Former Minority Leader Haruna Iddrisu has urged both the State and Parliament to take additional measures to support sanitation workers employed by Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
He expressed concern over the disparity between the amount paid to Zoomlion by the State (approximately GH₵800) for each sanitation worker and the significantly lower amount (less than GH₵300) received by the workers themselves.
To address this issue, Haruna Iddrisu proposed a direct payment system, where the government would pay Zoomlion sanitation workers directly.
“When we pass the Youth Employment Act and the leader will recall, even some of the negotiations in his office, we said that separate beneficiary allowances from service charges. Zoomlion is a service provider. Let the Common Fund and the State pay him as a private contractor engaged to provide sanitation.
“Mr Speaker when you give him GH₵800 and beneficiaries end up getting GH₵200 or GH₵250. I do not think that that is neat enough or good enough. We should have a way of dealing with beneficiary allowances. It should go straight to those in the sanitation model,” he added.
Mr Haruna Iddrisu’s remarks come amid revelations from the Public Accounts Committee of Parliament, stating that Zoomlion Ghana Limited has violated several regulations in its dealings with two District Assemblies.
According to the committee’s report, Zoomlion received payments from the District Assemblies Common Fund for the supply of equipment to the Bibiani Anhwiaso Bekwai and Mampong districts. However, the company failed to fulfill its contractual obligations by not supplying the agreed-upon equipment, constituting a breach of the contractual agreements.
Speaking on the floor of Parliament on December 13, a Member of the Committee, Rockson Nelson Dafeamekpor said “The committee established that Zoomlion Ghana Limited was paid some monies, but failed to supply the necessary sanitation equipment to the various assemblies.
“Mr. Speaker. The committee determined that deductions were made from the accounts of two assemblies, and paid to Zoomlion for the supply of sanitation equipment to improve the sanitation in their areas under what they call the Sanitation Improvement Programme, which is SIP. However, the company did not supply the items to the assemblies, contrary to regulation 79 of the PFM regulation 2019 LI 2378.”
Ghanaian-owned enterprise, Zoomlion Ghana Limited, specializes in delivering comprehensive waste management solutions. Their services encompass the entire waste management process, starting from collection, through haulage, transfer, sorting, recycling, and disposal.
It’s so unfortunate that an elder in the top hierarchy of the Church of Pentecost should be the one to be cheating and fleecing these vulnerable sanitation workers. This is shameful to the body of Christ. This man must repent else on the day of judgment, he will will be surprised by Christ telling him, “Go away from me because I don’t know you, you worker of iniquity. This insatiable greed to make money even at the expense of the poor is unbecoming of some men of God. They must stop it!
You pounce on one sided story and because of your hatred for the church spew lies. Do you know how much a truck and it’s maintenance cost? Go read the contract between zoomlion and the government and come again. Why is government not paying the sweepers but doing so through zoomlion