By Kemo Cham
An agreement for a four-year grant aimed at boosting electricity and water supply in Sierra Leone has been signed by officials from the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) and the Millennium Challenge Coordinating Unit (MCCU) at the Office of the President.
The MCCU is a Sierra Leone government agency set up to work with the MCC which is a US government agency that provides development aids to developing countries who meet specific criteria aimed at promoting democracy and good governance.
The ceremony on Tuesday, November 17, which was held at the Credentials Hall at State House in Freetown, comes over eleven months after the MCC Board in Washington selected Sierra Leone as eligible for its Threshold Programme with grants of up to US$44.4M. The money will be used to create a foundation for more reliable provision of water and electricity services, with a focus on the capital, Freetown.
The MCC was created in 2004 by the United States Congress as a government agency but which works independently with the goal of reducing global poverty through economic growth. It provides time-limited grants to countries that demonstrate a commitment to good governance, investments in its people, and economic freedom.
Countries are scored on 17 indicators, including civil liberties, political rights, the level of corruption, the rule of law, and investment in people.
The MCC Board convenes every December to decide on eligible countries for either a Threshold or Compact programmes.
Ghana, Madagascar, Mali, and Senegal are examples of countries which have benefited from the Compact grant.
Liberia, which was named alongside Sierra Leone in December, got the Compact after initially failing under similar circumstances as Sierra Leone.
With its $257 million grant, Liberia is seeking to improve on access to reliable and affordable electricity and road infrastructure.
Sierra Leone was first selected in January 2013 as eligible for the Compact programme, which constitute the largest grants in the MCC`s programmes. But by December that year, the country`s eligibility was suspended for failing to pass on key indicators – including corruption.
And in December 2014, it was again selected but this time for the less attractive Threshold programme.
“The threshold programs are designed to assist countries that are on the “threshold” of eligibility for broader MCC assistance programs and support countries’ efforts to address challenging policy and institutional constraints to economic growth,” reads a note from the Corporation.
“It`s been a long road. It has taken several years to get to where we are today,” US Ambassador John Hoover said at the State House ceremony.
He urged the various players involved in the implementation of the projects to work in a “seamless” manner in meeting the targeted goals.
Water and electricity are seen as two crucial sectors in Sierra Leone`s development aspirations, and they both constitution major hurdles for the government.
The MCC grant will go mainly into capacity strengthening and institution building.
Saidu Kontong Sesay, Chief of Staff at the Office of the President, reiterated the government`s commitment to meeting all its obligations to enable a smooth implementation of the earmarked projects.
He said the government had invested US$3M in the whole MCC process, including accelerated efforts in fighting graft, creating transparency in the extractive sector, joining the Open Government Programme, and passing the Freedom of Information Law.
“Government will continue to sustain this commitment,” he assured the audience at the ceremony.
The MCC delegation comprises five members, headed by its Vice President of Policy and Evaluation, Beth Tritter, who said the signing of the grant marked a “new partnership focused on the future.”
Mahmood Iddriss, chairman of the signing ceremony and head of the MCCU at State House, said despite the long road to the day and the fact that Sierra Leone did not get the Compact programme, attaining the threshold represented a “good sequence” from which lessons would be learned.
“It was a disappointment but there are good things coming out of it,” Iddriss told journalists later at a press conference convened immediately after the signing ceremony.
Implementation of the grant programme commences next year and the MCCU will oversee the activities, guided by a board which will comprise representatives from the government, civil society and the private sector.
(C) Politico 17/11/15
