Investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni has formally petitioned President John Dramani Mahama to discontinue the long-running sanitation module contract between the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
The contract, which expired in September 2024 and is pending renewal, allocates GHS850 per worker to Zoomlion.
Of this amount, GHS258 is paid as a monthly allowance to each sweeper, while the company retains the remaining GHS592 for administrative purposes.
According to Manasseh, this arrangement is both unfair to the sweepers and fraught with discrepancies.
He argues that the figures submitted for payment do not reflect the actual number of workers on the ground.
“The YEA has no data to verify the 45,000 sweepers Zoomlion presents for payment every month. Even after raising alarm in 2018, a YEA headcount found only 38,884 sweepers on the ground—far fewer than Zoomlion’s claim,” he revealed.
In a press statement issued on Friday, May 2, to announce the petition, Manasseh revealed that Zoomlion has submitted a new proposal for contract renewal.
Under the proposed terms, the allocation per sweeper would increase to GHS1,308—of which Zoomlion would take GHS888, leaving GHS420 for the sweepers each month.
“I have proposed to the President that the contract be discontinued so that the assemblies and the YEA can directly supervise the sweepers. In this way, the assemblies can have full control over those paid with their share of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF),” he announced.
Manasseh further argued that eliminating Zoomlion as a middleman would allow sweepers to receive better wages and be more motivated to keep the country clean.
“With the documentary evidence I submitted with the petition, I am confident the President will terminate the Zoomlion contract, which remains the only YEA contract not cancelled after my 2013 investigations—even though the GYEEDA report commissioned by President Mahama made serious adverse findings against Zoomlion,” he said.
Read the full statement below;
PRESS RELEASE: MANASSEH PETITIONS PRESIDENT MAHAMA OVER YEA-ZOOMLION CONTRACT
Earlier this week, I formally petitioned the President of the Republic, John Dramani Mahama, to discontinue the 19-year-old contract between the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
Under the last contract that expired in September 2024, GHS850 was allocated to each sweeper. Zoomlion keeps GHS600 and pays the sweepers GHS250 a month, according to the contract.
Zoomlion also charges interest if the YEA delays in paying the company for three months. In 2024, Zoomlion charged an interest of GHS90 million.
Yesterday, Zoomlion revealed that its latest proposal is “under discussion” at the YEA. In this proposal, Zoomlion wants the allocation per sweeper to be raised to GHS1,308, so that Zoomlion would take GHS888 and give the sweepers GHS420 a month.
The YEA has no data to verify the 45,000 sweepers Zoomlion presents for payment every month, even after raising an alarm in 2018. The YEA said its headcount showed that 38,884 sweepers were on the ground, contrary to Zoomlion’s claim of 45,000. The YEA CEO, Justin Kodua Frimpong (the current NPP General Secretary), said Zoomlion failed to submit its payroll for verification when the YEA requested.
In 2022, the YEA could not provide any data when the Accra Metropolitan Assembly complained in a letter that most sweepers had stopped working. Meanwhile, Zoomlion continued to bill the state for 45,000 people every month.
The immediate past CEO of the YEA, Kofi Baah Agyepong, told the YEA board that the contract with Zoomlion should be cancelled, as the YEA was capable of running the sweepers’ module without a third-party company, just as it runs other modules. In all the modules, the YEA pays all its beneficiaries more than the sweepers, whose payment is routed through Zoomlion.
I have proposed to the President that the contract be discontinued so that the assemblies and the YEA can supervise the sweepers. In this way, the assemblies can have direct control of the sweepers, who are paid with the assemblies’ share of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF).
If Zoomlion is eliminated as the middleman, the sweepers will enjoy better wages and be motivated to show up and work to keep the nation clean.
Zoomlion has a separate contract that charges all the assemblies to lift the refuse collected by the YEA sweepers to the dumping sites. This contract, the Sanitation Improvement Package (SIP), requires waste trucks, which some assemblies do not have because a chunk of their budget is deducted to pay Zoomlion.
I have proposed to the President that the assemblies could maintain the SIP contract with Zoomlion, since its immediate termination could cause sanitation challenges.
When I investigated GYEEDA (now YEA) in 2013, President Mahama took drastic actions, including terminating contracts, passing the YEA Act, prosecuting and jailing two persons, and retrieving funds.
With the documentary evidence I submitted with the petition, I am confident that the President will terminate the Zoomlion contract, which is the only YEA contract that was not cancelled after my 2013 investigations, even though the GYEEDA report President Mahama commissioned made serious adverse findings against Zoomlion.
I wish to thank all who have supported and continue to support me in this campaign to stop the massive corruption associated with the YEA-Zoomlion contract and bring justice to the poor sweepers.
We hope President Mahama will not fail us, the sweepers, and our dear nation.
Singed.
Manasseh Azure Awuni
(Investigative Journalist)
May 2, 2025.
