PONDER MY THOUGHTS BY Andrew Keili MCC SCORES: RAMIFICATION FOR SIERRA LEONE I am still hoping that my country will qualify for the MCC compact award which will undoubtedly bode well for us. One can be excused for being unfazed with the temporary setback that will make the hill considerably more steep to climb for us to achieve our objectives, albeit with the caveat that government puts the bad parts of the results in the important lessons learnt for action category. I am however not so much interested in the mechanism of getting there, as this can be explained better by others more versed in the niceties of how a country eventually qualifies. I would rather be preoccupied with what the scores say about how our country is governed. One has long since lost faith in most of our internal monitoring and evaluation mechanisms especially those bordering on government performance. The MCC indicators do in fact inform us about how well our broad policy framework encourages poverty reduction through economic growth. This can also be a tool for us in our varied spheres of life and our government to monitor performance and advocate for continued policy reform. The indicators are independently and transparently developed by third-parties that measure our demonstrated commitment to just and democratic governance, investments in our people, and economic freedom. To judge performance on the policy indicators, a country should perform above the median or absolute threshold on at least half of the indicators, above the median on the Control of Corruption indicator, and above the absolute threshold on either the Civil Liberties or Political Rights indicators. The following indicators are measured by MCC in the three categories of Ruling Justly, Investing in People, and Encouraging Economic Freedom. Ruling Justly-These indicators measure just and democratic governance, including a country’s demonstrated commitment to promoting political pluralism, equality, and the rule of law; respecting human and civil rights; protecting private property rights; encouraging transparency and accountability of government; and combating corruption. Civil Liberties—Countries are rated on: freedom of expression; association and organizational rights; rule of law and human rights; and personal autonomy and economic rights, among other things. Political Rights—Independent experts rate countries on: the prevalence of free and fair elections of officials with real power; the ability of citizens to form political parties that may compete fairly in elections; freedom from domination by the military, foreign powers, totalitarian parties, and the political rights of minority groups, among other things. So how did we fare? First the good news. We passed on inflation, regulatory quality, trade policy, girls education completion rate, gender in the economy, political rights, civil liberties, freedom of information, access to credit, business start up and the rule of law. The government has been able to keep inflation below 15%. Our investment in the education of the girl child seems to be yielding dividends. Several initiatives in doing business, making us rise in rankings have borne fruit. We still have a relatively free press and despite our upheavals the rule of law can be said to prevail in this country. The not so good news! We have failed on nine of these scores in the following areas: fiscal policy, health expenditure, primary education, natural resources protection, immunisation rates, child health, land rights and access, government effectiveness and control of corruption. Cutting out the needless jargon and putting things simply, it is telling us the following: Fiscal Policy - Government borrowing is high. We are probably trying to live beyond our means and may be too ambitious with the projects we have undertaken. Health expenditure-The total expenditure on health is low and we are not providing quality health care. Also child mortality rates are high. This is not surprising- the parlous state of our health facilities and poor commitment by health provision personnel remain serious concerns. Sierra Leones health expenditure levels are still considerable short of the 15 % of the national budget required as per the Abuja declaration. Primary education-The promotion of broad-based primary education remains poor and total expenditure on primary education is low. This is not that surprising as education seems to have been put on the back burner. Natural resources protection -This refers mainly to the sustainable management of natural resources which mainly pertains to the protection of our tropical rainforests. The high rate of deforestation and difficulty in meeting the requirements of various related international conventions to which we are signatory will make it difficult to achieve this. Immunization Rates – We need to achieve a 90 percent immunisation rate, which we have not done. Child Health - This index is made up of three indicators - access to improved water, access to improved sanitation, and child (ages 1-4) mortality. There are improvements being pursued but we are still a long way off the mark. Land Rights and Access— This rates countries on the extent to which the institutional, legal, and