Mr. Siaw Agyepong, among other things, noted that the enforcement of sanitation by-laws is very important adding that without it, President Akufo-Addo’s vision to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa will only be a mirage.

He also called for support of sanitation management companies as a way of making positive strides in the sanitation sector.

According to him, without such support, waste management companies will be demotivated and may not be able to discharge their duties as expected of them.

[contextly_sidebar id=”k8lQ411IMIVLciNBUkN8M2SeLzc36OD9″]“We believe that enforcement of existing regulations and by laws will go a long way in helping the situation. We have so many numerous policies and regulations which lack enforcement. In Singapore and Rwanda as we refer to that is what they do. If we enforce the laws we will solve the sanitation problem,” he added.

Mr. Siaw made the proposal on Friday when he spoke at a forum organized by the Graphic Communications Group which assembled stakeholders in Accra to discuss solutions to Ghana’s sanitation menace.

It was on the theme: “Managing sanitation: How to lift the nation from filth.”

Various speakers including the Minister of Sanitation, Kofi Adda and others from the Environmental Protection Agency, Ghana Health Service among other agencies all given the chance to share their views on the theme.

The Zoomlion CEO, still speaking on the topic, complained about the delays in paying their debt by government.

He lamented that some of the debts have not been paid for close to three years, a situation he said has affected the quality of service provided by waste management companies.

“Government must support the private sector to achieve policy targets. Delays in payments affect quality of service. Some of our debts are two years and other are three years. A refuse truck is $95,000 and others are 102,000 euros. Now when you bring it in you are paying taxes and the trucks can only carry waste. It is not like a tipper truck that in case I’m not being paid I can go and haulage some sand and stones, apart from refuse it cannot carry anything else. So when you deprive the private sector the needed support, you kill the industry,” he said.

Mr. Siaw also called on government to intensify the distribution of refuse bins to households as well as advocacy programs to trigger attitudinal change of citizens towards sanitation.

“Enforce the use of bins in each household and a call for sustainable crusade against the filth. These are the way forward.”

Sanitation beyond aid

He also called on government to try and take the country off sanitation subventions from donor partners.

Mr. Siaw explained that government does not require aid to make the country clean urging it to put in place adequate measures to make this dream come through.

“More attention paid to sustainable sanitation financing.  We must a sustainable financing beyond aid. We don’t have to wait for donor to give us aid at their own time and pleasure then they give us aid for the sanitation sector. And as we have Ghana beyond aid mantra we should also strive to achieve waste beyond aid. Everything must be beyond aid,” he added.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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He says although government owes Zoomlion, they ought not to have reneged on their duties of sweeping and collecting refuse in the country.

“Today being engulfed with filth and finding solid waste everywhere, I feel a little disappointed and if you were to ask me why this state is so, I will put the blame squarely on Zoomlion. Zoomlion to me is the cause of it. Why, because they are not sweeping and collecting refuse every day,” he said at a sanitation forum organized by the Graphic Communications Group in Accra today, Friday.

Zoomlion, a private company, has over 60,00 workers employed under the sanitation module of the Youth Employment Agency who sweep the streets and others who collect refuse from various destinations to dump sites as well as other services.

Government pays the workers dotted across the country through Zoomlion, an amount many say is woefully inadequate.

But the company, which has been in operation since 2006 has lamented that it is owed huge sums of money by successive governments.

According to the company, it has dispensed services to the state over the years including dredging huge drains which usually caused flooding in the country but has not been paid.

We owe you huge monies but you continue to work

According to Mr. Adda, despite the debt, Zoomlion should still have discharged its duties as expected of it.

“I don’t think the past year or so Zoomlion has done so well on that. I know you’ve been constrained just like any other service providers, you’ve not been paid regularly, we owe you huge debts, we need to pay you but the mere fact that you are engaged in sanitation activity in every assembly…the mere fact that you’ve been present in every assembly and you know how it started, you know what you are supposed to be doing, so even if you are constrained…continue to work even though you are not being paid regularly,” he added.

