Zoomlion Ghana Limited and the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) have a 19-year-old contract that the government will not renew, according to President John Dramani Mahama.
The president also stated that because of the “probable cost savings” from ending the Zoomlion contract, the government will raise the fees of sweepers.
In a letter to investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, the president made this announcement. Awuni petitioned him to revoke the Zoomlion contract, citing corruption and poor management as proof.
His Excellency the President acknowledges the serious concerns raised in your letter and responds as follows, according to the president’s letter dated June 11, 2025, which was signed by Dr. Callistus Mahama, Minister to the President.
“• Expiration of Contract: The contract between Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited Zoomlion) has expired and will not be renewed.”
Additionally, the letter addressed some of the concerns Manasseh brought up in his petition regarding Zoomlion’s contract, such as the pitiful fees paid to sweepers and other sanitation contracts in Ghana, over which Zoomlion has virtually complete control.
Manasseh has spent the last 12 years pushing for the termination of the Zoomlion contract, which many claimed was untouchable because of the company’s clout in both the NDC and NPP administrations.
His investigation initially exposed corruption in the Zoomlion contract in 2013.
The YEA-Zoomlion contract stipulated that each sweeper would receive GHS850. According to the contract, Zoomlion pays the sweepers GHS 250 per month and retains GHS 600.
Additionally, if the YEA doesn’t pay Zoomlion within three months, Zoomlion will charge interest. The company charged GHS90 million in interest in 2024.
Zoomlion disclosed that its most recent proposal was “being discussed” at the YEA. To take GHS888 and give the sweepers GHS420 per month, Zoomlion wants the allocation per sweeper to be increased to GHS1,308.
Even after setting off an alarm in 2018, the YEA lacks the data necessary to confirm the 45,000 sweepers Zoomlion submits for payment each month. Zoomlion claimed 45,000 sweepers were on the ground, but the YEA said its headcount indicated 38,884 sweepers were present.
When the YEA asked Zoomlion to submit its payroll for verification, Zoomlion did not, according to YEA CEO and current NPP General Secretary Justin Kodua Frimpong.
The majority of sweepers had ceased to work, as the Accra Metropolitan Assembly complained in a letter in 2022, but the YEA was unable to provide any data.
In the meantime, Zoomlion kept sending monthly bills to the state for 45,000 people.
Kofi Baah Agyepong, the YEA’s immediate former CEO, informed the board that the agreement with Zoomlion ought to be terminated because the YEA could have operated the sweepers’ module without the assistance of a third party, just like it could have done with other modules.
The YEA pays all of its beneficiaries more than the sweepers, whose payments are made through Zoomlion, in every module.
Manasseh Azure Awuni suggested that the contract be terminated for the assemblies and the YEA to oversee the sweepers in his petition to the president in April 2025.
The sweepers, who are compensated using the assemblies’ portion of the District Assemblies Common Fund (DACF), could thus be directly controlled by the assemblies.
In his petition to the President, Manasseh contended that the sweepers would receive higher pay and be more inclined to show up and work to maintain the cleanliness of the country if Zoomlion were removed as the intermediary.
All of the concerns Manasseh brought up in his petition were addressed favourably by President Mahama.
Although Manasseh has called President Mahama’s response to his letter one of the best news stories of his journalism career, he will make a formal statement in response to the President’s response to the petition.
The president’s complete response to Manasseh is as follows:
RE: PETITION TO DISCONTINUE THE EXPIRED CONTRACT BETWEEN THE YOUTH EMPLOYMENT AGENCY (YEA) AND ZOOMLION GHANA LIMITED.
I refer to your letter dated April 27, 2025, on the above matter. His Excellency the President acknowledges the serious concerns raised in your letter and responds as follows:
1. Expiration of Contract: The contract between Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited (“Zoomlion”) has expired and will not be renewed.
2. Audit of Payments and Claims: All payments made to Zoomlion after the contract’s expiration will be thoroughly audited. No further payments will be authorised without proper verification, and any unauthorised payments will be recovered.
3. Conduct competitive procurement: The Cabinet has directed that future sanitation contracts be subjected to a competitive procurement process. Rather than one national contract, there should be regional or district-based tenders for private firms. This could reduce costs through competitive pricing and stimulate innovation, as companies compete on service quality to secure contracts. A cabinet subcommittee will develop the modalities for implementing this.
4. Sweeper Fees: With probable cost savings, the government intends to increase the sweeper fees to a more livable income.
5. Fumigation contracts: contracts that have not been performed satisfactorily will be reviewed and, where appropriate, terminated by their terms and upon the advice of the Attorney-General.
Please accept the assurances of my highest esteem.
Signed
Callistus Mahama, PhD
Secretary to the President.
By Najat Adamu
