IPNews-Monrovia, Liberia-22 June 2018: Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), Chief Operating Officer, Jonathan Nash, has underscored the need to continue meeting all requirements of the Millennium Challenge Compact if Liberia should receive another MCC grant.
Mr. Nash, at the head of a high-level MCC delegation said in other for Liberia to be certified for another compact, the country must pass the indicators listed to a certain extent under the Millennium Challenge Compact policy.
Speaking at a joint meeting of the delegation and counterparts of the MCC Liberia office, stated that their two-day visit to Liberia which began Monday, June 18 to Tuesday, June 19, 2018, was to engage the Liberian government on the successful implementation of the MCC compact-stressing the importance for Liberia certification for another Millennium Challenge Compact.
Nash named some of the indicators as government control of corruption, rule of law, investing in the people; increasing immunization rate; investing in healthcare and education and promoting a business-friendly environment.
“These are some of the indicators on the scorecard that qualify a beneficiary, because countries that do relatively well compared to their peers become eligible for the grant,” he told the gathering, including officials from the Liberia Electricity Corporation (LEC).
“To obtain a second compact, the board looks at the extent at which a country was able to deliver and have a high-quality implementation of the first compact. The board generally looks for improved performance on the scorecard over time as well,” Nash said.
Johnathan Nash: “I am here to engage with President George Weah and his administration to review the progress that has been made to date, and to take a look ahead at the challenges and opportunities that lie ahead for the completion of the particular compact.”
It may be recall in 2016, Liberia received a grant of US$257 million from the United States through the MCC, to enhance its electricity and road projects.
These two sectors were earmarked as binding constraints – major factors hampering the growth of the country’s economy – after a rigorous and comprehensive survey.
Before the survey, Liberia had already achieved an acceptable scorecard after passing 10 out of the 20 indicators to qualify for the grant.
Mr. Nash said that the Liberian government must also remain committed to the implementation of the current compact, on which progress has already been made at the Mt. Coffee Hydro-power Plant. The Corporation provided US$147 million; a single largest donor to the rehabilitation of the war-ravaged water dam.
He acknowledged that Liberia has in recent years passed some key indicators, including controlling corruption, but suggested that the government must continue to peruse anti-graft, democratic and economic freedoms in order to do better on the scorecard.
The collating and maintaining of the data of these indicators are done by a third- party institution, and the MCC wants to introduce said institution to the Liberian government in order to help maintain sound policy performance.
Furthermore, Nash said the compact is a priority project for the American Government.
“We deeply value our partnership with Liberia; that is one of the reasons I am out here. We want to make sure that the government is able to implement the remainder of this compact with success so that the benefits are afforded to the Liberian people.” Nash said.
He praised the “tremendous accomplishment” of the compact on the Mt. Coffee hydro project, and said the MCC’s attention is now focused on the establishment of the electricity regulatory body for Liberia, the training of technicians by LEC and transmission and distribution of power as well as implementation of the road component of the compact.
Nash, an experienced international development specialist, with mre than 20 years working continental development prgrammes is overseeing and managing key aspects of the MCC operations, administration and programming, and advising MCC’s CEO or head of the agency on program development, implementation and oversight.
For his part, MCA-L, CEO, Monie R. Captan, said the Liberia chapter of the MCC duties are to manage the implementation of the grant, and set the necessary procedures for Liberia passing more indicators.
Mr. Captan stated that the government should develop an action plan to ensure all of the ministries and agencies that are connected to these performances and develop a clear policy action plan to boost performance.
“Sometimes we failed indicators, because the reporting ministry did not provide the information that was needed to judge our performance,” he said.
The US$257 million compact is largely supporting Liberia’s electricity project, ensuring power accessibility and affordability and helping to buttress the country’s road network.
The five-year compact is already into its half way stage and intends to impact an estimated half a million Liberians before ending in 2021.
Other members of Nash’s delegation were MCC’s Acting Chief of Staff Chris Dunn and Resident Country Director Kateri Clement.
