An infected bullet from the Igman party is flying across BiH

By: Amina Corbo Zeco

Rapid spreading of corona virus following the anniversary party of the Igman company in Konjic was not intentional, it clearly happened out of neglect. Let me quote Gabriel Garcia Marquez from Love in the time of cholera: 'Wisdom comes to us when it can no longer do any good'.

As proven in BiH too many times!

The citizens of BiH are aware that the company management, the federal prime minister and the industry minister celebrated the anniversary two days after ban on gatherings of over 250 persons had been recommended by Novalic himself and the Federal office for crises.

The spreading of the virus was not intentional but someone will have to answer for this particular cluster.

The most important thing right now is to gain full epidemiological control, which is the hardest thing to do considering rather awkward testing protocols that is currently in force in BiH.

The second cluster of coronavirus in Federation BiH is linked to the upper echelons of HDZ BiH, the ones that get to ski in Italy, which BH citizens will surely remember. To quote a colleague of mine when he said that 'the Konjic party turned out really expensive' as is receiving patients via party connections in Mostar, or, as are the easy to bribe border policemen without scruples who allowed people to illegally cross BH border. Neglect, ignorance and arrogance of the elites in BiH has been always costly to us.  

However, something else is bothering me.

How come that every act of neglect, negligence, crime, corruption, nepotism is justified by the person's war merits? We witnessed that yet again in relation to illegal lobbying by Asim Sarajlic which his president Bakir Izetbegovic try to diminish by highlighting his war merits, counting each time Asim was wounded, praising his courage!

So, to diminish the crime and everything else we had had the opportunity to hear relating to buying votes and other murky deeds inside the party primary elections, Izetbegovic offered another war tale. Deeply aware that their voters fall for war stories about courage, they play it safe. While, as far as I know, too many honorable ex-soldiers and frontline heroes hardly make a living. They are unemployed, without a single benefit for having been in the war! But that's another story.  

Now in the time of corona, we see the same pattern. Nermin Niksic, the SDP leader, in an attempt to justify the party in Konjic (read the first corona cluster), stressed that the Igman's director Djahid Muratbegovic was his 'war commander'. As if it bears on corona epidemic.

The director of the Sarajevo University Clinical Center, Sebija Izetbegovic warned the public on 25 February that corona epidemic was coming to BiH so there's no excuse for anybody for not taking it seriously.

'Igman' Konjic, the heart of military industry in Federation BiH, is now on ventilator. Why? Because of someone's neglect. It doesn't matter if he participated in the war.

Now we have a new war before us, a battle for survival but it seems we are not taking it seriously! And there's been plenty of time since 25 February to do more in terms of prevention. They say that the good news about 'Igman' will outrun the bad ones, so we will see another round of lobbying for new contracts and a race to be in the photo with Djahid.

We do hope so because Igman is 70 year old, and as such belongs to the risk group for corona virus. We hope it will survive.

And one day when this crisis is over, the responsible will have to be punished whatever role they played in the war or peace.

To finish with yet more Marquez – 'What matters in life is not what happens to you but what you remember and how you remember it.