Brcko Supervisor Accelerates Restructuring of the Brcko District Administration

Brcko Supervisor Susan Johnson today issued a Supervisory Order to speed up the process of restructuring the Public Administration of the Brcko District, which is now seriously delayed. The purpose of the Order is to overcome the procedural issues that have been cited by the Brcko District Government as obstacles to the timely implementation of recommendations contained in the report entitled ”Assessment of Public Administration in Brcko District Government”, with specific recommendations for reforms to promote more efficient, transparent, accountable, business and citizen friendly government, from the independent professional consultant Deloitte dated 20 October 2004.

Specific steps to be taken by the Brcko District Government and the Assembly are the following:

• The Government and the Assembly will fully implement the Brcko District laws, “Law on Budget of Brcko District BiH”, and “Law on Audit of Financial Operations in Institutions of Brcko District BiH”, and no later thanDecember 31, 2005.
• The recommendations contained in the Report are to be implemented by the end of the year. The Deputy Mayor will be responsible for implementing these recommendations, and will be held accountable for any failure to do so.
• A Human Resources Subdivision will be established within the District Government.
• The District Government will send a draft Law on Salaries to the District Assembly no later than November 30, 2005. The salary structure recommended in the Deloitte 2004 consultancy report will form the basis  for salary and ranking structure in that draft law.

Effective, efficient, transparent, citizen-friendly and financially sustainable government institutions are essential goals for the Brcko District, as foreseen by the Brcko Final Award. The Supervisor appreciates the Brcko District Government’s commitment to administrative reform, confirmed in the Mayor’s program for 2005, yet is disappointed with the lack of timely, practical steps to implement the recommendations, in spite of the fact that these have been accepted in full by the District Government.

The District Assembly has the right to subsequently review the procedures applied and the budgetary funds spent by the Government in executing the administrative reform, as recommended by Deloitte and as mandated by this Supervisory Order.