Ace journalist, Manasseh Azure has described President Akufo-Addo and Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, CEO of Zoomlion Ghana as insensitive for conspiring to make life more miserable for some section of our society.
His Fcaebook post queried why Zoomlion staff who sweep the streets and market centres are paid Ghc180 a month while the employer (Zoomlion) pocket Ghc420 out of the total Ghc600 per head as agreed with Government.
See his full post below:
PLEASE, HEAR ME. AND KINDLY SHARE THIS.
The two men in this photograph are supposed to be honourable men, at least, according to society’s expectations.
The one on the left is the President of the Republic of Ghana, Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo. His official title represents the highest nobility in the land—His Excellency.
The man on the right is Joseph Siaw Agyepong, a businessman and respected elder of the Church of Pentecost. From his wealth, he has built places of worship for The Church of Pentecost and generously funds the church’s activities. He owns Zoomlion and the Jospong Group of Companies.
Why am I focusing on these two men today? I’m doing so because our economy is biting, but these two men have conspired to make life more miserable for some section of our society.
There are men and women who battle the filth in the markets, gutters and streets across the country. These men and women who sweep and keep the nation clean can be supervised by the sanitation departments of the metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies, but Akufo-Addo decided that the MMDAs should step aside.
Instead, he said the sweepers should be supervised by Zoomlion. But that is not the problem.
The problem is that every month, the government allocates 600 Cedis from the taxpayers’ money to pay the sweepers.
But Akufo-Addo and Elder Siaw Agyepong came to an agreement that for each 600 Cedis, the poor sweeper should take 180 Cedis a month while Elder Siaw Agyepong’s Zoomlion should take 420 Cedis.
Yes. They work at least 6 days a week and, for a month of battling the filth and faecal matter, they go home with 180 Cedis a month.
For those reading this outside Ghana, this is $18 dollars a month. Ghana pays its sweepers $18 a month.
They have no transportation or any form of allowance. They have no pension. They have no health insurance. Nothing!
Eighteen United States Dollars a month for sweepers of markets is slavery. It is man’s inhumanity to man. And this is the work of Akufo-Addo and Joseph Siaw Agyepong.
In 2016, Akufo-Addo and his opposition NPP condemned this arrangement under President John Mahama. They said John Mahama and Zoomlion were defrauding the state, but after winning the election, Akufo-Addo keeps jumping from one platform to the other, praising Jospong.
What has changed? Or changed hands?
Zoomlion claims there are 45,000 sweepers, which the government could not verify but pays. So, every month, the company makes 19 Million Cedis while the poor sweepers go home with 180 Cedis each.
Zoomlion claims it buys logistics for the sweepers, but my investigations over the years prove that they use mostly brooms, and some of them buy the brooms with their meager earnings.
When they sweep and put the refuse in the communal trucks to be lifted by Zoomlion, a different contract pays for that. That contract is called the Sanitation Improvement Package (SIP), and every assembly pays for it every quarter. In fact, the money is deducted at the District Assemblies Common Fund and given to Zoomlion before the assemblies get their quarterly allocations.
Ladies and gentlemen, this slave contract is renewed every two years. Currently, it is time for renewal and my information is that Elder Siaw Agyepong is asking for an increment of the management fees.
I have been talking about this since 2013 when I unearthed the GYEEDA scandal, but nothing is happening. I won’t stop talking about it until Akufo-Addo and Joseph Siaw Agyepong realise that there is nothing honourable about stealing from the poor and denying them decent livelihoods.
I want you to help me send this message to the right ears and eyes.
Share this message with any cabinet minister you know and ask them whether there are men and women with conscience in Akufo-Addo’s Cabinet.
Share this message with the Chief of Staff, Madam Frema Opare, and tell her that women are noted for their compassion. She should not sit down and allow her fellow human beings to be treated like animals.
Share this message with leaders of the Church of Pentecost and remind them that the donations and church buildings from Elder Siaw Agyepong may be coming from the sweat and tears of very vulnerable people, and God is against that.
Share this message with the board members of the Youth Employment Agency and remind them that any human being that ignores their conscience and acts is not different from a wild beast.
Share this message with Rebecca Akufo-Addo and tell her to imagine that those sweepers are human beings just like her own children.
Share this message with Akufo-Addo and tell him that if he dies before me, I will forever remember this act of heartlessness he supervised.
Share this message with your member of parliament and ask them if they have conscience and whether they use that conscience when approving the allocations for this contract.
Share this message on WhatsApp Groups and social media platforms and let Ghanaians know how their money is to enrich a few a impoverish the masses.
Finally, share this message with all those who say Manasseh is writing about this because he hates Zoomlion and Akufo-Addo.
Ask them if they would be happy if they or their family members are working.
Source:Kwabena Nyarko Abronoma
