The Ministry of Information in Sierra Leone has responded loosely justifying reasons for missing out on the Millennium Challenge Corporation Grant.
A release from the Ministry had said on Thursday that the MCC board had selected only one new Compact largely because the fiscal bandwith for new selection this year was significantly limited given that MCC selected eight new Compacts last year including the inaugural Regional compact.
The Ministry’s release had stated that following the country’s passing of the FY 2020 MCC Scorecard, a high-level Government delegation engaged key U.S. stakeholders on the gains that have been made in the implementation of the ongoing $44.4 million Threshold Program (THP).
The release had indicated that the MCC and other US Agencies acknowledged and commended Sierra Leone on her efforts on the MCC Scorecard and the progress made so far in the implementation of the THP.
The country had woefully failed to meet the MCC benchmarks for the award of the grant even after passing eleven (11) of the twenty indicators for the 2020 compact.
Many had largely attributed the failure of the country to pass the compact largely due to its failure of key indicators such as People’s Rights, Access to Credits, fiscal policy ,Access to land, Government effectiveness, Mineral resources management and others.
The country has done extremely well in the areas of controlling corruption but many think the issue around People’s Rights and Fiscal policy were key in qualifying for the grant.
Many have damned the response from Government on the issue noting that Government should redouble its efforts in the areas in which it has woefully failed with a view to win the compact.