Investigative journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, has formally petitioned President John Dramani Mahama to terminate the long-standing contract between the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and waste management company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited.

In a statement issued on Friday, May 2, Mr Awuni called for an end to what he describes as a 19-year-old arrangement fraught with inefficiencies, poor accountability, and exploitation of sweepers.

Mr Awuni stated that under the most recent contract, which expired in September 2024, an amount of GH₵850 was allocated per sweeper.

However, he said Zoomlion retained GH₵600 of that sum, leaving the sweepers with just GH₵250 monthly.

According to the journalist, the contract also allowed Zoomlion to charge interest on delayed payments from the YEA, resulting in a reported GHS90 million interest claim in 2024 alone.

He noted that Zoomlion has since submitted a new proposal, currently under review at the YEA, seeking an increase in the allocation per sweeper to GHS1,308, saying that if approved, the company would keep GHS888 and pay sweepers GHS420 per month.

Manasseh questioned the lack of transparency surrounding the number of sweepers Zoomlion presents for payment.

"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," he said.

He also referenced the position of the immediate past YEA CEO, Kofi Baah Agyepong, who told the agency’s board that the contract should be scrapped, stating that the YEA could independently manage the sweeping module just as it does other employment schemes.

This, Mr Awuni stated, that in all the modules, 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)," Mr Awuni said.

"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."

While calling for the termination of the sweeping module contract, Manasseh acknowledged the importance of maintaining Zoomlion’s separate Sanitation Improvement Package (SIP), which involves refuse transportation.

He noted that ending the SIP abruptly could result in sanitation problems, as some assemblies lack the waste trucks necessary for waste disposal due to large deductions from their budgets to fund the Zoomlion contracts.

Mr Awuni also reminded the President of the decisive steps he took in 2013 following investigations into the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA), which led to the cancellation of contracts, prosecutions, and passage of the YEA Act.

“With the documentary evidence I submitted with the petition, I am confident that the President will terminate the Zoomlion contract,” he said, noting it was the only GYEEDA-era agreement left untouched despite adverse findings in a report commissioned by the President himself.