Danilović: Šimun dismissed Jokić on orders, the Government, the parliamentary majority and Spajić owe us

President of the United Montenegro Goran Danilović announced today that Minister of Health Vojislav Šimun dismissed Danilo Jokić from the position of director of the Podgorica Health Center.

Šimun Jokić, an official of the United Montenegro, was dismissed yesterday, and Dr. Dragana Durković Perović, a long-time specialist doctor at the Podgorica Health Center, was elected in his place.

"The Minister of Health, Vojisav Šimun, dismissed the director of the DZ Podgorica, Dr. Danil Jokić, yesterday. He signed the Resolution which, I am convinced, he did not read. And why should he? He had to, by order, dismiss him. United Montenegro is proud of its official who for three years, he did not allow any employee to feel Jokić's political affiliation. In addition to the demonstrated professional courage, it was said that there was enough reason for him to proudly leave the position to which he was elected in the competition. The Minister dismissed Dr. Jokić based on the proposal and complaints of the Board of Directors, on the basis of unworthy complaints about his work from two years ago," Danilović pointed out in a statement in which he said he was addressing Šimun, the Government of Montenegro and the parliamentary majority and said "we will not be silent while you are replacing us".

He added that Šimun "obviously did not check how this happened, because if he had, he would have realized that the alleged sessions of that governing body were held via Viber, and that due to the unbearable insistence on monetary compensation, which is not determined by the director but by the Government, one honorable the doctor from the Board resigned".

"United Montenegro does not owe Minister Šimun anything, but he, his colleagues from the Government, the parliamentary majority and the Prime Minister (Milojko Spajić) should personally know that they owe us. Vojislav Šimun would never have seen the ministerial cabinet if Vladimir Dobričanin or Danilo Jokić accepted to trample on personal and political principles and take the position of minister," said Danilović.

He said that Šimun was neither the first nor the best choice for minister, but that he was a forced solution, "after some of us did not accept a bargain that would have humiliated us both humanly and politically".

"After I was offered the position of Minister of Education, which I refused, we were also offered the position of Minister of Health, but we also refused. Today, we are all witnessing how good it was for this 'progress of Montenegro in European integration', which everyone except us that we made it possible. We told Mandator Spajić that a majority of 41 or 42 deputies, in which there would be 11 mandates of DPS partners, is a deadly recipe for the future of the country. Our 'yes' brought us the ministry and positions, but our the answer was 'no'. Minister Šimun will never understand this. He won't because before he became a minister, the public did not know about his opposition activities. Before the 2020 elections, Vojislav Šimun did not launch support petitions to defend the honor of Nikšić doctors. He was not among the hundreds those who put their signature because it was not easy to be a man, a doctor and an opposition member. In those previous years, we did not read a single reaction of Vojislav Šimun regarding the abuse of power by the medical magnates of that time," said Danilović.

He also said that Jokic published dozens of reactions, publicly supported his colleagues, even though he worked as a doctor in the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP), and that he protested in "silence walks" against the misuse of the pandemic for political purposes.

"He was taken to the police together with party officials. No one arrested or detained Vojislav Šimun. The current minister does not know how difficult it was to remain himself, to defend his profession and dignity at all costs. However, the current minister of health believes that the changes were okay to start with Jokić, and that speaks of his political and professional immaturity. If it were otherwise, you would know that you don't start with the best, but with the worst. You would know that the colleague with whom you were on the electoral list should be discussed beforehand. You would know that he is not obliged that he respects neither age, nor knowledge, nor profession, but that he is obliged to respect the courage of the one who did not hide and waited with folded hands for the time of Đukanović and Marković to pass. That he is worthy of the position of minister and that he has someone in his party to teach him, he would have known that he had to start with the 'cleaning' from his ministry and from the Government," said Danilović.

According to him, Jokić was dismissed, but that's why cadres who humiliated medicine and the public, professional calling are returning to positions in the executive power with their feet, hands, shovels and bad intentions.

"In our party, there are no flyovers, there are no those who 'toured Đukanović's tractors', and Minister Šimun should turn around, look in the mirror, at the boards of directors, at his own staff that he does not know, and he will see that, now with the new with a membership card, cheer up and clothe the buljuk of those who scattered when it was unbearably difficult. United Montenegro knows that it is the target of those who have never forgiven us for saving them from their own, empty arrogance. We are the target of revenge because we did not employ party affiliation, we did not wantonly spend money on representations and boasting. We defended the principles, and therefore Šimun's right, and the right of his colleagues - up to the current head of the government; so that they would not be outwitted and bypassed through political shenanigans. We defended the principles without which politics is just a den, defended without any counter favors because we are neither voracious nor greedy. If Šimun or any of his colleagues, including the prime minister, think that by removing us from the positions we won in competitions, they will discipline us and silence us, then they really great political laymen," said the President of the United Montenegro.

He also stated that in politics the price is paid for both courage and cowardice.

"With their heads held high, United will pay for their benevolence and stubbornness, and it seems to me that soon, much sooner than they think, some will pay for their love of power, greed and primitive cunning, which translate not the thirsty but the squeamish across the water. We are here, and we will not stop until we tell every detail of the minister's and all other stumbles," concluded Danilović.