Monrovia – The Government of Liberia has begun planning to improve the country’s performance score under the Millennium Challenge Corporation governance indicators.
The MCC, United States agency that manages the grant, sets a fixed standard and beneficiary countries should pass at least 12 of its 20 indicators before qualifying for the compact.
Liberia received an MCC grant of US$257 million from the MCC to enhance its electricity and road projects after the country passed the scorecard.
A government will have to make significant gains in controlling corruption, fiscal policy, girls’ primary education completion rate, rule of law, investing in people, increasing immunization rate, investing in health care and education, and promoting a business-friendly environment or several other indicators to qualify for the MCC development grant.
Recently, 26 heads of ministries and agencies gathered at the Ministry of Finance and Development Planning (MFDP) under the umbrella of the GoL MCC steering Committee. The meeting was chaired by Finance Minister Samuel D. Tweah.
Minister Tweah outlined the MCC eligibility program and implementation activities and pointed out the important role of the Steering Committee in ensuring that Liberia qualifies for a second MCC Compact grant.
Liberia first qualified in 2015 and signed a US$257M compact grant now being used to support the energy sector, provide access to reliable and affordable electricity and build the foundation for the periodic maintenance of primary roads in the country.
In June this year, Jonathan Nash, Chief Operating Officer of MCC spent a week in Monrovia and held talks with President George Weah and several officials of government about the performance of the current compact.
During his visit, Nash stressed that maintaining performance on the current compact, and the scorecard will be critical for the country to be considered for another grant.
“To obtain a second compact, the board looks at the extent at which a country was able to deliver and have a high-quality implementation of the first compact. The board generally looks for improved performance on the scorecard over time as well,” he said.
Monie Captan, CEO of the Millennium Challenge Account- Liberia (MCA-L) – the agency setup in country to manage the implementation of the grant, had earlier hinted that there are opportunities for Liberia to pass more indicators.
But he suggested that government should develop an action plan to ensure all of the ministries and agencies that are connected to these performances develop a clear policy action plan to boost performance.
Apparently informed by suggestions from the MCA-L, the government then moved quickly to setup the steering committee.
At its first meeting, the committee agreed to work with transparency institutions to ensure improved score on control of corruption indicator.
The Liberia Anti-Corruption Commission will distribute the asset deceleration forms to all GOL ministries and agencies and ensure that heads of agencies submit their assets declaration forms on time, the committee suggested.
Amongst other suggestions, the committee also seeks to enhance public awareness of government policy reform initiatives, mandating the MFDP to ensure that all participating institutions develop and maintain an active website with current information.
At the same time, the Minister of Labor will come up with the cost and report to the chair of the steering committee, while the Ministry of Information Culture Affairs and Tourism will work with the office of the President and chair of the steering committee to ensure the passage of the Act to decriminalize free speech.
The Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Finance and Development planning will work to disaggregate the education expenditure data to account for girls` primary education expenditure and populate the UNESCO education data form.
The Ministry of Health and the Public Health Institute will generate relevant health statistics, especially on health expenditure and immunization rate.
The committee also suggested that MFDP will engage WASH sector institutions to discuss the need to revive the formation and functioning of sector.
At the meeting, steering committee members also agreed for the Ministry of Labor to work with the office of the president to issue a public statement on the state of human trafficking and re-energize the work of National Task Force on Trafficking in Persons, while the Ministry of Justice will work with the Judiciary to reduce pretrial detentions and prison overcrowdings.
The Ministry of Commerce will strengthen the business reform committee by adding to it the Public Procurement and Concession Commission, Liberia Land Authority and the Ministry of State.
The Ministry of Finance and Development Planning will work with the Public Procurement and Concession Commission to upgrade the automation of the procurement system.
The Liberia Business Registry will lead the formation of a technical committee comprising the Public Procurement and Concession Commission, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, Liberia Land Authority and the National Investment Commission together with the Ministry of Finance and Development planning to discuss ways of improving Liberia’s business environment.
As part of the agreed action points, the GoL MCC Technical Working Group will convene at a retreat later this month to begin planning performance tracking and reporting.
The outcome of the committee’s work will be critical to putting Liberia in a better standing on the scorecard ahead of the conclusion of the current compact, expected to elapse in 2021.