I am ready to defend myself in court for things I said about Zoomlion contract – Manasseh Azure

Investigative journalist Manasseh Awuni Azure has declared his readiness to defend claims he has made regarding contracts awarded to Zoomlion Ghana Limited, including allegations of over-billing and non-performance.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM Show on Monday, June 16, Mr Azure reiterated his confidence in his extensively researched reports, stating, “I am prepared to defend everything in court; there are documents to back them.”

Awuni Azure’s comments come amidst the government’s decision not to renew Zoomlion’s Youth Employment Agency (YEA) sanitation module contract, a move that follows years of the journalist’s persistent exposé on the company’s various agreements with the state.

During the interview, Mr Azure detailed specific instances of alleged malfeasance, particularly focusing on fumigation contracts.

He recounted a scenario where Zoomlion and its affiliate companies were awarded a third fumigation contract, even when Zoomlion already held two existing fumigation contracts in the same districts.

“If you put Zoomlion to go to Upper East and do this fumigation, when you go to Upper East, all the districts already have a fumigation contract with Zoomlion, and then all the districts were also covered under the Ministry of Health’s fumigation contract,” he explained.

Crucially, Awuni Azure alleged that despite these multiple contracts, there was no evidence of work being done on the ground.

“When we went, nobody said they saw Zoomlion or any of those companies delivering a service,” he claimed.

His investigations, which included police visits to assemblies across the country, revealed that local authorities were unaware of these contracts and did not witness any services being rendered.

He further highlighted Zoomlion’s response through its lawyers, who allegedly stated that the contracts “didn’t mandate them to be supervised by anybody”.

Mr Azure strongly countered this, arguing, “You cannot go to a district and then do a contract of this nature without anybody seeing you, because this is something you are supposed to do in the open.”

The contracts, he noted, involved fumigating markets, gutters, public spaces, and toilets.

Mr Azure also revisited his claims of massive over-billing, citing the case of waste bins.

He challenged Zoomlion’s justification that higher prices were due to the government not paying upfront.

“Something that is less than one Cedi… you are invoicing it to the government for 70 Cedis a piece,” he stated, alluding to a contract where an estimated $200,000 contract was allegedly invoiced for $14 million. “This one is not 400,000, it’s not 500, it’s not even $1 million, [$14 million],” he stressed, rejecting the explanation that delayed government payments justified such exorbitant mark-ups.

The journalist also shed light on the long-standing issue of disproportionate worker compensation within the sanitation contracts.

He cited historical payment structures, detailing how, from the very first contract, a large portion of the government’s payment went to Zoomlion, with a significantly smaller fraction reaching the workers.

He provided figures: initially, workers received GH¢50 while Zoomlion took GH¢300 out of a GH¢350 total; it later evolved to workers receiving GH¢180 while Zoomlion took GH¢420 out of GH¢600, and then to workers taking GH¢250 while Zoomlion took GH¢600 out of GH¢850.

Mr Azure criticised sections of the media for allegedly “campaigning for some of these shady companies and shady contracts”.

He highlighted the stark difference in media coverage between Zoomlion’s press releases and the lack of prominence given to the President’s statement on the contract non-renewal.

He specifically recalled a challenging period where the Ghana Journalist Association (GJA) allegedly issued a press statement against him, cautioning against “destroying profitable local businesses” after his report contributed to the cancellation of a $74 million Zoomlion contract.

“They sued me for saying that they were corrupt… we filed defence, they ran away,” Mr Azure recounted, reiterating his readiness for legal confrontation.

“This contract that led to the cancellation of the $74 million contract – can you believe the Ghana Journalist Association issued a press statement against me that we shouldn’t destroy profitable local businesses?” he queried, underscoring the obstacles faced by investigative journalists.

Mr Azure’s persistent focus on the Zoomlion contracts dates back over a decade, and he expressed his conviction that some state officials are “compromised” for such contracts to have been signed and perpetuated. He stressed that the revelation about workers being “cheated” is only now gaining traction, nearly 20 years after the initial contract began.

Source: MyJoyOnline