November 10, 2021
By: Mohamed Jalloh
Sierra Leone continues to make progress on the Millennium Challenge Cooperation (MCC) scorecard recording her 3rd consecutive pass after its first year of compact development. On this scorecard, the country passes the natural resources protection indicator for the first time placing it in the 58th percentile of lower income countries.
This indicator asses the level of protection of the major biomes in a specific territory and in 2021, Sierra Leone did its first comprehensive review of the data base.
This achievement is part of government’s effort to develop a baseline data base and set targets towards its commitment to tackle climate change and environmental degradation.
Sierra Leone continues to make gains in the area of ruling justly moving from 81% to 83% in the fight against corruption.
In the area of investing in citizens Sierra Leone passes 5 out of six indicators with significant increases in government expenditure in both health and primary education 61% and 92% respectively.
While the country passes 13 out of 20 indicators, there are areas that require improvements including gender and economy where there is slight dip in performance. However, Sierra Leone expects to make improvement on this indicator area on the upcoming scorecard given the imminent enactment of the gender empowerment bill.
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 improvements for the multi-hundred million dollar compact agreement.
In that regard a preliminary proposal on investment opportunities in the power sector has been submitted for MCC approval. The vice president is charged with coordinating MDA`s to improve accountability within the broader framework of promoting good governance.