The SLPP Maada Bio government suffered a major blow today when U.S. Ambassador David Reimer announced that the flagship Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact Award the government won has been suspended.
Those SLPP supporters who had been fooling themselves that President Maada Bio would get away with stealing the Sierra Leone elections got the shock of their lives on FM 98.1 this morning when U.S Ambassador Reimer made this dramatic announcement about the MCC Compact Award, for which the president’s wife danced like a lunatic in public.
It was December 17, 2020 when the U.S announced that Sierra Leone had won the MCC award, which is worth nearly U.S $500 million. Announcing it on its website, the MCC wrote: “The MCC Board of Directors has unanimously selected Sierra Leone for a new compact partnership.”
Ambassador Reimmer‘s announcement on 98.1 this morning confirms what Cocorioko reported three weeks ago. The U.S is withholding the award because the SLPP Government rigged the June 24, 2023 elections.
The Ambassador spared no bones to state that because the June 24 elections lacked transparency credibility and the since the U.S is not satisfied with how the results were tallied, America is reevaluating the MCC program with the Sierra Leone Government, although programs directly affecting the people , like the health initiative, will not be discontinued.
This is a big dent to the SLPP. Suspending the flagship MCC COMPACT was major. That singular action proved that SLPP will not get away with rigging the Sierra Leone elections and gave the opposition All People’s Congress (APC) the moral victory and the upper hand in the dialogue being advocated by the international community between the two parties.
APC was going for the jugular– A rerun of the elections – and now the ambassador has given the party an even stronger leverage to press home the demand.
It is a certainty that the Ambassador’s action will spur Britain and the EU to follow suit.
So, there is no way anybody can downplay the damage inflicted today.
The Ambassador also rejected President Bio’s electoral reform Commission gimmick. Last week, President Bio said he was setting up a commission to evaluate the last election he stole, putting Vice – President Juldeh in charge but today the U.S Ambassador said that only an independent commission not headed by SLPP or APC operatives will be accepted by the U.S.
Today’s development is another big blow to President Bio, the SLPP and supporters in the Diaspora justifying his roguery through extreme social media views and demonstrations and thinking Bio will get away with it. It is now clear that the SLPP Government is in big trouble.
What has also been conformed is what Cocorioko also reported weeks ago that the dialogue being pushed by the international community between the SLPP and the APC is actually being pursued frantically by the SLPP to escape sanctions from the international community.
Our diplomatic information sources say more actions against the SLPP are pending.
Credit: Cocorioko
