Prime Minister Duško Marković should soon evaluate the performance of the ministers through the review of the report on the implementation of the Government's program for the first quarter of this year (January, February, March), according to the Government Public Relations Service.
Although individual members of the government rarely appeared in public, even on protocol occasions, that is, in the end, the concrete result of their work "behind the scenes" is not visible, in Marković's cabinet they claim that the prime minister is satisfied with the work and commitment of the ministers. They point out that the engagement of members of the government cannot be evaluated through media appearances.
"The work of members of the Government is monitored on a daily and weekly basis through their activity in the working bodies of the Government and at Government sessions. Work and results certainly take precedence over presence in the media. As the quarter has just ended, the Government deserves consideration of the Report on the Implementation of the Government's Work Program for the first quarter of 2017, which will be an opportunity to quantify the performance on that basis," the government's public relations office states.
After the new government was elected in the assembly at the end of November, Marković gave the ministers a year to prove their results in their portfolios, stating that otherwise they would be replaced. The president of the Democratic Party of Socialists Milo Đukanović repeated the same at the Council for monitoring the party's program, who told his deputy that all those who hinder business development in any way should be dismissed.
Although at the first sessions he advised the new ministers not to appear in the media until they have concrete results, judging by the reports on the government website, some members of Marković's cabinet cannot boast of excessive activities for over four months of engagement.
Leading among them is Deputy Prime Minister Rafet Husović, who, judging by the government's website, has not had a single meeting since his election to that position. While his fellow vice-presidents Militin Simović and Zoran Pažin initiated various decisions, appeared at numerous conferences and had work commitments abroad, the last news published on Husović's internet presentation was that a government had been elected.
The salary of the Deputy Prime Minister for Regional Development in February was 1.676 euros, and his specific performance in that department is not known either in the previous government. Simović, who is also the Minister of Agriculture, received 1.850 euros. Pažin, who also serves as the Minister of Justice, earned 1.705 euros in February. Even the minister without portfolio, Marija Vučinović, who has mostly received ambassadors since the election of the government, cannot boast of excessive work. In February, Vučinović received 1.784 euros, while her salary was two thousand, before Marković introduced austerity measures.
The executive director of the Politikon network, Jovana Marović, believes that the key question is whether the existing number of ministries is optimal, stating that the optimal number of employees who can introduce reforms has not been estimated in the government.
"Calculations on the number of ministries gained importance during the coalition negotiations, so again we have a situation in which politics and coalition agreements are reforming the state administration. In this way, and in accordance with the Regulation on the way of working and the organization of the state administration, there is not even an equal scope of work in the ministries, which can be seen, among other things, by the activities of the relevant ministers", claims Marović.
Unlike Husović and Vučinović, who do not have specific responsibilities, judging by the Government's website, ministers who lead important departments in the government were engaged in the previous four months. Thus, Minister of Defense Predrag Bošković, who is in charge of supervising the armed forces, obligations on the way to NATO, among other things, participated in the meeting of ministers of NATO members, visited military contingents and held annual consultations with military and diplomatic representatives of Montenegro abroad. Bošković's salary was 1.644 euros. In the first four months, the Minister of Foreign Affairs Srđan Darmanović and the Minister of European Affairs Aleksandar Andrija Pejović, who is also the main negotiator with the EU, were abroad almost every Sunday. Darmanović's salary was 1.756 euros, while Pejović earns 1.620 euros.
Kasalica: They have status and earnings, but we don't see real results
Recalling the report of the World Bank, economic analyst Mila Kasalica clarified that the document explicitly criticizes the Montenegrin public earnings fund and recommends work on reducing the number of employees in the public administration.
"It is an irrefutable proof of the quality of the results of the main team of the overall administration, who got everything they asked for - earnings, status, privileges, political protection, housing security and much more, but from day to day it is not possible to find out what their concrete contribution is, that is, the actual result of their work, even though it is formally written that they work much more than the average eight-hour working day", believes Kasalica, stating that this leads to a situation where public functions and tasks are "trimmed with the aim of taking more money". "That's why protocol activities are the only scope and interest of the public administration strike team. With the correction that they see merit in it".
Šehović receives less than Nurković
Minister of Internal Affairs Mevludin Nuhodžić, who, among other things, is in charge of supervising the Police Directorate, received 1.840 euros in February. Nuhodžić stopped the unfair payment of variables, demanded that drivers do not pay new fees for registration, had meetings of the Directorate for Emergency Situations, visited the CB Bar...
The Minister of Transport and Maritime Affairs, Osman Nurković, received 1.742 euros in February, and during that period, among other things, he was at a ministerial meeting in Geneva and initialed the Agreement on the establishment of a transport community in the Western Balkans region. In the same month, Minister of Education Damir Šehović received 1.535 euros, which is 200 euros less. Šehović's ministry began to control the faculty, ordered an inspection of the VIP department, initiated changes to the law to relieve elementary school students, as well as for free education, return of uniforms...
Minister of Science Sanja Damjanović earns 1.630 euros, while Minister of Health Kenan Hrapović received 1.728 euros. The Minister of Economy Dragica Sekulić earns 1.556 euros, the Minister of Public Administration Suzana Pribilović 1.619 euros, the same amount as the Minister for Human Rights Mehmet Zenka. Minister of Labor Kemal Purišić received 2.215 euros before the austerity measures, while now he did not provide the data.
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