How Much Does the RS Parliament Spend?

Sarajevo Dec 8, 2000

AIM Banjaluka, November 30, 2000

For the broad public a member of Parliament is someone who occasionally comes to the capital from some far away province so as to, as an elected representative of the people, vote when it is expected of him. Most people do not have the faintest idea about the work that members of Parliament are faced with, and even fewer people know how much they cost the state.

The National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska has three categories of employees: permanently employed technical staff, employed members of Parliaments and members of Parliament who are not legally employed. The change of the Assembly convocation changes their employment status. Parliamentarians who were fully employed during their delegate mandate (in this assembly convocation there were 17 such delegates) are entitled to full wages (950 KM) for another six months after the expiry of their mandates.

Apart from wages, all deputies, no matter whether they are employed in a firm or the Assembly, receive the assembly bonus in the monthly amount of 703 KM. And that is not all. For each assembly session all delegates receive per diems, transportation, accommodation and food supplement, so that that the lump sum and wages they receive is like a reward for their deputy status.

The Assembly Commission determines all deputies' rights and duties, including these, for Elections and Appointments. And all deputy clubs, which will number four in the new convocation, also get a special allowance depending on the number of deputies in their club. The larger the club, the higher the allowance, because each club receives 860 KM per deputy. Also, every club gets its premises and a technical secretary in the Assembly building. In addition, each deputy club has a car and a driver at its disposal.

The motor pool of the National Assembly of the Republic of Srpska has altogether 41 cars. The Assembly staff of 33 people takes care of the functioning of its services - from a porter to Secretary General. They are all permanent staff irrespective of the changes in the Assembly convocation. They take care of the normal technical functioning of the Assembly, both between sessions as well as between two assembly convocations.

There is a prescribed procedure for everything, including the way of obtaining information on the work of the Assembly. The electoral campaign was in progress at the time we tried to learn about the functioning of the RS Assembly so that Assembly officials were very busy. That is why the General Secretary could not spare time to meet with our reporter because he had his hands full working for his Democratic Socialist Party. "It was my party that appointed me to this function and it is only logical that I should serve it in the first place, especially in the electoral campaign", explained Malic his absence.

The RS Assembly is in the building of the former YPA Centre, which was after that for some time used by the RS Army. It is situated in the city centre, next to the building of the RS Government. The Government of RS paid the DM 3 million worth renovation of the building.

A system of electronic voting has been installed so that it is possible to follow the votes of deputies on individual draft Assembly acts. According to Malic, the inspection of the so called listing of votings, which representatives of the international organisations occasionally do, gives a full picture of the way each deputy behaved during his term.

Ever since its constitution in November 1998, until its dissolution this November, the National Assembly had 14 regular and 8 special assembly sessions. Some 57 days were use for this, or 2.5 days a week on average. As a comparison, deputies to the House of Representatives in B&H Federation held 15 regular and 6 extraordinary sessions and those of the House of Nations (Parliament of the Federation of B&H is bicameral) 11 regular and 6 special sessions. In the last two years the House of Nations worked 33 days, and the House of Representatives some 60 days. During their two-year term, some 200 deputies of both houses and 100 members of technical staff spent about 10 million KM. During that same period, 83 deputies of the RS Assembly and 33 employees of the technical service, reviewed 299 agenda items and used 2,379,000 KM by the end of 1999, while budget revision envisages the amount of 3,868,000 KM for 2000, for the same purpose. "This sum includes all possible costs for the functioning of the Assembly and its deputies, from the wages to all other outlays", said Momir Malic, the Assembly Secretary General.

When we asked some citizens whether they knew anything about privileges and status of the members of parliament representing them in the RS Assembly, most of them only guessed that they had per diems and paid bed and food. No one knew anything about any other benefits. When they heard that deputies received wages and a lump sum, as well as that they enjoyed some other privileges, one of intervieews replied: "Well, then it is understandable why they are trying so hard to get elected", adding that even the top management in very few RS enterprises, for which great expertise is required, were not paid so well.

Mladen Mirosavljevic (AIM)