MONROVIA – The Authorities of Liberia is underneath rising public and political strain after the Monrovia and Paynesville Metropolis Firms included Zoomlion Ghana Restricted on the shortlist of firms bidding for a profitable 20-year stable waste administration contract for the Better Monrovia Space.
By: Gerald C. Koinyeneh
The transfer is elevating severe issues about transparency, good governance, and the sincerity of President Joseph Boakai’s much-publicized “warfare on corruption.”
In keeping with the official Request for Proposal (RFP), obtained by FrontPage Africa, Zoomlion Ghana Restricted was shortlisted alongside 5 different firms—Carlson, Gulf Power Environmental Providers Co. Ltd, Zircon Industrial Engineering, Talwa Sanitation & Different Power, and World Inexperienced Power and Energy Company Ltd—for a complete stable waste and infrastructure growth venture protecting Monrovia and Paynesville.
The venture, spanning 20 years, is among the largest waste administration undertakings in Liberia’s historical past and comes at a time when the federal government is underneath strain to ship on its guarantees of reform, job creation, and accountable management. Critics argue that together with an organization with a historical past of corruption in Liberia — and one which has been rejected by its dwelling nation — sends the flawed message at a important time within the Boakai administration.
Zoomlion Ghana Restricted isn’t any stranger to controversy. In 2013, the World Financial institution debarred the corporate for 2 years for corrupt practices in Liberia. Particularly, Zoomlion admitted to paying bribes to a authorities official in the course of the implementation of the World Financial institution-financed Emergency Monrovia City Sanitation Undertaking.
The fallout from that scandal was important, with Zoomlion’s status badly broken throughout the area. Extra lately, the corporate’s operations in Ghana have come underneath scrutiny, prompting public protests, media investigations, and the termination of main contracts.
An investigative report by Ghanaian journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, backed by the nation’s Auditor-Basic, revealed systemic monetary irregularities, poor service supply, and the exploitation of sanitation employees underneath authorities contracts.
Regardless of this historical past, Zoomlion is now in competition for a 20-year public-private partnership that can form the way forward for city sanitation in Liberia’s two largest municipalities.
Bomi County Senator Edwin Melvin Snowe is main the cost towards the potential awarding of the contract to Zoomlion. Throughout a latest session of the Liberian Senate, Senator Snowe expressed his alarm at the potential of re-engaging the corporate, arguing that the transfer would mirror poorly on the federal government’s dedication to combating corruption and supporting Liberian enterprises.
“Zoomlion has a historical past in Liberia. They operated right here earlier than. It was a serious scenario,” Snowe mentioned. “Now we’re on the point of signal a 20-year contract with them to scrub rubbish in Monrovia? Even the Ghanaians are throwing that firm out of Ghana.”
Senator Snowe’s feedback reference Ghana’s determination to sever ties with Zoomlion following mounting allegations of economic mismanagement and labor rights violations.
He warned that continuing with Zoomlion wouldn’t solely be a coverage misstep however an moral one — undermining Liberia’s credibility with worldwide companions and donors.
Senator Snowe has formally requested that the Senate Plenary deliberate on the problem and difficulty a decision urging the Monrovia and Paynesville Metropolis Firms to disqualify Zoomlion. He additionally proposed that civil society actors—significantly from the WASH sector—be included on the bid analysis committee to advertise transparency and accountability.
The Liberia Civil Society Organizations WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) Community joined the refrain of concern, issuing a robust assertion on July 7 calling for Zoomlion’s instant disqualification from the bidding course of.
Citing a sequence of audit findings from Ghana’s Auditor-Basic and stories from The Fourth Property, the community revealed that Zoomlion had obtained over GH¢40 million (about US$3.3 million) between 2017 and 2020 for providers that have been both poorly executed or not delivered in any respect.
One specific audit famous a GH¢9.8 million cost to Zoomlion with no formal contract, and one other GH¢30.5 million for unverified work. “These revelations ought to disqualify any firm from additional public procurement engagements, not to mention out of the country,” mentioned George B. Karyah, Secretary Basic of the WASH CSOs Community. “Liberia dangers worldwide embarrassment by severely contemplating a agency with such a checkered previous.”
The WASH Community additionally raised alarm concerning the firm’s labor document, referencing protests by sanitation employees in Accra who claimed that they had gone months with out pay. Demonstrators, lots of them frontline sanitation employees, held indicators studying, “Zoomlion, no pay no work” and “Pay us our arrears,” highlighting long-standing grievances about wage theft and exploitation.
Civil society teams and lawmakers alike are urging the Boakai administration to rethink its method to the waste administration contract. Many are calling for the inclusion of succesful Liberian-owned firms, stressing that empowering native companies wouldn’t solely enhance the financial system but additionally assist construct home capability for future infrastructure initiatives.
“There isn’t a justification for excluding Liberian companies from such an necessary contract,” mentioned Senator Snowe. “Why import a corruption-stained firm from one other nation to do what certified Liberians can do themselves?”
President Boakai’s administration has made anti-corruption one among its central priorities, promising to scrub up authorities and restore public belief. But this controversy over the waste administration contract is being seen as an early and severe take a look at of that dedication.
“This authorities has promised to interrupt from the corrupt practices of the previous,” mentioned a governance skilled who spoke on situation of anonymity. “Permitting an organization that was banned by the World Financial institution for corruption in Liberia to return and safe a 20-year contract would ship the precise reverse message.”
Critics argue that if the Boakai administration permits the contract to go ahead with Zoomlion, it won’t solely injury the president’s reformist picture but additionally threat alienating worldwide donors and companies just like the World Financial institution and the Worldwide Finance Company (IFC), each of which prioritize transparency in public-private partnerships.
Because the bidding course of enters its ultimate phases, all eyes at the moment are on the Monrovia and Paynesville Metropolis Firms, and in the end on President Boakai. Whether or not or not Zoomlion is awarded the contract might function a defining second for the administration’s credibility.
The choice won’t solely decide the way forward for waste administration in Monrovia and Paynesville—it is going to ship a robust message about whether or not Liberia is actually turning a web page within the battle towards corruption, or merely flipping by the identical previous playbook.
