Determined to make their voices heard, a group of citizens have been protesting every day for more than 20 days in front of health institutions in Gracanica, about 10 kilometers from Kosovo's capital, Pristina.
These institutions operate according to the Serbian system under the supervision of the Serbian Ministry of Health, which at the end of January announced vacancies for dozens of new jobs.
However, protesters in Gracanica claim that the entire hiring process was non-transparent and that “secret lists of suitable people” were created, which also included people close to the Serbian List – the largest Serb party in Kosovo, which enjoys the support of Belgrade.
"We were brought together by the same situation," Dushica Nikolic tells Radio Free Europe, while holding the banner "Professional staff, but looking for work."
She is a pharmacy technician and a graduate agricultural engineer. She is a single mother of two children and has been waiting for years to be employed in her profession. She decided not to put up with the “injustice” anymore after being rejected again in the competition announced by health institutions, including the Pharmaceutical Institution of Pristina.
In Serbian environments in Kosovo, all health institutions are financed from the Serbian budget.
"I finished school regularly, not by correspondence. This is one of the injustices that happened. People were hired who finished in one year what we studied for four years," Dushica Nikolic emphasizes for Radio Free Europe.
Several health institutions, such as the Family Medicine Center in Gracanica and Lower Gushterica, on April 6 announced the decision to cancel the competitions "due to the expiration of the 30-day deadline for making a decision on the selection of candidates."
The group of disgruntled citizens, who had been protesting for several days at the time, decided not to stop the protests, but to continue their fight for fairer and more transparent employment.
They have submitted their written demands to the responsible local institutions, as well as to the Ministry of Health in Belgrade and the Presidency of Serbia. Some of the demands of this group – which calls itself the Popular Movement of the Dissatisfied – are that the results of all announced competitions be published, that the heads of health institutions resign, and that those responsible for irregularities and lack of transparency be found.
They claim that they are not organized by anyone and that their protests are not politically motivated, but that they are fighting to establish a system where everyone will have an equal chance for employment.
The directors of the Family Medicine Center in Gracanica and Lower Gushterica said in early April, when the protests began, that a professional commission had been appointed to accept workers, and they rejected accusations of irregularities and political influence.
Otherwise, the director of the Family Medicine Center in Gracanica, Mirjana Dimitrijevic, was on the list of candidates for deputies from the Serbian List in the parliamentary elections of February 9.
Political discrimination
However, Jelena Stevic, 39, from Gracanica, says that local politicians from the Serbian List have “promised” her that she will not be employed as long as they are in power. In a statement to Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, she expresses her belief that the reason for this “promise” is because she does not support their politics.
The announcement of vacancies for the recruitment of employees in healthcare institutions coincided with the pre-election campaign for the parliamentary elections in Kosovo on February 9, in which the Serbian List also participated.
"I don't support what local politicians do, that's the only reason I've been discriminated against," says Stević, who has also been looking for work in her profession as a nurse for years.
She is a single mother of three children and says that she cannot support them with the minimum wage in the private sector.
"My daughter is at university, but she will be forced to drop out because I won't be able to finance her, as I have two other daughters who are in school," she says.
The leader of the Serbian List, Zlatan Ellek, stated during the election campaign that “in the previous period, the state of Serbia has provided a large number of jobs and that this is also a way to stay.” Ellek is also the director of the Clinical Center in North Mitrovica, one of the four Serb-majority municipalities in northern Kosovo.
However, Marija Milković Maksimović points out that people who do not live in Kosovo at all have been hired. She says that for three years she worked as a dental assistant at the Gračanica Family Medicine Center as a substitute, has experience, and was unfairly rejected in the competition so that someone living in Serbia could be hired.
"We just ask for justice, for those who are professionals to be hired, someone who has work experience like me," she says.
In her statement to REL, she also claims that she saw that employee lists were made in cafes by local officials of the Serbian List.
Petar Djordjevic from Gracanica also believes that the "last word" on employment in the health sector has been in the hands of politicians.
“There were promises of positions in exchange for votes in the parliamentary elections. We have evidence that local politicians were involved and evidence from some of us who were told in job interviews that the commission has done its part and now we have to go after those who actually decide, because they [the commission] are not the ones who decide,” says Djordjevic.
He has applied for the position of software engineer at the Medical Center in Gushterica i Poshtme. He is a graduate engineer in computer electronics and has completed his master's degree in biomedical engineering at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki.
"We have all been harmed by this non-transparent employment process. We simply want the conditions to be equal for everyone, so that those who meet the requirements are invited to an interview and the names of those who have been accepted for the job are announced," emphasizes Djordjevic.
The Serbian List has not responded to comment on the numerous accusations against its officials.
He believes that people are being hired "secretly," because the dissatisfaction would be much greater if the list of employees were published.
Djordjevic points out that in recent days they have been attacked by those who were hired in the canceled competition, and that a man – who was reportedly promised employment for his three children – has told them that he will “persecute them like Jesus Christ” until the protests stop.
Mirjana Vasic, who graduated from high school as a pharmacy technician, also hopes that justice will finally be served. According to her, a man - whom she does not want to name - offered her a job as a cleaner at the Gracanica Community Health Center.
"Since I have four children, I was ready to accept that too, better something than nothing," she says, adding that in the end she didn't get any job.
"We are trying to find out the truth about why we were not hired and on what basis those who were hired were hired. Who hired them," she asks.
This group of dissatisfied citizens has not yet received answers to their questions and demands.
REL has also addressed the Ministry of Health in the Government of Serbia and the Presidency of Serbia with the question of whether they are informed about the protests in Kosovo and whether they will consider their requests, but has not received a response.
However, the protesters hope that the competent institutions will take the problem of non-transparent hiring seriously and that their fight for a fairer society will succeed./ REL (A2 Televizion)
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