When compared to other Europeans, a Kosovo citizen has a higher probability of holding a ministerial position. In relation to the size of its territory and population, Kosovo has the largest government in Europe.
Apart from causing serious governing problems, a high number of ministerial positions often brings about comical situations. The government formed in 2010 gave rise to protocol problems in the Assembly: there were not sufficient chairs available for ministers and deputy ministers in the room, so one had to improvise with additional chairs when the government cabinet needed to be present in assembly sessions.
Despite the fact that Kosovo has a parliamentary system in place, the assembly does not control the government at all, and is not even capable of determining the number of ministers. Until 2007, when the number of ministries depended on the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General, a change in government structure needed to be accompanied by a change in the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, regulation, which acted in lieu of a law.
Currently, the number of ministries can only be modified through a decision by the prime minister or the government. According to the constitution, the executive branch should be regulated by a specific law on government. Yet, although it has been eight years since the constitution’s ratification, the law on government is yet to be approved.
Currently, the government led by Prime Minister Isa Mustafa has 19 ministries, 21 ministers, three deputy prime ministers and 35 deputy ministers. There are many reasons why a government with 60 ministerial positions produces negative consequences, including difficulties in coordination and governance, abuse of public money, and lack of trust in public institutions.
A high number of ministerial positions as a hinderance for governing
At the 24th government meeting, on June 20, 2011, the former prime minister and chair of the meeting Hashim Thaci moved onto the fifth topic of the agenda. Before inviting a ministry representative to present a proposal, the prime minister raised his head away from the stack of papers on his desk and looked at the ministerial representative. For a few seconds, he attempts to remember the minister’s name, but it is impossible. In the end, he gave up and referred to him only as ‘mister deputy minister.’
A government with so many ministerial positions, apart from causing the prime minister serious difficulties in remembering everyone’s name, also poses serious problems of governance. Governing coalitions in power since 2008 operate with a backward logic: the more ministerial positions, the easier to create coalitions and accommodate political big fish. While this logic can be beneficial in creating a governing coalition, it turns the governance of these coalitions into a minefield. So far, history has shown that the existence of multiple ministries dealing with the same issues only hampers coordination and is causes problems which could potentially ruin the governing coalition. As a result of the same logic, the last government (2011-2014) and the current one face similar problems, especially regarding coordination between ministries that cover economic development.
There are currently at least seven ministries that focus on different aspects of economic development: Ministry of Economic Development, Ministry of Infrastructure, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare, Ministry of Diaspora, and Ministry of Finance. In a hypothetical situation, if the Ministry of Diaspora manages to convince investors from the diaspora to invest in Kosovo’s renewable energy, an investor would have to register as a business at the Ministry of Trade and Industry, apply for a license at the Energy Regulatory Office, obtain environmental permission at the Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, pay business taxes at the municipality where it will operate, be dependent on the policies for tariffs by the Ministry of Economic Development, and lastly, these tariffs have to be accepted by the Ministry of Finance. Considering this institutional structure, it is not surprising that Kosovo has such few foreign investments; actually, the opposite should surprise us.
The government has created at least 33 inter-ministerial committees in attempt to coordinate ministries and make collective decisions. These committees cover fields ranging from public enterprise, public-private partnerships, economic zones, foreign investments to trade policies and tobacco control. A single ministry may participate in a great number of these committees – the Ministry of Finance, for example, participates in 24. The complexity of decision-making at the governmental level is proven by the existence of the public enterprise called Prishtina Parking. To create a new public enterprise, the Inter-ministerial Committee for Public Enterprises, which is comprised of five ministries, must grant approval. The request from the municipality of Prishtina to create this public enterprise did not obtain the approval of the government for more than a year under the justification that the committee was not able to assemble.
Budget abuses
A high number of ministerial positions also increases the possibility of budget abuse.
The latest reports from the National Audit Office have detected many cases of abuse in every ministry. Furthermore, the budget is abused every time someone in a public office receives public money and makes unjustified expenditures.
In an analysis published by ‘GAP Institute’ immediately after the parliamentary elections in 2014 before the government was formed, we recommended that the government should not have more than 13 ministries. Moreover, GAP requested a decrease in the number of deputy ministers. At present, there are ministries that have three deputy ministers. At the moment of appointment, every minister is automatically entitled to an office, assistant, political advisor, official car, official phones and dinners, remuneration for travel overseas , and many other unnecessary spendings. This analysis calculates that by decreasing the number of ministries from 19 to 13, 2.5 million euros would be saved within one government mandate, without even including possible savings from official dinners, phone calls, and car usage.
To put into perspective what could be done with these 2.5 million euros, I will mention an instance when the government did not allow and the assembly did not approve the request of the Kosovo Judicial Council to employ 13 young people in courts to deal with cases pertaining investors. Allocating 2.5 million euros to the judiciary system would be much better than spending them on salaries for unjustifiable ministerial positions.
Loss of trust in the government
In 2012, the Mayor of Zagreb Milan Bandic was awaiting a delegation from the Kosovo Ministry of Environment and Spatial Planning, led by former minister Dardan Gashi. He was surprised to see nine people from the Kosovo delegation in his office. He then joked about it by saying, “When I saw you, I thought that I received a delegation from the Chinese government.”
This mindset and behavior of government officials shows why citizens do not trust their governance. There have been hundreds of cases of citizens reporting seeing official cars being loaded with goods from supermarkets, leading wedding entourages, on holiday at the beach, or used for dog walks. The latest financial audit published by the Office of the Auditor General for the Ministry of Infrastructure wrote that a former deputy minister returned an official car four months after leaving office. Nobody mentioned the name of this deputy minister. Those who abuse public wealth remain anonymous.
Restructuring the government
During the electoral campaign in June 2014, Avdullah Hoti, the current Minister of Finance, declared that a government led by the Democratic League of Kosovo, LDK, would have about 10 ministries. Now, the current LDK-led government has more ministers than the preceding government Hoti criticized for a high number of ministries.
The government of Kosovo needs to send the draft law on government to the assembly as soon as possible. This law would decrease the number of ministries to 13 and limit the number of deputy ministers. Decreasing the number of ministries from 19 to 13 can be done through: (i) creating a more powerful ministry of economic development, which would include the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Infrastructure and the Ministry of Finance; (ii) abolishing the Ministry of Diaspora and relocating its functions to other ministries; (iii) abolishing the Ministry of Communities and Return and moving its functions to the Prime Minister’s Office; and (iv) abolishing the Ministry of Local Government Administration and moving its functions to the Ministry of Public Administration.
Restructuring the government does not mean that we will automatically have better governance. Yet, a government with fewer ministerial positions is a prerequisite for good governance, efficient coordination in the utilization of public money, and the application of reforms that will come about as a result of the Stabilization and Association Agreement.