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If you understand how the MCC Compact works, you will understand that no one President of a country must take credit for winning the money, unless he had ruled for over 10 years and there had been no break in leadership
To be honest, President Maada Bio deserves praise for the award, especially in his remarkable international lobbying . He did a great job to be able not to lose the momentum and he added the icing to the cake yesterday when he signed the final outcome. But where the same truth is concerned, Bio will have to share his glory with the late President Ahmed Kabbah, who laid the foundation, and former President Ernest Bai Koroma, who first won it in 2012.
You have to understand how the MCC compiles its scorecards and how the winners are determined for you to grasp this fact. The MCC uses the CUMULATIVE ASSESSMENT system. The final grade is not a one -off from one year’s assessment. Rather, it is spread over past results from previous years.
The MCC started in 2004. That was when the MCC started assessing countries.
Sierra Leone actually reached the point of victory during the President Ernest Koroma era when the MCC announced that Sierra Leone had won the Compact on December 19, 2012. So, the MCC Compact had been won since 2012, by President Koroma but the money was not paid out because the government failed in the Control of Corruption scorecard the following year. APC passed 12 indicators but did not get the required grade in the Corruption bracket.
HERE IS THE PRESS STATEMENT ANNOUNCING THAT THE COMPACT HAD BEEN WON IN 2012
Office of the President
State House
Freetown
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
FREETOWN
DECEMBER 20, 2012
Sierra Leone Wins US Government’s MCC Compact Award
Sierra Leone has won the coveted Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact Award worth hundreds of millions of dollars. The Award, announced on December 19, 2012, was given in recognition of President Dr. Ernest Bai Koroma’s Government’s record of good governance, economic freedom and investments in people. To be eligible for this award a country must pass at least half of the twenty indicators being assessed (Sierra Leone passed twelve), and must also pass the ‘control of corruption’ indicator and either the ‘Civil Liberties’ or ‘Political Rights’ indicators (the country passed all three).
A Compact is a multi-year agreement between the United States Government supported Millennium Challenge Corporation and an eligible country to fund specific programs targeted at reducing poverty and stimulating economic growth.
The award commences a multi-year partnership dedicated to pursuing economic growth and poverty reduction through the development and implementation of a Compact. Sierra Leone will develop its MCC proposals in broad consultation with the citizenry and in accordance with priorities stated in the country’s Agenda for Prosperity. A National Millennium Challenge Account (MCA) will be set up as an accountable entity to manage and oversee all aspects of implementation.
The SIERRAEYE Magazine, which s non- partisan, reported it also, thus :
” In December 2012, Sierra Leone was selected by the MCC board of directors to develop a Compact after passing 12 indicators on the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 scorecard, including the hard hurdle, Control of Corruption, with a score of 53%. ”
” The country set up the Millennium Challenge Coordinating Unit (MCCU) as the local implementing partner with a National Coordinator and staff.
” However, Sierra Leone failed the hard hurdle ‘Control of Corruption’ indicator with a score of 47% the following year on the MCC FY 2014 scorecard. Although the country passed half of the scorecard by passing 11 indicators, at its board meeting in December 2013, Sierra Leone was not re-selected to continue Compact Development. Though the MCC stated, it would maintain ‘continued but limited engagement’ with the country.”
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So, from President Koroma’s grades, the assessments continued to the Bio era, carrying over Koroma’s grades and in 2020 finally, we were called again to start preparing a Compact after the Bio government was adjudged to have passed the Corruption scorecard.
Because Sierra Leone won the Compact in 2012 but failed the corruption indicator in 2013, our consolation was: “MCC and the Government of Sierra Leone first partnered in 2014 on a $40.54 million threshold program to support policy and institutional reform in the water and electricity sectors in Sierra Leone and advance economic growth. ”
So, as you can see, the cumulative grades from both Presidents Koroma and Bio went into the assessments that qualified Sierra Leone for the Compact in 2012. So, you cannot praise Bio without praising Koroma too.
But whatever the case, it was Sierra Leone that won yesterday when the Compact was finally signed.
What do you mean? He won but failed. Meaning he didn’t win. The key attribute on the MCC scorecard is the fight against corruption, and for over five years EBK could only mange to score 40 to 47 percent.
Please give Caesar what belongs to Caesar
APC at it again. Never stop lying. How could Ernest have contributed to our 2022 victory? How can you link 2011 and 2012 PASS to that of 2018 to 2022 EXCELLENT PASS? What happened between 2013 and 2017 under the same Ernest Koroma? Are you ashamed to publish his failed results? I will advise you go back to the MCC website and get the full picture. If you believe Ernest contributed to this success, why then were you pressing the US government to stop Sierra Leone from receiving the grant? Now you want to take credit for what you did not contributed to. I don’t know who is fooling who.
This is the most dumbest writeup I have read ever since I started following sierraloaded. How did former president Koroma contribute to this MCC Compact Fund? Did this writer even check the MCC scores of President Bio and former president Koroma before writing this rubbish? President Koroma consistently failed the criteria setup by the MCC except in 2011 and 2012 when he managed to pass Slightly by 53% respectively and even with that he didn’t win any single kobo at all. President Bio and his government are the ones responsible for this particular MCC Compact fund. They fought for it and they won it even when the opposition APC tried all means possible to stop it. Earnest Koroma has nothing to do with this SLPP glory. Kudo to president Bio and his government for this wonderful achievement.
What is written here and what is published on the MCC’s website is a bit different. The “Half Scorecard Passed” is what is taken into consideration. Le us take results starting from FY2016 to FY2024 for the sake of ” MULTI-YEAR PARTNERSHIP.” Sierra Leone failed FY2016 and 2017, under Ernest and failed in FY2019 under Bio. Now, why would the MCC ignored the failed years of 2019, 2017 and 2016 but include say, 2015 and below in order to award us for FY2022 or 2023? I know Kabs Kanu wants to portray his party as a successful party under Ernest Koroma but please try to find something else that your party achieved during Ernest Era and not try to take glory for APC during the SLPP era.
Bio has won so many MCC what his contribution to the nation ,rather than hardship
This is so dumb. Attempting to attribute a collective achievement to a singular individual. When do we learn to leave politics out of of certain things? MCC was created in 2004 to help poor countries. But you have to apply for it. A gentleman living in the US then introduced the MCC to SL around 2005(?). The government then (APC) bought in and was included in the MCC. Initially the road was bumpy but they made some strides – they qualified for the threshold. The present government (SLPP) built on what was already started and made advances. Who do we congratulate – the person who planted the seeds (introduced the MCC to SL); the person(s) who sowed (the govts, and various institutions)? And now, we are waiting for the harvest
Ooo my God 🤣 simply knowledge people can’t apprehend. they writer mentioned how it all started and struggles behind the compact. if there was no enrollment to the MCC how could sierra Leone be part of this. let’s praise our leaders They all made inroads to the great achievement. we don’t even get the money rather we are still not complying to the conditions behind the disbursement of the compact.