AIM's Pre-Electoral Survey: Functioning of State Institutions
A DM 8 Million Work Day of Three-Member Presidency of B&H!
AIM SARAJEVO, November 8, 2000
In the opinion of a delegate to the House of Representatives of B&H Parliament the best result of this highest state legislative institution was the adoption of the Law on State Border Service. However, this Law was not passed by the B&H Parliament at all. After a series of fruitless discussions in this house, it was proclaimed, i.e. imposed by the High Representatives for B&H, Wolfgang Petritsch! This act alone points to the actual results of the state Parliament which in the past two-year convocation held 25 sessions which altogether lasted 36 days in the House of Representatives and 29 in the House of Nations.
Truth to tell - the state Parliament adopted 10 draft legislative regulations and about 15 laws some of which were subsequently (one related to the filling of the vacant post in the B&H Presidency) significantly changed by the High Representative. Perhaps as the most important we should mention the following laws: on the B&H treasury, on the freedom of access to information, on the financing of political parties, on citizenship and amendments to the law on immunity, most of which were, again, prepared by OHR. During that same period, due to the inability of the B&H Parliament to reach an agreement, the High Representative alone proclaimed (imposed) almost the same number of laws: on the coat of arms, flag, (the mentioned) state border service, administrative taxes and administrative tax rates, amendments to the law on privatisation of enterprises and banks.
According to the written information AIM obtained from the Secretariat of the Parliament on the results achieved in the past delegate term, the Parliament "reviewed 73 different agreements concluded between B&H and international associations and brought as many decisions on approving the ratification of those agreements, adopted 7 various decisions, 14 conclusions, 16 reports and 12 information". What various information, conclusions and reports were in question the reporter did not manage to find out - his request to see the minutes of sessions was rejected with the explanation that it was not the usual practice, that one could easily get confused among so many documents, that it would take too much time and that the Parliament's administration was short of staff and had no one who could devote so much time to a reporter ("You know that the administration of the Federal Parliament employs over 100 people, while there are only 22 of us here and we ask you to use that piece of information also" informed us Secretary of the Parliament.), and so on and so forth.
This basic information on the work of state parliament was very hard to come by - who can have it, in which way to obtain it and who is authorised to give information to the public, etc. is rather vaguely or imprecisely defined or at least the intention was to create such an impression, also in fear of any additional work that such gathering of information for the reporters, might imply. On the other hand, it is rather discouraging that not even delegates know what "various information" they had discussed, which conclusions they had made or reports adopted, who justified it with the excuse that so many materials, papers and document went through their hands.
"Ask those in the Parliament's Secretariat!" was the usual reply of almost all state delegates whom AIM approached, after which we got that reply from the Secretariat about the shortage of staff and that's how we got caught in a vicious circle. However, can anyone blame them, because in the delegates' own view: "This a low-budget Parliament and the money we spent is nothing compared to the expenses of the Council of Ministers or B&H Presidency!" Incidentally, this "low-budget" qualification translated into figures means 1.5 million KM for the first nine months this year. Out of this figure 500,000 KM account for material costs - the accommodation of delegates when they come to Sarajevo for sessions, travelling expenses, etc., 420,000 KM account for advance payments to delegates, while nearly 212,000 goes for wages of professional delegates. At the same time, the employees, i.e. administration for that same period got more, i.e. around 223,000 KM. This would logically mean that approximately 4 million KM were spent in two years which wouldn't be so much had the delegates alone adopted at least that famous law on border service.
The state Parliament of B&H is composed of two Houses - House of Representatives and House of Nations. The House of Representatives is composed of representatives of political parties which, at the last 1998 elections, won the confidence of B&H citizens, while the House of Nations includes five Serbs appointed by the Republic of Srpska and five Croats and five Bosniacs from the Federation of B&H. They are in charge of foreign trade, foreign policy, telecommunications, utilities, electrical power and regulation of the state border. By observing the work of the House of Representatives, because it is the first to express its stand on all acts, one gets the impression that for the most part that same House is mostly composed of people who have the task of obstructing every little progress the state of B&H makes in becoming a reality.
