Opinions of Friday, 11 January 2019

Columnist: Hakeem Abdul Yelma

Ghanaians are tired of the repetitive lies in Manasseh's expired folder

Manasseh Azure Awuni Manasseh Azure Awuni

Dear Manasseh, I greet you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, if not for a second thought Hakeem would have gone bonkers with you. Your letter to the Church of Pentecost (COP) has been read by us your readers especially me.

Seems it is a game isn’t it?

You meant in your letter to say the COP has had a bad deal by partnering with Zoomlion/Jospong/Elder Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong isn’t it? They should have partnered with Azure and Associates or the International Central Gospel Church or Jakorah Ventures or Apedum Services or Daben Ltd or the well-established sanitation companies you saw way back before the establishment of Zoomlion in 2006 as said in your letter to the Church of Pentecost Chairman, Apostle Eric Kwabena Nyamekye?

The meaning of a project by common google search is “an individual or collaborative enterprise that is carefully planned to achieve a particular aim” also program is “a set of related measures or activities with a particular long term aim” similarly, campaign is defined as “a series of military operations intended to a goal, confined to a particular area or involving a specified type of fighting”.

Sorry I took readers time to do this, what I sought to do was to explain the meaning of the project, programme and or campaign launched by the Church of Pentecost called “Environmental Care Campaign” with the focus of educating Ghanaians on the best sanitary practices especially waste disposal into the waste bin.

Ladies and gentlemen, a subsidiary called Universal Plastic Product and Recycling (UPPR) of Zoomlion produces 2,000 waste bins here in Ghana in just one day and the company is willing to support the Church of Pentecost programme with several hundreds of waste bins, workforce with expertise and haulage equipment with many other logistics such as rakes, pickers, shovels, wheelbarrows, tricycles etc to successfully implement their programme/project/campaign.

And a well know Ghanaian journalist who so campaigns for Ghanaians to know he is more caring a citizen than even the president says the partnership is wrong? Are there any reasonable youthful Ghanaians reading this? Can we throw a big hoot at Manasseh for his unpatriotic and pull him down agendas?

I hoot at you shameless begot. Huuuuuu.

Partnership: Manasseh’s God Father Mensah Otabil partnered with several churches, pastors and institutions, nobody said he was wrong. PatorOtabil even partnered with the owners of now consolidated Capital Bank and what were the results a shame: which Ghanaian including His Knowledgeable Manasseh has written to advise him to stop? Were monies not dissipated? Has government not put our hard earned money into this nonsense in the name of consolidation? Manasseh may just have to be extra careful not to elicit our appetite to become vulgar here in Ghana. What I so cry for is the manner he has roped in PastorMensah Otabil into his cunningness. He is just a bad deal in the pastor’s life.

In his letter to Apostle Nyamekye, he used beautiful words to present a picture as though he likes Jospong and Roland Agambire but I tell you if there was no Manasseh in Ghana the Agams Group will still be alive and vibrant today. Sometimes it is worth thinking the saying that the truth hurts but that is true, this bitterness and pretentious grammar he put smacks of an admission that what I read earlier is true about Manasseh. He just may have been fighting against Jospong’s refusal topay the GH¢500,000.00 with the house at Trassaco near his pastor or East Legon.

He even said he likes RlG could that be the honest truth that Manasseh likes Jospong and Roland Agambire? Am confused. Somebody needs to tell Manasseh that never again will he be able to deceive the balanced Ghanaian like me. You killed RlG. But is it force? When you invite people (Roland and Agyepong) to a deal and they refuse go and look for more victims to use your vampire teeth to shuck their blood not these guys.

I am coming to pick the issues one after the other: Readers attention is needed; this article may just end up being too lengthy.

