Accra, July 11, GNA – Ghana has constructed a national park located between the Ohene Djan Sports Stadium and the Independence Square in honour of its  gallant heroes.      Mr Charles Nii Okine, Principal Landscape Designer of Parks and Gardens Division of the Castle, told the GNA that the park would serve as a tourist and recreational garden for people to relax under well-shaped trees.      Other features of the park include washrooms well sculptured statues and unique trees like the Thuga Orientalis, Cane Palm, Allamadan, Exora, and Thunberjia.      Mr Okine said the facility, which was constructed by Parks and Gardens in collaboration with National Security, was designed to honor national heroes of the 28 February shooting incident at the castle intersection, an event which occurred prior to our Independence in 1957.      He said among other things to be displayed at the park would include brochures of our national heroes so that people would have a fair knowledge of our past heroes.      Mr Okine assured the public of their safety as the National Security would provide security to safe guard the park and protect the visitors of the park. GNA...

Tarkwa (W/R), July 11 GNA - A 28-year old illegal miner, George Johnson Quansah, has been sentenced to 4 years imprisonment in hard labour for defrauding by false pretence.      Quansah pleaded guilty.      Chief Inspector Edward Paddy told the court presided over by Mr Samuel Obeng Diawuo that the complainant resided at Jerusalem, a suburb of Tarkwa and the convict is a squatter at Tarkwa Railway station.      He said on April 16, the complainant met the convict in front of the Ramsbeth super market in Tarkwa and introduced himself as a stranger from Prestea who had been sent by his father to sell gold and diamond at the First Samuel shop of the area.      Chief Inspector Paddy said the convict then asked the complainant to direct him to the First Samuel shop but the complainant said he was also a stranger in Tarkwa and hence did not know the shop.      He said in the process a colleague of the convict emerged from nowhere and told him that he could direct him to the shop and when the convict left to the shop his colleague engaged the complainant in a conversation and within some few minutes, the convict came back and claimed he had sold the diamond and that he was left with the gold which he wanted to share it to them.      Chief Inspector Paddy said the convict requested from the complainant to bring any money on him to enable him place his gold on the money for it to double.      He said the complainant gave him GH¢170 while the colleague added GH¢800 and the convict told the complainant to expect him on April 17.      Chief Inspector Paddy said when they met on the agreed day around 1030 hours he led the complainant to Life motors on the Tarkwa-Takoradi highway and asked him to bring all the money on him together with his mobile phone.      He said the complainant gave him GH¢350 and his Tecno mobile phone valued GH¢100 after which he gave the complainant a sealed polythene bag and asked him to open it after three days.      Chief Inspector Paddy said the complainant after receiving the polythene wanted to remove his SIM card from his phone and to his surprise he found papers cut in the form of money in an envelope and a stone in the polythene.      The Prosecutor said on that same day around 1300 hours the complainant spotted Quansah at the Ramsbeth supermarket and he raised alarm which attracted several people to the scene subjected him to severe beating.     He said a police officer appeared at the scene and rescue him from the mob. GNA...

Saltpond (C/R), July 11, GNA – The Mfantsiman Girls Senior High School Parent-Teacher Association (PTA) is in a process of procuring laptop computers for the teachers of the School.   Mrs Theodora Froko, Chairperson of the PTA, who announced this at a meeting held at the School, said the executives of the Association had entered into an agreement with rlg, a computer company for the supply of the laptops.   She said the laptops would facilitate the work of the teachers and also help in storing important information.   Mrs Froko appealed to parents to motivate the teachers, who were saddled with the preparation of two separate year-groups of students, writing the West African Secondary School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) in 2013.   “We need to help the teachers to get the impetuous to prepare the students for the examination,” she said.   The Headmistress, Ms Charlotte A. Addo appealed to parents and guardians to register their wards with the National Health Insurance Scheme and ensure that they come to the school with their insurance card to enable them to access free health delivery service.   The Headmistress urged parents and guardians to impress upon their wards to study at home during vacations.   “Books don’t go on holidays, and Mfantsiman Girls is not a School where students go to look for only a classmate,” she stressed.   Dr Derrick Akyeampong Bonsu, Medical Superintendent of the Saltpond Municipal Hospital talked about the importance of the Health Insurance concept and said it had helped to reduce maternal deaths in the country.   He said the NHIS Cards were very necessary for people who stayed away from their “breadwinners.”   Mrs Miriam Adjei-Amponsem, Assistant Headmistress, Academics, expressed concern about delay by students in reporting to school after vacation, saying, “Such attitudes affect the progress of work in the School.”     GNA...

