President John Dramani Mahama has assured investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni that his request to terminate the contract between the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited is receiving the appropriate attention.
This assurance was conveyed in a letter responding to Manasseh’s petition, which he submitted two weeks ago, calling for the cessation of the 19-year-old agreement. Under the existing contract, which is set to expire in September 2024, each sweeper is allocated GHS 850, with Zoomlion retaining GHS 600 and providing the sweepers with GHS 250 monthly.
Additionally, Zoomlion imposes interest charges if the YEA delays payments for three months, amounting to GHS 90 million in 2024. The company has reportedly delayed payments to the sweepers for up to a year without needing to demonstrate that it borrowed funds to prefinance the contract, which justified the GHS 90 million interest charge.
Recently, Zoomlion disclosed that its latest proposal is “under discussion” with the YEA. This proposal seeks to increase the allocation per sweeper to GHS 1,308, allowing Zoomlion to take GHS 888 while providing the sweepers with GHS 420 monthly.
In his petition, Manasseh contends that the contract is riddled with corruption and fails to deliver value for money. A letter from Dr. Callistus Mahama, the Secretary to the President, confirmed receipt of Manasseh’s petition, stating, “This is to inform you that the matter is being given the necessary attention and the outcome will be communicated to you in due course.”
Concerns have also been raised regarding the “slave wages” paid to the sweepers, as both the YEA and local assemblies lack control over their employment. The YEA does not possess data to verify the 45,000 sweepers that Zoomlion claims to present for payment each month, despite raising alarms in 2018. At that time, the YEA’s headcount indicated only 38,884 sweepers were active, contradicting Zoomlion’s figures.
Justin Frimpong Koduah, the YEA CEO and current General Secretary of the NPP, noted that Zoomlion failed to provide its payroll for verification when requested. In 2022, the YEA was unable to furnish data when the Accra Metropolitan Assembly raised concerns that many sweepers had ceased working, yet Zoomlion continued to bill the state for 45,000 individuals monthly.
Previous CEOs of the YEA have also expressed concerns regarding the contract. Kofi Baah Agyepong, the immediate past CEO, advised the YEA board that the agreement with Zoomlion should be terminated, asserting that the YEA could manage the sweepers’ module independently, as it does with other modules. In contrast, beneficiaries of other modules receive higher payments than the sweepers, whose wages are processed through Zoomlion.
Manasseh has urged the President to terminate the contract, allowing local assemblies and the YEA to directly oversee the sweepers. This would enable assemblies to exert control over the sweepers, who would be compensated from the assemblies’ share of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF). He argued that removing Zoomlion as an intermediary would lead to improved wages for the sweepers, motivating them to maintain cleanliness in the nation.
Zoomlion holds a separate contract that requires all assemblies to transport refuse collected by YEA sweepers to disposal sites. This contract, known as the Sanitation Improvement Package (SIP), necessitates waste trucks, which many assemblies lack, as a significant portion of their budgets is allocated to pay Zoomlion.
In his petition to the President, Manasseh stated that assemblies could continue to uphold the SIP contract with Zoomlion, as an immediate termination could result in sanitation issues. “When I investigated GYEEDA (now YEA) in 2013, President Mahama took decisive actions, including terminating contracts, enacting the YEA Act, prosecuting and imprisoning two individuals, and recovering funds,” he remarked in a press statement following his petition submission.
“With the documentary evidence I provided alongside the petition, I am confident that the President will terminate the Zoomlion contract, which remains the only YEA contract not cancelled after my 2013 investigations, despite the serious adverse findings against Zoomlion in the GYEEDA report commissioned by President Mahama,” Manasseh concluded.
