[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 107 (Friday, June 29, 2007)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1458]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




             THE MILLENNIUM CHALLENGE CORPORATION IN AFRICA

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. CHRISTOPHER H. SMITH

                             of new jersey

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, June 28, 2007

  Mr. SMITH of New Jersey. Madam Speaker, this afternoon the 
Subcommittee on Africa and Global Health held a hearing on the 
Millennium Challenge Corporation in Africa. The MCC program, which was 
announced by President Bush on March 14, 2002 and established in 
January 2004, marked an incredible new approach to U.S. foreign 
assistance. It is based on the principle that assistance is most 
effective when it promotes good governance, investments in people, and 
economic freedom. Its goal is to reduce global poverty through the 
promotion of sustainable economic growth.
  Grants from the Millennium Challenge Account are limited to countries 
with a per capita income less than $3,465. In addition, eligible 
countries must have an established record that satisfies 16 performance 
indicators in the three areas I just noted. One of the most important 
is a pass/fail test for fighting corruption. Seven grants--called 
compacts--have been signed so far for countries in Africa, with a total 
value of about $2.4 billion. Additional compacts are pending for the 
Continent.
  The establishment of the Millennium Challenge Account is innovative 
in several respects. For one, it mandates that program proposals be 
developed solely by qualified countries themselves with the involvement 
of a broad base of their civil society. It also provides assistance to 
countries without regard to U.S. strategic foreign policy objectives, 
providing an opportunity to countries that may normally be overlooked 
by the United States as well as other bilateral donors. However, it 
cannot be said that the MCC for that reason does not serve U.S. 
interests. In fact, authentic development as envisioned by the MCC 
principle leads to a more prosperous, peaceful, and just world for all 
of us.
  Finally, I would assert that MCC is most laudable because it 
recognizes the potential of the poor to lift themselves and their 
country out of the clutches of poverty if they are provided with the 
necessary infrastructure and tools. An important correlative to this is 
the incentive provided by MCC to the recipient country's government to 
focus on and respond to the needs of the poor segment of their 
population. The MCC provides an important means of empowerment for 
those who have the greatest difficulty attaining it.
  A glance at the various compacts and threshold programs in Africa 
highlights the extraordinary needs and the necessity of expanding those 
programs. The subcommittee held a hearing on Africa's water crisis just 
a few weeks ago on May 16th, where we lamented the fact that over 1.1 
billion people in developing countries do not have adequate access to 
safe water and approximately 2.6 billion people live without basic 
sanitation. We heard testimony that the reasons for these deficiencies 
are rooted in inequalities. The poor not only have significantly less 
access to water, but even when they do have access, they pay 
significantly more for it. The MCC with its focus on programming for 
the poor is one mechanism that the United States is utilizing to 
address this issue at its root cause.
  On the political level, it is worth noting that our parliamentary 
colleagues in developing countries do not always have the resources 
they need to fulfill their role in a democracy. The MCC threshold 
program in Malawi will provide the National Assembly of that country 
with the capacity for all 13 committees to meet and perform their 
oversight function--a first in Malawi's history.
  As with all new programs, the MCC has encountered challenges in 
Africa that we examined in the course of the hearing. One of the 
greatest has been providing disbursements in a timely manner while 
ensuring accountability and sustainability. Another that we are 
encountering time and again in numerous development efforts for Africa, 
including programs for HIV/AIDS, is partner country capacity. It is 
extremely difficult to implement country-driven initiatives when the 
country itself is lacking educated, experienced personnel to do the 
work. However, neither of these or other challenges warrant scaling 
back on MCC programming, but instead provide the opportunity to search 
for solutions to these issues together with the recipient country 
government as well as other bilateral and multilateral assistance 
donors. The MCC is not the total solution to African development, but 
it is an important and significant contribution, both in terms of 
resources and philosophy, to a more global strategy.

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