MCC, Ghana explore new development partnership
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) has opened fresh discussions with Ghana on a possible return to a development partnership.
This followed a high-level meeting with officials of the Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) in New York.
The meeting provided an opportunity for the two institutions to review Ghana’s longstanding relationship with the United States development agency, assess the legacy of the country’s two completed Compacts and explore areas for possible future cooperation.
MiDA’s delegation was led by its Chief Executive Officer, Alexander Kofi-Mensah Mould, and Board Chairman, Charles Abugre, while the MCC team was led by Acting Vice-President for Compact Operations, Jason Small, and Senior Policy Adviser, Tariq Ahmed.
Mr Small said Ghana’s previous experience with the MCC would be an important consideration should the country pursue another Compact.
He said the MCC had strengthened its assessment of potential partner countries to include opportunities for increased United States investment, U.S. exports and supply-chain development involving critical materials and minerals.
For countries such as Ghana that had previously implemented MCC programmes, he said the Corporation would also assess the performance of earlier investments, their level of completion and whether associated reforms had been sustained.
Such an assessment, he noted, could give Ghana an opportunity to demonstrate reforms and institutional improvements made since challenges affected the implementation of the second Compact.
The $498.2 million Ghana Power Compact was signed in 2014 and entered into force in September 2016. Following the termination of the ECG-PDS concession in 2019, the MCC de-obligated $190 million of the Compact that was conditional on the concession.
The remaining programme was subsequently implemented through MiDA, with the MCC and Ghana formally completing the Power Compact in June 2022.
Mr Mould said Ghana’s energy sector could provide a platform for renewed cooperation, particularly given the infrastructure and experience developed under the previous Compact.
He identified opportunities to strengthen the electricity grid, improve the performance of distribution companies and deepen regional electricity integration across West Africa.
He also pointed to the potential for natural gas infrastructure linking Ghana and Nigeria to support regional power generation and improve electricity reliability.
“We’re looking at the natural gas that we have, and also Nigeria, to see how we can work together to do the pipeline to ensure that we have gas flowing across the region to generate electricity and also to improve the grid,” Mr Mould said.
Ghana has completed two MCC-funded programmes; the first Ghana Compact, supporting agriculture, transportation and rural development, and the Ghana Power Compact, which focused on electricity infrastructure and power-sector reforms.
The New York discussions provide a platform for Ghana to demonstrate progress since its previous MCC partnership and explore the prospects for a new phase of cooperation.
BY NORMAN COOPER
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