December 8, 2021
Sierra Leone’s Vice President Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh is in Accra, Ghana, as head of a high-level delegation, including the Minister of Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay, has on the 6th December, 2021 hold experience sharing discussions with Ghana’s Millennium Development Authority, MIDA, with a view to helping Sierra Leone successfully implement its MCC’s Compact Development Programs with specific reference to energy.
Vice President Dr. Mohamed Juldeh Jalloh said the team felt highly honored and gratified to be in Ghana and was keen on learning from and adopting the Ghanaian model or approach to implementing the Compact Development Programs, noting that the visit would also further strengthen the bilateral relations between Sierra Leone and Ghana.
He said Sierra Leone had set its sights on improving the social and productive sectors with specific reference to energy generation, evacuation, distribution and governance. He said the administration of President Julius Maada Bio had increased the energy access rate in the country from 16% in 2018 to 31% in 2021, noting that solar or off grid energy had been used to make that significant improvement.
Vice President Jalloh spoke about the critical significance of electricity and catalogued the numerous challenges the country’s energy sector was faced with. He concluded by saying that he was optimistic that the team would learn immensely from the visit and would have something positive to take back home to help the country plan well in the implementation of its Compact Programs in the area of energy.
Minister of Energy, Alhaji Kanja Sesay, said electricity was a capital intensive sector, adding that governments normally find it very difficult to invest in its generation component.
He said there was therefore the need for private sector intervention in the sector. Mr. Sesay noted that his country was impressed with the way Ghana had implemented Compact Programs, stressing that Sierra Leone had drawn inspiration from them and was willing to learn.
Chief Executive Officer of Ghana’s Millennium Development Authority, MIDA, Mr. Martin Benjamin, said his country and MIDA were highly honored to have such a high-level delegation visiting, adding that MIDA was willing to share whatever positive experiences it had in its locker with the Sierra Leonean delegation.
He gave a general overview of MIDA’s work on Compact Programs and the Millennium Challenge purse for Africa.
Mr. Martin Benjamin called for the harmonization of efforts of different governments and stakeholders to enable countries maximize the benefits that accrue from the American government’s huge financial and technical investments in Africa through the Millennium Challenge Program.
Chief Executive Officer of MCCU in Sierra Leone,Ndeya Koroma, said the team was in Ghana to understand the success rate and challenges of MIDA to help Sierra Leone learn important lessons and to help the country implement its own Compact Program in an efficient manner and to make it eligible for future programs.