MCC Agreement inconsistent with Constitution – AG

By Hansi Nanayakkara

Attorney General Dappula de Livera has declared the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) agreement  to be inconsistent with the Constitution. According to State Counsel Nishara Jayaratne, the Coordinating Officer of the AG, the latter has advised the Secretary to the President on the matter.

The AG has found that the MCC  Compact and the Programme Implementation Agreement (PIA) and Articles of Association of MCC are inconsistent with the written laws and the Constitution.

On the request of former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, the MCC had conducted an evaluation in terms of their investment criteria and selected Sri Lanka as a qualified country to receive grant funding under their Compact Investment Programme.

Under the grant, MCC had agreed to kick off a US$ 350 million transport project and a US$ 67 million land project in Sri Lanka. 

The remaining US$ 63 million was to be allocated to support technical assistance, feasibility and design studies, project administration, and monitoring and evaluation.

However, the proposed grant assistance agreement was met with strong objection from various parties, citing that it adversely affects the sovereignty of the country, as it would pave the way for defence deals with the US.

An Expert Committee was appointed by President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to review the proposed MCC Compact and its final report submitted to the Government in June last year, urges the Government to dispense with the agreement. 

Subsequently, MCC decided to discontinue the proposed compact of US$ 480 million with Sri Lanka last December.