Mirosław Sekuła

Mirosław Sekuła (born 20 June 1955, in Strzelce Opolskie) is a Polish chemist and politician. A member of the Sejm between 1997 and 2001 and again between 2007 and 2011, Sekuła also served as President of the Supreme Audit Office between 2001 and 2007, as Undersecretary of State at the Ministry of Finance between 2011 and 2013, and as the sixth Marshal of Silesian Voivodeship between 2013 and 2014.

Early career Sekuła graduated from the Silesian University of Technology in 1979, where he also undertook postgraduate studies at the university's Faculty of Organization and Management. While in parliament, he acted as the chairman of the Public Finance Committee and vice-chairman of the Committee on Local Government and Regional Policy. He presided over the office until 2007, when he was again reelected to parliament, now as a Civic Platform candidate. In 2009, Sekuła was confirmed as a member of the Sejm's special committee on investigating accusations of illicit lobbying connections between the gambling industry and members of the cabinet under Prime Minister Donald Tusk. Sekuła gained controversial notoriety after declaring in 2010 there was no evidence of illegal lobbying from cabinet officials, prompting members of the opposition also serving in the same committee to declare Sekuła's final report as a "corpse which the Law and Justice and the Democratic Left Alliance MPs tried to resuscitate with amendments." The SLD's Bartosz Arłukowicz heavily criticized the report prepared by Sekuła in parliament, saying, "I get the impression that you’re behaving like Howard Webb, you see fouls that aren’t there, goals that aren’t there and ignore the ones that are."

Marshal of Silesia Sekuła was appointed by the government as the Undersecretary of State for Finances in 2011. Following the election of Sekuła, the Silesian Autonomy Movement pulled out of the Civic Platform and Polish People's Party coalition in the executive board after the dismissal of its representative. As marshal, Sekuła successfully advocated the Polish Football Association to choose Silesian Stadium as a candidate for the UEFA Euro 2020 championship. Sekuła also supported finishing construction efforts for the new Silesian Museum in Katowice. During his marshalship, Sekuła was commonly found commenting on the neatness of dress and organization of provincial government officials, prompting pro-cycling groups to accuse the marshal of not approving bureaucrats commuting to work by bicycle. Sekuła also was an advocate for protecting children from the effects of the War in Donbas in eastern Ukraine, noting the strong connections Silesians had with the Donbas region.

In September 2014, Sekuła announced his resignation as marshal prior to that year's local elections. He was replaced by Wojciech Saługa.