A Promise of Integrity
In his first Annual Message on January 29, 2024, President Joseph Nyuma Boakai pledged to confront corruption, rebuild national infrastructure, and revive Liberia’s struggling economy.
“Our justice system has been marred by inefficiency, corruption, and lack of public trust. We must act decisively to restore confidence,” President Joseph N. Boakai stated in his inaugural address on January 29, 2024.
Restoring that confidence requires action, not rhetoric, and certainly not the return of companies previously entangled in regional corruption scandals.
Yet, reports indicate that Zoomlion Ghana Limited, a subsidiary of the Jospong Group, is lobbying to secure a US$200 million waste management contract through the Monrovia and Paynesville Cities Corporations.
For a firm with a tainted record of bribery, inflated contracts, and mismanagement, even being considered for such a contract raises serious questions about the Boakai administration’s commitment to good governance.
A History of Corruption
Zoomlion’s record is far from clean. In September 2013, the World Bank imposed a two-year debarment on the company after finding it guilty of “sanctionable misconduct” in connection with the Emergency Monrovia Urban Sanitation Project.
Investigators discovered that Zoomlion had paid bribes to secure the contract in Liberia, prompting the World Bank to ban the company from participating in all Bank-financed projects between September 24, 2013, and September 23, 2015.
As part of a settlement, the company admitted wrongdoing and was required to implement integrity and compliance reforms.
(Source: World Bank Sanctions List, 2013)
Ghana’s Costly Lesson
Zoomlion’s questionable practices extend well beyond Liberia. In Ghana, the company’s operations have long been dogged by allegations of political patronage and misuse of public funds.
Under the National Youth Employment Programme, launched in 2006, the Ghanaian government paid 850 cedis per worker per month, but Zoomlion allegedly withheld 600 cedis as “management fees.” Workers were left with just 250 cedis, often paid late and without benefits.
Investigations by award-winning journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni exposed the company’s exploitative practices, prompting the John Mahama administration to blacklist Zoomlion from future government contracts.
The $74 Million Waste Scandal
In 2016, as President Mahama’s term ended, five subsidiaries of the Jospong Group were awarded a $74 million sole-sourced contract to supply one million waste bins and 900,000 disposable liners.
While Zoomlion claimed the materials would be distributed free of charge, the cost was grossly inflated. The company billed the government $15.60 per liner, even though the same liners were available on the open market for just $0.23, a markup that translated into roughly $13.8 million in excess costs.
These revelations underscored a pattern of inflated pricing, lack of transparency, and the misuse of public resources-raising red flags about Zoomlion’s operations across the region.
