Why didn't we learn our lessons after the 2014 floods?

Solak ordered, Radončić wrote, Tuzlanski decided, Posavski concluded, in extraordinary Bosnian and Serbian.

This is roughly how the internal system of BiH looks like in a shortened format. We could add Herzegovinian burned, West Herzegovina locked down, Canton 10 panicked, and in Sarajevo pool, twice a day on television. In Banja Luka, Šeranić, a little above, Višković, then Cvijanović, and at the top, Dodik. 

Names like in a directory. And everyone is wondering, everyone is important and significant. Floods of 2014. Everyone on their feet, some on roofs, some in boats. Almost the entire country flowed somewhere. Destroyed houses, economy, and a lot of water flowed before many returned to their homes. 

The water passed, we forgot. We forgot how cruel nature can be. How much we need a helping hand in those dangerous and critical moments, someone to react and save us. 

An epidemic came. The COVID-19 virus. You don't see it until it leads you to death. The story is the same again. Who is in charge? Who orders, and who listens? Who is above whom. Where is the money?

General chaos, even though we watched what was happening in China, Italy, and other parts of the world three months before the virus arrived in our regions. 

But that chaos does not stem only from incompetence, but from the lack of a system. 

If you look closely, the countries where various regional political systems operated and the state as a whole could not respond suffered the most. Italy, Spain...

For the last two days in Germany, negotiations and discussions have been underway to harmonize the views of science, Merkel, and the regions. 

Decentralization at a time when a unified response is needed is as dangerous as the disaster that strikes a certain area. 

Decentralization in Bosnia and Herzegovina is particularly dangerous. I am not saying this with the desire to create an exclusively unitary BiH. No. We need a unitary country in healthcare, unitary civil protection, and a unitary economy. 

With unified systems, where decisions are made in one place, responses to disasters will be faster and more efficient.

Life is not a parliament. Nor a cafe. In saving lives, there is no waiting for amendments, vital and constitutional interests, commissions, and entity majorities, Izetbegovićs, Čovići, and Dodiks. There is no waiting for foreigners either. Because every delay and procrastination hinders us. 

Decisions must be made immediately and now. 

Why didn't we learn our lessons after the 2014 floods?

Because both politicians and the people do not think beyond tomorrow. Snow surprises us, but a virus that has poisoned and shut down the world does not surprise us. 

In situations like these, as we have seen well in the past month and a half, the traditional mantra of Croatia, Serbia, and Turkey as saviors also falls away. Neither legacies nor brotherhood mean much to us. 

We are the ones who share the same air, the same land, and the same problems. Therefore, when this passes, and it will pass, we should ensure that at the state level we have ministries of economy and health, and civil protection of Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

And especially to legally regulate that in case of accidents and similar circumstances, only these institutions are consulted. For the territory of the entire state. If we look at the example of the civil activities of the Armed Forces of BiH, we will realize that we can, we just need to agree. 

Without such solutions, we will continue to have chaos even in the smallest problematic situation. In the situation we are currently living in, we will have Solaks driving Civil Protection vehicles in rallies, ordering and not even understanding what he is ordering. This is the same Solak who claims that we do not need water bombers and air tractors, and then the Montenegrins come and extinguish fires above Konjic with those same air tractors. 

As long as every individual in the structure and the cantons pursue their own separate policies, the citizens of this country will be in a dead end of misfortune.

It is time to think about state bodies and elect experts from the mentioned fields, so that we at least know who does what. 

This is not political unity. This is the creation of a system in which we will have prepared responses to problems. 

I fear that if the state of systemic chaos continues, every subsequent disaster will be more devastating for all peoples and citizens in Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Therefore, I hope that instead of empty political pamphlets and promises, at the next general elections, there will be a political will ready to embark on the process of centralizing healthcare, civil protection, and the economy. 

Otherwise, God help us with Solaks and those like him.