We can deal with filth – Zoomlion boss

Also speaking at the event, the Chief Executive Officer of Zoomlion, Joseph Siaw Agyepong, said they are capable of dealing with sanitation issues in the country but urged government to fast track the payments.

“The solution of waste management in Ghana is here, we shouldn’t look outside, Zoomlion and its partners can deal with it and we have already put the infrastructure in place.”

“Mr. Adda, I want to assure you that you have the serious support of Zoomlion and its partners we will help you to deliver,” he assured the Sanitation Minister.

YEA to ‘dump’ Zoomlion for other sanitation service providers

The management of the Youth Employment Agency [YEA], recently served notice they will take on new service providers to handle its Youth in Sanitation Module from June this year [2018], when the government’s contract with Zoomlion, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group of Companies expires.

YEA says the decision has become necessary following its assessment of Zoomlion’s service rendered to successive governments since the company was established in 2006.

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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About 800 workers of Zoomlion took their cleaning equipment to areas such as Obetsebi Lamptey Circle, parts of the Accra-Tema motorway, Nima and Asylum Down to dredge choked drains, cut down overgrown weeds and sweep the streets.

Speaking to journalists during the exercise, the Mayor of Accra, Mohammed Adjei Sowah, hinted that his outfit would this time round enforce sanitation bye-laws with no human face or favouritism.

“We will deal with anyone who just litters anywhere anyhow”, he said.

He noted that a lot of these sanitation challenges are created by human behaviours  hence the firm decision of the AMA to go after sanitation offenders.

Sanitation Minister, Kofi Adda — who was with an entourage of government officials called for an attitudinal change to sanitation. He urged the public to stop putting up illegal structures that worsen the sanitation situation in Accra.

“Those who are in the wrong places – who are there illegally – should move out of those places…you members of the press should do your part in supporting us. You have to come here periodically to and see what is going on.

“If you catch anybody to littering or defecating or urinating openly you have to bring that person to book. Take a picture of them and put in the print media or on TV…then we know who it is” Kofi Adda told the press during the tour.

Kofi Adda said Nana Akufo-Addo’s promise to make the capital city the cleanest in Africa is on course, saying a plan has already been mapped out for implementation.

On his part, Chief Executive Officer of Zoomlion, Dr. Siaw Agyepong, said the most efficient scheme to deal with the cancer of filth and to overcome the chaos that it comes with is to ensure that every house gets a dustbin. He believes that the treatment of waste has a pattern which should not be broken adding that once waste is generated, it must be contained in a liter bin awaiting transportation to the disposal or treatment site. Zoomlion has pledged to support the filth fight with a nationwide distribution of about two million dustbins.

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By: Philip Nii Lartey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The donation is aimed at helping the AMA realize its sanitation projection and the president’s vision of making Accra the cleanest city in the African Region by the year 2020.

The move, which forms part of the corporate social responsibility of Zoomlion is also geared towards helping reduce communicable diseases and other diseases that are contracted through excessive filth in the cities.

The company believes this is only an add-up to the numerous activities they have been embarking on to clean the whole country.

Speaking at a short ceremony to hand over the vehicles and other items to the chief executive officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly (AMA), Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, the Managing Director of Zoomlion Ghana limited, Mrs. Florence Larbi, said the company is committed to push the presidential initiative to make Accra the cleanest city in Africa.

“We are privileged to be a part of the clean Ghana agenda. In this year’s state of the nation address given by our dear president Nana Akufo-Addo, he outlined the need for us to resource our sub-metros so that they will deliver on their mandate to keep the city clean, and in support of that we want to stand behind our hardworking mayor to donate 10 pickups, 20 motorized tricycles and other cleaning logistics to the tune of 1.5 million Ghana cedis in support of the clean Ghana agenda” Mrs. Florence Larbi said.

