$350m energy grant decision Thursday

The United States (US) Government’s Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is this Thursday scheduled to decide whether to release the $350 million energy grant suspended last year due to governance concerns.

The US Embassy Public Affairs Section in Lilongwe said on Tuesday the MCC Board would meet in Washington DC to decide on the way forward for the Malawi Compact.

“Washington will officially inform the Government of Malawi sometime on Friday or Saturday,” the embassy said.

MCC signed a five-year compact agreement with Malawi last April focusing on the power sector to improve distribution and generation systems.

But the grant was put on operational hold after police killed 20 people during the July 20 anti-government demonstrations.

US undersecretary (political affairs) Ambassador Wendy Sherman, the highest ranking US official to visit Malawi in recent times, earlier this month could not tell whether Malawi had a chance to get back the grant when asked in a video conference call a fortnight ago.

But diplomatic sources in Lilongwe fear that Malawi’s chances are very slim because of the worsening governance situation and human rights abuses.

“Violence in Area 24, the arrest of activist John Kapito and the arrest of Atupele Muluzi yesterday will definitely have some effect on the final decision,” diplomatic sources said.