Opposition Questions U.S. Motives in $165M Belize-MCC Compact

While the agreement seeks to benefit Belize tremendously, the Opposition has questioned how the US Government benefits from the compact agreement. At the last sitting of the Senate, Opposition Senator Michael Peyrefitte questioned if there was a quid pro quo involved in Belize being approved for the million-dollar project and if the US Government would seek a favor in return. Today, we asked MCC’s CEO Alice Albright and Prime Minister Briceno to respond to the concerns and they refuted that there was any ulterior motive behind the grant. 

Alice Albright, MCC CEO: “We have an eligibility framework at MCC that guides us in the decisions of which countries we chose to work with and it’s really our board of directors and leading up to December 2021 Belize as considered eligible to work with MCC and our board o directors chose to work with Belize on that basis. And so that was really the origin of the decision. We have signed an agreement and the agreement includes a number of details about the nature of the work that we will be in partnership with the Government of Belize on. Part of it is on education, part of it is on energy and there are mutual expectations of both partners but they are really surrounding the project that is at hand and we can give you further details about what is involved in the education piece and what is involved in the energy piece.”

Critics have also questioned whether the grant is the US Government’s way of shoring up geopolitical support in this region to counter China’s growing influence. However, MCC’s CEO Alice Albright denied the narrative and spoke about the rationale behind Belize’s selection.

Alice Albright, MCC CEO: “We chose the countries that we work with based on various eligibility parameters. In part whether or not a country is a democracy, if it’s not on the right pathway, all of that thinking and all of that data is very public. One thing to note is that this is a grant and in being a grant it is very different from the other kinds of financing that some of the other players in the development space including China provide. And what we find is that we are a valuable option for countries to have in terms of financing their own development priorities. We’re also very proud of the relationship that we have with Belize and the region and look forward to a very fruitful relationship going forward.”
Micelle Kwan, U.S. Ambassador: “I know it’s been two and a half years in the making and this is the 80th compact of MCC and it’s a celebratory occasion but it is also the beginning of a lot of work. $125 MILLION dollars focus on education which will be 80% and 20% on energy. And I think as Prime Minister has said in the past this MCC compact will be transformational for this country. It will impact bottomline 140,000 Belizean students across this country and every single Belizean will feel the lower cost of electricity when they get their bills at the end of the month. So this is a great partnership and it’s only the beginning.”

Belize was one of two countries in the world to be approved for the MCC’s grant.