There is no dismissal or reconstruction of the Cantonal Government in Sarajevo. The name of Bojan Bošnjak is still in the focus – both of the judicial institutions and the cantonal authorities. But not enough for those who appointed him to take concrete steps in the form of his dismissal. Bošnjak has measures prohibiting him from holding a ministerial position. So, he cannot work, and his salary is in his account. Everything according to the law and morality.
The mountain shook, a mouse was born. The epilogue to the story of the reconstruction of the government in the Sarajevo Canton. State Minister and President of Our Party Edin Forto pompously announced the reconstruction at the end of last year, even offering the prime minister’s chair to his party colleague and Prime Minister of the Sarajevo Canton, Nihad Uk. There was even talk of another resignation of the Prime Minister. However, the pretentious announcement remains only words for now.
“Political negotiations are still underway between the parties that will form the future government. What is known is that Minister Bošnjak will not be proposed in the new government,” Prime Minister Uk emphasized.
The Minister of Municipal Economy of the Sarajevo Canton, Bojan Bošnjak, suspected of having given a positive opinion on the environmental impact assessment report, which sought to legalize illegal urban development projects on Bjelašnica, is a link in the chain of government that has gone astray and is the cause, and perhaps the only consequence, of the reconstruction story that could ultimately remain just a story.
“This is just a distraction from the very unfavorable position that Minister Bošnjak finds himself in. I believe that there will be no reconstruction of the government. Minister Bošnjak may be replaced, and it should be because he is already unworthy of performing his function,” says Muamer Bandić, a representative of the SBiH in the Assembly of the Sarajevo Canton.
The minister is unworthy, the dismissal, although only three months after his arrest, has been initiated. The Prime Minister requested the dismissal, but the Assembly must decide. Although Minister Bošnjak is far from his seat, he is not without his salary. The salary is regularly in the account every month. And the full amount, all 3,465 BAM. In three months of detention for inactivity, the Minister of Municipal Economy earned around 10,500 BAM. Ethically, it may not be, and the law, to play with words, is full of loopholes that protect its holders, so it is possible that they receive a salary for inactivity.
“Minister Bošnjak was prevented from holding that position, from having a salary. This is a legal regulation that is good on the one hand, bad on the other because it is not moral. There must be some continuity of funding, so that his obligations cannot cease if he is prevented from doing that job. We are not just talking about arrest,” says Uk.
“It is certain that Minister Bošnjak received a salary and did not work. In this context, the SBiH report to the Anti-Corruption Office is also in place,” Bandić points out.
During that time, the position and duties of Minister Bošnjak were taken over by Adnan Šteta, the Minister of Transport of the Sarajevo Canton. So Minister Šteta performed two functions with one salary.
“It is impossible by law to receive two salaries. A certain increase can be received, but Minister Šteta refused it,” says Prime Minister Uk.
And the position of Minister of Municipal Economy is not the only point of contention of the current cantonal government. The positions of Ministers Adna Mesihović and Afan Kalamujić from the ranks of the ZNG could also be for sale.
“We would like to continue in this capacity, and the position of our Management Board and Coordinator is that they are satisfied with the work of me and my colleague Mesihović,” says Kalamujić.
“They probably represent a serious burden to them because this is a minister who proposed a realistic budget. That realistic budget obviously does not suit the political bloc of Trojka parties,” Bandić believes.
“That is absolutely not the reason. If there is any reconstruction and if Minister Kalamujić is replaced, that is an agreement between political entities,” claims Uk.
What are the reasons and how will the story of the reconstruction end – at least for now, it remains behind closed doors as a well-kept secret of the partners in power, Federalna writes.
