Directors of the Intelligence and Security Agency of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Border Police, the Directorate for European Integration, the Agency for Prevention of Corruption and Coordination of the Fight against Corruption, state attorneys, and ombudsmen for the protection of human rights. Term of offices for all of them have expired.
The term of offices of at least 20 directors and deputy directors of state police, tax, and other agencies in BiH have expired, and new ones have not been appointed due to the lack of political agreement between the parties that make up the state government.
All of them remained in their positions, even though some four-year terms expired three years ago.
Some have held these positions for more than a decade, such as Mira Dzakula, director of the Indirect Taxation Authority (ITA). Others, meanwhile, have acquired retirement requirements, such as Mirsad Vilic, director of the BiH State Police Coordination Directorate.
According to the Law on Administration of BiH or special laws on the establishment of a certain agency, the Council of Ministers of BiH must make a decision on announcing a competition or members of ad hoc parliamentary commissions must be appointed.
But, the “national key” is very important in the appointment process, which is the total number of Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs (according to the BiH Constitution, “constituent peoples”) at the head of the agencies. Their deputies are always from another nation.
For example, three state police agencies. The State Investigation and Protection Agency (SIPA) is run by a Serb, the head of the BiH Intelligence and Security Agency is a Bosniak, and the director of the BiH Border Police is a Croat.
The term of office of Neven Aksamija, director of the BiH Civil Service Agency, also expired. This agency conducts most of the competition procedures for appointing heads of state agencies and hiring civil servants.
My term of office expired (at the end of January) in 2021. I am not entitled to a third term. Information about that was sent to the BiH Council of Ministers and we received information that the Council of Ministers decided to remove it (from the agenda).I don’t know when there could be an official competition,”Aksamija explained.
Aksamija added that the competitions that go through this agency were “properly announced until the blockade ofinstitutions that started in the summer of 2021.
Representatives of Republika Srpska (RS) entity political parties have decided not to participate in BiH institutions in the summer of 2021 when former High Representative Valentin Inzko imposed amendments to the Criminal Code criminalizing denial of genocide and other war crimes and glorification of war criminals.
The term of office of the director of the Directorate for Economic Planning, Zoran Zeljko, expired in July 2020. The term of office of the director of the Food Safety Agency, Dzemil Hajrovic, as well as his deputy, Slobodan Dojcinovic, expired in January 2020.
In May 2022, the term of office of the Director of the Agency for Identification Documents, Registers, and Data Exchange of BiH (IDDEEA), Arif Nanic, also expired.
Aleksandar Zolak and Dinka Muhovic were appointed director and deputy director of the Agency for Medicines and Medical Devices of BiH in March 2019, and their term of office expired three months ago. At the same time, the term of office of the seven-member Expert Council of this agency expired.
All of them remain in their positions until the parties that make up the BiH Council of Ministers reach an agreement on announcing a competition, followed by competition procedures that last on average half a year, until the final appointment of new directors, RSE writes.
E.Dz.