market frameworks provide secure land tenure and equitable access to land in rural areas, and the time and cost of property registration in urban and peri-urban areas. Land problems currently abound in all spheres and are being constantly aired in the media. How the new land policy will address these problems is anyones guess. Government Effectiveness—This is an index of surveys and expert assessments that rate countries on: the quality of public service provision; civil servants’ competency and independence from political pressures; and the government’s ability to plan and implement sound policies, among other things. Our failure in this area indicates that we need to jerk ourselves from our slumber and have the political will to address many of our thorny problems. Control of Corruption— Countries are rated on: “grand corruption” in the political arena; the frequency of petty corruption; the effects of corruption on the business environment; and the tendency of elites to engage in “state capture,” among other things. It is a very important consideration for qualifying for the MCC. Failing this does not say much for our fight against corruption. How do we compare to other nations in the sub-region? Liberia has also failed on a considerable number of the indices-11 out of the 20. They have however passed on the all important corruption index. It is also noteworthy that they have passed on health expenditure. Of course as would be expected, Ghana, which had received its compact award long ago has dusted its heels and left us behind passing on all except fiscal policy, primary school expenditure and trade policy. Time for action by Government! POLITICIANS AND MONEY: FROM GHANA WITH LOVE Robert James Manion, in “Gentlemen, Players and Politicians quipped: ” “No man should enter politics unless he is independently rich or independently poor.” The case of Ms. Victoria Hammah, an erstwhile Deputy Minister in Ghana has recently brought the issue of politicians and money to the fore. Ms. Hannah was fired just one day after the tape which contains her $1m-making ambition went viral on social media. It was also played on a local radio station. On the tape, which is suspected to have been made by her driver, she is quoted as saying, If you have money then you can control people. Apparently, Ms. Hammah is no stranger to controversy. She apparently said last August there was pressure on her to steal public money because people believed that, being a Minister, she was rich. Not everyone seems to be knocking Ms. Hammah, however. Kwame Mayo, the Ghanaian-born AMERICAS MANDELA opined thus: It should be noted that Ms Victoria Hammah could have used Politics to make $ 1 Million through writing Best Seller Books !!!, in his new Book captioned : Politics $1 Million Dollars --- The Untold Story of a Gorgeous Woman, Who Drowned in Africas Men Only --- High Seas of Corruption. Unless there is Evidence to prove that Ms. Victoria Hammah was engaged in Corruption, Civility of Democracy demands that she should not have been fired for merely Day-Dreaming to become a Millionaire, or engaging in a private conversation. Poor Ms. Hammah, a rising star in President Mahamas government after having campaigned so hard for him is now sidelined for dreaming out loud about money. To say that politicians like money is an understatement. One source quotes: In many advanced countries, people with money enter politics but there are many instances in which people enter politics in both advanced and developing countries (especially in the latter) to make money. Many Americans grumble about the wealth of their politicians, but they are paupers compared with their Chinese counterparts. The 50 richest members of Americas Congress are worth $1.6 billion in all. In China, the wealthiest 50 delegates to the National Peoples Congress, the rubber-stamp parliament, control $94.7 billion. In many countries including ours that could ill afford it, we see independently poor politicians becoming dependently rich. It is however difficult to catch them with their fingers in the till. Many engage in different kinds of corruption including bribery, extortion, cronyism, patronage and sometimes outright embezzlement. In Ghana the member of Parliament for Berekum East, Dr. Kwabena Twum Nuamah is quoted as saying that society is to be blamed for the massive corruption in his country-“In Ghana now, it pays to be corrupt because the society itself is pushing to be corrupt. If you are in government and you are not corrupt, you become the odd one out and so everyone is trying very hard to be corrupt”, he stated. “We live in a country, where when you are given a position in government, people think it is an opportunity for you to amass wealth. Our mindset is pushing politicians to become corrupt”, he bemoaned. Whatever the truth of the matter, the fact remains that Ms. Hammah has lost her job. Wondering aloud what would have happened, had this been a Sierra Leonean politician, a political friend quipped: BOKU TALK, BOKU TALK. If you yams white, cobar am!. How one wishes he had advised poor Ms. Hammah! Ponder my thoughts
Posted on: Tue, 12 Nov 2013 15:53:44 +0000
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