Mrs. Larbi expressed the hope that the donation will boost supervision of  sanitation activities in the capital. She stressed that management of Zoomlion is ever ready to provide effective private sector support to the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, and the larger government in any form that will help government achieve its target and also to drive the country towards achieving the Sustainable development goal on sanitation.

On his part, the Chief Executive Officer of the Accra Metropolitan Assembly, Mohammed Nii Adjei Sowah, was very excited about the benevolence of Zoomlion Ghana Ltd towards the Accra Metropolitan assembly, and their desire to see the president’s vision of making Accra the cleanest city materialize.

The AMA boss said, “it is established that your company is a leading company in waste management in the whole of this country. The Accra Metropolitan Assembly has a long standing relationship with Zoomlion company. When we started our polluter phase system, we gave out some sub metro to the Zoomlion company, such as the Ayawaso West Wuogon and some other areas which we are working at, however the president’s call that Accra should be the cleanest city by the end of his tenure, is an enormous task given to us. We are fully aware of the challenge and we are working assiduously towards achieving the president’s objective. ”

“For the AMA, activities are already in place to achieve this vision, and they have adopted a 3-point approach which includes education, enforcement of by-laws and the provision of infrastructure and logistics to support the project. These pickups and other logistics have come in handy. These pickups as donated will help us to enforce our by-laws in our respective sub-metros,” said Mr.  Sowah.

According to the AMA Chief Executive, the motorcycles from Zoomlion will help the AMA in clearing small heaps of refuse in gutters and in residential areas.

He took the opportunity to outline some plans and policies of the AMA in dealing with the use of motorcycles to boost the collection of waste.

The management of Zoomlion Ghana reiterated their commitment to help the country achieve SDG goals on sanitation and the president’s vision for 2020.

The company has for many years undertaken several interventions to improve sanitation in the country.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to Zoomlion, the move is a very commendable saying it will “serve as a blueprint for other modules going forward.”

The sanitation management company however used the opportunity to clarify some supposed misconceptions raised by the YEA prior to and during the announcement of the restructuring.

[contextly_sidebar id=”eT4Z0ZyJlbckrYWRfGb7NTDXDgW9fRJ5″]The management of the YEA served notice it will take on new service providers to handle its Youth in Sanitation Module from June this year [2018], when the government’s contract with Zoomlion expires.

According to the Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Justin Koduah, the decision has become necessary as an assessment of Zoomlion’s services rendered to successive governments since the company was established in 2006, showed indicated that the current arrangement is not satisfactory.

“With particular reference to the sanitation module managed by Zoomlion Ghana Limited, the Agency over the past year has been reviewing Zoomlion’s activities particularly on the internal administrative functions, models ran by the agencies and its relationship with the service provider,” he said.

Disparity in numbers of beneficiaries 

Mr. Koduah also raised issues with the number of people engaged by Zoomlion under the module saying the number of people they have independently verified is far less than the figure presented by Zoomlion.

He said whereas Zoomlion provided them with about 45,320 names they [YEA] were only able to verify some 38,884 people after a headcount.

But a statement from the Communications Directorate of Zoomlion described some of the claims by YEA as “erroneous.”

With regards to the disparity in the number of registered beneficiaries under the sanitation module, Zoomlion defended the figure saying they have provided enough information to the YEA to that effect.

“Zoomlion wish to state that the company’s number is captured in an album with the names, pictures and other details of beneficiaries for verification purposes. The shortfall however occurred as a result of a mixture of reasons, which the CEO of YEA, Mr Justin Kodua Frimpong has himself alluded to in a couple of media interviews,” a statement from the company said.

Zoomlion added in its statement that several issues including long distance had prevented some of the beneficiaries from attending the headcount.

We don’t pocket GHc400 from each beneficiary

Zoomlion has also been accused of pocketing GHc400 out of GHc500 every meant for the payment of beneficiaries; a claim the sanitation management giant dismissed.

