US rebuffs Malawi on second compact of Millennium Challenge Corporation
The United State’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has decided to not re-select Malawi for another compact program support despite with following some poor scores on a scorecard, including controlling corruption.
The controlling corruption indicator is one of the critical assessment tools for sustenance of the project and examines whether the country is making efforts to fight corruption, levels of prosecution and investigations.
The Millennium Challenge Corporation is a bilateral United States foreign aid agency established by the U.S. Congress in 2004, applying a new philosophy toward foreign aid.
And currently Malawi is implementing a $350.7 million compact which it signed in 2011 to revitalize the country’s power sector. This compact will end in September 2018.
Malawi is missing on the list of countries that have been reselected for support, thus according to published online statement from the MCC office in Washington following a board meeting which its directors held in December, 2017.
The MCC had a pool of about 74 countries which are lower to middle income which it enlisted for candidacy in the 2018 financial year.
Malawi which is completing its energy pact from 2012, this year was among the candidates for reselection.
However according to a results report from the MCC Board they reselected Burkina Faso, Mongolia, Senegal, Sri Lanka, and Tunisia, enabling the development of compacts in those countries to continue.
Two new countries have been selected for the first time namely the Gambia and Timor Leste.
This means that Malawi will now have to work on campaigning to get a new compact to develop another sector other than energy.
In the 2016, Malawi score was in danger of going below the 50 percent mark on control of corruption.
In the 2017 scorecard, Malawi scored 57 percent, seven percentage points below 2015 score under the ruling justly indicator, where controlling corruption falls under.
The 2018 scorecard indicates a score of 59 percent, perhaps owing to increased prosecution of Cashgate cases by the Director of Public Prosecutions and Anti-Corruption Bureau.
However, the US government cautioned that sustainability of the MCC investments would require government commitment to achieving power sector reform goals, including on electricity tariff and environment that allows independent power producers to enter the market.
Meanwhile, the Malawi Government and the MCC office in the country are yet to comment on the matter.
It is an independent agency separate from the State Department and USAID.
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This story is not saying the truth. Malawi’s eligibility for a second Compact will be done in December 2018. The current Compact ends in September and there was no way Malawi would have been assessed before the current Compact is completed. Therefore, Malawi was not on the list of the countries that were being considered for re-selection.
Sad if true. We will fall behind much more with othe countries. But this is not surprising. Too much corruption and taming corruption like it’s a spouse. Chaponda mungomuweta; mukufuna kuweta Uladinso; Atcheya achhita kunenepa ndikuwetedwa; nduna zanu ndi inu nomwe Apitala mukanika kuzizenga milandu yokuba. Mukufuna tonse tinke nanu ngati ma suicide bombers.
That’s the result now. Kusamva kwa boma la DPP anthu akamawadzudzula. Amaona ngati they are clever. Tinkanena adathira mmsiizi. Mbuzi za chilomwe inu. Mukuipitsa mbiri yabwino ya anthu Achilomwe.
Lucius is right: you matchonas came kuzaononga Nyasa. Ndinu ake a Satan’s ndithu.
To respond to above comment (from Trump) The MCC programme might not seem to make impact right now to most Malawians because it’s in initial stages where it is erecting towers from the southern to north via central regions. Hence it is illogical to insinuate that MCC is not making any impact in Malawi. In fact it is the first time in Malawi to have a high valued project ever since Malawi Republic came into existence. Further, the power line under this MCC arrangement is that it will carry nuclear power which for the past decades Malawi have. It been… Read more »
Frigging beggars!!!
What impact has this first MCA made on Malawi? To me nothing!
90% of the consultancy and other contracts went back to US and other foreigners.
We still live in worse blackouts after 5 yrs of MCA
ESCOM generation capacity has not increased.
I knew it, Palmer was all in the news crying about the contract that Aggreko got to supply ESCOM Generators
Achimwene, impact muyiwona bwanji pamene ntchito sinathe? Panopa implementation of the project is around 70% Most of the substations, the powerlines and rehabilitation ya Nkula is still underway and you expect to see blackouts to go? How? Tatiyeni nthawi zina tizilankhula tili ndi ma facts.
You are saying the project implementation is 70% in its final year of 5 years. This looks like a failed project to me. 5 years is 60 months, and now we are in 52nd month, simple months tells me it should have been 87% complete. I would have thought this should have been the wrapping up stage rather than saying rehab of Nkula is under way as you put. This project will not make it by sept 2018, hence a failed project.
Umbava boma la dpp sichina ayi. Kuba komanso katangale too much. Chisankho cha 2019 dzina lake ndi CHOTSA MBAVA!
Atigwiritsa fuwa lamoto a MCC. Forget them and work on home-grown domestic ideas to develop the power sector with support from China.
Zimvere mtolo
Indecisiveness by the APM govt. Trump warned and these are results of accidental leaders. They sleep on the job and take too long to decide.
US is currently reviewing its aid to Africa and corruption is the worst enemy to donors. APM is not doing enough to maintain or attract donors. Lets hope we do not loose the rest of the donors before next elections. Donors are not Happy with DPP. Jappie Mhango is stealibg from all Road Contractors but APM is doing nothing nor reshufle. Malawi is not safe
Cadet wayimva imeneyo? May be ndikumasulire mchichiwa. Akuti chaka chino ndichomaliza (mwadya vomwevo) za mu millennium challenge, kamba ka kuba anthu dpp of public money.