By Kruah Thompson
Finance Minister Samuel Tweh says Liberia has never lost the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact as it has been spread by some media people in the country.
Speaking on state broadcaster ELBC Tuesday, 8 November 2022, Minister Tweah said he sees it as a fundamental error to say Liberia has lost the MCC compact.
The Finance Minister indicated that the Compact began in 2016 and ended in 2021, arguing that Liberia can not lose a contract when the life span of the contract has not ended.
“The MCC does not look at a one-year scorecard, what they look at is your performance as a country during the entire life span of the compact,” Tweah argued.
“The scorecard has shown a consistent pattern of improvement, contrary to what has been narrated by the public. And … MCC has just put the country Liberia on the globe,” said Mr. Tweah.
In this year’s report, Liberia has historically passed the MCC compact scoring 12 out of 20 indicators.
The country is eligible for consideration for a compact, after failing miserably in 2021.
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The annual MCC scorecard measures a country’s commitment to just and democratic governance, investment in its people, and economic freedom.
The indicators measure countries’ broad policy framework for encouraging poverty reduction through economic growth.
A country needs to pass just 10 out of 20 indicators to pass the scorecard.
According to the MCC website, for the Fiscal Year 2023, Liberia has successfully passed 12 out of 20 indicators. This marks the most Liberia has scored since the MCC began publishing the scorecard in 2008.
Minister Tweah said the MCC compacts are five-year agreements through which the United States provides grants to partner countries to support programs that reduce poverty through economic growth.
Minister Tweh further said citizens are confused about why the government did not pass the country’s eligibility scores when they were still on the five years Compact.
However, he said if the country had passed the scorecard in 2019, it would have still applied for another Compact.
Minister Tweah noted that the year that was most important for winning the Compacts was 2021 because, after that year, the country would have had a fair chance to reapply for another compact.
He said the MCC compact seeks to help every country to solve two major important problems.
For Liberia, he said the biggest problems are roads and electricity.
For this reason, he said the Weah government and the previous government decided to put their focus on roads and electricity, and access to finance and education.
He revealed that the MCC invested US$27 million into the Mount Coffee Hydropower Plant.
He hailed the president for mounting pressure on officials to pass the MCC scorecard.