It explained that the remaining GHc400, known as Management Service Agreement, is used for the procurement of logistics including wheelbarrows, shovels, brooms, rakes, among others used by the beneficiaries; a directive initiated by the YEA itself.

“Further to the Management Service Agreement, the GHc400 management fee which has not been reviewed since 2011 goes into the procurement of Logistics for the delivery of the service by the YEA operatives. The assumption that this money goes into the pocket of the service provider is therefore very erroneous!”

“The following are some of the logistics the money goes to buy: Wheelbarrows, shovels, brooms, rakes, cutlasses, alley brooms, jackets, spades, uniforms, hand gloves, nose masks, reflective jackets, safety boots, pickers, street brush, road cones etc. These are supplied regularly and are all paid from the management fee. Apart from these, vehicles to carry supervisory staff including fueling the vehicles are all covered from the Management Fee,” the statement added.

Zoomlion also complained about the delay in reimbursing it for its services saying it affects their operations.

“Zoomlion has for countless years had to pre-finance the payment of these allowances of beneficiaries by borrowing money at high-interest rates but at no cost to the government due to delays in its payment.”

“Presently, payments to the company is in arrears of over four years running in millions of cedis,” the statement added.

Below is the full statement from Zoomlion:

ZOOMLION IS HAPPY WITH ANY RESTRUCTURING OR REVIEW OF SANITATION MODULE OF YEA

The Management of Zoomlion Ghana Limited wish to commend the Management of the Youth Employment Agency for its plans to restructure the Sanitation Module of the Youth Employment Programme to serve as a blueprint for other modules going forward.

Without preempting any further discussion on the review or restructuring of the module, management however feels compelled to make some clarification on the following issues raised at the YEA press briefing yesterday.

1. Disparities in reported beneficiary numbers versus physical count-That 38,884 beneficiaries turned up for the counting exercise by YEA as against the 45,320 recorded by managers of Zoomlion Ghana Limited.

Zoomlion wish to state that the company’s number is captured in an album with the names, pictures and other details of beneficiaries for verification purposes. The shortfall however occurred as a result of a mixture of reasons, which the CEO of YEA, Mr Justin Kodua Frimpong has himself alluded to in a couple of media interviews.

i. Beneficiary Apathy: Prior to the Agency’s exercise, there had been series of headcount exercises conducted by 1) the Agency’s regional and district representatives together with Zoomlion Ghana Limited, 2) District Assembly Common Fund (DACF) directorate, 3) the various Metropolitan, Municipal and District Assemblies (MMDA’s) and Zoomlion Ghana Limited within a period of two (2) months with the objective of ascertaining the true numbers of the beneficiaries. In all these exercises, the beneficiaries had to commute back and forth from their communities to the district capitals and this may have led to the comparatively low turnout as compared to the numbers of beneficiaries in the album provided.

ii. Late arrival or ‘no show’ of the Head count team from the Agency to some of the centers. This situation led to most of the beneficiaries leaving the centers out of frustration. A situation which seriously accounted for the team not meeting all beneficiaries to get them to be counted.

iii. Short notice to the beneficiaries by the Agency upon the team’s arrival in the district caused beneficiaries in the hinterlands to miss the headcount. An example of this happened in Ejura Sekyere-Dumase District

iv. Transportation: Most of the communities have means of transport to the district capital only on market days therefore it became difficult to travel to the district capital when it is not a market day a case in point is Bole-Bamboi and Bunkpurugu yooyoo Districts in the Northern Region. Beneficiaries also had challenges regarding payment for transportation to headcount centres at the district/municipal capitals and this greatly affected the turnout of beneficiaries to the exercise.

v. Zoomlion spent more hours spanning a day to two days at particular headcount centres to ensure that no one was left out compared to the Agency which spent some few hours in a day and hurriedly counted beneficiaries they met and left this resulting in the discrepancy.

