The last session of the Municipal Assembly (MA) of Nikšić, in the current convocation, was held without the presence of the opposition. From the opposition, only independent councilor Tatjana Knežević Perišić attended, who addressed the councilors at the very beginning and commented on the work of the local government, and then left the session. The session began with a delay of one hour and 15 minutes, because there was no quorum, so they waited for the councilors of the government to arrive, and in the end, out of 41 councilors, 21 of them attended the session, together with Knežević Perišić.
The councilors had an agenda with 33 items, including the work of the Mayor, Marko Kovačević, and the local government in 2024, as well as reports on the work of municipal secretariats, public enterprises and institutions. Since there was no opposition, although there were many items on the agenda, the session ended in two and a half hours, and the vote was postponed until tomorrow, because after Knežević Perišić left the session, they did not have the necessary quorum.
Knežević Perišić: Respect others, but love your own above all else
After the Chief of Staff of the Mayor, Marko Perućica, briefly presented the report on the work of the mayor and local government, as well as the activities carried out during the past year, Knežević Perišić said that after four years of leading the municipality of Nikšić, she can say that she did not have a good mayor. "And not because of the things that were not done, but promised before coming to power, but because I, as a Montenegrin and a citizen of Nikšić, was belittled, underestimated and insulted by the policy he implemented. The mayor, similar to his colleague from Pljevlja, is the leader of a policy that tolerates Montenegrins only if they are Serbs and nothing else, although this city, in the census, said that despite all the pressures, arbitrary shaping of history, party employment, insulting state symbols - it still breathes Montenegrin, so about 60 percent of its residents declared themselves as national Montenegrins," said Knežević Perišić.
She pointed out that after April 13, the current councilors' fate will be in the councilors' seats, but not hers, so she used the assembly rostrum to highlight what was bad and what was good that had been done in the previous four years.
"As someone who came to this parliament as the president of the then Patriotic-Committee Alliance, based on the signatures of support, I tried to contribute to the well-being of all citizens of Nikšić with a series of proposals from the cultural, tourist, communal, and sports spheres, because I wanted, like all of you who live in Nikšić, to improve the offer and image of the city that should exist as a city in the 21st century. You perceived these extremely well-intentioned proposals as an insult, although you are aware, each and every one of you, that not as much has been done as is being said, and far less than was promised in 2021. And I guarantee that few people are truly satisfied with the city administration," she emphasized.
According to her, she welcomed every good thing that the local government initiated, such as the construction of the Fire Station, the development of some local communities, the revitalization of the facades of a small number of buildings, the first phase of Mislov Do, and kilometers of asphalt roads.
"But what is not good is the policy of deepening divisions in society, the culture and religion of only one nation, lighting, the lack of bicycle paths, the lack of space for students, the absence of a tourism strategy, the absence of a vision of what Nikšić should be. These are the things that I criticized, I think absolutely justified, and I am sorry that you have no tolerance for criticism and that you do not understand that criticism is a prerequisite for the quality of some decisions, and certainly a contribution to democracy," she said.
She criticized the government's attitude towards the Serbian Orthodox Church, which is destroying the civic character of Montenegrin society, the close relationship with Israel, "because in light of the fact that Israel killed over 15 thousand innocent children", she believes that "investors from other countries should have been invited, because it is somehow shameful to have any business with them today". She also criticized the fact that, as she said, they did not support small entrepreneurs, that they did not show greater concern for elderly citizens, agricultural producers, young athletes, traffic chaos in the city...
"I support, for example, the aid to FC Čelik, but I criticize that you are giving that money in the middle of the campaign; I support helping women's entrepreneurship, this year with 40 thousand euros, but I criticize that you are announcing that competition in the middle of the campaign for local elections. I support that you really help larger families, but not that you pay it out when, legally, you shouldn't. But who cares about laws, for God's sake? Well, this is Montenegro free from laws and the Constitution and justice and rights and fairness," she said.
As she pointed out, she does not know how long this state of mind will last, how long the citizens of Nikšić will quietly grumble within their four walls, and not try to change things by voting.
"I don't know how the upcoming local elections in Nikšić will end, but I give myself the right to tell you the following: Do not, if you have the opportunity, continue to nurture an unhealthy society that is deeply dependent on the authorities, because your free-thinking mind will leave here, as it is leaving en masse, but try to hear the other, third side, find a common language for the betterment of all citizens of Nikšić. And turn to your home. Hold your citizens accountable. Respect others, but love your own, above all, so that you can walk with your heads held high in this city, which has given Montenegro, Europe and the world so much. Do not underestimate what God has given us - this beautiful, proud, historically authentic country, do not hand it on a platter to those who would destroy it, wipe it out and wipe it off the map of the world, as they did in 1918," said Knežević Perišić.
As she pointed out, she had the opportunity to briefly hang out with certain government representatives on TV shows, with whom she shared the same concerns, with whom she did not talk about politics, and whose wishes for the development of the city were the same. As she said, the actions of several government representatives were humanly touching.
"I want to thank my fellow members from the opposition, for defending their positions with dignity, stoically enduring all attacks, even though the accusations did not concern them personally, for being perhaps the most active councilor club in the country and thus showing how the opposition of any government should fight," she said.
Kovačević: Our election campaign lasts four years
The Mayor did not respond to her accusations because she left the assembly hall immediately after her presentation. Kovačević took the opportunity to thank the councilors and the president of the municipal council, Nemanja Vuković, for their dedicated and responsible work and for not allowing the items that were at the last session of this mandate to wait for the new councilors, as he said, the previous local administration did.
As he emphasized, the activities they are currently implementing, if you look at last year's report, were implemented in the same period last year, so then, following that logic, they would also be aimed at the election campaign.
"We haven't started doing anything this year, but we have regular activities that are happening. We didn't even know when the elections would be called, but we are working as we have been doing throughout our entire mandate. We are still in office, we still have an obligation to the citizens, and what we are doing as part of our mandate cannot be an official campaign, but rather it is our obligation to the citizens who elected us to be in this position... Anyone who looks at things honestly knows that both in 2021, when we came to power, and in 2025, when we will renew our mandate and functions, we worked equally, with the same intensity and tried to progress year after year, to make it better, stronger and to complete projects and everything else on time. So everything we have the opportunity to hear in the media is things that confirm our good work, because when someone wants to challenge us in such a way, they are actually just talking about how well you did all of that," said Kovačević.
As he emphasized, reports show that their work has been better year after year, and he said that the next four years will be even better.
"We have four years of work ahead of us before the elections, because that's how we worked - the first, second, and third years, improving things and learning how we can do better. In this next term, we will work even better, so that official campaign, as they call it, will start on April 14, and then if things intensify in four years, let them draw such conclusions again. I hope that we will carry out all these activities with approximately the same composition as now," concluded Kovačević.
At the suggestion of councilor Nikola Goranović, the councilors observed a minute of silence in honor of the recently deceased football player Andrija Delibasic.
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