Bechem (B/A), July 11, GNA – The heavy reliance on Arts subjects in the educational system other than Science continues to do more harm than good to the nation’s developmental structure.      Mr. Nathan Pecku, Director in-charge of Special Education at the Ghana Education Service, (GES) said this at a workshop organised by some JICA volunteers in the Tano South District Office of GES for Junior High School (JHS) students of Bechem School for the Deaf, at Bechem.      Mr. Pecku said it was an open secret that the concentration on Arts subjects for majority of students in second cycle institutions was creating a vacuum in the nation’s technological development.       He said the few teaching staff manning sciences at the nation’s Basic and Second Cycle institutions attested to his point, and assured that all efforts were being made by the GES to entice teachers and students to take keen interest in the study of Science, so that Ghana could move abreast with the globally Information Communication Technology (ICT) competition.       Mr. Pecku said efforts in promoting the study of Sciences in the country must start right from the training of teachers from our Colleges of Education (formerly known as Training Colleges), stressing that, it was only when more Science teachers were produced for the subject at the basic level that more students would develop interest for the subject to continue to SHS.      He said the Ghana National Association of Deaf Students was collaborating with its counterparts in Holland to start sign language training for Special Education teachers in Ghana, and urged teachers of Bechem School for the Deaf to capitalize on the opportunity when everything was set.      Ms. Haruna Morino, leader of the eight-member JICA Volunteers, who is also attached to the Tano South District Office of the GES, in her remark said, the workshop, which was organised in collaboration with other JICA Volunteers in Ghana also formed part of the Organization’s 35th celebration event of the relationship between the two countries (Japan and Ghana).      Other volunteers, who conducted a number of practical experiments to emphasize more about the subjects’ content of the workshop, included Mr. Shinichi Izumi of Saint Andrew College of Education, Kumasi-Ashanti, Ms. Kanae Ishifuji, a Computer tutor, Jamasi School for the Deaf in the Ashanti Region and Mr.Takenori Aoki, of Akatse College of Education in the Volta Region.     Mrs. Veronica Ayeh, Headmistress of Bechem School for the Deaf, thanked the volunteers for organizing the workshop for the students.      Mrs. Ayeh urged the Board of Directors of the school to assist in organising similar workshops to educate both the teaching staff and the students to update their memory on science subjects.      The experiments were based on four subjects namely, “Electrical jar”, “Making fire through stone”, “Plastic bottle rocket”, and “Oxygen propelled burning”.         GNA  ...

  Bisease (C/R), July 11, GNA – Miss Hannah Ampoma Mensah, a 23-year-old student of the Institute of Professional Studies has been declared winner to represent the Central Region in the “Ghana Most Beautiful 2012”.   Her identification name is “Ama 1788”.   The organisers and promoters, TV3, officially introduced Ama 1788 to the chiefs and people of Ajumako Bisease in the Ajumako-Enyan-Essiam District of the Central Region at a grand durbar at Bisease, her hometown.   Ama 1788 was accompanied by her parents, Mr Justice Kojo Mensah and Margaret Yaayaa Mensah and other relations.   Mr Prince Darkey, Brand Manager and Miss Naa Klordey, presenters of the programme, officially introduced Ama to the people.   According to Mr Darkey similar durbars had been held in the Volta, Eastern, Ashanti, Brong Ahafo, Upper East, Upper West and Northern and that the main programme to select the winners out of the 10 Regions would start from five August to October 2012.   Ama 1788 expressed appreciation and gratitude for the massive turnout to welcome her and said her success so far was the work of the Almighty God and assured the people good Lord would continue to work for her to make her the overall winner to bring glory and honour to Central Region, the District and the people of Bisease.   Present was the Member of Parliament for the area, Mr Ato Forson who congratulated Ama 1788 for her success and appealed to the people of Central Region to support Ama by texting Ama 1788 to the sponsors to enable her come out of the competition with flying colours.   The Benkumhen of Bisease, Nana Kweku Bodaa IV was full of praises for Ama 1788 and advised the youth especially the girl-child to take inspiration from Ama 1788, learn hard and emulate her shining example.   Ama 1788 was given gifts including gold ornaments and clothes to enable her go through the competition and advised her to consult the traditional authorities for any advice and help when the need arises.         GNA...

