Happy Workers' Day, My President

As we mark this day, I write to remind you that cleaners across Ghana, who battle filth in the markets and endanger their lives cleaning streets and public places, are being treated like slaves in their own land.

They are employed under a social intervention programme that politicians have allowed a dubious company--Zoomlion Ghana Limited-- to hijack.

The contract between the YEA and Zoomlion says the poor sweepers should be allocated 850 cedis each monthly, out of which 600 cedis goes to Zoomlion per month while the sweepers go home with a paltry 250 cedis.

This means Zoomlion receives 27 million Cedis as management fees every month, while each of the poor sweepers goes home with almost nothing.

Zoomlion charges the government interest of up to 90 million cedis a year when payment for this contract is delayed for up to three months, but does not pay the sweepers promptly.

Zoomlion also has different contracts to dispose of the waste that these sweepers gather, so the 600 cedis per sweeper is only for the management of the sweepers.

They do not enjoy pension benefits, have no health insurance, and have no transportation or any other benefits.

Mr. President, there's enough evidence of mismanagement and corruption against Zoomlion, whose role makes the poor sweepers and the assemblies, whose Common Fund is deducted to pay Zoomlion, do not benefit from this deal.

The YEA officials have over the years doubted the 45,000 beneficiary Zoomlion presents for payment under this contract, but they go ahead to pay Zoomlion without verifying. This makes them accomplices in this deal.

My appeal to you, Mr. President,  is this: Cancel this deal and allow the assemblies to supervise their own sweepers. The third-party company's charges should be added to the wages of the sweepers.

I'm confident you can do this because when I first exposed this and other scandals in my GYEEDA investigations of 2013, you took some drastic actions, cancelling more than 10 contracts, imprisoning, two including a top member of your own party, resetting GYEEDA and renaming it YEA after causing a law to be passed to regulate it.

That is why in 2019, I wrote an article titled, "Even Akufo-Addo's Wife Will Choose Mahama Over Her Husband On This."

This deal stinks to the heavens and must not be reviewed in any form. We  cannot review fraud.

Please, terminate it, as the immediate past YEA CEO recommended.

I have said that whoever continues this contract is either a fool or a thief. 

You're neither of these, and I trust you can help the poor sweepers and improve sanitation in the assemblies by discontinuing this contract, which ended in September 2024 and was not renewed because of the fraudulent activities and mismanagement of the contract.

Thank you, Mr. President, for giving me a listening ear.

Yours sincerely,

Manasseh Azure Awuni.

Source: Manasseh Azure Awuni