams, public disclosure of reports on the technical condition of vehicles, improvement of conditions in student dormitories, and better functioning of institutions…

Since then, old vehicles have been removed from service without explanation from GRAS and the Ministry of Transport as to whether they are operational or not, while the issue of a new boiler room at the Students' Dormitory Bjelave has not yet been addressed.

Following the horrific murder of Elma Godinjak, who was killed on May 1st by her husband Tarik Prusac with his service pistol in the Dobrinja neighborhood, deputies in the KS Assembly raised the issue of controlling security agencies, protecting victims of violence, their rights, and police conduct. Urgent inspections and checks of the actions of everyone in the chain of responsibility are being demanded, and until that day, no one had ever questioned how, for example, convicted individuals become security guards in these same agencies and obtain permits to carry weapons.

And instead of the KS Government and the parties forming the government, under whose control all relevant institutions and inspectorates fall, conducting preventive and systemic checks to prevent such events and tragedies, the reaction comes too late, so the initiatives heard in recent days can only be called by one name – IMPUDENCE.

Because, what have you been doing until now?