SARAJEVO, JUNE 20 (ONASA) – If we look at the audit reports of eight extremely important institutions of the Sarajevo Canton, which were published last year by the Office for the Audit of the FBiH Institutions, there are certainly reasons for public supervision and the involvement of the Government and the Assembly of the Sarajevo Canton, according to CCI.
Only one institution, the Ministry of Justice and Administration of the KS, received both positive opinions, while the others, including KJKP Vodovod i Kanalizacija Sarajevo, JU Dom zdravlja KS, Institute of Health Insurance KS, KJKP Sarajevogas, KJKP Sarajevoshume, JU Employment Service KS and KS Budget, the audit observed serious deficiencies and weaknesses in the work.
Public funds are the funds of all citizens and it is necessary that they be spent transparently, responsibly, efficiently and that they be disposed of in the best interest of citizens. It is even more important that if there is a deviation from the stated principles, there should be an adequate reaction from the authorities. Audit reports provide information on how public money is spent, including the public funds of the citizens of Sarajevo Canton. The auditors found significant irregularities in the institutions of Sarajevo Canton and gave recommendations for their elimination.
Numerous problems were identified in the work of the dental service of the Sarajevo Canton Health Center, where, among other things, dental material was not procured in sufficient quantities, nor in accordance with the requirements of the dental services, and the deliveries of materials were significantly delayed compared to the agreed deadline, and the Health Center did not invoice the contractual penalty for delay. Also, it was determined that the work of workers in the Health Center in the first and second shifts overlaps for an hour and a half, and that this institution works from 7:30 to 20:00 instead of the prescribed 7:00 to 21:00.
When it comes to the Institute of Health Insurance of KS, the auditors determined that there was no control over the prescription of prescription drugs by authorized doctors. Furthermore, the procurement of certain medicines in the amount of 4,741,291 BAM and medical devices in the amount of at least 4,066,458 BAM was carried out without implementing the prescribed public procurement procedures.
That public resources are not adequately managed is also shown by the findings of the audit report for KJKP Vodovod i Kanalizacija Sarajevo, which has been recording losses in business for years. Thus, the loss in 2021 amounts to more than 13 million BAM. The management authorities of this public company did not undertake appropriate activities to remedy the problems in the water supply network, such as illegal connections and pipeline damage. The aforementioned led to huge losses of water in the water supply network, which in 2021 amount to 71%.
The situation is no better in JP Sarajevošume, which received a negative opinion from the auditor. In this public company, the largest part of the realized business income for the year 2021, as much as 74%, was spent on the salaries of workers and the costs of engaging the services of other legal entities for tasks that are within the competence of the company, while only 7% was carried out for the activities of biological forest restoration. From the above, it follows that the resources are aimed at covering the costs of wages and production services, and not at performing the tasks for which this public company was established, i.e. it is responsible.
In 2021, the Sarajevo Canton Employment Service implemented only 9% of the planned funds under the program of employment measures, and the auditors determined that for most of the measures, the users of the funds did not submit the necessary documentation within the agreed time frame. It was also noted that the Employment Service in most cases did not warn users or automatically terminate contracts, as regulated by them.
For these and all other identified irregularities, the auditors made recommendations for more efficient work of the institutions. As many as 151 recommendations were given, and it is additionally worrying that as many as 40% of the irregularities were repeated from the previous period. The above calls for the reaction of the Government and Assembly of the Canton of Sarajevo in order to ensure the responsibility of all institutions in eliminating irregularities and to protect the money of the Canton’s citizens. We emphasize that almost 2 billion BAM of public money was made available to these institutions in order to ensure a better life and provide better services to the citizens of Sarajevo Canton.
Bearing in mind all of the above and the fact that a year has passed since the publication of the aforementioned audit reports, the Centers of Civil Initiatives ask the representatives of the newly appointed Government and the Assembly of the Canton of Sarajevo to review as soon as possible the implementation of activities to eliminate the irregularities noted in the audit reports, and to establish the practice of heads of institutions undertake to report on activities that will lead to the full implementation of the recommendations.
In this way, citizens can trust that elected government representatives represent their interests, and that money is spent transparently and responsibly.