Parliament Ratifies $480, 000 US Dollar MCC Compact Agreement

By Feima Sesay

The house of parliament in a swift response to an emergency summon by the president has in a resounding voice unanimously debated and rarified the Mellennium Challenge Compact (MCC) Agreement between the Government of Sierra Leone and the United States of America (USA).

The MCC agreement which was signed between the government of Sierra Leone and the USA government this year is a four hundred and eighty million United States dollars ($ 480,000,000) agreement to help boost the energy infrastructure of Sierras Leone.

Mr. Fantamadi Bangura, the Finance Minister tabled the MCC agreement for the House of Representatives to ratify and bring into effect its implementation.

He explained to members of parliament (MPs) that the MCC compact agreement when implemented would increase to the electricity supply across the country and give access to over 4.6 million people with reliable and clean energy.

Hon. Daniel Koroma, the Deputy Leader of the opposition referred to the MCC compact as a miracle and truly God given. The Honourable Deputy Opposition Leader noted that one of the requirements that qualifies a country for the MCC compact is human right. He however stated that the country’s qualification for the MCC compact has left him in wonder because there are a huge number of human right issues in Sierra Leone including the staggering relationship between the government and the opposition party coupled with other abnormalities happening in the country, yet President Bio and his government were still able to pull through and secure the MCC compact.

“To me this MCC compact is a God given agreement,” he said.

While making his input in the debate, Honourable Mohamed Alpha Jalloh asserted that the agreement was good for the general good for the country, but registered his concern about the urgency of the house to introduce it in the morning and intended to pass it the same day giving MPs only 24 hours to address the details of the agreement leaving them with little time to make more input.

The honourable member admonished his colleagues on the government bench to note that the compliance aspect of the MCC agreement goes beyond thos required for qualifications and urged the government to ensure that all those technical issues in the agreement are complied with in order to get the full package of the agreement.

Hon. Hindolo Ngavao representing Kailahun District registered his gratifications to the Sierra Leonean citizens for cooperating with President Bio and his government in order to ensure that there was calm and absolute peace in the land which was the bedrock for the USA government to sign the agreement with Sierra Leone.

He highlighted some of the benchmark the country reached to earn the qualifications for the MCC Compact some of which included fighting corruption, promotion of human rights among others.

“All of those benchmarks of fighting corruption, upholding the basic human rights and dignity of citizens, are what qualified the country for the MCC compact,” Hon. Ngavao stated.

Hon. Rebecca Yei Kamara from Kono District said the impact of the agreement would help promote President Bio’s agenda of capital human development by way of supporting the younger generation to be explored their creative minds with the adequate use of the clean and reliable energy supply from the MCC compact agreement.

“When there is reliable electricity, our young people will seek ways of creating their own businesses and jobs for others whether it be a beauty saloon or a small tech shop,” she mentioned.