Just Say No to The Gambia

Rumor has it that the MCC Board is deliberating whether or not to suspend The Gambia's eligibility for MCA assistance. Well, it's about time...and could distinguish the MCC from other foreign aid agencies by its ability to cut off partners for bad behavior.A few points to inform decisionmaking: Just days after the MCC grants The Gambia elgibility, President Jammeh jails three opposition leaders without substantive grounds. The staff and offices of the opposition paper, The Independent, are consistently threatened. If you speak out against the Administration, you could die. Fiscal policy is on a downward trend, most notably high extra-budgetary spending which will only get worse as the country heads into the general election. Is that the kind of country people have in mind when they think of the selective group of "poor but well governed" countries allied with the MCC?Seems ample grounds for the Board to exercise its discretion and suspend. But, perhaps in a program where decisionmaking is based primarily on a set of monitorable performance indicators, it was wise for the MCC to wait for enough indicators to slip to support a decision to suspend. We looked at the most recent and publicly available data on the 16 performance indicators to see if they could help support a decision to suspend. (Freedom House's 2006 report is out; other updated data is available; some is not.) Looks like policy slippage (and the likelihood of further policy slippage is quite good):It's a no-brainer to me. The Gambia does not deserve to maintain its eligibilty status, and certainly should not be held up as a model reformer for the other countries striving for MCC eligibility. If the Board does not suspend, there is no longer a question of what agency runs the MCC show. If only Nike held a seat on the Board -- Just Do It!