Zoomlion Ghana Limited has clarified its financial relationship with the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) regarding the now-expired sanitation module contract, unequivocally stating that it is "not entitled to any payment" for services rendered under that specific model since September 2024.

Speaking on JoyFM's Super Morning Show on Monday, June 16, Zoomlion's Director of Corporate Affairs and Communications, Emma Adwoa Appiaa Osei-Duah, provided the crucial clarification.

Her statement comes in the wake of a presidential directive announcing the non-renewal of the YEA sanitation contract and a thorough audit of past payments.

"We of Zoomlion understand the [contract] extension ends at September [2024]," Osei-Dua stated.

When directly asked if Zoomlion was entitled to any payments from September 2024 to now, she affirmed, "No, no… between September 2024 till now, Zoomlion is not entitled to payment under the model".

This confirmation is significant as it addresses concerns about potential payments made to the company after the official expiration of its engagement with the YEA on that specific module.

Osei-Dua explained that while the company has seen individuals on the streets wearing uniforms and seemingly working, "because the contract has ended, we have no directive on those people."

She further noted that even before September 2024, the company had not received payments for "about a year and a half or two years", indicating a pre-existing challenge in reimbursements from the government.

Addressing the long-standing question of employee management, Osei-Dua clarified that Zoomlion "do not engage the staff; they are engaged by YEA and brought to us."

However, she confirmed that Zoomlion undertakes the payment of these personnel.

"We have a total of 45,000 [personnel] nationwide," she revealed, affirming that Zoomlion pays this number of people monthly.

She explained the payment mechanism as a public-private partnership where Zoomlion pre-finances the payments to the workers.

"In the early days, government… attempted to pay them and up to a point it was getting difficult so they deployed this private public partnership for us to pre-finance, go ahead and pay and then government will reimburse."

On the contentious issue of the per-person fee, Osei-Dua stated that the amount covers a "two-prong assignment" which includes "logistics" and a "management fee."

She detailed that logistics provided include uniforms, boots, and consumables, which are replaced "quite frequently, at most a quarter."

She, however, could not provide a breakdown of the specific figures per region for the 45,000 personnel, promising to make the data available for independent verification.

Zoomlion has also expressed its willingness to participate in any future competitive bidding processes for waste management services at the district level, aligning with the government's recent directive for future sanitation contracts to undergo competitive procurement.