Mills meets MCA CEO
H. E. the President, Prof John Evans Atta Mills, and some members of his government, on Tuesday granted audience to a team from the Millennium Challenge Corporation, led by Mr. Darius Mans, who is the Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Corporation, to discuss issues relating to the Millennium Challenge Account, in Washington.
The purpose of the meeting was to take stock of the challenges that the Ghana government had been facing with the implementation of the compact, and also the successes chalked so far.
Mr. Darius Mans said that the Corporation was proud to be associated with the compact, and although Ghana had not reached completion, they were happy to see the implementation on the ground.
He wanted to know from the government what steps had been taken to achieve the successful implementation of the compact, and was anxious to see the compact succeed.
Mr. Darius Mans reiterated the fact that in two months, Ghana would be half way through the implementation of the program, and suggested that where things were not working, the government could reallocate resources or make adjustments across the program.
He was happy to see some concrete results on the ground, and stated that of all the nineteen programs Ghana was supposed to implement, Ghana had already achieved half. He assured H. E. the President that the Corporation was ready to assist the government to successfully implement the program before the deadline.
Hence, the government should not hesitate to call on the Corporation in times of any difficulties.
He was happy to be associated with the success story of Ghana, and was also happy to note that Ghana was not only interested in aid, but in trade.
He hinted that there was a second program coming up, and once the board of the Millennium Challenge Corporation meets and sets the criteria for eligibility, Ghana would be one of the first nations to be considered, due to her outstanding performance.
The Minister of Finance, Dr. Kwabena Duffuor, raised concerns about the fact that Ghanaian contractors had been excluded from the program, especially for projects in the Afram Plains, and that government would be grateful if Ghanaian contractors were considered, and also allowed to partner with foreign firms, to be able to undertake some of these contracts.
The Minister of Finance further raised concerns about the fact that cables and wireless had not been considered in the initial budget allocated to Ghana, and there was thus a shortfall of US$40,000,000, which had become a burden on the government, since it had not anticipated such a short fall.
In his reply, Mr. Darius Mans stated that of all the 300,000 contracts awarded, 90% had been awarded to Ghanaian contractors, but the difficulty these local contractors faced was the size of their firms, and their capacity to successfully implement the contract.
He thus suggested that such Ghanaian firms merge with other local firms, or even go into partnerships with other international firms, to be eligible for these contracts.
Mr. Darius Mans further stated that the Millennium Challenge Corporation was not in a position to contribute extra resources to finance the shortfall in the allocation of the resources, and that the government of Ghana should contribute the shortfall.
The Corporation's team also recognised as one of the challenges, the fact that the procurement procedures was rigorous, since the system needs to be fair and transparent. They suggested that procurement capacity should be built in that respect.
The Minister of Trade and Industry, Ms. Hannah Tetteh, on her part, stated that the government was appreciative of the work done in the pineapple sector, and that the program had not only built capacity in that sector, but had improved the lives of the small scale farmers in that sector. President Mills assured the Corporation's team that his government was on track, and that it was determined to come out with a success story. He further assured the team that there were challenges with the implementation of the compact, but the government was ready to fully cooperate with the Corporation for it to succeed.