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President John Mahama has acknowledged receipt of investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni’s petition to terminate the long-standing contract between the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
In a letter signed by the Secretary to the President, Dr. Callistus Mahama, the Presidency confirmed that the concerns raised in the petition are receiving “the necessary attention” and promised to communicate the outcome in due course.
Manasseh’s petition, submitted two weeks ago, calls for the termination of the 19-year-old deal, which he says is riddled with corruption and does not provide value for money. Under the current arrangement, Zoomlion receives GH₵600 of the GH₵850 allocated per sweeper and pays the workers only GH₵250. In a recent proposal, Zoomlion is seeking GH₵888 from a new GH₵1,308 allocation, raising further concerns.
The YEA lacks verified data on the 45,000 sweepers Zoomlion claims monthly, with a headcount in 2018 showing only 38,884. Despite multiple requests, Zoomlion reportedly failed to provide a verifiable payroll.
Manasseh suggested that the YEA and local assemblies directly manage the sweepers to improve accountability and worker pay. He emphasized that removing Zoomlion as the middleman could empower the assemblies to use their District Assemblies Common Fund more effectively and enhance sanitation efforts.
While urging the President to act decisively just as he did in 2013 during the GYEEDA scandal, Manasseh noted that the Zoomlion-YEA contract is the only one from that period still intact despite serious findings against it.
