body-container-line-1
03.08.2009 Business & Finance

ZOOMLION IS A WHOLLY-OWENED GHANAIAN COMPANY… Company Secretary discloses & denies Veep is on their payrole

03.08.2009 LISTEN
By Clement Boateng, Nkawkaw - Ghanaian Chronicle

The Company Secretary of Zoomlion Ghana Limited, Mr. Kwame Gyan, has denied media allegations that some politicians, including the current Vice President, Mr. John Mahama, were frontmen for the company.

Taking the press through the genesis of Zoomlion, he said the company was a limited liability one, which is incorporated within the laws of Ghana, and has its registered office in Accra.

He continued that the company was formed in January 2006, with its board of directors and shareholders all being Ghanaians.

“This company was started by the dreams of one individual in 2005, Mr. Joseph Agyapong. I can assure you that there was no involvement of a politician or government at that stage. This company is not being fronted for by any individual,” Mr. Gyan insisted.

Speaking at a press conference in Accra, last Friday, he indicated that the company was also indebted to banks, as a result of monies borrowed from them.

He denied allegations that the Vice President was on their payroll.

He said one of the associated companies of Zoomlion, was JA Plant Pool, a name he claim was the brainchild of the Chief Executive of the Stanbic bank, Mr. Alhassan Andani, at time they were struggling to acquire a name for the company.

According to him the JA Plant Pool, which was a metamorphises of the former Plant Pool, was bought from the defunct Ghana Airways at ¢2.6 billion in 2006, during the period in which the properties of the airline were being liquidated.

He announced that Zoomlion had as well purchased a quarry at Wenchi, called JA Quarry, to assist the construction of the Bui Dam, by quarrying stones for the project.

“What I want to say is that these companies are doing well, but not because they are owned by other people, they are owned by people whose names appear at the registry of companies,” he stressed.

The Company Secretary also announced that Zoomlion was in the process of setting up a new company in the oil rich areas of the country, to take advantage of the oil exploration for businesses.

Touching on contracts with the government of Ghana and Metropolitan, Municipal and district assemblies, he noted that the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), which has employed over 24,000 people, was a programme which was proposed by Zoomlion to implement the sanitation module of the youth and employment programme.

He clarified that persons under this programe were technically not employees of Zoomlion, however the company provides them with training and machineries, while paying commitment fees as well.

He said all the companies formed under Zoomlion, emanated from Jospong Printing Press, which was established in 2003, adding that revenue generated out of the businesses had been invested back into the country.

Mr. Gyan mentioned that currently they were exploring businesses in Angola, and that there were subsidiaries of Zoomlion already in Togo, Nigeira and Guinea

He emphasised that Zoomlion was very current in fulfilling their tax obligations, including the payment of the contributions of the Social Security and National Investment Trust (SSNIT).

He concluded that Zoomlion had no intention of becoming a monopoly in the waste management business, adding that there were about 17 other waste management companies in Accra alone.

body-container-line