WORLD NEWS FOR MONTENEGRO DIASPORA
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AUTHOR:M.J. GDNUS
The Center for Civic Education (CCE) once again expresses serious concern about the way in which the controversial management of Radio and Television of Montenegro (RTCG) manages this institution of public interest, especially in terms of financial operations. In addition to the already well-known examples of violations of professional and ethical standards, the increasingly pronounced practice of arbitrariness in spending public funds is now additionally worrying.
CCE reminds that RTCG is predominantly financed from the state budget, i.e. with the money of all citizens of Montenegro. In such circumstances, any doubt about the legality and transparency of work must be the subject of an urgent institutional reaction. In addition, RTCG increasingly appears as a negative point in the reports of European Union institutions, and the current Council of this house is still under serious accusations, including the multiple illegal election of Boris Raonić as Director General, according to Nikola Obradović, a program associate.
This week's public statement by the former Vice President of the RTCG Council, Marijana Camović Velicković, raised new questions about the (il)legality and lack of transparency in the financial management of the Public Service Broadcaster RTCG. This particularly concerns data indicating the arbitrary and illegal determination of the salaries of the Director General and his assistants, the continuous payment of maximum variable bonuses without clear criteria and performance evaluations, as well as the adoption of decisions that further burden the RTCG budget, including proposals for new increases in coefficients.
Due to all of the above, the CCE has submitted an official initiative to the Ministry of Finance, i.e. the Budget Inspection, to urgently and comprehensively audit the financial operations of RTCG, which annually disposes of over 20 million EUR, primarily from the state budget. The subject of the audit should include payments, the internal methodology for calculating variable salaries, as well as possible attempts to conceal illegalities through formal acts of management that are already pushing all previous limits in arbitrariness.
CamovićVeličković has pointed out these and other irregularities internally and publicly, leading a difficult fight to preserve the legality and professionalism of RTCG. Her experience clearly shows that stronger reactions from the competent state institutions are necessary.
CCE expects the Budget Inspection to demonstrate agility and responsibility, and for the results of the control to be publicly available and followed up with concrete institutional measures, if irregularities are confirmed. We also call on the Parliament of Montenegro to proactively open this issue through its competent committees and show that the control function of the Parliament has not been forgotten in our political system.
CCE is of the opinion that the citizens of Montenegro have the right to a service that works in their interests, and not in the interests of privileged individuals or groups.
