The Acting Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Malik Basintale, has responded to calls to reject sanitation module contracts with waste management firm Zoomlion.
Investigative journalist and author Manasseh Azure Awuni has urged the government not to renew its contract with waste management company Zoomlion Ghana Limited over its management of sweepers.
Manasseh argues that any official who signs the contract, which expired in September 2024, is either “a thief or a fool.”
The contract arrangement allocates a total of GHS850 per worker, but only GHS250 is paid directly to each sweeper, with the rest retained by Zoomlion for operational and administrative costs.
Responding to this in a social media post on Friday, April 25, Basintale, to whom Manasseh’s call was directed, vowed never to renew the contract in its current form, citing the government’s commitment to ensuring the betterment of workers.
The YEA boss further asserted that he would not sit idly by and allow the sweepers to take home a monthly salary of GHS250, emphasizing that he wouldn’t be happy if any of his relatives were involved.
“I promise on my honor, as I stand by the grave of my late dad, NOT to RENEW the contract in its CURRENT STATE or FORM.
“It is EVIL for the previous government to have committed to this, and I SHALL STOP IT,” he said.
He continued, “If my mother, brother, or sister were a Zoomlion worker, I wouldn’t be happy with any of them taking GHS250 as salary, and as such, I can’t be happy with you, your mother, father, brother, or sister taking the same.”
Meanwhile, the waste management firm has justified the GHS258 monthly allowance paid to sweepers engaged under its contract with the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), saying the amount is fair due to the part-time nature of the work.
Appearing before Parliament’s Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources on Wednesday, April 23, the Chairman of the Jospong Group, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong said the GHS258 allowance is not a salary but a stipend for part-time work of between three to four hours a day.
