Brcko Supervisor, Dr Raffi Gregorian issued today a Supervisory Order temporarily suspending payments of salaries and remunerations to the councilors of Brcko District Assembly, including the current mayor in technical mandate. Salaries and remunerations to the Brcko District Assembly councilors paid from the Brcko District budget will be suspended with immediate effect until the appointment of Speaker, Deputy Speaker and the Mayor in accordance with the Statute of the Brcko District and the Rules of Procedure of the Brcko District Assembly.
Elections for the Brcko District Assembly were held on October 5, 2008 and these elections gave the elected councilors a mandate to constitute the new Assembly within a reasonable period of time in order to elect the Speaker, the Deputy Speaker and the Mayor, so that a viable, legitimate governing coalition that supports the District could be formed in accordance with the Final Award and the Statute of Brcko District and thus create the conditions for forming a new Government that would serve the interests of the District and its residents.
In spite of assurances given in advance by political parties to form a “concentration government” with all political parties represented in the Assembly as the only practicable and sustainable solution, the constitutive session of the Assembly has twice been convened and adjourned in violation of the Rules of Procedure of the Assembly without an agreement on the candidates for the positions of the Speaker, Deputy Speaker and Mayor. Every additional day without new authorities and a budget further damages the District and to the public trust in the institutions by negatively affecting thousands of peoples’ lives and livelihoods, while a care-taker Government continues to act without parliamentary control.
Brcko District Assembly councilors are avoiding their responsibility, violating basic rules of procedures of the Brcko District Assembly and thus, undermining the District institutions, they are endangering the completion of the Final Award, one of the objectives identified last year by the Peace Implementation Council Steering Board.