Ghana’s GAC Report Hooks Zoomlion -As Liberian reentry remains shrouded in credibility crisis

MONROIA – Liberia is grappling with how to management its abundant waste and convert same into renewable energy sources. As the county’s two principal municipalities continue to grapple with these perennial waste management issues, the Joseph Boakai-led administration, constructively thinking outside of the conventional box, has finally resolved to outsource waste management to a private firm that will expertly handle the country’s waste and sanitation nemesis. Sadly however, among those firms bidding for the current waste management contract in Liberia, Zoomlion Ghana Ltd that is on record for having a dismally nasty record of non-performance even in their own country, is shortlisted to win the country’s waste management project, even though their own Ghana Audit Service Report has fingered Zoomlion for corruption, among other non-performance issues.

According to the December 2023 Report of the Ghana Auditor General (Report_of_the_Auditor-General_on_the_Management_and_Utilisation_of_the_District_Assemblies_Common_Fund.pdf) on the management and utilization of the District Assemblies Common Fund and other Statutory Funds, Zoomlion failed to live up to the sanitation agreement signed with the Ghanaian Assemblies.

“The agreements on sanitation management with the Assemblies require quarterly deductions of fees by the Administrator from their Common Fund allocations to Zoomlion Ghana Ltd (ZGL), the Service Provider. We however noted that ZGL was yet to supply 24 skip trucks and 143 containers and also repair or replace 63 broken down trucks and 182 damaged containers for 68 Assemblies,” the Auditor General Johnson Akuamoah Asiedu’s report stated.

Although the report claimed that the non-replacement and repairs of damaged containers and broken-down trucks mainly emanated from non-communication by the Assemblies of the outstanding commitments to ZGL in violation of the provision of the Agreements, “in a likewise manner, we noted an upward revision of quarterly fees made by ZGL without communications to the Assemblies contrary to the dictates of the Agreements. Report of the Auditor-General on the Management and Utilization of District Assemblies Common Fund and other Statutory Funds for the year ended 31 December 2023.                   

“Notwithstanding the provision of the Agreement, a total amount of GH¢80,500 (US$7,700) was deducted in favor of ZGL for services not provided at Afigya Kwabre South Assembly.

“To ensure effective sanitation management in the communities and for the avoidance of an outbreak of endemic prone-disease, we recommended to Management of the Assemblies to pursue ZGL for the supply of the outstanding refuse containers and trucks and also replace the damaged trucks and containers without further delay. We also recommended that Management of the Assemblies should adhere to the dictates of the agreements and notify ZGL of any outstanding commitments and in subsequent review of the Agreements, ensure that the services are priced individually for ease of apportioning costs to unperformed services. We further recommended that both parties should comply with the provisions of the agreements for value for money to be achieved for payments made,” the Ghana Auditor General’s Report said.

It can be recalled that Zoomlion was debarred in 2013 by the World Bank from participating in Liberia’s waste management projects because of bribery allegations and false invoicing. Zoomlion’s CEO is on record recently for admitting that his company was in fact debarred for two years.

Sen. Snowe, Others react

Liberians from all walks of life, the high and mighty, as well as the ordinary citizens have been clamoring in unison against Zoomlion’s attempt to reentry Liberia.

Bomi County Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe, Jr. has taken the bull by the honor to write his colleague lawmakers urging the 55^th National Legislature to prevent the award of national waste management contract to Zoomlion, a tainted foreign company.

According to Sen. Snowe in his July 9, 2025 letter to President Pro-Tempore of the Liberian Senate (In Session), “while the need for efficient waste management cannot be overstate, it is equally important that decisions of such national consequences reflect our commitment to economic empowerment, national ownership, and the promotion of Liberia entrepreneurship.

Snowe in his letter opined that awarding a contract of this scale to Zoomlion – without robust engagement with or consideration for capable Liberian-owned companies would not only undermine the spirit of local content promotion but would further deny thousands of Liberians the opportunity for decent employment and sustainable livelihoods, particularly in this period of rising economic hardship and national uncertainty.

As for public policy wonk and diehard Unity Party sympathizer Ambulah Mamey, he believes that some politicians are fronting for Zoomlion to be awarded the ongoing bid for the country’s waste management project.

“Politicians who are pushing to reward Zoomlion with another contract 10 years+ after Zoom connived with Mary Broh’s City Hall and others to steal street cleaning money from Liberia will pay a price they cannot afford if Zoom is forced on Liberia,” Mamey said forcefully.

“With Zoomlion’s terrible history of corruption, why should they even be considered for a city cleaning contract again? Our procurement system is one of our biggest problems in Liberia. Our leaders don’t care cost, efficiency, reliability, or accountability,” laments US-based Liberian public policy expert Patrick M’bayo.

“Zoomlion deal was not healthy for Ghana. Why will it be healthy for Liberia? Their record has not been good over the years,” says Al Mohammed Kromah of Central Monrovia.

“We will put up a non-compliance posture as citizens to resist any working relationship with Zoomlion. Nobody stupid here,” declared Patrick N. Dagbe.

Apart from individual citizens, civil society groupings have chimed in to register their disappointment over a company that in on record for non-performance in its own country, but will be awarded a contract in Liberia through backdoor wheeling and dealing.

Joining the fray, the Liberia National Students’ Union (LINSU) recently condemned attempts to award Zoomlion a waste management contract in Liberia.

“Any re-engagement with Zoomlion is a direct insult to the thousands of young Liberians working daily to fight environmental pollution and waste hazards in their communities,” said LINSU President James Washington during a recent press conference in Monrovia.