For, there is no other explanation of the fact that in the past two years both Houses of Parliament held 25 sessions each and did not manage to adopt laws on the coat of arms, the flag, hymn, joint i.e. single travelling documents for all B&H citizens, state holidays, electoral law, and finally, the essential law of the mentioned state border service, and all that at the time when the B&H border is "broken" in at least 500 points and when experts claim that its control could bring billions of DM annually!? And the very principles of voting on Parliament's decisions are so conceived that it is very hard to meet them in order to adopt a specific document, i.e. it is very easy to obstruct the procedure for its adoption.
Namely, according the Rules of Procedure, that did not exist for the last three months (until that time the provisional Rules of Procedure were used), the decisions are brought by simple majority but with the total votes of at least 22 delegates, which at the same time constitute a quorum. At the same time, it is important for these 22 votes for, against or abstained to represent more than one third of votes from both entities. If not, the voting is invalid and another solution is sought – further harmonisation of acts in the Collegiate Body of the House or its expert board.
However, the delegates are not the only responsible for this. Legal and other acts to be reviewed by the Parliament of B&H can be taken up by individual or groups of delegates, B&H Presidency (whose three members are elected directly, at the elections) which is the executive authority and should, in time, transform into a protocolary body, as well as by the Council of Ministers of B&H - the executive body, i.e. the state government appointed by B&H Parliament. The delegates are not satisfied with their communication with the Presidency, nor with the Council of Ministers which, in the past period, did not function for months. Delegates to the Parliament are also dissatisfied with the cooperation between these two bodies: "Because of imprecisions in the Constitution regarding competences, one article mentions the Presidency as the executive body, another the Council of Ministers. That is why there is much overlapping of functions and confusion, and this imprecision is frequently used as an alibi for poor results", says one opposition delegate.
As a reminder - B&H Presidency consists of three offices which employ 15 persons each, state protocol with 6 employees, a new secretariat in the process of foundation which will also have 15 people, which will also include a protocol, information service, security and financial- technical service. At this moment, B&H Presidency doesn't have one gyro-account, while its member from the Republic of Srpska has all its services in Banja Luka, as well as an additional office. As of recent, almost the entire Presidency - all three members with the accompanying offices which employ personal advisers, chefs du cabinets, personal secretaries, secretaries, drivers, etc. - are in the same building in the centre of Sarajevo – the Presidency building which is also its owner.
The AIM reporter was unable to obtain data on the functioning of the Council of Ministers between two elections - the only official authorised to give them was unavailable for days. Clarification which we got after a long search was "that his secretary was sick so that no one can answer the phone". However, it is general knowledge that the work of the Council of Ministers was suspended for several months - the Co-President resigned while the new one couldn't be appointed before the adoption of the new Law on the Council of Ministers. After that several new ministries were established and at this moment most of the services are understaffed. In any case, probably no one knows how many people the Council of Ministers of B&H has or should have.
Nevertheless, AIM managed to get the financial report which shows that in the first six months this year, the Council of Minister spent 805,100 KM, in the following way: 374,400 KM for wages, 43,730 KM for various allowances, 36,102 for travel expenses, over 26,000 KM for expense accounts, and some 19,000 KM for family separation allowances and accommodation for those living out of town, for postal-telephone services 53,768 KM and additional 85,900 KM for something called "other liabilities and expenses". In all fairness, this is less than it was envisaged by the budget of the Council of Minister in the beginning of the year, but at the same time this amount also includes the period of the mentioned suspension of work.
Many interviewed delegates told AIM that they regretted that B&H Parliament had no real communications with the public. Namely, at one time, Sarajevo TV B&H refused to directly broadcast sessions of the House of Representatives of B&H Parliament because it did not get the funds it was supposed to. After that the public only got brief stories in the daily printed media. Then, the local Sarajevo TV "Studio 99" decided to directly broadcast these sessions and it was only then that a part of the public, i.e. only those who could receive the signal of "Studio 99", could regularly follow these sessions which are bordering between being clownish and shameful, apart from a few honourable exceptions (needless to say from the opposition) which were rather few in the past convocation and were usually laughed at and outvoted by SDA-SDS-HDZ coalition.
Finally, according to the last pre-election round of public opinion poll conducted by the American National Democratic Institute, SDP of B&H will win the majority in Parliaments, both the state and the federal one – in each one third or more seats, while SDS will have the largest number of mandates in the National Assembly of Republika Srpska. All analyses point that the balance of forces will greatly change in B&H power structures. In any case, it's high time, after "ten hardest years" for better times to come for all citizens of B&H and not only the elitist national-party echelons.
Rubina CENGIC
(AIM Sarajevo)