Brouhaha over litter bin supply to assemblies - Jospong fights back

The Jospong Group of Companies and the Multimedia Group are embroiled in hot exchanges over the supply of litter bins  to metropolitan, municipal and district assemblies (MMDAs) in the country.

While the Jospong Group of Companies has debunked reports that it inflated a contract sum of $74,040,000 in the award of contract to its subsidiaries, the Multimedia Group insists it has evidence that the waste management group is making claims for no work done.

In the first piece of a nine-month investigations, Joy FM’s journalist, Manasseh Azure Awuni, accused Jospong Group of inflating a contract to supply one million litter bins to the MMDAs to the tune of GH¢134 million or $31.1 million.

The piece also alleges that the five companies which were awarded the contract are all subsidiaries of the Jospong Group.

In its response, Jospong Group has given Joy FM, the flagship radio station of Multimedia Group, and its sister stations, a three-day ultimatum to retract what it described as “defamatory statements made against the Jospong Group and the Chief Executive of the Jospong Group, Mr Joseph Siaw Agyepong, within three days upon receipt of the rejoinder,’’ or else face ”further action that it deemed appropriate without further recourse to the Multimedia Group.’’

“The report, carried by the Multimedia Group on its various platforms purported to be an investigation by their reporter, Manasseh Azure Awuni, is unfortunate,’’ the Jospong Group said.

Allegation of inflated price

Responding to the allegation in a news release signed by the Group Head of Communications, Mrs Sophia Lissah, Jospong Group described the allegations as misconceived and misleading.

It explained that the agreement was a Pre Financing and Credit Sale contract and the total number of waste bins to be supplied under the initiative was 1,000,000 at a supply rate of $60 per piece (to be paid at the prevailing Bank of Ghana interbank exchange rate) plus 900,000 pieces of Biodegradable Bin Liners at $15.60 per piece.

It said the total contract sum of $74,040,000 was to be pre-financed by the companies, which, therefore, allowed the government of Ghana flexible payment terms for a period of 24 months, adding, “definitely a cash sale has different terms as compared to a credit sale”.

The statement explained that further to the production cost involved, a major component of the contract was the transportation and distribution of the bins to households within the 216 districts in Ghana by the companies involved, which had additional cost implications, and same was factored into the pricing.

It noted that contrary to claims, the bins were durable; coming with a replacement warranty and a competitive price to the international market price.

Allegation of payment of contract sum

The statement placed on record that none of the five companies had supplied any item under the contract and neither had any payment been made by the Ministry of Local Government and Rural Development to the said companies.

“The reports and statements in the Multimedia Group, authored by Manasseh Azure Awuni, to the effect that the contract price has been inflated in excess of GH¢130,000,000 is, therefore, grossly misleading and unfortunate to say the least. Clearly, there was no wrongdoing in the procurement or award of the contract,” it added.

Splashing pictures of waste bins

The statement categorical said the references made to waste bins in the district with pictures displayed online by Joy FM were meant to mislead the public because some assemblies had not distributed existing bins and described as unfortunate when the radio station’s stated that “there was no need for distributing the bins as required by the contract.”

“It should be noted that, the One million Bins Distribution Programme is meant to ensure that households in Ghana have bins to enhance waste management, disposal and collection in all communities. Currently, the lack of such bins in houses is leading to poor waste disposal and indiscriminate dumping of waste generated daily,” the statement indicated.