E-TANKAS will help manage waste – Darko-Mensah

The Western Regional Minister, Mr Kwabena Okyere Darko-Mensah says the introduction of a web App dubbed E-TANKAS in the Region, would help manage and report waste nuisance in the system.

The Electronic Town Council(E-TANKAS) is designed to transform the work of the environmental health workers of the various Assemblies from the manual way of managing and reporting waste nuisance in the communities.

Speaking to Ghana News Agency, Mr Darko-Mensah said the Western Regional Coordinating Council (WRCC) software would also allow unit committees of the Assemblies and the public to report waste and insanitary conditions at homes, markets, offices, beaches, gutters, among others.

“A key component of the system is location data which ensures quality monitoring of the activities of environmental officers and unit committees’ participation in the programme and a SPOT FINE mechanism that force polluters to pay for their in discipline”.

That, the Regional Minister said would enhance cleanliness and the Western Region quest to become the No.1 tourism destination in Ghana.

According to him, the digitization of operations of the Environmental Health Departments in the 14 Metro, Municipal and District Assemblies in the Region, was an initiative of the Regional Minister and the WRCC.

The initiative has been piloted in three Assemblies in the Region after briefing management of each of the three Assemblies on how the system worked.

Mr. Darko-Mensah noted that the pilot programme was to appreciate how the system aligned with the traditional ways of administering operations on the field by the Environmental Health Departments of the Assemblies.

The Regional Minister told the GNA how the system captured people who violated the rules by disposing rubbish and engaged in open defecation.

He warned offenders to desist from the practice as they would not be spared when the exercise was fully implemented.

Source: GNA