2. Issuing of Appointment letters to Beneficiaries.

Since the inception of the Programme in 2006, under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), Zoomlion has never issued any appointment letter to any beneficiary under the sanitation module. Per the Management Service Agreement, employment of the beneficiaries is the sole responsibility of the Agency who then have the mandate to issue appointment letters.

3. Payment of management fee

The decision to pay beneficiaries Gh¢100 per month out of the Gh¢500 Management fee was not the initiative of Zoomlion Ghana limited. In fact, at the inception of the module in 2006, beneficiaries were receiving Gh¢50 per month, it was the management of Zoomlion that initiated the move for the allowance to be increased to Gh¢100. So the same Agency which set the initial amount is the only one that has the authority to change it.

Misconception over the Management Fee to Zoomlion

Further to the Management Service Agreement, the Gh¢400 management fee which has not been reviewed since 2011, goes into the procurement of Logistics for the delivery of the service by the YEA operatives. The assumption that this money goes into the pocket of the service provider is therefore very erroneous! The following are some of the logistics the money goes to buy:

Wheel barrows, shovels, brooms, rakes, cutlasses, alley brooms, jackets, spades, uniforms, hand gloves, nose masks, reflective jackets, safety boots, pickers, street brush, road cones etc. These are supplied regularly and are all paid from the management fee.

Apart from these, vehicles to carry supervisory staff including fueling the vehicles are all covered from the Management Fee.

Zoomlion has for countless years had to pre-finance the payment of these allowances of beneficiaries by borrowing money at high interest rates but at no cost to the government due to delays in its payment. Presently, payments to the company is in arrears of over four years running in millions of cedis.

Submission of Reports

The company has since 2006, religiously submitted quarterly and annual reports to the management of the YEA, and has never had any correspondence from the Agency acknowledging receipt or questioning the quality of work being done.

Conclusion

Zoomlion Ghana Limited has over the past 12 years been at the forefront of ensuring that Ghana is clean, green and healthy. Over, this period the company has built experience, capacity and logistics to serve the country in as much as we can to ensure that the President’s vision of making everyday a sanitation day and Accra the cleanest city in Africa a reality.

By dint of hard work and its service excellence, the company which has won several awards both local and international has operations in other countries including Angola, Zambia, Togo, Equatorial Guinea and Liberia.

Communication Directorate

Zoomlion

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By: Godwin Akweiteh Allotey/citifmonline.com/Ghana
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YEA says the decision has become necessary following its assessment of Zoomlion’s service rendered to successive governments since the company was established in 2006.

[contextly_sidebar id=”Xhps3Yf0Pn1zCmdIk6fiWFBG8a3VXYCm”]Addressing a news conference today [Wednesday], the Chief Executive Officer of the Agency, Justin Koduah, said the current arrangement with Zoomlion is not satisfactory.

“With particular reference to the sanitation module managed by Zoomlion Ghana Limited, the Agency over the past year has been reviewing Zoomlion’s activities particularly on the internal administrative functions, models ran by the agencies and its relationship with the service provider, ”he said.

In this regard, YEA is to open up the bid in June for new sanitation service providers including Zoomlion to apply if they are interested.

Justin Koduah noted that, YEA was not satisfied with Zoomlion after it verified details of the contract such as the number of beneficiaries under the sanitation module.

“The agency conducted a verification between June and September last year [2017], the aim of the exercise was to ascertain the number of beneficiaries on its [Zoomlion’s] various module,” he said.

When the NPP came into office in 2017, the YEA suspended payment of allowance to 60,000 of beneficiaries, following a suspicion of discrepancies in the report handed to it by managers under the previous administration.

The Youth Employment Agency (YEA), directed Zoomlion Ghana Limited to furnish it with a database of some 45,000 beneficiaries under the agency’s sanitation module.

