The heads of state say one thing the whole world knows: Nepotism in Kosovo

In senior leadership positions in Kosovo, people who are related to politics continue to be appointed, even though they do not meet the criteria for that position in which they are appointed.

So it is said at the conference organised for the second phase of the British Embassy-funded Rescription Project “Funding of Good Governance, Transparency and the responsibility of Kosovo Institutions”, for top leadership positions within civil service and independent institutions.

In addition to the embassy, representatives of Kosovo institutions have acknowledged that appointments to party bases are continuing.

On a anniversary of this project, the high-recognition and evaluation expert at BDO, Charlie Eyre, has shown the results they have achieved within this year. He has suggested that there are times when a candidate receives the assessment that he is not fit for that position and that he is selected, and that, according to him, is disturbing.

“E has a problem when recommendations and results on the merit-based assessment are not reflected, not reflected in final decisions... We have had cases of full agreement between the commission and us as implementing partners for the most performing candidates, but there have still been other candidates who have been appointed, and that is against our principles. As far as specific details are concerned, we have had processes where the outcome has been clear, out of 9 out of 30 have resulted in our most valued candidate being appointed to office. Then there were cases when the candidate who was named was not the most valued candidate in us, but we also praised that candidate as the candidate that could be named... There are five processes that we developed when there were candidates we considered that they could not be appointed and they were selected and this is a concern”, he said.

Disillusioned with the results of employment for this year has said to be the ambassador of Great Britain O'Connell, who has said that last year the project has gone better than they have expected, but this year he says that unfortunately he cannot say such a thing, even according to him, is going back.

He said that in recruiting senior leadership positions, there are disturbing reports of intervention in the process, forging documents to meet formal criteria, conflict of interest between the panel and the candidates interviewed and animations in favour of a candidate.

Ambassador O'Connell said the success of this project is the success of Kosovo, as in the event of failure is Kosovo. O'Connell mentioned the case of a person who met the criteria in many positions he applied to, but he was not chosen because he had no connection with politics.

Unfortunately, even this year we have appointments of unqualified candidates, in direct opposition to the principle of meritocracy. The case of appointing the director of the Kosovo Agency for Verification and Comparison of Property is a concrete example, his selection at the expense of the only independent and professional candidate to have met the criteria for this position was made by Kosovo Assembly deputies. They knew very well that the fair and transparent and meritocratic process had appreciated their selection as unqualified... Enis Berisha, who has so far applied and was well regarded in 7 processes, has even qualified him as the candidate with the highest score, but who has never been appointed, either by the Parliament or the Government. Enis' case is not the only case, their fault is that they have no political connection, it must be hard to be professional and not appreciated by your country. Such an approach that penalises professionalism in favour of nepotism is destroying institutions, as we are all seeing in the case of Post”, he said.

The British ambassador added that they have not given up on Kosovo because they believe in active citizenship, which will require account of its elected.

That in Kosovo there are party-based appointments has also been accepted by Kosovo Parliament Speaker Kadri Veselin, who has said such appointments are losing the trust of citizens who are then leaving Kosovo.

Wessel said that the project with the British Embassy has been going and there have been several results, but he argued that in every measure of civic confidence there is a reduction of it in independent agencies, in public enterprises, but also within Kosovo's own institutions.

Whatever we have to do more, we have to do it ourselves Kosovars, we need to be more accountable to the law, to the ethics, to the citizens, to the fact that we can build this state, we can build trust in our citizens. At the same time, though, we may also lose faith. I am also self-critical, my party has been in power for several years, but this practice has to be stopped so that who has the nearest power to employ their people, from the PDK of any other party. Then they're not getting tired of some, for themselves, no one's getting bored and there's three and four people. These people have to stop and these people will be stopped”, Wessel said.

The head of the Parliament has said it encourages civil society and the media to be courageous and loud to stop such people, as he has said they will destroy the state's perspective.

On the other hand, Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj has said the British Embassy has helped restore confidence in public organs, but also recruits to high civil service positions by preventing nepotism and consolidating transparency, meritocracy and good governance.

However, the head of government says there have also been concessions and damage they must face.

So far there are a total of 44 top leadership positions realised through partnership with the British Embassy for the last two days and we have agreed on positions that will be realised in the period ahead of us. Granted, democracy and good governance are more than purposes in themselves, it's processes. Development and consolidation of a country must spring from us, from our consciousness, and we still have work to do. We're lucky that our many-year-old British expertise is a gift and we should appreciate it, but we also honor good and honest work. Only in this way do we really advance our awareness and love of our homeland, but also respect for Kosovo's precious friend, Great Britain”, Prime Minister Haradinaj said.

In addition to Britain's Embassy and the implementing partner of the BDO firm project, a monitoring of high-level processes has also made the Balkan Network for Investigative Journalism, where even in their report it is said that Kosovo institutions have consistently failed to ensure equal access and meritocracy in employment.

The British Embassy's project of high-ranking civil service recruits and independent institutions began its first phase in October 2016, while the second phase is from September 2018 and will last until March 2020, where it has signed memorandums of understanding with the Assembly of Kosovo, Government and the Community of Pristina and Pec.