Lawyer Backs Lying HIV Ambassador

A private legal practitioner says the ex-HIV Ambassador who lied her way into the Ambassadorial role has committed no offence to be prosecuted for. Augustine Obour said if anything, the general public has benefitted more from the campaign of Joyce Dzidzor Mensah who is now a subject of investigations for pretending to be someone she was not. Dzidzor Mensah a renowned HIV Ambassador, who until Monday, December 15, 2014 was publicly known to have tested positive, came out to say she had been living a lie and that she was not HIV positive. She told Joy News there was a huge perception she had contracted the disease shortly after a guy she dated died from AIDS. She then pretended to be a carrier of the virus and has since played an Ambassadorial role for the Ghana AIDS Commission. She was part of a �heart-to-heart� campaign being championed by the Commission to fight against stigmatization, but her contract was terminated by the Commission. As an ambassador, Dzidzor Mensah has carried both the trauma and benefits that came with occupying that role but her jaw-dropping revelation about her real status has forced critics into questioning her true motives of becoming an Ambassador. Her fellow Ambassador Theophilus Amuzu is calling for her arrest for public deceit. But Lawyer Augustine Obour told Joy News unless a law can be quoted, one which she has breached, Joyce Mensah cannot be held before any court of law. When Evans Mensah, co-host of the Joy FM Newsnite programme drew his attention to the possible charge of fraud, defrauding by false pretence, the lawyer was still convinced that the ex-AIDS ambassador is blameless. �What wrong did she commit?�� ��.If you say defrauding by false pretence, you must have established that by that statement she has benefitted. What are the benefits?� He asked. Dzifa Bampoh the other host, intervened saying she had a record deal, she has a movie, she developed a movie career; she is invited to travel round the world; somebody had to pay for that and funded by the state. Mr Obour was not convinced by Bampoh�s argument. �She did all that to promote something that nobody was ready to do and the general public must have benefitted more from her,� he rebutted. �What she declared, she used it for what she was capable of doing,� he added. True Status Meanwhile the true HIV status of Joyce Mensah is still a subject of controversy. Despite her public �confession�, the Ghana AIDS Commission is adamant. In a statement, the Commission said Ms Mensah tested positive for HIV in 2007. Ms. Angela El Adas Director General for the Commission told Joy News as far as the Commission is concerned she is positive. �Joyce was picked because of her HIV positive status. We cannot say what is going through her mind. If we are able to help her, we would offer any help,� she stated. Explaining why the Commission terminated its ambassadorial contract with Ms Mensah, El Adas said she had, time without number, used the campaign to champion her own agenda instead of that of the Commission.