Chairman of Parliament’s Select Committee on Environment, Science and Technology, Yaw Frimpong Addo, has called for calm following recent developments surrounding the Youth Employment Agency’s (YEA) sanitation module partnership with Zoomlion Ghana Limited.
He asserts that the controversy will not impact the country’s environmental sanitation efforts, contrary to widespread concerns suggesting otherwise. His comments follow remarks by the Chief Executive Officer of the YEA, Malik Basintale, indicating that the agency’s contract with Zoomlion for waste management will not be renewed in its current form.
According to the Chairman, the information circulating in the public domain is incongruous with the realities on the ground, emphasizing the need for urgent stakeholder engagement to clarify the facts surrounding the brouhaha in the sector.
He made these remarks after the Committee completed a tour of the Jospong Group of Companies’ waste treatment plants in four regions.
“Let me also emphasize that there are news items out there purporting to be coming from the YEA. That is not wholly true,” he stated, adding, “People should not panic over it because it’s not going to affect the work of environmental sanitation.”
He indicated that the issues pertaining to the YEA and its agencies under the waste management module fall within the remit of Parliament, and the Committee will prioritize these concerns in its report after touring the middle belt of Ghana to gather firsthand information on waste management.
“The workers there—if the allocations being discussed are something we need to take a second look at—we will discuss it in our report, and it will come to the floor of Parliament. Because that is the arena where the representatives of the people meet to discuss and debate issues.
“So, we don’t want this narrative out there that Ghana is in crisis because 40-something thousand people are going to be laid off, and the implications for sanitation… Certainly, it calls for concern.
“But we should not panic, because this is not something beyond the domain of Parliament, where it can be resolved,” he reiterated.
Frimpong Addo, who is also the MP for Manso Adubia, emphasized the importance of government-private sector collaboration in addressing challenges in waste management to protect the environment.
“We just have to sit down with the private sector entity and explore ways to enhance cooperation. It is a partnership between the private sector and government.
“So, if there is a problem, we just have to sit down and think through some of the challenges that have resulted in these headlines we are seeing,” he re-emphasized.
The four regions toured by the Committee include the Ashanti Region, where the MPs were briefed on the operations of the Kumasi Compost and Recycling Plant (KCARP), the Wastewater Treatment Plant, and the Medical Waste Treatment Plant.
The team continued its tour in the Western North, Bono, and Ahafo regions, visiting the Integrated Recycling and Compost Plants (IRECOP) in Sefwi Wiawso, Sunyani, and Goaso, respectively.
