Only a thief or fool would sign a new contract with Zoomlion to manage sweepers — Manasseh Azure

Investigative journalist and author Manasseh Azure Awuni has urged government not to renew its contract with waste management company Zoomlion Ghana Limited over its management of sweepers.

Manasseh argues that any official who signs the contract, which expired in September 2024, is either “a thief or a fool.”

In an article titled “Malik Basintale, Please, Don’t Push This Thievery!” Manasseh criticised the arrangement that allocates GHS850 for each sweeper, but sees only GHS250 go to the worker, with the remaining GHS600 going to Zoomlion.

“I write to appeal to you on behalf of the youth of Ghana, not to sign a new contract with Zoomlion. I’m referring to the contract that allocates 850 cedis per month to the sweepers, but stipulates that 600 should go to Zoomlion while the sweepers go home with 250 cedis a month. Don’t resurrect that deal, please,” he stated in the article addressed to Acting YEA CEO Malik Basintale.

He added, “Whoever signs a new contract with Zoomlion to manage the sweepers is either a thief or a fool.”

Manasseh also lamented that the sweepers receive no benefits apart from their monthly salaries, which he noted are below the national minimum wage and are sometimes delayed.

He further raised concerns over what he described as unverifiable data on the number of sweepers Zoomlion submits to the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) for payment.

He recalled that in 2018, then YEA CEO Justin Frimpong Kodua—now NPP General Secretary—conducted a headcount and found the number of sweepers far lower than what Zoomlion had claimed.

Meanwhile, the Chairman of the Jospong Group, Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, in a meeting with Parliament’s Select Committee on Sanitation and Water Resources, dismissed claims that the GHS258 allowance is exploitative.

He insisted the package includes health insurance and other benefits.

However, Manasseh rejected that justification in his article.