President George Weah has told the United States Ambassador here in the presence of the Vice President of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), that Liberia is willing and ready to do business with American investors but that the country should be treated fairly.
President Weah said Liberians love America and would wish that its companies that makes it a great nation are present here but requested that in the process Liberians should be given their fair share of the deal.
President Weah made these comments at the ground breaking ceremony for the construction of a raw water pipeline in White Plains. The project itself is expected to deliver water from the dam using gravity flow, saving the Liberian Water and Sewer Corporation US780, 000 a year in electricity costs to pump water to the water treatment plant.
The project which is valued at US18 million is said to be the last phase of the Liberian compact of the Millennium Challenge Account Liberia.
It could be recalled that in 2016, the US Government awarded Liberia a US257 million grant over a five year period to help aid development in critical areas after the country passed the MCC scorecard.
The areas include Funding for the rehabilitation of the Mt. Coffee Hydropower Plant, Development of a training programs for technicians in the electricity sector,Supporting the creation of an independent energy sector regulator, Supporting a management services contract to the Liberia Electricity Company aimed at improving the delivery of electricity services, andBuilding capacity and strengthening institutions for a cost-effective approach to nationwide road maintenance.For a country to qualify for an MCC grant it should pass at least 10 of the 20 indicators.
However, President Weah’s comment of the fair treatment of Liberia came just after he called for a paradigm shift in the working of the MCC to enable both the Liberian government and the US Government’s over-sea development agency to work together.
“We need a paradigm shift within the MCC to enable the government and the MCC look at the scorecard to enable some level of flexibilities,” Weah said.
President Weah’s comment also came on the heels of the MCC release of the 2020 scorecard in which Liberia failed 12 of the 20 indicators. With a score of 10/20, it means Liberia would have qualified for another round of the MCC support for badly needed developmental projects here.
But President Weah who was comical about the MCC scorecard said if a student is require to score a grade of 10/10 at least an 8/10 should show that the student has done well and therefore that should be considered a passing grade.-By Othello B. Garblah
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