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.