November 13 Meeting with Government of Niger (GON) Prime

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 NIAMEY 001252 SIPDIS SIPDIS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED DEPT FOR AF/W BACHMAN ACCRA FOR USAID/WA PARIS FOR AF WATCHER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PGOV ECON EAID KMCA NG SUBJECT: November 13 Meeting with Government of Niger (GON) Prime Minister (PM) on Millenium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Threshold Program REF: (a) Niamey 1129 (b) Niamey 1122 (c) Niamey 920 ¶1. (SBU) Summary. In a November 13 meeting lasting over an hour, Ambassador Allen, accompanied by USAID program manager Mark Wentling, met with Prime Minister Hama Amadou to discuss Niger's selection as a MCC threshold country. PM staff members Secretary General Malam Ari Boucar and Principal Advisor Housseini Abdou Saleye (formerly Niger's ambassador in Brussels) also participated in the meeting. The Ambassador congratulated the PM on Niger's selection for the MCC threshold program, stressing that it was based on Niger's positive reforms to date. The PM complained that the United Nation's Development Program (UNDP) again ranked Niger last on its Human Development Index (HDI) list. He said that Niger's selection for the MCC threshold program was indeed most welcome news. The PM said he will appoint a point of contact and put in place a highly qualified team with English language ability to manage the threshold program. He tried to allay fears about Niger not having sufficient absorptive capacity to use and manage large sums of money. Addressing the Ambassador's points about the consequences of backsliding, the PM responded that there would be no slippage in Niger's performance. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) The Ambassador began the meeting by congratulating the PM on Niger's selection as a MCC threshold country. The PM responded by complaining that the UNDP again ranked Niger last on its HDI list. He said this is wrong and that he had written the UNDP resident representative to tell him so and say that the GON would have no part in any work that relates to such a ranking. He could not understand how unstable countries suffering from years of armed conflict like Sierra Leone, Guinea Bissau, DRC, etc. could be ranked higher than Niger on this index. He noted Niger's progress in raising school enrollments over the last few years, and refuted UNDP's report that the average life span in Niger had dropped, stating that average life expectancy in Niger had increased from age 46 to 50. ¶3. (SBU) The Ambassador provided the PM with the color coded FY 07 MCC score sheet for Niger and discussed the various indicators with him and the sources of the data. The PM appeared to understand well the MCC scoring process and ground rules. He indicated that he already has a team working on improving Niger's scores in areas where it is deficient and said that he will identify a point of contact quickly to manage the threshold program. He claimed that there will be no problem finding qualified, English-speaking Nigeriens for the GON's MCC team and that there would be no slippage in Niger's performance. He understands that an MCC program will take a lot of work on the part of the GON and he expressed his liking of the MCC program versus the IBRD/IMF approach, which "makes a lot of work out of meeting conditions but achieves little." He tried to allay fears about Niger not having sufficient absorptive capacity to use and manage large sums of money. Aware of MCC programs in other countries, he said he would consult with Burkinabe contacts on how they managed its MCC threshold program. ¶4. (SBU) The PM understands that threshold funds need to be used to help Niger perform better when measured against MCC indicators, and thus understands the emphasis on education in the MCC threshold program announcement. Over the long run, however, he thought that Niger's primary need is to increase agricultural productivity so that people could have enough to eat and higher incomes. He indicated that if Niger reaches the compact level, he would like to see a focus on agriculture (especially increasing irrigation),as this would help address many of the areas where Niger is lagging. He said that full stomachs equal less corruption. ¶5. (SBU) Much of the meeting was taken up with the Ambassador stressing the need to reduce corruption and improve other MCC performance indicators to qualify for the "compact" phase. She mentioned the MCC suspension of Gambia, as well as the more positive MCC cases of Benin, Burkina Faso and Mali. The Nigeriens are fully aware that potentially high levels of assistance are at stake. ¶6. (SBU) The Ambassador emphasized that corruption is the critical indicator for the GON to control, as slippage below the bar in that indicator alone is enough to disqualify a country from the MCC program. She also reminded the PM that scores are not determined on NIAMEY 00001252 002 OF 003 the basis of a fixed scale, but vary from year-to-year depending upon the performance of all the other nations being graded. ¶7. (SBU) The PM said poverty was at the heart of corruption. He said that his government is doing all it can to combat corruption, citing the three commissions set up to come up with proposals on the subject. He said a study found that a minimum wage of CFA 115,000 ($221) a month is required to allow a decent standard of living, as compared to the actual minimum wage of CFA 35,000 ($70). The GON could not afford to raise minimum wage to the higher level, the PM said. He said that one reason the GON moved to a continuous work day (i.e. allowing civil servants to leave earlier by reducing the long lunch period) was to make it easier for civil servants to engage in income generating activities after work. ¶8. (SBU) Nonetheless, the PM said he wants to change people's outlook about corruption so that corruption is no longer viewed as acceptable. The Ambassador said that the GON needs to show what it is doing to fight corruption in order to address external perceptions of corruption and GON anti-corruption efforts. USAID project coordinator suggested that Niger make efforts to report on progress made in this area. ¶9. (SBU) The Ambassador raised concerns about slippage over the past several months in some civil liberties (such as the jailing of journalists) and noted GON actions to address the education scandal. The PM responded that donors underestimate the GON's influence over legal issues, noting that it is up to the courts to apply the laws. He said the GON only takes legal action against journalists when they involve other countries or put Niger's stability and peace in jeopardy. (This is an apparent reference to journalists who were prosecuted for claiming that the PM was tilting Niger's foreign policy toward Iran and away from the West.) The PM said the GON would come down hard on anyone who said that Islamic extremists were at work in the country because the opposite is true. He said that "90 percent of what journalists are printing in Niger is lies, but the GON generally does nothing about it." He added that people are putting many false reports on the internet. He claimed that the laws being applied to journalists are ones the journalists participated in drafting in 1997. He mentioned that a new set of laws on this subject is in the works and should be ready for adoption by the National Assembly in March 2007. He suggested the new laws will do away with jail sentences and put in place a system of fines. He noted that even the President could be brought to justice if he violated the law. The Ambassador suggested that it may be better to refute any untruths said about him and his government with the truth in a "point-by-point" fashion, rather than jailing people. ¶10. (SBU) On the education scandal (MEBA affair - ref b),the PM noted that putting two ministers in jail is no small thing and that this had never happened in any other African countries. The SecGen explained that one of the problems in the MEBA affair was the donors' requirement to decentralize the distribution of school supplies, which reduced the GON's ability to monitor corruption. The PM stressed that the new public contracting mechanism being put in place would prevent a repetition of anything like the MEBA affair and that the GON had learned some useful lessons from this scandal. He noted that his government is no longer involved in the MEBA case and it is entirely in the hands of the high court. The SecGen said that a challenge to increasing the number of schools and staffing them is hiring and paying additional contract teachers, but it is difficult to get cash salaries to the contract teachers in remote locations ¶11. (SBU) The Ambassador raised the matter of the GON's decision in October to expel the Mohamid Arabs as another example of something that can tarnish Niger's external image. The PM acknowledged that the reaction at the ground level got out of hand in this case, but his government quickly rectified its initial misguided reaction. He noted that other ways have been found to take care of this problem and that the GON has no intention of expelling any groups, especially as thousands of Nigeriens reside in other countries. ¶12. (SBU) In response to a question about the high cost of creating a business (an MCC indicator where Niger falls short),the PM said NIAMEY 00001252 003 OF 003 that this was being taken care of and soon Niger would have the lowest business start-up costs in the sub-region. (The PM was presumably referring to proposals to cut some business taxes in the draft budget currently being discussed by the National Assembly - ref a). ¶13. (SBU) Finally, USAID project manager raised the matter of Niger's high population growth rate. The PM responded that he recognizes the importance of this topic and this is why a Ministry was created to deal with population issues. He said he had rejected that Ministry's draft population policy (reftel C) because it was proposing to replicate what has been done for 25 years without achieving any results other than an increased population growth rate. He has asked his Population Ministry to develop a new plan that reflects the characteristics of Niger, and that is realistic and practical. He mentioned working more closely with local marabouts (religious figures) and others to bring the population growth rate down from 3.3% to 3.0% by 2015. He emphasized the need for people to return to the tradition of spacing children so women would have a child no more often than every three years. He noted that educating young girls and others would be helpful in this area. ¶14. (SBU) The Ambassador closed the meeting by informing the PM and his staff that she would share additional information on the next steps regarding a threshold program, as soon as more information from MCC becomes available. ALLEN