Monrovia — Just months after President Joseph Nyuma Boakai triumphantly announced Liberia’s eligibility for a second Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) compact worth up to $500 million, a POLITICO report has cast a looming shadow over that hard-earned victory. The report, published Tuesday, reveals that the MCC is on the verge of being shut down by the U.S. Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), led by Elon Musk, throwing Liberia’s anticipated infrastructure and development lifeline into serious doubt.
The MCC released its FY2025 scorecards on November 21, 2024, evaluating 76 countries for eligibility to develop five-year grant agreements, known as compacts. Of the 76 countries assessed, 26 passed, including Liberia. The scorecards measure performance across 20 independent indicators categorized into economic freedom, ruling justly, and investing in people.
For a country that painstakingly passed the MCC’s 2025 scorecard — including tough benchmarks on corruption and democratic rights — the news out of Washington could not be more untimely. After years of policy recalibration, institutional reform, and targeted investment in good governance, Liberia now finds itself staring down the possibility of losing out on one of its most significant foreign assistance packages to date.
From Boakai’s Boast to MCC’s Uncertain Future
In December 2024, President Boakai described the MCC qualification as “a victory for all Liberians.” The government had cleared key hurdles on transparency, civil liberties, and gender inclusion, earning its place among the 26 countries eligible for the compact. The promise of a $350 million to $500 million grant brought hope of rebuilding critical infrastructure, expanding electricity access, and stimulating economic growth.
Finance Minister Augustine Kpehe Ngafuan followed with back-to-back high-level engagements, including virtual discussions with MCC Vice President Kyeh Kim and Managing Director Jason Small, who both expressed strong optimism about Liberia’s readiness. Ngafuan lauded an intra-governmental task force for tracking MCC’s stringent indicators and promised timely completion of the required constraint analysis to guide compact allocation.
But all those efforts could now unravel if DOGE follows through with its reported plans to shut down MCC, freeze all existing compacts, and send home its 320 staff members. The agency, which has consistently earned high marks for transparency and performance, is simply a casualty of DOGE’s broader campaign to dismantle foreign aid mechanisms under the guise of efficiency.
What DOGE’s Move Means for Liberia
The stakes for Liberia are enormous. The MCC Compact is about credibility, reform, and global standing. It rewards countries that show real progress in democracy, anti-corruption, and human development. For Liberia, Compact II was set to bankroll roads, power, and governance reform—vital for rebuilding a fragile state. If the MCC shuts down, Liberia loses more than funding; it loses a key link to Washington and a major tool for advancing diplomacy. Finance Minister Ngafuan’s push to revive the U.S.-Liberia Political Dialogue could collapse alongside it.
A Timeline Suddenly in Doubt
Until now, the roadmap appeared clear. A technical delegation from the MCC had visited Monrovia in January to finalize staffing, conduct diagnostics, and prepare to establish a country office. Jason Small, who led the team, assured Liberians of MCC’s commitment to transforming lives and working hand-in-hand with local stakeholders. Plans for a follow-up visit by Vice President Kim were already in motion.
But POLITICO’s report paints a grim picture. An internal MCC email obtained by the outlet indicates DOGE will present a resolution as early as next week to MCC’s board—chaired by U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent—to begin terminating grant programs within 90 days. Liberia’s Compact II is still in the preliminary stage, and with the axe about to fall, it may never reach the implementation phase.
A Politicized Casualty of Foreign Aid Retrenchment
This shutdown does not appear rooted in MCC’s performance. “Our agency has for the past 10 plus years had clean audits,” one MCC employee told POLITICO. “The reason we’re being closed, even according to DOGE, has nothing to do with waste or corruption.”
Under Musk’s leadership, DOGE has systematically targeted foreign aid institutions, echoing the Trump-era skepticism of international development spending. The fact that MCC, arguably the most transparent and results-oriented of America’s aid agencies, is being dismantled highlights an ideological shift rather than a performance-based rationale.
That ideological purge now threatens Liberia’s development trajectory.
Political Fallout and National Frustration
Senator Jim Risch of Idaho had introduced legislation last December to expand MCC’s authority—an indication of the bipartisan support the agency traditionally enjoys. But it remains unclear whether Congress will act swiftly enough to override DOGE’s plans, especially given Musk’s declared exit following Tesla’s poor earnings report, which may plunge DOGE into further uncertainty.
No Time for Complacency
Liberia’s euphoria over MCC’s approval was already tempered by the scorecard’s cautionary notes. The country continues to underperform in health, education, and fiscal governance. These systemic weaknesses were flagged as areas requiring immediate attention if the compact were to produce transformative results.
That work must continue — with or without MCC.
“Election years are when politicians win, but the Liberian people need to win every year,” Minister Ngafuan rightly noted in January. But now, with one of the country’s biggest anticipated wins at risk, it is the Liberian people who stand to lose.
Discussion about this post