Nepal under the MCC trap

Fatema Z Sumar and Jonathan Brooks, vice president and deputy vice president at the MCC, arrived in Kathmandu on 9 September, returned on 12 September empty-handed after holding a series of meetings with Nepali politicians. Sumar visited Kathmandu to end the controversy that surfaced about the MCC grant project signed in 2017 under which Nepal is to receive 500 million US dollars. The grant project remains stuck as political parties are divided on rectification of the project from the Parliament.

The alliance government has not been able to develop a consensus on the adoption of the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), a 500 million US dollars grant project.

The US officials, during their meetings with senior political leaders in the alliance government, asked to decide on whether to accept or not the MCC grant project earliest as possible. The American officials also said that if Nepal will reject MCC, the US government would divert the project to other needy countries. On 12 September, earlier to her departure from

Kathmandu, Sumar addressed the officials at the MCC Nepal Compact, reports Nagarik daily. Briefing the Nepal Compact officials, Sumar warned that foreign aid to Nepal could be curtailed if Nepal reject the American grant project.

She had opined that the grant project has been politicized and expressed her anger saying that the

Nepali leaders have taken the grant project very lightly.

She was indicating towards curtailing the foreign aids for Nepal from the World Bank, Asian Development Bank, International Monitory Fund and other donor agencies.

She also informed that Nepal was the country approaching for grant support to the

US government. The US government didn’t put pressure to sign on the grant project, she had remarked. She indirectly blamed China for lobbying the leftist leaders to reject the grant project, the daily has reported.

Lack of homework:

In 2017, Nepal inked the MCC grant project. An MoU was signed when Pushpakamal Dahal Prachanda was the prime minister and Krishna Bahadur Mahara was the foreign minister. Following the MoU, Gyanendra Bahadur Karki had inked an agreement with the MCC in 2017.

At the time of inking the agreement, the Nepali side didn’t read the terms and conditions put forward by the MCC and its long-term impact on Nepal. Now, after inking the agreement, the Nepali side is creating a dispute in rectifying the project from the Parliament.