<Waste Bin Contract

It has been said over and over again by Zoomlion that this contract was never executed and no payment whatsoever was made to the company, In a release responding to your blatant lies, they indicated that there was no such payments but over the years you have maintained that it was. Am sure you now know your size in that direction having read the misleading story yesterday about government cancelling Jospong contract by you. How else will a contract which never got executed for years now be cancelled as though it was running. Check the dates and tell us when the contract was cancelled.

Anyway I noticed you still wanted to make news kudos. You even exposed yourself adding in your story that there was no contract so if there was no contract what contract is government cancelling? Please be serious a bit and practice the journalism you were thought.

World Bank Debarment

In 2013, the World Bank debarred Zoomlion from competing from contracts and projects sponsored by them for two years as a result of operational irregularities by their officer in that country. This debarment was since lifted in 2015 accordingly.

Your pain is why the Church of Pentecost has partnered with Zoomlion to embark on their campaign but I tell you that is what is called trust. How could you possibly expect them to look elsewhere when you know that Zoomlion is the only waste management with experience and operates nationally? The church is doing this exercise in all its catchment areas (districts and local assemblies) and that means the entire Ghana where Zoomlion basically operates.

Your Pain About the Company’s Breakthrough

Mr. Azure do you reckon your pain about the company’s breakthrough in 2006 is even more questionable in your lamentation paragraph? Who on earth starts a race and run backwards? Because other companies have remained stagnant Jospong and Zoomlion should equally remain for your foreign money baggers to come and carry our money away? You have shut yourself in the foot by your conclusion that Jospong is corrupt. When the guy doesn’t hold public office, he is not accountable to the taxpayer you leave those responsible to work in the interest of the taxpayer and be ranting about an innocent person. Yes, you left the face of the drum and you are beating the side how can we dance with this kind of music?

Of course we all know that because the company has grown and the management has sustainable plans and the fact that it keeps growing are the key daggers which pierces your heart so much. You may just go to hell if the growth or breakthrough of Zoomlion is actually your business. Hard work, resilience and God grows businesses and the earlier you get that into your sinking head the better for you.

‘Nsamansama’ success

When people like you who instead of educating the public to keep their environments clean have spent have spent seven solid years running the hard working waste managers down and telling the people to disrespect Zoomlion how can we progress. You are comparing nsamansa days with today’s Ghana? Manasseh are you really in Ghana? Tell me the tonnage of plastic waste you and Joy Fm workers including your wife create in a day and I will tell you that even you alone you are enough a nuisance to have destroyed the work of nsamansa. The picture is that those days there were few or no plastics then. You remember we used to buy water in a reusable cup and waakye in leaves that could easily decompose? Again the people of yesterday were more law abiding because of the military rules where discipline was forced on the people and not installed.

You should know that the price of democracy is public disorder as law grinds slowly and worst of all in our system law has not even been enforced at all. Why won’t journalist like you focus on the government, MMDAs, security agencies to enforce the laws to the later, and the Attorney General to decentralised the sanitation court systems to the regions and MMDAs instead of wasting our time with lies? I will soon revisit this nsamansama thing in another piece

Blaming Zoomlion for filth

Mr. Azure are you in Ghana? do you see the heavy duty waste trucks that move in and out of our cities and towns labelled Zoomlion Ghana Limited or you saw only the trucks that carried waste bins when you last reported about the bin contract? Have you seen the Zoompark Company at Achimota and Teshie? Do you imagine what they do? Do you genuinely imagine that it is indeed possible to blame Zoomlion for the waste problems in Ghana and can you defend this?

You can’t blame Zoomlion for Ghana’s waste, in fact you should blame yourself and such journalist as for the filth because you generate and you don’t educate the people about best practices, Zoomlion collects the waste and educates the public about how to manage their waste.

Brother until we meet again, your folder has expired since when you decided to hate, repeat your blatant lies and wish Zoomlion the biggest waste management company in Africa dead. Your deeds shall take you there. Zoomlion will even soar to greater heights because you are not God.

Hakeem Abdul Yelma
He is a Development Communications Expert with special interest in environmental sanitation. This is my opinion.