GYEEDA report indicts Zoomlion, others to be prosecuted

The committee that investigated the operations of GYEEDA has recommended the cancellation of government's contracts with Zoomlion Ghana Limited and those of other service providers.

The committee said Zoomlion and other service providers under the Ghana Youth Employment and Entrepreneurial Development Agency were engaged in gross financial malfeasance and government must cancel all contracts with them.

The investigative report submitted to President John Mahama this week also indicted six top GYEEDA officials for corruption and fraud and has recommended their arrest and prosecution.

According to the report, government’s contract with Zoomlion for instance allows the company to retain GH¢ 400 as management fees while it pays workers GH¢100, only.

Given the number of beneficiaries managed by Zoomlion, the company retains over GH¢ 15 million every month as management fees.

The report said Zoomlion’s claim that it makes a loss of GH¢ 18 on every beneficiary is inaccurate and highly deceptive.

The committee accuses the company of “making significant windfall profit at the expense of the tax payer.”

The ministerial committee's report has also recommended the cancellation of the Jospong Group of Companies’ Youth Enterprise and Skills Development Centres (YESDEC), as well as the Better Ghana Management Services Limited contracts with GYEEDA.

Other GYEEDA modules expected to be discontinued are the Goodwill Consulting, the Youth in Road Maintenance and the Youth in Zongo Development run by the Zeera Group of Companies.

The report cites conflict of interest as well as lack of value for money as some of the reasons for recommending the cancellation of the contracts.

The six officials of GYEEDA cited for corruption for corruption and fraud are Alhassan Tabsoba, Second National Deputy Coordinator in charge of operations; Omar Ibrahim, the Ashanti Regional Coordinator as well as Joseph Osborn Djeni, a former National Deputy Coordinator who has resigned from GYEEDA to take up a new post as the Community Relations Manager of the Ghana Gas Company Limited.

The rest are King George Fokuo, Bismark Adu-Ansere and Abdulai Badara, two district coordinators and a deputy.

The report says they should be referred to the Attorney General’s Department for prosecution.

Another management member of GYEEDA, Betty Mensah, has also been referred to the Attorney General’s department for prosecution.

The report accuses her of taking a bribe of GH¢52,000 from the Ghallywood Film Academy, which runs the Youth in Film making module under GYEEDA.

One person whose name appeared twice in the report for the wrong reason is Tabsoba Alhassan. Tabsoba is cited in a different case of fake 'O' Level and 'A' Level certificates he presented to GYEEDA for employment.

The certificates, copies of which are available to Joy News indicate that Tabsoba took his O Level exam at Tamale, Ghana in 1984 and the Ghana National Secondary School, Tamale in 1986. The committee says the certificates are fake and Tabsoba should, therefore, be made to face the law.

Joy News’ investigations triggered the setting up of the government backed investigative committee, which presented its report to President John Mahama last Tuesday.