Press Statement for Immediate Release

CENTAL Welcomes Liberia’s MCC Scorecard Progress, Urges Stronger Actions Against Corruption and Declining Indicators

Monrovia, Tuesday, November 18, 2025, - Distinguished ladies and gentlemen of the press, a warm welcome to our office. Thank you for being a great partner in our collective quest to promote good governance and the culture of integrity in Liberia. 

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, as you may be aware, the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is an independent U.S. government agency working to reduce global poverty through economic growth. Recently, on Wednesday, November 12, 2025, MCC released its fiscal year (FY) 2026 country scorecards for Liberia, with the country passing 12 out of 22 performance indicators, including the indicator on “control of corruption”. CENTAL welcomes and applauds the Liberian Government for this positive development. However, the score of 56 percent on the control of corruption indicator shows that more institutional, legal, and enforcement-driven reforms are required to achieve lasting progress and avoid regression. Indeed, we cannot be complacent, as impunity for corruption remains high, and far more political will and prosecution efforts are needed to hold the corrupt fully accountable. In addition to the control of corruption, the country also passed key performance indicators such as fiscal policy (for the first time since 2007), inflation, trade policy, gender in the economy, land rights and access, access to credit, health expenditure, rule of law, immunization rates, and political rights. This is highly commendable.

Yet, the report highlighted that the country failed 10 indicators, including civil liberties, government effectiveness, primary education expenditures, natural resource protection, business start-up, employment opportunities, access to justice, girl’s primary education completion rate, child health, and regulatory policy.

CENTAL applauds the government of Liberia for progress in controlling corruption, as highlighted by the MCC scorecard, including efforts made in preventing and detecting corruption. As we welcome Liberia’s continuous passage of this key indicator, we wish to highlight that the 2025 score of 57 is a marginal decline in score for the control of corruption, as opposed to 2024 where the country scored 59. Other declines observed include fiscal policy, which dropped from 51 in 2024 to 41 in 2025, trade policy from 63 in 2024 to 21 in 2025, and gender in the economy from 84 in 2024 to 76 in 2025. These drops in score signify the need for robust concerted efforts by government actors to ensure improved systems and policies to improve the lives of citizens. 

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, we welcome the overall marginal strides being made in the fight against corruption, as reflected in the Transparency International’s (TI) 2024 Corruption Perception Index (CPI), with Liberia scoring 25 in 2023 and 27 in 2024 respectively; CENTAL’s 2024 State of Corruption Report (SCORE), with a seven points decline in public perception about corruption and its pervasive nature, from 90 percent in 2023 to 83 percent in 2024; and the now successive passes in the MCC scorecard on control of corruption. However, wish to indicate that impunity for corruption remains very high, as many high-profile politicians and others accused of corruption are yet to be investigated and prosecuted, including those sanctioned by the US Government and implicated in several GAC’s audit reports.

We call for more political will, adequate support to integrity institutions, non-discriminatory actions against persons accused of corruption, and greater civil society and citizens’ involvement in the process. Also, we call for timely establishment of the specialized court to prosecute corruption cases, as well as judicial and legislative reforms and accountability, including continuous financial and other audits of the Legislature and Judiciary, as seen with the executive branch. Moreover, the government must make information about projects funded by state resources timely available to the public, including the controversial ongoing alleged 10 Million USD presidential villa in the president’s hometown in Lofa County.

Indictment of Former Officials of Government

Ladies and gentlemen of the press, on November 8, 2025, the Asset Recovery and Property Retrieval Taskforce issued indictments for multiple acts of corruption on officials of the erstwhile Coalition for Democratic Change (CDC)–led government, including Madam Finda Bundoo, former executive mansion chief of protocol, Thelma Duncan-Sawyer, former Deputy Minister for Administration, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and forty others. The charges include money laundering, economic sabotage, theft of property, misuse of public funds, criminal conspiracy, forgery and abuse of office – all in violation of the Public Procurement and Concession Act and the Public Financial Management Act.

We commend the Asset Recovery Taskforce for the bold step aimed at holding past leaders accountable for their stewardship. We think this is a step in the right direction in ensuring an end to the culture of impunity for corruption and other abuses. We urge the government to provide the support needed for the Taskforce to prosecute those indicted and speed up other investigations and possible indictments for those found wanting for corruption and other illegal acts. We also call for increased collaboration with the Liberia Anti-corruption Commission (LACC) to ensure speedy investigations. In the same token, we call on the taskforce to commence investigation into other suspicious activities happening in the current administration, including the alleged $10 million dollars ‘presidential palace” sprouting up in the home of President Joseph N. Boakai in Foya, Lofa County. When completed and the findings released, this investigation will promote transparency around the project and go a long way in allaying public speculation about the nature, scope, intent and ownership, including the source of funding.  It will also increase public confidence in on-going prosecution efforts as being characterized by transparency and impartiality.

In conclusion, we call on the Liberian Government, especially leaders in the executive, legislature and judiciary branches of government to accelerate support for the fight against corruption by adequately funding transparency institutions and efforts. This will empower them to robustly tackle and defeat corruption, the country’s worst enemy and threat to development. Also, we call for greater transparency around the Foya project, which is so far marred by secrecy and limited transparency.

Thanks.

Signed:

The Management.