Do you remember September of last year? Do you remember what happened then? Do you remember the message that was sent to you then? Some received that message immediately, while others needed some time to receive it, and some, even today, haven’t understood its essence. I dedicate this writing to them.
I understand that many will say that, due to the frenzied occurrence of events, they don’t remember yesterday, let alone some message from September. So I’ll remind you: just before last year’s elections, Milorad Dodik, at the “Gastro Fest” in Bardača near Srbac, showed his middle finger to members of the Association “Veterans of the RS Defensive-Patriotic War” after they had previously refused to shake hands with him.
A powerful message, it must be admitted. Direct, immediate, yet layered and deep.
There were those who immediately reacted to the message. Having understood it, some even too personally, many complained that it was a gesture unworthy of the highest office of president of the republic. There were also those who belong to the opposition, whether political, entity-based, or mental, who find space in every move of Mr. Dodik for criticism and pointing out, “sending clear messages” and harsh condemnations. They certainly didn’t understand the message.
We must agree that, unfortunately, there were most of those who were distant enough from that event that such a message, in its meaning and importance, didn’t affect them. Until now.
Meanwhile, many things have happened in our Republic and year, which is heavy with events. First of all, elections took place, which once again legitimized the ruling status of those who don’t hesitate to use millions from the budget to stay and/or come to power. These elections, as estimated by TI BiH, were the most expensive so far – from the announcement of elections until election day, as much as 600 million KM was spent on public works, 60 million was distributed to citizens in one-time social benefits while it’s estimated that parties spent a record 12.3 million KM on the election campaign.
There was also the shutdown of the Ugljevik Thermal Power Plant, which produces almost a third of electricity in Republika Srpska, because of which we went from being an exporter to an importer of electrical energy. Estimates are that one day of power plant shutdown results in a loss of 555,000 convertible marks.
The reason for the work stoppage is the lack of available coal, which can now be found only in the “Ugljevik East 2” deposit. So it happened that this deposit is under concession to the company “Comsar Energy RS” owned by Rashid Serdarov, who now demands 300 million KM to return the concession to Republika Srpska, although he paid 60 million for it.
Besides this burden, RiTE “Ugljevik” is obligated to pay Slovenian “Elektrogospodarstvo” a total of 372 million KM by arbitration decision while this company ended last year with 40 million marks in deficit. That happened too.
As did the 112 million marks, which is the amount of loans that Elektroprivreda RS has taken out just since September 2024. Because of this, there have been several waves of electricity price increases, in case you happened to forget THAT.
It happened that UKC Banja Luka must sell an unbuilt garage for 35 million, so those who come for treatment at this healthcare institution will now have to pay for parking. And the garage wasn’t completed because it all ended up costing too much, because it wasn’t a landslide but ground settlement (this isn’t sarcasm, this is a real Public Service headline, google “UKC: No landslide, cracks caused by ground settlement”).
There was a price increase for the already economically unprofitable Banja Luka – Prijedor highway by an additional 200 million KM, due to material cost increases.
There was a loss in RS Forests of 14 million and staff cuts (who aren’t SNSD), followed by who knows which announcement in a row that there will be no more political appointments. This time with an even firmer promise.
It happened that BiH was declared the second most corrupt country in Europe, according to the Corruption Perception Index research conducted by Transparency International.
There was a loss in RS Railways of 34 million KM, but I don’t know if they notice this in this company either.
It also happened that dairy farmers are demanding 100 million KM in incentives that haven’t been paid to them for years.
It also happened that the Health Insurance Fund of Republika Srpska has a deficit of 1.2 billion marks, while 100 companies owe 230 million KM to the Tax Administration. Healthcare institutions aren’t among these debtors because the Government solved the problem of multi-million debts recorded by hospitals and health centers by deciding that the debt of healthcare institutions won’t be shown in the report. Why didn’t anyone think of that earlier?!
There was an increase in public sector employees’ salaries by 10% and law enforcement by an additional 30%. For this happening, we set aside a considerable 211 million KM from the budget.
There was an increase in the president’s budget to 77 million KM annually, which he will spend building kindergartens and engaging in humanitarian work.
There was a lawsuit from Slovenian Viaduct to which we must pay 108 million KM.
It also happened that Dodik threatened banks that he would shut them down because they took 750 million KM out of Republika Srpska, operating according to law and regulations. At the same time, there was also an expansion of OFAC’s list with names of persons under sanctions, and the eminent restaurant “Agape” was closed, unfortunately to almost no one’s regret.
There was criminal prosecution and declaration of guilt of President Dodik, his opposition to the Court and Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, because of which there is increasingly more talk about conflicts and immature workers of political cacophony wear short-sleeved shirts with camouflage patterns – as if we haven’t suffered enough, Lord?!
There was also an offer, nominally directed to Donald Trump but essentially to anyone willing to trade, worth 100 billion dollars in natural resources that Republika Srpska has at its disposal. The offer was made by Milorad Dodik on behalf of all of us, which indicates that the response to the offer, its value and conditions, will be read and evaluated on behalf of all of us – by him again.
Finally, floods happened too, similar to those from 2014. Although we sent strong “never again” messages from the highest peaks of government and authority, it happened that we directed only money from the Solidarity Fund, which was created right after the 2014 floods, to patch holes in the faltering electric power industry.
It also turned out that the “probably won’t happen again” and “God willing” paradigm of civil protection has some, as yet undetermined, flaws. Fortunately, we have experts who will determine the weak points of these methodological principles, and until then, institutions should be left to do their job.
When we remember all these happenings, it becomes clear that for a normal person this represents many things to remember. Therefore, it’s expected that few can remember the message from last September. Fortunately, the other day President Dodik, at dawn, unprovoked, reminded us of the message he sent back then, and announced that it had arrived.
He meant that middle finger from September. It has finally arrived.
