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Claim: Social media accounts, Sir Obama Pokuase, Nation Watch, Fuseini Mohammed Hadi, and Trends Gh, claim Zoomlion’s government contract has been terminated, posted amid public anger over filth buildup from recent rains, each generating over 100 reactions.
VERDICT: Misleading! The claim conflates two separate Zoomlion contracts. Only the YEA-funded sweepers’ contract (signed 2006) was not renewed; the Sanitation Improvement Package (SIP), which assemblies were ordered to sign with Zoomlion in 2007 to convey garbage to disposal sites, remains active. Both Zoomlion’s Governmental Affairs Manager and the journalist whose investigations led to the cancellation of the sweepers’ contract confirm this distinction.
Full Text
Ghana’s sanitation sector has been under intense public scrutiny in recent weeks, as heavy rains have exposed overflowing garbage containers and choked drains in Accra and other cities. On the back of the visible filth, a wave of social media posts from accounts including Sir Obama Pokuase, Nation Watch, Fuseini Mohammed Hadi, and Trends Gh began circulating claims that Zoomlion Ghana Ltd’s government contract had been terminated entirely, with each post drawing over 100 reactions and shares.
In June 2025, the Office of the President confirmed in a letter that a Zoomlion contract, funded through the Youth Employment Agency (YEA) and dating back to 2006, had expired and would not be renewed. That contract covered street sweepers deployed nationwide. But the social media posts examined here go further, framing the development as a blanket termination of Zoomlion’s business with the government, a claim that DUBAWA sought to verify given its direct bearing on public understanding of why garbage remains uncollected.
Verification
Posts from the named accounts Sir Obama Pokuase, Nation Watch, Fuseini Mohammed Hadi, and Trends Gh circulated with the suggestion that Zoomlion’s contract with the government has been terminated outright.
The posts gained traction as public frustration grew over uncollected refuse and choked drains following recent rains. Each post drew over 100 reactions, reflecting the claim’s reach at a moment of heightened public sensitivity to visible sanitation failures.
Zoomlion’s response: Ernest Morgan Acquah, Governmental Affairs Manager at Zoomlion Ghana Ltd, in an interview monitored by DUBAWA on July 15, 2026, confirmed that the YEA contract has not been renewed, but said the company maintains running contracts with the assemblies.
Independent confirmation: Manasseh Azure Awuni, Facebook, July 14, 2026: Manasseh Azure Awuni, the investigative journalist whose 2014 reporting exposed corruption in the Youth Employment Programme (then GYEEDA) and whose more recent petition pushed for the Zoomlion sweepers’ contract’s cancellation, addressed the confusion directly in a Facebook post. He recalled that in 2014, then-President Mahama cancelled roughly 14 fraudulent youth employment contracts, and that the Zoomlion YEA sweepers’ deal was the sole contract he had questioned, but that survived that cleanup. He stated plainly that “the Mahama government has not terminated” the Sanitation Improvement Package, distinguishing it from the sweepers’ contract that was in fact cancelled.
He said the SIP is the agreement the assembly was required to sign with Zoomlion in 2007 for garbage collection and disposal, and argued that overflowing, uncollected containers in markets stem from that separate, still-active agreement rather than from the YEA cancellation. He also accused unnamed critics, whom he linked to the same political camp that opposed the 2014 cancellations, of misrepresenting the government’s action as a full termination of all Zoomlion contracts.
Government position: This aligns with the Office of the President’s June 11, 2025, letter, which stated that the YEA-funded contract had expired and would not be renewed, without reference to Zoomlion’s other assembly-level agreements.
Screenshot of a letter from the presidency announcing the discontinuation of the contract between Zoomlion and YEA under the sanitation module
Conclusion
Zoomlion’s YEA-funded street-sweeping contract was not renewed, but its Sanitation Improvement Package contract with assemblies in effect since 2007 remains active, a fact confirmed independently by both Zoomlion’s Governmental Affairs Manager and journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni.