According to the Agency, the directive was in line with a restructuring process to take inventory of all modules. However till date, Zoomliom has not made those figures available. This means government may not pay the company for services it rendered to the state.

“Zoomlion Ghana Limited started the sanitation module back in the days of NYEP through to GYEEDA era, and from the transition from GYEEDA to YEA, there was a missing gap because even the management that we took over from, when we asked them about those files, they were complaining that during their era there was no direct link or communication between them and the service provider, and mostly payments for work claimed to have been done were paid without recourse to YEA management, and to them they have no contract with Zoomlion Ghana limited.”

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By: Farida Yusif/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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Agyepong made the remark on the back of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo’s recent sanitation pledge at the State of the Nation address last Thursday.

Dr. Agyepong lauded the President for focusing on the environment, and also pledging resources to make Ghana and its capital, Accra, very clean.

He also reassured the president of the private sector’s readiness to partner the government as it had done over the years to achieve its dream of ensuring proper sanitation for all.

He stressed that the dream of every waste management company is to see a clean environment that would ensure the good health of the people of Ghana, and thus ensure high productivity in all sectors of the economy.

The Executive Chairman stressed that, the sanitation sector needs the right policies, strict law enforcement, support and a positive attitude from government agencies and officials taxed with ensuring the sanitation needs of the country, to engender fruitful partnership with the private sector.

“Over the years, Zoomlion and other affiliate companies have been doing their best to ensure we all live in a clean and healthy environment, but we cannot do much if the government does not support those of us in the sector,” he said.

Mr. Agyepong also called for government’s support for all waste management companies, emphasizing that “we have the capacity and the technical know-how in Ghana and by Ghanaians to solve any waste management challenge.”

Zoomlion Ghana Limited over the twelve years of its operation has transformed the waste management industry in Ghana through the introduction of integrated waste management solutions.

This include mechanized door-to-door waste collection system, waste transfer station, medical waste treatment plant, composting and recycling plants, waste water and faecal treatment plant, engineered landfill and dredging as well.

 President’s take on sanitation

Touching on sanitation in his over an hour long delivery of the State of the Nation address in the House of Parliament last Thursday, President Akufo-Addo decried the state of sanitation in cities in Ghana, describing it as “wholly unacceptable.”

He said “Our cities have been engulfed by filth. There is the urgent need for public authorities to find means of making our cities clean, and, in the case of Accra, fulfilling my pledge, one of the most ambitious of my presidency, to make it the cleanest city in Africa, by the end of my term.”

President Akufo-Addo stated that, the government was working with various private sector operators to tackle the major challenge of poor sanitation in the country, with strategies that were intended to effect a change in attitudes towards waste generation, as well as improve dramatically the methods of waste management.

He added that, the strategies would be “complemented by the strict enforcement of sanitation rules and regulations, and urgent attention will be given to clearing of rubbish all around the country.  Systematic efforts would be made to resolve the legacy of inherited debts in the sector. Government will spend, this year, an amount of GH¢200 million to address the vexed issue of sanitation.”

Mr. Agyepong expressed optimism that the President would realise his dream of a clean and remarkably improved sanitation situation in the country, as well as a healthy people by next year, if the needed support is given to all sanitation sector players and a strong partnership is formed between private and state actors in the sector.

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By: citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to the company, this will deter persons from littering the environment indiscriminately.

[contextly_sidebar id=”WLRGOp8YwEVnAsn7LZEudrbWWYIxp4lt”]Many households without access to waste management services are now dumping their waste on the streets, expecting it to be collected on their behalf.

According to health analysts, this development could easily spark an outbreak of sanitation-related diseases across the capital if steps are not taken to address the practice.

Speaking to Citi News, the Communication Manager of Zoomlion, Robert Coleman said Ghana’s sanitation conditions would be much better with support from citizens.

“We are trying very hard to do our part but I believe strongly that a lot of people are simply not complementing the efforts of most of the waste management companies and not completing the efforts of government… Looking at the fact that there are people who clean every day in Accra and other capitals and we still have the problems that we have then it means we are not winning the fight against improper sanitary practices in the country.”

Thus, Mr. Coleman said some solid infrastructure was needed along with the enforcement of sanitation laws.

“What we have is lawlessness people are just reckless and it is high time the sanitation ministry takes it up. Look at the amount of money that government is spending on sanitation and people will abuse the environment with impunity and nothing is done to them.”
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By: KojoAgyemang/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The over 500 pupils and teachers at the school have, for years, been battling with bats, snakes and other dangerous reptiles in their cracked, dilapidated school building on a daily basis, while responsible agencies looked on unconcerned with their plight.

With the students of the school on vacation, some residents who saw the team from Zoomlion at the school’s compound, joined them to lend their support to the exercise.

The fumigation exercise, which lasted for more than three hours saw about 4,000 bats killed, with thousands more escaping through the holes in the roof of the building.

The Regional Head of Environmental and Sanitation in the Eastern Region, Maxwell Agbosu, said the exercise had become necessary after they heard earlier reports of the situation on Citi FM.

“After we heard the second report of their plight on Citi FM we were touched and today we decided to come and also support them. So we have applied chemicals to the whole building, these are very strong chemicals which will ward off the bats and also neutralize the stench here.”

“Upon arrival at the entrance of the school, we smelt the bad odour emanating from the school. We are surprised how they have managed to live in such conditions all this while so the chemicals we are applying will handle the stench and keep the bats away. We also came with chemicals which will be used to spray the whole school compound to also kill and drive away snakes and other reptiles hiding around,” he said

The chief of Oterkpolu, Nene Christian Onyemi Omesu, who was happy about the fumigation exercise called for government support to ensure that the dilapidated structure sees a facelift.

“I am the chief of Oterkpolu and my school here is in a bad state, school kids always kill snakes on a regular basis and it is very scary and worrying for us. When snakes invade the school, the kids run away and never return again, when it rains it floods the school because of the leaks and holes in the roof”.

“We are happy Zoomlion is here but am pleading with the government to come and rehabilitate the school building for our children to be safe and feel comfortable learning.”

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By: Neil Nii Amatey Kanarku/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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According to him, the private sector has the capacity to positively influence the nation’s development efforts, hence his suggestion.

[contextly_sidebar id=”X5RztPtgKqDHtI3voqN1EnVeYUV8gxqi”]He advised that the government should partner the private sector “to do all the jobs society needs to be done for it and if along the line, the company makes profit, that is the rationale for private enterprise.”

“This where I believe governments from now into the future should work with. The government alone cannot do it. The private person with his initiative and risk-taking  will make the profit and we should not envy them. We should encourage them to do more. If you go the United States of America you will not government businesses rather private business.”

He was speaking at the Thanksgiving Service for the Jospong Group of Companies.

The event, which is held in December every year, brought together staff and management of the company to thank God and appreciate his goodness for successes chalked by the entities under the group.

The service, held at the forecourt of the Zoomlion Ghana Headquarters at Adenta in Accra, had representatives of other companies and state officials in attendance.

This year’s event was also used to honour former President Kufuor as he celebrated his 79th birthday.

In his remarks, the Executive Director of the Jospong Group of Companies, Mr. Joseph Siaw Agyapong, applauded former President Kufuor for the various roles he played during the formative years of his business.

He said the former president’s motivation and the support he gave him when he started Jospong’s flagship company, Zoomlion Ghana Limited in 2006, was what pushed him to pursue the agenda of helping address some of the development challenges of Ghana.

“Apart from showing gratitude to God, I personally thank former President Kufuor who did not know me from anywhere but called me and encouraged me during the early years of Zoomlion. It was his words that motivated me to do things I never thought I could do,” Dr. Agyapong said.

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By: Philip Nii Lartey/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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