Director of the Center for Investigative Journalism (CIN) Leila Bičakčić was a guest on the N1 program where she commented on the holiday edition of the research on the distribution of New Year’s budget gifts of the Council of Ministers of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
According to CIN’s findings, funds from the budget reserve – a fund that exists to respond to natural disasters and other emergency situations – were distributed to associations and clubs without any criteria.
“Whoever didn’t ask, didn’t get it. It’s interesting that no one saw the invitation for the allocation of funds except for those who received them, which clearly indicates that only the selected were privileged to access the New Year’s gifting,” Bičakčić said.
He states that the funds were not used for the purposes for which the budget reserve exists.
“There was no need to donate the affected settlements that had serious consequences after floods or other natural disasters, but the Council of Ministers considered that eight million can be distributed to sports clubs that no one has heard of, and to cultural associations and events that the local population has no information about,” he adds, citing as an example the “Novi Travnik Days of Culture”, an event that, he says, even the residents of Novi Travnik have not heard of, and the funds were allocated to an association whose founders are connected to the HDZ.
There is no obligation to report on the expenditure of funds
Bičakčić reminds that funds allocated from the state budget are almost never adequately controlled:
“Everyone who works with donor funds knows what the reporting rules are. When the government distributes money from the budget, it’s not an obligation. It’s not an obligation with the budget reserve either. This is a gift: here’s the funds, you don’t have to call again. Thank you and goodbye.”
She also cited earlier research on incentives, where – as she says – people received funds for animal husbandry even though they did not have barns or livestock.
“Auditors show year after year that procedures are not followed. Very often they don’t even exist,” she noted.
Problems too serious for TikTok politics
Commenting on the video of BiH Minister of Communications and Transport Edin Forte, who announced the construction of a road and bridge in Šćepan Polje in the form of a popular viral trend, Bičakčić said:
“I don’t belong to the Gen Z generation, so I believe that this might be super fun for them — it’s not for me. It leaves room for the video to have been made on the basis of market research and target audience. As far as I understand, the part with dancing in a disco club is from a movie that is currently ‘hype’ on the networks, so I guess the minister tried to fit in. I think Šćepan Polja’s question is not for this kind of banter. It should probably be funny, but to me it’s too tragic to be funny. Everyone who went to Montenegro knows what the access roads look like on our side, and on our side you have muddy roads with landslides, where you risk your life every time you go. It is the shortest connection between the two main cities of the European Union.”
She also commented on the issue of jurisdiction:
“Minister Forto is not responsible for the entire section of the road, but only for the border crossing, which really looks like a museum piece. All other roads are beyond his jurisdiction.”
She also pointed out that the reactions were not positive.
“I see that even my generation, including some of Mr. Forte’s party colleagues, did not laugh at this,” she concluded.
Commenting on KS Prime Minister Nihad Uk’s announcement that he would answer questions from Reddit users, and then his non-appearance, Bičakčić said:
“This looks to me like the pokemon catching phase my cousin is going through. We are a country with too serious problems to communicate with the public this way. If you announce something and then don’t show up — that’s insulting.”
She also emphasized the seriousness of the function that Uk holds:
“There are too many problems in Sarajevo Canton. Citizens are extremely dissatisfied. The infrastructure is in bad shape, the system is collapsing, and that is all within the competence of its government. This is not a way of communicating with the public — we have to get serious.”
She also referred to the trend of political performance in public:
“I see that within our party there is a trend of ‘I will spend the day with…’. Forto spent the day with transporters, Uk now announces that he will go to the student dormitory. This is not serious. There are services and inspections to determine the situation, the prime minister does not need to spend a day to see what we already know — that the conditions are bad, that the bathrooms leak, that the rooms are not adequate.”
When asked what if Uk appeared in the home, Bičakčić answered:
“And what if on that particular day the heating works, the food is better, and everything looks perfect because the prime minister is coming? Does that mean that student problems don’t exist? It’s infantile and inappropriate to the function that Mr. Uk performs.”
Speaking about the student protests that followed, she emphasized their importance.
“Every rebellion of citizens is important and sends a good message. Students have the strongest energy potential and have always been the key initiators of social change,” she explained.
“Years Eaten by Locusts”
Looking back to 2023, she concluded:
“I somehow have the impression that I would most like to forget this year. But I am afraid of the next one. This year we certainly had great turbulence on the world political scene, which of course was reflected in BiH as well. We have changes that are happening like an avalanche coming from other parts, which is again characteristic of the BiH political scene. So that certainly marks the year. We see some geopolitical changes that affect us. But I would most like to forget this year completely, that it never existed because there was nothing positive.” On the other hand, I’m afraid of next year. These are the years that have been eaten by locusts, but it’s time for us to wake up. But it’s time to get out of that slumber and start thinking about the next year. to who really deserves our vote. So let’s stop voting for, who really deserves a vote and of course put pressure on those same people to finally start doing their job. Otherwise, we are getting poorer, they are getting richer, too much money is being spent, and we are not moving.” N1 BiH.
