Management of Zoomlion, Ghana, has committed to paying sanitation workers, specifically sweepers, their nine months’ salaries before December 2024.
In an interview, Emma Osei-Duah, the Director of Communications and Corporate Affairs at Zoomlion Ghana, acknowledged the delays in payments to sweepers.
She clarified that the unpaid period is nine months, not a year, stating, “We’ve not paid some of the sweepers, but it is not up to a year.
We have not paid them for nine months because we have paid four months to each person.”
The company explained that the payment delays stem from its contract with the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), which requires Zoomlion to pre-finance payments before receiving reimbursement.
Ongoing discussions between Zoomlion and YEA regarding the contract have also contributed to these delays.
This announcement follows calls from YEA to suspend the management services contract with Zoomlion due to persistent payment issues affecting hundreds of sanitation workers nationwide.
YEA’s Executive Officer, Kofi Baah Agyapong, has urged a review of the contract, which impacts numerous sweepers responsible for cleaning streets and public spaces across the country.
Under the current arrangement, the government pays Zoomlion GH₵ 850 per sweeper through YEA. From this amount, the company pays workers GH₵ 250, while retaining GH₵ 600 for management and logistics fees.
Despite this, some sweepers have reportedly gone unpaid for over a year, prompting YEA to advocate for a suspension of the contract and renegotiation to address the backlog.
