By George M.O. Williams
A team from the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Team on Friday, November 4, 2022, engaged journalists on Sierra Leone’s progress, after the Sierra Leone passed 11 out of 20 indicators making it feasible for country to sign the compact in 2023.
The media engagement brought together technical experts of the team and the United States Ambassador to Sierra Leone at the U.S Embassy in Freetown.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation is an innovative and independent U.S. foreign assistance agency that is helping lead the fight against global poverty by providing time – limited grants, promoting economic growth, reducing poverty and strengthen institutions.
In his official statement, the United States Ambassador, David Reimer said that the dialogue was to update the media on the latest scorecard, derived from a collection of independent third – party sources, which will be used to determine whether Sierra Leone meets the economic and governance requirement for the compact.
He said that in the past year, MCC team has collaborated with the Government of Sierra Leone to discuss proposal for a new larger compact, which when implemented will have a potential impact to transform electricity access in the country.
Ambassador Reimer went further to remind the government that for the country to be eligible, it must continue to meet its obligations with partners which is to maintain high scores across a minimum number of categories of the scorecard.
The Managing Director for Selection, Eligibility & Policy Performance at MCC, Dan Barnes, said that to determine a country’s eligibility for MCC grant, the MCC Board is required to assess a country’s commitment through the principles set by the MCC, which are to maintain and pursue policies that are essential to creating economic growth and to reduce poverty.
He mentioned that two-indicators were revised, thus Data Source and Methodology and Business Start – Up indicator had been replaced with Employment Opportunity and Natural Resource Protection indicator, respectively. Business Start-Up deals disability rights, forced labor, workplace discrimination and the ability of civil society to start-up.
The Managing Director for Africa Millennium Challenge Corporation, Jason SMALL, said that countries are nearing the end of the compact development process and is currently ready for Board approval and signing in 2023.
He also reiterated that, the Sierra Leone Compact Development Unit (SLCDU) provided MCC with a strong proposal of potential projects in the power sector for the compact, including power generation, transmission, distribution and capacity building.