Why Abronye wants ‘fake’ HIV/AIDS Ambassador arrested

The New Patriotic Party’s Regional Youth Organiser for Brong Ahafo, Kwame Baffoe, popularly known as Abronye DC has petitioned the Director General of the Criminal Investigative Department of the Ghana Police Service to “arrest, interrogate and prosecute” former HIV/AIDS Ambassador Joyce Dzidzor Mensah Yawavi for “fraud.”

According to Abronye DC, Ms Yawavi has violated section 248 and section 251 of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) respectively by making a false declaration about her HIV status and deceiving public officers.

Ms Yawavi was in 2011 made an HIV ambassador by the Ghana Aids Commission to embark on a campaign to reduce stigma and discrimination suffered by persons living with HIV in order to provide a human face to HIV.

In December 2014, Ms Yawavi publicly announced that she lied about her HIV/AIDS status for years and had never tested positive for the disease before working with the Ghana AIDS commission as an HIV/AIDS ambassador.

In 2016, however, she made a U-turn to say she, indeed, tested positive for the virus but only lied about her status to protect her children from stigmatization.

Last week, Ms Yawavi disclosed that she has conducted a new test for HIV/AIDS, and the result is negative.

Abronye DC in his petition said: “The actions of Joyce can be said to have amounted to fraud provided for under section 16 of the criminal code”.

“As an established fact devoid of ambiguity, Joyce Mensah is not an HIV patient but has through illegitimate means acquired and enjoyed privileges meant for persons suffering from the virus,” he added.

He is, therefore, calling for her arrest and subsequent prosecution.

Below is the full petition:

The Ghana Police Service,

The Director-General,

The Criminal Investigative Department.

Ring Road East, Cantonments, Ghana.

PETITION TO ARREST, INVESTIGATE AND PROSECUTE JOYCE DZIDZOR MENSAH YAWAVI.

1. I Kwame Baffoe Abronye a citizen of the Republic of Ghana who seeks to protect, abide and defend the constitution and laws of Ghana as by law established is herein writing this petition for the Criminal Investigative Department to arrest, interrogate and further prosecute Joyce Dzidzor Mensah Yawavi a former AIDS ambassador of the Ghana AIDS Commission on grounds of Making a false declaration and deceiving public officers which is in contravention and in violation of section 248 and section 251 of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29) respectively.

2. Joyce Dzidzor Mensah Yawavi is a Ghanaian citizen who through her actions and tends has breached various provisions in the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29).

3. In 2011, the Ghana AIDS Commission decided to embark on a campaign to reduce stigma and discrimination suffered by persons living with HIV in order to provide a human face to HIV. The campaign was dubbed The “Heart to Heart” Campaign.

4. The key requirements for “Heart to Heart” Ambassadorial duty, was for “the person to be HIV positive, and on treatment.”

5. Joyce Dzidzor Mensah subsequently made a false declaration and further misrepresented herself as being a HIV patient so as to fall within the ambit, scope and requirement of the Ghana Aids Commission. It is important to note that, making such false declarations is in contravention and in violation of section 248 of the Criminal Code, 1960 (Act 29).

6. Joyce Dzidzor Mensah subsequently succeeded in deceiving the Ghana Aids Commission and on or about August 2011, she signed a contract with the commission as an Aids Ambassador. However, the contract was subsequently terminated by the commission on or about November 12, 2012 on the grounds of breach of her terms of contract.

7. As part of her contract as AIDs Ambassador, she received several benefits and incentives from the commission which inherently came from the state. One of such benefits was that, the State provided her with a fully furnished apartment. it is interesting to note that, after her contract was officially terminated, Joyce Dzidzor Mensah was still in possession and occupied the apartment meant for the “AIDS ambassadors” until August 2014 when the lease finally expired.

She continued to enjoy so many incentives as if she was still an ambassador for the commission which inter alia included travelling allowances. Per my intelligence gathered so far, there was a conspiracy between Joyce Mensah and certain members of the Aids Commission which enabled her succeed in all this and in my candid opinion, this amounts to willfully causing financial loss to the state and in violation of the criminal code.

8. It is worth noting that, Joyce Dzidzor Mensah herself has publicly published her HIV status which indicates that, she is free from the infection. On the other hand, the offence of deceiving a public officer clearly holds in this regard and has been exhaustively provided for under section 251 of the Criminal Code, 1960.

It is clear that, Joyce Dzidzor Mensah through her actions has violated this law because, the Ghana AIDs commission is undoubtedly a state agency made up of public officials. So, Joyce lying or deceiving them to be able to obtain her way through is a clear infraction of the law.

9. Also, the actions of Joyce can be said to have amounted to fraud provided for under section 16 of the criminal code

10 . As an established fact devoid of ambiguity, Joyce Mensah is not an HIV patient but has through illegitimate means acquired and enjoyed privileges meant for persons suffering from the virus.

11. For the avoidance of doubt, attached to this petition is a letter from the Ghana AIDS Commission to Joyce Dzidzor Mensah marked as exhibit A, the HIV status of Joyce Dzidzor Mensah, marked exhibit B and other related Facebook post by Joyce Dzidzor Mensah also marked as exhibit C which emphasizes that, she has no HIV.

12. Kindly revert to me via my email address provided above in case of any information. Thank you

Yours Faithfully,

Kwame Baffoe Abronye

CC: THE DIRECTOR OF LEGAL AND PROSECUTION

THE CRIMINAL INVESTIGATIVE DEPARTMENT

GHANA POLICE SERVICE