Ghana and MCC discuss possible new compact in New York, with power sector in focus

Pinned summary · as of 04:21

Officials of Ghana's Millennium Development Authority (MiDA) met counterparts from the United States Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in New York to test the appetite for another development partnership. Talks looked back at the two compacts Ghana has already completed and pointed to electricity as a likely area for any new deal.

What we know

• MiDA and MCC representatives held talks in New York on Ghana's record under its two earlier compacts and on whether the two sides could work together again, with energy and regional power links named as candidate areas.
• The Ghana Power Compact, worth about $498.2 million, was the second of the two programmes. After the ECG private-sector concession was ended in 2019, MCC withdrew $190 million that had depended on it.
• The remainder of the Power Compact ran until June 2022.
• MiDA's side pointed to the electricity grid, the performance of power distribution and cross-border electricity links in West Africa as areas where fresh cooperation could add value.
• MCC's Jason Small, according to The Custodian, said the agency now weighs prospects for more American investment, exports and supply chains for critical minerals when it assesses partner countries; The Vaultz News likewise reports that officials in the talks expect future assessments to consider these, alongside the usual development results.
• A place on the MCC's list is not automatic for countries that have had earlier programmes. MCC's Board weighs the evidence before it chooses which countries move to compact development.

What's disputed / unconfirmed

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  The Vaultz News alone says a fresh compact has not been signed off and no money has been pledged, and that Ghana must still remain eligible, win selection by the Board, carry out a constraints study and then negotiate terms. Other reports do not carry this.
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  The Custodian, repeated by The Publisher Online and Citi Newsroom, says Mr Small recalled that MCC once studied power interconnectors from Ghana to Cote d'Ivoire and to Burkina Faso and must now find out what became of them. The Vaultz News does not mention this.
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  According to The Custodian, echoed by The Publisher Online and Citi Newsroom, MiDA chief executive Alexander Kofi-Mensah Mould floated gas infrastructure between Ghana and Nigeria, and pointed to tariffs that adjust automatically each quarter and a revenue-sharing mechanism known as a cash waterfall. The Vaultz News does not report these remarks.
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  The Custodian, with The Publisher Online and Citi Newsroom repeating it, reports that the Power Compact delivered four major power substations and that MCC lists both Ghana compacts as closed; The Vaultz News mentions neither point.
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  The Vaultz News alone puts the first Ghana compact, signed in 2006, at roughly US$547 million, spread over farming, rural development and transport projects.
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  The Vaultz News, citing MCC's own record, says the Power Compact concentrated on power infrastructure, how well distribution performed, reform of institutions and saving energy, and was aimed at more reliable power and financially sounder distribution. Other reports do not describe it in these terms.

Why it matters for Ghana

Dependable electricity affects factories in Tema, shops in Kumasi and households across the country, and the power distribution companies remain a weak point. Any renewed MCC backing for the grid or for power links with neighbours could shape investment in that sector, though Mr Small cautioned that further analysis is needed before any sector is chosen. The talks also show that American commercial interests now sit alongside development goals in how MCC picks its partners.