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Former Assistant Minister J. Jefferson Chesson, under the immediate past administration headed by former Liberian President George Weah, has made two claims on his official Facebook page that have generated some controversy.
DUBAWA, the fact-checking arm of the Centre for Journalism Innovation and Development (CJID), felt compelled to verify these two claims to bring truth-telling to national discourse and avoid deception and distortion of the facts in public discourse.
Claim #1: Former Assistant Minister J. Jefferson Chesson has alleged that the Boakai government lost the MCC Compact this year because of bad governance, corruption, police brutality, and disrespect for the rule of law.
Verdict: False! According to the MCC report on selecting eligible countries for Fiscal Year 2025, Liberia has been selected for the MCC compact.
Full Text
Former Assistant Minister J. Jefferson Chesson has claimed that Liberia has lost the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact for this year.
Former assistant minister Chesson took to his official Facebook page, claiming, “The Rescue government lost the MCC Compact this year because of bad governance, corruption, police brutality, and disrespect for the rule of law. You people should be there and lying to yourselves. BEAUTIFUL ENGLISH,”
His post had over 70 comments, more than 20 shares, and 61 reactions in emojis at the time the researcher came across it.
What is the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC)?
The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an independent U.S. foreign aid agency established in 2004 to promote economic growth and reduce poverty in developing countries.
The MCC provides considerable funding in the form of a scorecard to countries that meet its criteria for good governance, economic freedom, and investments in their citizens, among other things.
These funds support key national projects that aim to address critical constraints to economic growth, including infrastructure development, institutional reforms, and access to healthcare and education.
Verification
To verify this claim, the researcher searched the MCC’s official website and found that the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) had selected Liberia for this year’s compact funding.
This disclosure was contained in a statement issued by the MCC on December 19, 2024, where the MCC stated, “The Millennium Challenge Corporation’s (MCC) Board of Directors selected Liberia as newly eligible to develop a compact during its quarterly meeting on December 18. Liberia was selected in recognition of the progress the country has made in strengthening its performance on the MCC scorecard and its commitment to pursuing critical economic and democratic governance reforms. The Board also discussed the new opportunities that the Millennium Challenge Corporation Candidate Country Reform Act provides for MCC.”
Under eligible countries, report on the selection of eligible countries for fiscal Year 2025, the MCC noted, “The Board selected the following eligible country for such assistance for FY 2025: Liberia. MCC invites Liberia to develop a compact.”
However, Liberia’s Finance Minister, Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan, told journalists in an interview that Liberia has not lost the MCC compact assistance and that the MCC board has proposed Liberia for reaffirmation.
Minister Ngafuan said, “We received a formal letter from Mrs. Anisha Robinson Logan, the Deputy Vice President for compact operations, informing us that the MCC has proposed Liberia for reaffirmation and that the board is meeting early next week, sometime next week, so consider and possibly do the reaffirmation so that we are given all the indicators. We are hopeful that our country, your country, will be approved for reaffirmation.”
However, according to this new report, the MCC Board, in early 2025, again selected Liberia and Albania as eligible countries to benefit from the compact assistance program.
Also, in another report provided by the MCC Board to the U.S. Congress under the fiscal year (FY) 2026 of eligible countries, to benefit from the Compact assistance, Liberia sits at #47.
Conclusion
Based on all of the available information following the research, the claim made by former assistant minister Chesson that Liberia has lost the MCC Compact this year because of bad governance, corruption, police brutality, and disrespect for the rule of law is false.
Claim #2: “The Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Board of Directors selected five African countries to proceed with compact programs for 2025 following the foreign assistance review: Sierra Leone, The Gambia, Ghana, Senegal, and Togo.”
Verdict: Misleading! According to the MCC report on the selection of eligible countries for Fiscal Year 2025, the MCC board did not vote to select Togo and Ghana.
Verification
To verify this claim, the researcher visited the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) official account and found out that the MCC board did not select Togo for this 2025 compact assistance.
The board’s statement stated, “The Board also selected the following previously selected countries for compact assistance for FY 2025: Cabo Verde, Senegal, and The Gambia. The Board did not vote on the selection of Togo, a country previously selected for compact assistance.”
This clarity is contained in the report on the selection of eligible countries for fiscal Year 2025, under eligible countries, in the last paragraph.
According to this same report on selecting eligible countries for the fiscal Year 2025, Ghana is not part of this year’s compact assistance. However, Ghana’s last MCC compact assistance ended on February 16, 2012.
Conclusion
Based on research and available information, the claim that Togo and Ghana are among the five African countries selected for this year’s 2025 MCC compact assistance is false.
