Dr. Joseph Siaw Agyepong, Executive Chairman of the Jospong Group of Companies and owner of waste management giant Zoomlion, has called on metropolitan, municipal, and district assemblies (MMDAs) to strictly enforce sanitation bye-laws to address the country’s persistent waste management challenges.
Speaking at the opening of the 2025 Jospong Leadership Conference at the Pentecost Convention Centre in Gomoa Fetteh, Dr. Agyepong emphasized that while private companies like Zoomlion are making significant strides in managing waste, the lack of effective enforcement remains a major hindrance to progress.
Sanitation efforts undermined by lawlessness
“We have been able to establish infrastructure to handle the green economy and sanitation issues. In every region, we have a waste treatment plant; in Accra alone, there are about three or four treatment plants,” Dr. Agyepong stated.
“However, enforcement is the challenge. People are intentionally dumping waste indiscriminately. You go to places like Circle, and after clearing the waste, it reappears the next morning.”
He lamented that the intentional actions of offenders, such as dumping waste on streets or in unauthorized locations, undermine efforts to maintain clean cities.
A call for district assemblies to act
Dr. Agyepong explained that private companies like Zoomlion lack the legal authority to enforce sanitation laws.
“We are private service providers; we collect waste but cannot arrest offenders or call them to book. The responsibility for enforcement lies with the district assemblies,” he said.
He urged MMDAs to fully implement existing sanitation bye-laws, such as the “Operation Clean Your Frontage” initiative, to hold offenders accountable and deter further violations. “Assemblies must assist us by enforcing these laws so that people causing these issues are brought to book,” he added.
Commitment to job creation
The five-day Jospong Leadership Conference, now in its 12th edition, brought together top-level management, board members, and staff to strategize for the year ahead.
Themed “Transformation Through Leadership,” the conference aimed to address leadership challenges in a transformational way to achieve the company’s goals.
Dr. Agyepong reiterated Jospong’s dedication to job creation as a means of addressing Ghana’s unemployment crisis.
He endorsed the government’s 24-hour economy policy, describing it as a “good initiative” and pledged Jospong’s support for its implementation.
“We want to pledge our fullest support for all activities under this administration, especially in job creation. By our culture and natural talent, we are committed to creating employment opportunities,” Dr. Agyepong affirmed.
Call for transformational leadership
He encouraged executives of the Jospong Group to embrace transformational leadership by motivating and inspiring their teams while prioritizing the needs of workers to achieve organizational goals.
Dr. Agyepong’s remarks spotlight the urgent need for collaboration between private waste management companies and government institutions to ensure clean and sustainable cities. Enforcing sanitation laws, he stressed, is critical to achieving this vision.
