BiH Prime Minister Vjekoslav Bevanda told reporters that he was disappointed that most donor states have decided to bypass BiH state institutions in delivering flood reconstruction assistance.
“I think this is a mistake,” Vjekoslav Bevanda said. “If the donations were all directed to one place, we could talk about the priorities,” he added.
Bevanda said he understood that corruption was a big worry when it comes to Bosnia and Herzegovina, but he insists that the country’s institutions have the ability to handle the donations transparently.
“Nothing is going through the state level [in terms of donations],” he recalled, “and everybody says that this is due to transparency and lack of trust. Everyone will implement [the aid] themselves, so let’s see how that goes.”
While criticizing donors, Mr. Bevanda acknowledged that BiH institutions came up short in the face of this year’s unprecedented flooding. “Systems of civil protection were totally unprepared, inefficient and confused – and that is a fact.”
Mr. Bevanda singled out the BiH coordination body for emergency situations, which did not meet once in the wake of the crisis.
