By Esther Wright
Vice President, Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh, is heading a team of Senior Cabinet Ministers, the Financial Secretary and the Chief Executive Officer MCC to Sierra Leone to Senegal.
The delegation, which landed on Monday January 25th, 2021, is to gain an understanding of Senegal’s Compact development process including the analysis phase and consultation process. They are also to deep dive into Compact development- especially the root cause analysis which led to the prioritization of the areas in the energy sector that would be the focus of the Compact.
The study tour is expected to build cooperation and collaboration between key Government Ministries and the two Governments.
While in Dakar and to ensure targeted and structured engagements, the delegation will hold key thematic discussions on the compact development and implementation.
Thematic areas to look at are the Compact Development consultation process, high level overview of Senegal’s compact development and deep dive into project development phase.
Several discussions will be held with the various Ministries of Petroleum and Gas, Water Resources, Finance and Energy and Power. Discussions will also be held with the relevant heads of water utility services and energy utility leaders and regulators.
The Minister of Finance, Jacob Jusu Saffa, the Minister of Economic Planning and Development- Dr. Francis Kai Kai and the Chief Executive Officer, Sierra Leone’s MCC Accountability Entity- Mrs Ndeye Fatu Koroma formed part of the delegation.
The MCC program was established by the United States of America in 2004 and offers targeted assistance to poor countries that have a record of good governance and are also considered solid prospects for economic growth. Those who meet the conditions are rewarded with multimillion-dollar investment packages. Recipient countries are encouraged to work with the MCC and in consultation with their own citizens in order to generate plans for spending the money.
Senegal has been consistently qualifying for the MCC compact and
in September 2009,they signed a $540 million Compact aimed at reducing poverty and increase economic growth. In 2018, Senegal also signed a compact agreement with the MCC designed to increase reliability and access to electricity, support economic growth and reduce poverty.
