Opposition MPs to seek urgent Assembly session due to Sarajevo Canton's financial woes

By Amra Vrabac

Due to the difficult financial situation in which Sarajevo Canton finds itself, an urgent thematic session of the KS Assembly will be requested, the Patria News Agency has learned.

This request is expected to be submitted by MPs from the Party of Social Democrats, SDA, and DF in the KS Assembly. Such a request requires 12 signatures, or one-third of the MPs in the KS Assembly. These three parties have 14 MPs.

Delays in the payment of maternity benefits, child allowances, compensation for civilian war victims, as well as delays in salary payments to budget users have raised questions about the financial situation of Sarajevo Canton. The audit report showed a deficit of 80 million KM. The KS budget for 2024 exceeded 1.5 billion KM, and was hundreds of millions of KM larger than the state budget.

The KS Government has not explained the reasons for the delays in payments of benefits and salaries, and the Minister of Finance of KS, Afan Kalamujić (ZNG), stated that the FBiH Government also postponed the payment of a mandatory tranche projected in the 2024 budget.

"Even when I took over as minister in November 2023 and when the budget prepared by the previous government was adopted, I warned about the deficit and excessive expenditures, and announced that a rebalance would be necessary. The audit reports have confirmed the story about the 2023 deficit, and the current financial situation confirms the need for a rebalance," Kalamujić told Klix at the end of this week.

He "exclusively" announced that he had managed to secure salaries for this year. For months, warnings have been coming from some of the largest budget users that there will be a shortage of money for salaries for the last months of 2024. Such a warning also came from the University of Sarajevo, which employs 2,700 people. Given that the December salary should be paid in January 2025, the Minister of Finance did not clarify whether there will be money for that payment.

Kalamujić has repeatedly warned coalition partners about the unrealistic budget for 2024 and the need to rationalize expenditures. He also criticized the allocation of funds for "popular projects" and stated that they should be replaced with more useful projects in the new budget. Although he did not specify what he was referring to, we have witnessed Sarajevo Canton financing the arrival and ride of an F1 car in Sarajevo, co-financing open-air parties organized by private companies with hundreds of thousands of marks, organizing various events, and distributing money to numerous associations and projects from which only individuals benefit. Considering that it is an election year, it is justified to ask whether votes for certain political parties were paid for with that money.

Kalamujić forgot to mention the millions of marks spent on work contracts, and almost every minister had multiple such contracts, sometimes for the entire year with the same individuals. These engagements can be viewed in the Register of Work Contracts on the website of the Office for the Fight against Corruption, if they are in the system, which is done by the KS institutions and administrative bodies themselves.

It should be reminded that the last session of the KS Assembly was held on July 9, which was the first continuation of the 16th working session. At that time, the Law on Education in Primary and Secondary Schools in Sarajevo Canton was adopted. No further sessions have been held since then.

Accumulated problems, the inaction of certain directors of public cantonal enterprises, problems with potential landslides, and a lack of money should finally be the subject of discussion in the KS Assembly.

Given that October is approaching, the budget for the next year, which is usually adopted in the last days of December, will soon be on the agenda. Time is running out, and someone must explain to the citizens of Sarajevo Canton where the money was spent and why the wealthiest canton is in financial distress.