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Opinions of Friday, 19 October 2018

Columnist: Mashoud Bawa

Manasseh Azure, when did you learn how to sympathize with the masses?

Manasseh Azure Awuni is a journalist with the Multimedia Group Limited Manasseh Azure Awuni is a journalist with the Multimedia Group Limited

You will not continue to throw dust into our eyes Mr. Awuni. We won't give you that slightest opportunity to blindfold us and direct our conscience to the dirty gutters you find yourself submerged in already.

Have you just learned that fighting for the masses is better than saving a relationship? Am actually talking about that relationship between you and your father the pastor who you said you wouldn’t comment about his supervisory role in dissipating the masses' money into thin air with fat allowances and travel nonsense.

Could it not be that because you benefited from the rainfalls of the saga during your wedding and maybe other diabolically cooked agendas that you run away from the truth? You keep eating, drinking and sleeping the Jospong brand negatively and yet there are many smelly things under your nose that you have decided not to say ‘fi’ because they affect you directly.
If it is money you want I bet you it will never come from Jospong, yes he won't give his money to the likes of you.

I thought you would have taken him to court by now and spare the President to concentrate on his Ghana beyond aid agenda.

Do you know the price of a waste truck tire? Do you know how much fuel a waste truck consumes to haul waste in a day, week and month in a district and in a region? If you do take the statistics out from your conclusions and tell us how much is left mr. accountant.

Do you think you have less reasonable people as MMDCEs in the MMDAs?
If Zoomlion was actually not working as you want us to believe would they have allowed it to continue to work? Wiser than the King Manasseh.

When you go and take your money from your pay masters (the invisible hands behind your Machiavellian attitude towards the man) please don't just come and waste our precious time here.

I poo poo your so called Anti-Corruption Reporter of the year award you took recently because you are bias and unfair in many of your one sided journalism pieces could not have earned you an enviable award as such but well the West Africa Media Excellence Awards can give you even a million awards. What they failed to consider before the awards is your usually erroneous and selfish and skewed analysis and the fact that in most of your write ups there are basic errors that an award winning journalist should not be making. In your hurry to lie against Jospong you don't take time to even edit your stuff. How then can such person be awarded? Is this not a bought award? Well anything is possible in this century.

The worst of all is you don't allow people to object to your writings both on Facebook and twitter among other social media handles, you block anybody who comments in the contrary to you views and that is undemocratic and unjournalistic.

What nonsense and intolerable behavior is that? The Akans advises us not to allow our eye to surpass our eyelashes. "3mma w'ani ntra w'aninton". But seriously I see you allowing your eye surpass your eyelashes more often than less and that is unfortunate because you will be eating your tomorrow today.

You see how the world descended on you on the Pastor Otabil silence? It was the feeling people had against you for you pick and judge style of journalism. That is acting beyond your capacity a reflection of the Akan advice above. People came heavily against you for using certain words against statesmen and women, respect yourself.

Facts about Zoomlion operations under the yea arrangement

Let me educate you on the Zoomlion YEA arrangements. Since the inception of the programme in 2006, under the National Youth Employment Programme (NYEP), Zoomlion has never issued any appointment letter to any beneficiary under the sanitation module.

Per the Management Service Agreement, employment of the beneficiaries does not fall within Zoomlion. It is the sole responsibility of the agency who has the mandate to issue appointment letters to the beneficiaries.
The decision to pay the beneficiaries GH¢100.00 per month out of the GH¢500.00 management fee was not Zoomlion’s initiative. In fact, at the commencement of the module in 2006, beneficiaries were receiving GH¢50.00 per month, it was the management of Zoomlion that initiated the move for the allowance to be increased to GH¢100. So the same Agency which set the initial amount is the only one that has the authority to change it. My checks in fact shows that Zoomlion welcomes any suggestions to have the beneficiaries’ allowances increased to make life more meaningful for them but the company doesn’t carry that capacity.

In fact, shockingly I want to also notify readers that the management fee that was fixed in 2011 at GH¢400.00 has never seen review and that has not been noticed by you Manasseh or you think the price of a litre of diesel in 2018 is the same as that in 2011? When you misplace analysis and skew your interest against a party in passing judgement that is what happens. But the world watches and also has an opinion.

As a watchdog or vigilante as you call yourself, I thought your analysis and conclusions would have been sound, balanced and a bit of fear of God as you pose so religiously in your statements but ‘for the where? yours is giving the dog a bad name because you want to use it for light soup. Jospong has faced a lot of persecution, public and media trials and even judgement led by you over the years so unjustifiably. If you were working with God as your guide one would have expected that you verify your facts from the management of Zoomlion, Jospong and other parties concerned before your public pronouncements on whether they are right or wrong and that is what we call balanced journalism.

Your assumption that Zoomlion doesn’t provide the workers with logistics is erroneous because Zoomlion has in almost every year procured new equipment and logistics to boost their capacities in the regions and districts. Recently, you wrote telling us that Zoomlion lied that it was boosting its truck capacity with 500 trucks when at the Independence Square there were only 150 trucks. In lying so, you forgot that the man told the gathering where ministers of state were in attendance that the 150 trucks were part of a 500 truck project that had been cleared at the port as the first batch. I was wondering whether you were not rather lying because what you said was not different from what the man said except that you twisted what the man said diabolically. Oh my God when will judgement day come?

For the doubting Thomases like you my checks confirms the regular provision of logistics such as wheel barrows, shovels, brooms, rakes, cutlasses, alley brooms, jackets, spades, uniforms, hand gloves, nose masks, reflective jackets, safety boots, pickers, street brush, road cones etc. In all the 15 Zoomlion operational regions and these are supplied regularly and are all paid for from the management fee so next time do not peddle lies that logistics are not provided, for the workers do not use their bare hands to do the work. In addition to the logistics and equipment, Zoomliom has employed District Managers and Supervisors who monitor to ensure that work is done on daily basis.

Zoomlion has for countless times over the years had to pre-finance the payment of these allowances of beneficiaries by borrowing money at high interest rates but at no cost to the government due to delays its payment. Presently, payments to the company is in arrears for a long time running in millions of Ghana cedis. This one too Manasseh no see am.

Also in your attempt to lie against the Jospong man to us readers, always make sure you point out the fact that Zoomlion over the years has always pre-financed the payment of these beneficiaries and the purchase of the logistics. Do you have an idea the interest the company pays as a result of taking loans to pre-finance and wait until government pays? If you know you would have understood that the estimates, you make are so false.

Instead of you encouraging the hardworking man (Jospong) to continue to devise methodologies and business approaches to help achieve the president’s vision of a clean Ghana, you are on the rooftop calling for him to be taken off the scene as you did to our brother Roland Agambiire.
Remember that he who wants equity is expected to come with clean hands not with the filthy hands that you carry around.

You dare not touch God’s anointed for more disgrace awaits you if you continue the wickedness.

Mashoud Bawa
Kalpohini-Tamale