The members of the opposition in the Assembly of the Capital City will most likely submit an initiative for the dismissal of the Mayor of Podgorica by the end of next week. Oliver Injac, due to the fact that she did not submit a work report to the local parliament within the deadline. Although they have not submitted the proposal yet, they are already seeking support for the removal of Injac from the ranks of the Podgorica government parties.
This is what the president of the Social Democrats (SD) and Liberal Party (LP) club told "Vijesti" Miloš Maskovic, stating that Injac did not submit a report on its work and the work of administrative bodies and services for the year 31 to the Assembly by March 2023, when it was the last deadline.
The Statute of the Capital City foresees the possibility of dismissing the first man of Podgorica if he does not submit that report by the end of March for the previous year. Injac was elected to the position on March 13 last year.
Yesterday, the Capital City did not respond to the "News" questions about what their response will be if the opposition submits an initiative to remove Injac, as well as why the report was not submitted until the end of March, but on April 16.
The statute stipulates that the dismissal of the mayor is decided by secret ballot, with a majority vote of the total number of councilors. The Podgorica parliament has 58 representatives, of which 34 belong to the government and 24 to the opposition. This means that the opposition needs at least six votes from the government to dismiss Injac.
Mašković said that informal negotiations are underway "with certain councilor clubs within the ruling majority", among which, as he stated, "there is a mood to dismiss Injac because of this situation".
"Which they don't consider to be doing their job adequately", he added.
Mašković said that this does not surprise him, given that within the Capital City there has been a redistribution of power within the ruling majority.
"We know that the Europe Now Movement (PES) is no longer the strongest councilor club and that we have a new strongest club within the ruling majority, which has 11 councillors. It is completely natural and expected for me that perhaps the strongest club expects to have its own mayor", said Mašković.
Due to the split in the PES, five councilors left that party and formed the Movement for Podgorica and agreed on joint action with the Civil Movement (GP) URA and the Movement for Change (PzP). They have 11 councilors and are the largest group in the city assembly.
Mašković announced that "informal talks are much more important than formal ones", and that his assumption is that very soon, perhaps even next week, "the first round of talks with councilor clubs within the opposition will follow".
"I can freely announce that there will be unequivocal support in this regard," he said.
Councilor of the Movement for Podgorica Nađa Ljiljanić, she told Gradska TV yesterday that that political entity will declare itself about the opposition's initiative when it receives it. She said that the movement approached Injac to welcome them to a meeting in order to explain the initiatives they had prepared, which, as she stated, "concern better roads, water supply."
"We sent an initiative to PES to continue negotiations, agreements. That we want to take political responsibility in the executive power, that all the people who came to the capital with references be preserved, that all the people who do not perform their work properly be replaced by better ones", she said.
The opposition, apart from the club headed by Mašković, is also represented by the club of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS) and the club of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), the Bosniak Party (BS) and the Civic Initiative "21. May".
When it comes to the government, in addition to the new group, it includes representatives of PES, the Democrats, the former Democratic Front (DF) party and independent councilors.
Mašković told "Vijesta" that in the event that the dismissal of Injac is agreed upon with the parties in power, there is always a possibility that the agreement will not be respected, because votes are taken in secret.
"... And no outcome would surprise me, despite possible agreements, considering that the Assembly is a political collective body that makes political decisions... The legal solutions decisively say when the report must be submitted to the Assembly for consideration and if it doesn't happen - that she can dismiss the mayor", said Mašković.
He pointed out that the fact that the report was not submitted in accordance with the Law on Local Self-Government and the Statute of the Capital City entails the initiative to dismiss Injac.
"The failure to submit such a report reflects, first of all, the lack of transparency in the work of the city administration, because this is one of the basic ways for the opposition, as well as the entire public, to gain an insight into the results of the city administration for the first year of their work," he added. is Maskovic.
The interlocutor emphasized that the non-submission of the report, apart from being a "political failure", endangers the citizens of the capital in the "most direct possible way".
"First of all, due to the fact that through that report, numerous investors from the international level gain an insight into the realized investments in the city and, based on that, plan further work in these areas. This will first of all be detected as one of the key problems, and we know that the capital has been struggling for a year already, not only with foreign, but also with domestic investments. We know that the realization of the capital budget is at no level", Mašković assessed.
He said that several days have passed since the discovery of "the affair related to the failure to submit this report, and the mayor's office is still not announcing anything on this issue."
Mašković submitted a letter to "Vijesta" that he addressed to the secretary of the Assembly Miloš Giljen, who informed him that there was no report in the revised agenda from the previous session of the local parliament.
"... That there is no report among the withdrawn points, and he informs me that from March 21, when the last session was initially scheduled, until April 1, not a single material for consideration for the next session arrived in the parliamentary procedure, which means that the report did not even arrive," said Mašković.
He pointed out that he is concerned by the fact that the report was submitted only on April 16 at around 16 pm, after he held a press conference where he informed the public about the fact that the document was not submitted on time. This is written in a copy of the internal delivery book of the Assembly of the Capital City in the period from March 29 to April 16, which Giljen delivered to Mašković.
"What I know is that there will be work for the Administrative Inspection as well. Employees in the Capital City were put under tremendous pressure to do certain actions that are not in accordance with the law, all in order to cover up the ignorance and lawlessness carried out by the city administration led by Injac," said Mašković.
The Capital City did not respond to "Vijesti" whether it is true that the employees in the Capital City were pressured to take actions that are not in accordance with the law in this case.
Mašković: They knowingly violate the decisions of their own assembly
Mašković said that it would be good for the citizens to hear "about all the misdeeds of the city administration".
"It will be an excellent opportunity to introduce them to all the controversial events, the most recent ones, for example, that the Spring Market in Podgorica will be organized contrary to the decisions of the Assembly".
He said that the decision stipulates that the market will be held from May 29 to 15, and that the capital "obviously has other plans", so it will be held from May 17 to 21.
This, he said, is an unprecedented case and "nonsense that endangers the integrity of the Assembly, because the Capital City knowingly violates the decisions of its own Assembly."
"How can citizens have confidence in institutions if we as councilors do not have any and if the decisions we make are not respected? In that case, I recommend that the city administration work independently and without the Assembly, because if they don't respect our decisions, I don't think it makes sense for us to continue working in this way", stated Mašković.
Bonus video:
