Henry Costa is Incorrect; Liberia’s Not the Only Country that Passed MCC Scorecard But Fail the Grant

Monrovia – Henry Costa, Liberia’s popular political commentator, recently claimed that Liberia is the “only country that passed the 2023 Millennium Challenge Scorecard but did not receive the grant from the MCC board.

Report by: Varney Kelvin Sirleaf | LVL Fact Checker

Mr. Costa, who is also a senatorial aspirant for the Montserrado county, made the claim when he appeared on Tuesday, January 3, 2023, edition of the OK Morning Rush hosted by journalist Clarence Jackson.

Said Mr. Costa: “All the countries that passed on the MCC Scorecard received hundreds of millions of dollars except Liberia”.

The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is a U.S foreign assistance agency created by congress in January 2004, with a mission to provide time-limited grants promoting economic growth, reducing poverty, and strengthening institutions.

Liberia was amongst the countries that passed the scorecard. Liberia 2023 scorecard shows that the nation passed 12 and failed eight out of the 20 indicators on the scorecard.

Liberia passed 12 indicators on the scorecard in 2023 | MCC Website

The 12 indicators which Liberia passed includes, Inflation, Trade Policy, Gender in the Economy, Land Rights and Access, Access to Credit, Employment Opportunity, Political Rights, Civil Liberties, Control of Corruption, Rule of Law, Freedom of Information, and Health Expenditures.

Out of the 100 countries on the MCC 2023 scorecard, 62 countries under the low income category were considered eligible candidates for MCC grants while 4 countries were candidates for grant under the middle income category.

Additionally, 14 countries under the low-income category were prohibited from receiving MCC grants, while only Sri Lanka was prohibited under the middle income category from receiving grant.

Which Countries were Selected for the 2023 Grant?

On December 14, 2022 the MCC Board released its report on the selection of eligible countries for fiscal year 2023 detailing the criteria for selection and the impact of the grants on selected countries.

The report mentioned Togo and Gambia as countries newly selected for compact assistance. Senegal was also selected for concurrent compact, while Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Zambia were selected to continue developing compacts.

Côte d’Ivoire was also selected to continue developing a concurrent compact for the purposes of regional integration.

The MCC Board selected Mauritania to receive threshold program assistance for FY 2023, while Kiribati was selected to continue developing a threshold program.

Was Liberia the Only Country that did not Received grant from the MCC?

Of all the countries that were considered eligible candidates for the MCC grant for fiscal year 2023, the MCC Board, selected Togo, Gambia, Senegal, Mozambique, Sierra Leone, Zambia, Cote d’Ivoire, Mauritania and Kiribati for MCC grants.

Countries like Ghana, Cape Verde, Nigeria, Somalia, Malawi, Lesotho and many others including Liberia were not selected to receive the grant.

Conclusion

Based on the research, evidence found in the MCC Board report for selected countries of fiscal year 2023, and the report on eligibility of candidate countries for MCC grants selection, it is known that several other countries like Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria and Lesotho did not receive MCC grant for fiscal year 2023.

Therefore, we conclude that the claim made by Mr. Henry Costa that Liberia is the only country that passed the 2023 MCC scorecard and did not received grant from the MCC Board is incorrect.