Milorad Dodik’s call for Serb staff in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina to leave their jobs is currently met with mostly condemnation. However, State Minister Staša Košarac, speaking at a meeting with directors of state agencies from Republika Srpska, said that a high dose of patriotism was shown. The President of the RS made the call to employees after the RS National Assembly adopted laws banning the operation of state judicial institutions and the Investigation and Protection Agency on the territory of this entity.
Milorad Dodik called leaving jobs in the institutions of Bosnia and Herzegovina a patriotic act. Those who do not do so after the controversial laws come into force, he would declare traitors. He promises new and better-paid jobs to those who obey.
“A very clear assessment is that all directors and deputies who come from the ranks of the Serb people and the Republika Srpska have absolutely no dilemma. Full implementation of all decisions of the competent RS institutions,” said State Minister of Foreign Trade and Economic Relations Staša Košarac, after a meeting with directors in state agencies.
According to available data, around six thousand people residing in Republika Srpska are employed in the institutions of BiH.
The few individuals affected by Dodik’s call have publicly rejected the possibility of leaving their jobs. For the opposition, it is not in the entity’s interest to violate the rights of employees to choose where they will work.
“What Milorad Dodik has envisioned cannot be said to be in the interest of Republika Srpska. Therefore, the thesis that RS will return to the original Dayton by withdrawing people from institutions has no basis whatsoever,” says Nenad Vuković, a delegate to the House of Peoples of the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH (PDP).
The message was also sent by the deputies of the Troika parties in the Parliamentary Assembly of BiH. “Your jobs belong to you and no one can take them away from you by force, blackmail or false promises,” they say.
“We call on you, as our neighbors, fellow citizens and work colleagues, to behave responsibly, professionally and without fear, to keep your jobs as a guarantee for a normal life and the future of your families, to ignore individuals who are deliberately trying to create an atmosphere of uncertainty and misunderstanding, and to reject adventurous proposals because Dodik cannot do any of this that he is threatening and blackmailing, because he is simply not competent,” emphasized The Coalition of Three.
Formally, there is no way to force someone, so they resort to threats and appeals to patriotism.
“We will now have a campaign where we will call people names, brand them, call them various names, just because their personal interests are ahead of something that is politics, and on the other hand we have a bunch of people who think that all this is happening is not the defense of RS, but precisely the personal interests of the people in power,” says psychologist Srđan Puhalo.
BiH institutions will continue to work even if a certain number of people leave their jobs, assures BiH Defense Minister Zukan Helez.
“I want to tell citizens, whoever leaves, we will appoint a new one and state institutions will work, protect Bosnia and Herzegovina,” says Helez.
Milorad Dodik said that he will not hesitate to sign decrees and promulgate laws, including amendments to the Criminal Code that provide for sanctions for disobedient officials and responsible persons in entity, local and state institutions and institutions, BHRT writes.
