Will MCA II end ‘dumsor dumsor’?
Ghana is on the path to receiving yet another major support from the United States of America under the Millennium Challenge Account compact II (MCA II) designed to achieve specific goals in the power and small and micro-business sectors.
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The energy sector in the country is currently facing serious difficulties in relation to power generation, the result of which has compelled the Electricity Company of Ghana to embark on a load-shedding exercise.
It is pleasing to gather that as Ghana is getting ready to sign the MCA compact II in Washington, USA, in the course of this year, the Ghanaian citizenry will expect some level of efficiency and improvement in the energy delivery system since the compact II is geared towards providing support to that sector.
Visit to Vice-President
Recently, a group of US officials, led by the Deputy Head of Mission at the US Embassy, Ms Patricia Alsup, and their Ghanaian counterparts paid a courtesy call on Mr Kwesi Bekoe Amissah-Arthur, Ghana’s Vice-President, to brief him on the Partnership for Growth (PfG) agenda.
The Ghanaian side of the meeting with the Vice-President was led by the Finance Minister, Mr Seth Terkper, who was supported by the Chief Executive Officer of the Bui Power Authority, Mr Jabesh Amissah-Arthur, and a deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana, Mr Millison Narh.
The PfG is a partnership between the United States and a select group of countries to accelerate and sustain broad-based economic growth by putting into practice the principles of President Obama’s September 2010 Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development.
It involves rigorous joint analysis of constraints to growth, the development of joint action plans to address these constraints, and high-level mutual accountability for implementation. One of PfG’s signature objectives is to engage governments, the private sector and civil society with a broad range of tools to unlock new sources of investment, including domestic resources and foreign direct investment.
This is to be achieved by improving co-ordination, leveraging private investment, and focusing on political commitment of both the governments and the PfG that enables partners to achieve better development results.
Partnership
The partnership is designed to sustain and broaden Ghana’s economic growth by strengthening the power sector and improving access to credit. By reaching these goals, the Government of Ghana will provide the foundation for an exuberant and dynamic private sector and send a strong message across the country and the world that Ghana is truly open for business.
Since the partnership began in February 2011, the two sides have worked together to lay the groundwork for processes to begin on the MCA II, including constraint analysis, their commitment to a statement of principles, and their development of a joint country action plan.
In the last couple of weeks, a joint mission of technical leaders from Ghana and the USA have worked intensively to prepare for the next stage of the partnership and together have developed a detailed action plan, monitoring and evaluation protocols, and a score card to track their progress.
The technical leadership on the Ghanaian side on access to credit is made up of Mr Millison Narh, a Deputy Governor of the Bank of Ghana and Ms Yvonne Quansah, Director, Financial Sector Division, at the Ministry of Finance and Economic Planning.
On the power sector, Mr Jabesh Amissah Arthur, the CEO of the Bui Power Authority, and Mr Andrew Barfour, Project Co-ordinator of Ghana Energy and Development Access Project, are leading the technical team. In addition, Professor Samuel Sefa-Dedeh, the National Co-ordinator for Compact Two Development and Chairman of the Millennium Development Authority, has made significant contributions.
Ms Mangowa Ghanney of the Ministry of Finance and Ms Evelyn Agyemfra of the Office of the Vice-President have made invaluable contributions by way of co-ordination in organising this joint mission.
The successful execution of the Partnership for Growth Work Plan will require bold but necessary, forward-looking policy reforms, and a consistent and demonstrated commitment to see them through.
The work plans contain specific, time-bound actions. Together, we are accountable for translating these plans into actions.
A number of US agencies are providing technical assistance and support in this partnership, including the Millennium Challenge Corporation, the Treasury Department, the State Department, the Export-Import Bank, the Small Business Administration and the US Agency for International Development.
Ms Alsup of the US Embassy told the Daily Graphic during the visit to the Vice-President that “ultimately, we know the ownership and success of our partnership rests with the Government of Ghana” and expressed the firmness of the US to that principle.
To that end, she encouraged the Government of Ghana to establish a secretariat with convening, inter-ministerial authorities that could effectively manage PfG implementation, co-ordinate with stakeholders, monitor and assess progress, and support the Joint Steering Committee.
It is the expectation of the Ghanaian people that MCA II, after signing the agreement, will expand the country’s energy capacity to meet the increasing demand, thereby saying ‘good bye’ to ‘dumsor’ ‘dumsor’.
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