In a recent tweet, a member of the United States Foreign Relations Committee now explains how the outcome of the 2023 election violence and corruption continues to hinder progress towards the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), which aims to revamp Sierra Leone’s electricity sector and combat chronic blackouts.

In a tweet, Senators Jim Risch and R. Idaho said: “The MCC’s compact aims to revamp Sierra Leone’s electricity sector, combatting chronic blackouts. However, the 2023 election violence & corruption continue to hinder progress toward it. More must be done in order to solidify this compact.”

The urgency of the situation was highlighted by a severe blackout that plunged the capital, Freetown, into darkness due to the government’s excessive debt of over US$27 million owed to Karpowership, the primary electricity supplier. The partial suspension of operations by Karpowership further exacerbated the crisis.

BBC also reported that “Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, and other cities have been plunged into darkness for weeks, due to the non-payment of electricity bills to the power providers.”

They went on to state that this calamity has severely disrupted daily life, with operations disrupted in major hospitals.

Sierra Leone has been widely dependent on Karpowership to deliver most of its electricity supply in the capital, Freetown, and due to unpaid bills by the government the Turkish ship decided to shut down its supply by cutting down the mega wattage delivered.

BBC also lamented that “Karpowership, the Turkish ship which supplies most of Freetown’s power, has virtually switched off the lights over an unpaid bill of about $48m (£38m), despite repeated assurances by the finance minister to settle the debt.”

They also reported of the reduced wattage of CLSG supply to other areas in the country making the problem much worse for the government and the people of Sierra Leone.

“CLSG, an Ivorian power supplier, has also significantly reduced its supply to the south-eastern cities of Bo, Kenema and Koidu over unpaid arrears. it reduced its supply from 32 megawatts to 10. It is not clear how much the state owes it,” they outlined.

The Senate Relations Committee however thinks that the MCC compact would have been a bailout for the government and people of Sierra Leone had everything gone well and the country scored well in democratisation and other sovereign areas but due to the 2023 election violence and corruption continue to hinder the progress toward it. They think that more must be done in order to solidify this compact.