Zoomlion Smoothens Rough Edges

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Dr Joseph Siaw Agyapong

Dr Joseph Siaw Agyapong

The management of Zoomlion yesterday took issues with recent reportage about the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency (GYEEDA) Better Ghana Management Services programme, which they are executing under an elaborate arrangement.

As managers of the module they have had to borrow from commercial banks to pay the participants who are, as it were, not their employees as a result of non-payment from GYEEDA as dictated by the contract underlying the contract.

Speaking at an encounter with senior journalists yesterday at Alisa Hotel in Accra, Lawyer Kwame Gyan, a Director of Zoomlion, said the reaction of the company was informed by inaccuracies in some commentaries in recent times regarding public/private sector collaboration as epitomized by the project under review.

The youth working under the programme, he said, are not employees of Zoomlion but paid by government which determines how much they must be paid.

From November last year, he said government has not paid the allowances of participants, an anomaly which compelled them to borrow from commercial banks at prevailing interest rates to pay.

The idea itself, he said, was a brainchild of Zoomlion and entails a process of learning and doing whose fees are payable to the company by government.

The reportage about the ongoing arrangement, he queried, has been riddled with inaccuracies which management of the company sought to correct through the interaction.

No staff of Zoomlion receives GHc100 as contained in some commentaries in the media, he explained.

Lawyer Kwame Gyan noted that the participants of the programme rarely work beyond three or four hours a day, something which he added can be attested to by many people who observe the workers on daily basis in town.

Regarding the provident fund payment to participants, he said a court has settled this already ordering that this be deducted at source before the final payment reaches those entitled to it.

?The issue of provident fund payment for beneficiaries has been resolved by the law courts. Henceforth beneficiaries? contribution will be deducted from source when government is paying Better Ghana Management Services as directed by the court,? he said.

?We admit that the payment of participants is in arrears but we have not received any payment from government from November last year. We have had to borrow from commercial banks at prevailing interest rates to pay the beneficiaries. The 33% interest rates and others all add to the costs,? he said.

Zoomlion, he said, believes in maintaining good rapport with the media and are sacrificing towards the good of the country.

On the allowances for beneficiaries, he said that ?the allowance for beneficiaries is not 50 cedis but ranges between GH?55 to GH?205 depending on a person?s qualification.?

Stating details of allowances for beneficiaries, he said JSS internships take GH?60, secondary school graduates take GH?70, technical graduates take GH?80, diploma holders GH? 110, first degree GH?160 and Master?s degree graduates GH?205.

The Better Ghana Management Services, being handled by Zoomlion on behalf of GYEEDA, was established in 2010 as a health promotion entity which educates the public on personal hygiene and community development, among others.

In November 2011, the company entered into a contract with GYEEDA to manage about 65,000 beneficiaries in various departments such as health extension work, paid internships and community education teaching assistants.

Zoomlion, he added, has a wonderful working relationship with government and that matters have really not reached a crisis stage.

The company, he explained, appreciates the challenges government is saddled with at the moment.

 By A.R. Gomda

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