Former CEO of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Kofi Agyepong, has refuted claims by Zoomlion Ghana Limited that the Agency under his leadership proposed GHS300 as monthly allowances for sanitation workers under the YEA’s sanitation module.
In a strongly worded response to Zoomlion’s April 30 press release, Mr. Agyepong stated that no such counter-proposal was made during his tenure.
Instead, he clarified that the only counter-offer sent to the YEA Board under his leadership was a GHS500 monthly allowance for sweepers, a figure he described as modest but necessitated by budgetary limitations.
“The facts are as follows: the last and only counter-proposal submitted to the YEA Board under my leadership was GHS500 per month to sweepers… we wished we could offer more in recognition of the hard work of the beneficiaries,” Agyepong said.
He accused Zoomlion of misrepresenting discussions held in 2024, particularly regarding the company’s own proposal to increase the overall allocation per beneficiary to GHS1,308 — of which GHS888 would be retained by the company and GHS420 given to the sweepers.
That proposal, according to Agyepong, was rejected outright as “excessive, unjustified, and deeply unfair.”
Agyepong further criticized Zoomlion’s claim that the proposal “is still under discussion,” clarifying that no further negotiations took place under his management.
He stressed that any ongoing discussions between Zoomlion and YEA are solely the responsibility of the current leadership.
He also revealed that his administration attempted to introduce transparency reforms during the contract renewal process.
These included giving the YEA direct control over the payment of beneficiaries and requiring all contract-related logistics to be stored in YEA-managed warehouses. Both proposals, he said, were rejected by Zoomlion.
“These were among the key reform-oriented proposals we put forward to protect the public interest and ensure fairness to beneficiaries,” Agyepong said, adding that the refusal of Zoomlion to accept the changes led to the contract not being renewed during his tenure.
He concluded by urging current YEA leadership to resist any undue pressure from Zoomlion and to prioritize transparency and the welfare of sweepers.
Agyepong called on the public to support efforts aimed at reforming the YEA-Zoomlion arrangement, framing it as a matter of public accountability rather than partisan interest.
Read his full statement below:
