State House, Freetown, Monday 8 November 2021 – His Excellency President Dr Julius Maada Bio has received the 2022 Millennium Challenge Corporation, MCC, Scorecard from U.S. envoy, David Reimer, with Sierra Leone recording its third consecutive pass after its first year of Compact Development.
The country also passed the natural resource protection indicator for the first time, placing it in the fifty-eight percentile of lower-income countries. This indicator assessed the level of protection of the major biomes in a specific territory and in 2021 Sierra Leone did its first comprehensive review of the database.
Since the small resource-rich West African nation was selected in December 2020, the Compact Development team worked very hard to complete the constraints analysis and identified power as the most binding constraint to growth.
“In that regard, a preliminary proposal on investment opportunities in the power sector has been submitted for MCC approval. Passing the scorecard means that Compact implementation can continue into 2022 during which feasibility studies and design work will be undertaken to firm up the interventions for the multi-hundred-million-dollar Compact agreement,” according to the Sierra Leone Compact Development Unit.
It also noted that the country’s achievement was part of the Government’s effort to develop baseline data and set targets towards its commitment to tackling climate change and environmental degradation.
Sierra Leone also continues to make gains in the area of ruling justly moving from 81% to 83% in the fight against corruption. These indicators measure just and democratic governance, including a country’s demonstrated commitment to promoting political pluralism, equality, and the rule of law; respecting human and civil rights; protecting private property rights; encouraging transparency and accountability of government; and combating corruption.
“During the reporting period, Sierra Leone launched the accountability platform under the chairmanship of the Honourable Vice President that is tasked with coordinating measurable priority actions amongst stakeholders such as the Anti-Corruption Commission, Audit Service Sierra Leone, Ministry of Finance, the National Public Procurement Authority and Parliament to improve accountability within the broader framework of promoting good governance. Some areas of focus include the implementation of the audit recommendations,” the Unit said.
In the area of investing in citizens, Sierra Leone passed 5 out of 6 indicators with significant increases in Government expenditures in both health and primary education, 61% and 92% respectively. Further, at 88.1%, more girls than any other period are completing primary education, a key pillar within the Free Quality Education flagship programme.
The Unit concluded that the Government of His Excellency, President Julius Maada Bio remained committed to improving performance on the scorecard within its broader aspirations to promote good governance and democracy, invest in human capital development and create an enabling investment climate.
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