It seems nothing stirs up political enthusiasm in Sierra Leone quite like the chance to claim credit for someone else’s work—or, in this case, a $480 million agreement. The MCC Compact Program, which promises to fix our failing electricity transmission, has somehow turned into a battle of “who wore it best” in the government.

It started out smoothly enough. President Julius Maada Bio, in a classy Washington, D.C. cocktail event, thanked the Vice President for hunting down those elusive MCC Scorecard indicators.
It was nice to see some teamwork, really.

His wife, First Lady Fatima Bio, even hopped onto Facebook to sing praises, celebrating the VP for his “no noise, big bang” approach to leadership.

Just when we thought the thank-yous were done, Chief Minister Moinina David Sengeh—always one to add a little drama—jumped into the fray.

Apparently, none of it mattered until he swooped in for a heroic one-hour meeting with a Congressional staffer, who was apparently holding everything up just to meet him.

He insists this single conversation was the magical key that unlocked the MCC Compact.
“All he needed was to meet with me,” he said, surely securing himself a future cameo in the next James Bond movie.

And so, here we are, with three top government officials vying for the MVP trophy in the MCC Compact finals.
You’ve got the Vice President’s silent warrior approach, the Chief Minister’s one-hour wonder talk, and, of course, the President, overseeing it all with the cool detachment of someone who knows he’s already won.

But let’s not forget the actual point of all this: the agreement is meant to address electricity transmission issues.
You know, the thing that has us flipping switches and praying every night.
Yet, instead of focusing on whether this five-year, multi-million-dollar program will actually keep the lights on, we’re left watching our leaders play “Who Wants to Be a Hero?”

As the agreement heads to Cabinet and Parliament for approval, one can only hope the battle for credit doesn’t spill over into the implementation phase. It’s going to take a lot more than one-hour conversations and social media praise to fix Sierra Leone’s power issues.
Perhaps the politicians will save some of that energy (pun intended) for when the real work begins.

In the meantime, here’s hoping the MCC Compact includes a provision for cooling all the overheated egos.
After all, if the electricity situation doesn’t improve, at least we can count on the glow of political self-congratulation to light the way.