{"id":95084,"date":"2019-11-11T16:23:07","date_gmt":"2019-11-11T23:23:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=95084"},"modified":"2019-11-11T16:23:07","modified_gmt":"2019-11-11T23:23:07","slug":"mcc-agreements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2019\/11\/11\/mcc-agreements\/","title":{"rendered":"MCC Agreements"},"content":{"rendered":"

Janaki Chandraratna<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact\nProgram is back on the news again. This time the government is keen to sign the\nagreements before the Presidential elections without going through the\nparliamentary process. There are protests from many quarters. The President,\nOpposition Leader, the Maha Sangha, the Cardinal, Bar Association of Sri Lanka\n(BASL) etc. had requested the government to delay the sign up, at least until\nthe parliamentarians are made aware of the contents of the agreement. The lack\nof information has led to many interpretations and innuendos, highlighting the\nadverse impact of the agreement on the sovereignty of the country and its\nfuture generations. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Needless to say the map of Sri Lanka with a\ndevelopment corridor extending from Colombo to Trincomalee, quite likely to\ngive shivers to patriotic lovers of the country. Many have asserted that the\nMCC projects signify a division of Sri Lanka into North and South with a buffer\nzone for an American military sector. The only winners are seen to be the TNA\nwho are hell bent on securing a separate state exclusively for Tamils in the\nnorth (sans Sinhala settlements) as well as have the luxury of settling in any\nother part of the Island. If this is the underpinning scenario of the MCC\nconcept then it is natural for Sri Lankans to question this arrangement, as the\nrest of the population (72%), may have to be settled in the South, which is more\nor less the same size in extent as the North. This is one of the fears\ncurrently circulating among the southern communities, in the absence of MCC program\ninformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the midst of this confusion, the\nAmerican Embassy has extended a so called, a hand of comfort, confirming the\nprocedure of signing first and discussions later as compliant with MCC\nprojects.  MCC procedure is said to be <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Consistent with\nthe Millennium Challenge Corporation\u2019s worldwide policy in all partner\ncountries, once the grant assistance agreement is signed, the Government of Sri\nLanka will send it to parliament for approval.  Inasmuch, Parliament will\nhave ample opportunity to review the grant assistance agreement.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2026This grant assistance\nagreement will directly benefit over 11 million Sri Lankans and meaningfully\nstimulate economic growth. \u2026Parliamentary review and approval are required\nby MCC to ensure the grant assistance agreement has the support of the\ngovernment and the people.” (The Island 2 Nov. 2019). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is my view that the above procedure is fraught with\nseveral concerns, such as what would happen if the parliament disagrees with\nthe proposals? In such a scenario can the agreement be cancelled and voided? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It appears the review period is limited to develop\nimplementation plans. Here again what is the situation if there is a\ndisagreement on the concept itself? Are we required to pay back the \u2018gift\u2019 of\nUS$480 million in case of such a disagreement?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also what research had been undertaken to claim that\nover 11 million people would directly benefit from these projects? Who would be\nthese beneficiaries as nearly 21 million people live in this little island? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The MCC and the American Embassy need to explain the above\nscenarios as well as any other questions Sri Lankans may have so that the\nparliament and people can take informed decisions. What is in peril here is the\nsovereignty of our land, which, is home to 21 million people. Although the\nAmerican Embassy has informed that the highlights of the MCC projects had been\ndisseminated to interested parties, the Sri Lankan interest would be to review\nthe full agreements, in particular the land project. The land project goal is\nsaid to be to develop a land bank to provide information on private lands and\ngovernment lands, to increase land market activity. This would mean increased\nland sales for large-scale economic activity, possibly to multinationals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Changes to legislation have already been undertaken to\nrepeal Part 4-6 of the Land reform Act No 1 of 1972 to remove foreign ownership\nlimit of 50 acres. The difficulties of managing a internationally governed\ncontract based on international law were highlighted by Sri Lankan experts like\nDr. Kohona, the former UN Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka and former\nSecretary of Ministry of Foreign Affairs at a discussion at BMICH on 9 August\n2019. (Pathfinder Foundation discussion, on Separating the Baby from the Bathwater: Evaluating the Millennium\nChallenge Corporation-Sri Lanka Compact\u201d). \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These uncertainties have created more queries than\nsolutions. Thus far the govt. has not taken any steps to resolve these queries,\nat least to the parliament let alone to the public. To say the least it is\nunethical to sign an agreement with so much of discordance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should be noted that Sri Lankans could be different\nto other MCC partners, who were mainly African countries. Sri Lankans are\nastute enough to understand that there is nothing called a free lunch\u2019. The USD$480\nmillion grant is not a free gift. It is a payment for MCC projects and it is\nimportant that these projects are acceptable to Sri Lankan people and not only\nto a Cabinet of Ministers, who is currently struggling to manage the current\neconomy. A grant at this stage can be a windfall to patch up the economy until\nthe next parliamentary election, which a few months away. There is also an\nelection for the President within a few days. It is important the new President\nis given a chance to review the contracts in detail before a commitment is\nmade. I am confident the Embassy would understand the current Sri Lankan situation\nand take appropriate action in the interest of both our countries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Janaki Chandraratna<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Janaki Chandraratna The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact Program is back on the news again. This time the government is keen to sign the agreements before the Presidential elections without going through the parliamentary process. There are protests from many quarters. The President, Opposition Leader, the Maha Sangha, the Cardinal, Bar Association of Sri Lanka […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":true,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95084","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95084","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=95084"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/95084\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=95084"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=95084"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=95084"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}