Cape Coast, July 11, GNA - The Manager   of the Central Region Catholic Education Unit, Mrs Doris Eshun, on Tuesday called on NGOs and the government to consider giving teachers training in computer studies to enhance quality delivery.     She said though it is laudable to introduce ICT in the school curriculum, it was unfortunate that teachers who were supposed to teach the subject have very little knowledge on the subject thereby making it very difficult to effectively teach it.       Mrs Eshun said this when she inaugurated a computer centre donated by Global Host Project, an NGO, to the  Duakor Catholic Primary and Junior  High  schools  at Duakor,  a settler fishing community near the University of Cape Coast.       The centre, which has five laptops and two desktop computers, was jointly built by GHP and Mr Sean and Ms Connie Bashaw volunteers with Global Host Project at the cost of 6,000.00 dollars.         Mrs Eshun also appealed to the government and district assemblies to connect rural schools to the national electricity grid or provide such schools with solar panels to enable them make use of their computer centres, stressing those most rural schools have computers but could not use them due to the lack of electricity.           She appealed to school authorities to source some funds to enable them purchase more computers to meet the demands of the school.        Ms Nicole Michelle Beauchamp, Executive Director of GHP, commended the chiefs and people of Duakor for their support which made it possible for GHP to build the centre and urged the students to take advantage of the computers to improve upon their technology skills.        Mr  Odua Kwesi  Sampson,  Country Director of GHP,  said the lack of  facilities for effective teaching of ICT  in basic schools had hindered the development  of ICT education and that  in most cases teachers and pupils  could not  upgrade their skills  because the facilities  for the subjects were in adequate or nonexistent.               Mr Ebenezer Pittston, the head teacher of the schools, thanked GHP for the donation and promised that the computers would be put to  good use  since they would be shared with  schools in the surrounding communities like Okyese, Ahenborboi  and Abakam.       GNA...

Hohoe, July 11, GNA – Akpene Mensah, described by the police as notorious criminal, and his accomplice, KorsiAhiadzese, a fetish priest from Santrokofi, have been remanded by a Hohoe magistrate court.   The police are looking for two of their accomplices. Mensah and Ahiadzese would re-appear in court on July 24 charged for conspiracy and stealing.   MrAgyeman Badu, Police Detective Chief Inspector, told the court that the complainant who was returning from Gbi-Godenu saw a taxi carrying a fridge that he suspected to his.   He said the complainant followed the taxi to the Gbi-Wegbe taxi rank and talked to its driver who said he picked the fridge on orders of Mensah who claimed he was asked to take carry it for repairs.   Mr Badu said the complainant went home and found that his personal effects including electrical appliances, six fridges, a chain-saw machine and six mattresses were missing.   He said the driver took the complainant to the house of the fetish priest at Santrokofi-Benua where the fridge was earlier loaded onto his car.   Mr Badu said a complaint was subsequently made to the police and Mensah and Ahiadzese, who is alleged to be the spiritual backbone of the syndicate, were arrested from their hideouts at Kpando and Segbedeme.   Two mattresses and two double-decker fridges have been reclaimed and Police are making efforts to apprehend the remaining accomplices.     GNA...