Ghanaian content creator based in the Netherlands, Mr Happiness, has opined that the country can never be clean until Zoomlion and other sanitation workers are paid at least Ghc 2,000 monthly.
Speaking in a TikTok video in reaction to the ongoing Zoomlion contract saga, Mr Happiness, also known as Kofi Gabs said Ghana remains as dirty as it is because cleaners are not well-paid.
According to him, it is a crime against humanity that cleaners work heavy hours every single day, only to go home with GHC 250. He added that the poor conditions of service of Ghanaian cleaners directly contribute to the lack of proper sanitation in the country.
“Ghana is dirty. Very dirty. Ghana is not a clean country simply because, from the leadership, the presidency, to parliament, to the judiciary and all the ministries, including the sanitation ministry, they believe cleaning is a useless job. So people who clean should not be paid well, forgetting that cleanliness is next to godliness,” he said.
Gabs pointed towards Europe and the Western world, noting that they take cleanliness seriously. He said as a cleaner himeslf, he is very well paid and due to that, Europe is super clean and safe from outbreaks of diseases related to poor sanitation.
He said in Ghana, it is better to be a beggar than a cleaner because working that hard to earn the peanuts they do is an insult. “How can somebody work for ninety-six hours and then you pay the person 250 Ghana cedis?” he queried. He said that while cleaning is a good job, no young person in Ghana should engage in it until their conditions of service are improved, and he called for a monthly salary of Ghc 2,000 for each sanitation worker.
Kofi Gabs’ rant comes following an announcement from the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Youth Employment Agency (YEA), Malik Basintale, that the current contract the agency has with Zoomlion will not be renewed if the company continues paying its cleaners Ghc 250 monthly. According to investigative journalist Manasseh Azure Awuni, who has reported extensively on this matter, the government pays Zoomlion Ghc 850 per sanitation worker, yet the company withholds Ghc 600 as ‘administrative costs’ and pays their workers only Ghc 250. This has been ongoing for years.
In light of Mansseh’s call, YEA CEO Basintale shared on social media: “I promise on my honour as I stand by the grave of my late DAD, NOT to RENEW the contract in its CURRENT STATE or FORM. It is EVIL for the Previous government to have committed to this and I SHALL STOP IT,”
