One of the country’s biggest development financier, the U.S. government has given President a big mark for qualifying Sierra Leone for a compact. This came in the wake of President Bio exemplary leadership in the areas of governance, economic performance and the rule of law.
Since 2004, the government of Sierra Leone and MCC have worked closely together to support good governance and reducing poverty through economic growth.
Demonstrating the United States’ commitment to helping lead the fight against global poverty, the Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) Board of Directors selected Sierra Leone for an MCC compact program – a multimillion dollar grant agreement – on Tuesday, December 15, 2020.
A compact for Sierra Leone will add to the gains of the $44 million threshold agreement between MCC and Sierra Leone that is currently improving water and electricity sector in the greater Freetown area. The President Bio led New Direction government in just a space of barely two years has achieved a near impossible feat to qualify Sierra Leone for the MCC Compact.
Upon assuming the governance of the country, President Bio instructed the Vice President Dr Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh to lead and supervise the MCCU with the objective to deliver a compact.
It can be recalled that on his first formal visit to the MCC Coordinating Unit office at Spur Road, Wilberforce, he assured the CEO, Madam Ndeye Fatu Koroma and staff of the New Direction government’s commitment to ensure Sierra Leone becomes Compact eligible by passing the MCC score card.
He added that now that the MCC Coordinating Unit was under the direct supervision of his office, there was need to redefine the approach to improve performance on the score card by engaging stakeholders at the MDA level that had not previously been part of the process; namely deputy ministers of relevant MDAs to become data champions.
Since MCC’s inception, MCC has invested more than $13 billion in economic growth projects around the globe that are expected to benefit about 190 million people. The US government agency invests in projects that drive growth and help people lift themselves out of poverty, like power, education, clean water, land rights, and roads.
Once a country is selected for compact development, the partner country leads a constraints analysis that determines which sectors are limiting economic growth.
This analysis is then used by partner countries to design the compact programs and tackle these constraints. The final investment amount will depend on the strength of the projects and their ability to support long-term economic growth in the selected country.