A former Chief Executive Officer of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Kofi Agyepong, has publicly dismissed claims made by waste management company Zoomlion Ghana Limited regarding proposed allowances for sweepers under the YEA sanitation module.

In a strongly worded statement issued in response to Zoomlion’s press release of 30 April , Mr Agyepong described the company’s assertions as “misleading” and “deeply unfair”.

Zoomlion claimed that in 2024, it proposed increasing sweepers’ allowances to GHS420 per month, but that the YEA, under Mr Agyepong’s leadership, countered with a lower amount of GHS300. Mr Agyepong has firmly rejected this version of events.

“I wish to categorically state that no such counter-proposal was made by the YEA during my tenure as CEO,” Mr Agyepong said.

“The last and only counter-proposal submitted to the YEA Board under my leadership was GHS500 per month to sweepers – an amount we reluctantly proposed due to budget constraints, though we wished we could offer more in recognition of the hard work of the beneficiaries,”he added.

He further explained that Zoomlion’s proposal, submitted in November 2024, requested an allocation of GHS1,308 per beneficiary. Of this, GHS888 would be retained by Zoomlion as a management fee, leaving only GHS420 for the beneficiary. Mr Agyepong described this as “excessive, unjustified, and deeply unfair”.

“This proposal was rejected outright by my management and board, and we formally communicated our disapproval to Zoomlion,” he stated.

Mr Agyepong also disputed Zoomlion’s claim that the proposal “is still under discussion”, clarifying that no further negotiations took place during his tenure.

“Any engagement Zoomlion has now is entirely with the new leadership and has nothing to do with the previous management,” he said.

Beyond the allowance issue, the former CEO revealed that his administration had proposed several reforms during contract renewal discussions, aimed at enhancing transparency and ensuring fairness.

These included YEA assuming responsibility for direct payment to beneficiaries, in line with all other agency modules, and requiring that all logistics procured under the contract be stored in YEA warehouses for proper oversight. Both proposals, according to Mr Agyepong, were rejected by Zoomlion.

“These were among the key reform-oriented proposals we put forward to protect the public interest and ensure fairness to beneficiaries,” he said.

“Zoomlion’s refusal to accept these changes is precisely why my administration declined to renew their contract", he stated.

Mr Agyepong concluded by urging the current YEA leadership to “stand firm and resist any attempt by Zoomlion to pressure the agency into deals that do not serve the best interests of the sweepers or the Ghanaian taxpayer.”

He further called on the public to support reform efforts.

“I encourage the public to view any effort to reform or challenge the Zoomlion-YEA arrangement not as partisan politics, but as a necessary fight for transparency, equity, and public accountability", he concluded.