body-container-line-1
17.12.2014 Editorial

National Deceit

By Daily Guide
National Deceit
17.12.2014 LISTEN

It behooves two organizations to act now as the reality of the national deceit of Joyce Dzidzor, the AIDS Ambassador, dawns on all of us. As for her ruse it can only be conjectured its far-reaching effects. Until such action is applied its threat on the integrity of all the efforts of several years put up in the war against the killer HIV/AIDS disease will come to naught.

The Criminal Investigations Department (CID) of the Ghana Police Service has been late in apprehending the lady for a possible charge of deceitful conduct. If Mr. Prosper Kwame Agblor, head of the department, has not considered arresting and charging her for public deceit, he must do that now lest he attracts public opprobrium – if that has not happened to him already.

There is a lot of talk in town about his loud silence in taking action on a subject which has already gone viral and prompting questions about whether Joyce is above the law or just being unduly protected.

Such inaction provides ingredients for cynics to accuse law enforcement officials of being selective in their reaction to criminal acts.

As for the Ghana AIDS Commission the ease with which the lady was able to hoodwink them and played what is now a glaring case of prank is beyond imagination.

After pumping so much money into the activities of the Commission, the benevolent countries should be disappointed at the turn of events.

In a bid to give it the seriousness it deserves, the AIDS Commission has been made a unit at the presidency and so seeing it lose the dividends it deserves after so much efforts in the campaign is heart-wrenching.

That said, in our opinion, and those of others, the Commission failed to undertake the appropriate due diligence before enrobing Joyce Dzidzor and should therefore be responsible for the outcome.

Had she been screened before her appointment as it were, the costly inconveniences we are enduring now would have been obviated. We are constrained to lash at the fine ladies and gentlemen manning this important Commission for taking things for granted, even in the engagement of an AIDS ambassador.

Under the circumstances we are unable to restrain ourselves from describing the lady as a crook whose fraudulent actions over period should not be marginalized.

It would appear that the fear of resigning is not restricted to politicians. Otherwise somebody at the Commission should have taken responsibility for the mess and cleared their desks soon after the scandal made it to the media. That would have put paid to the hullaballoo which Joyce Dzidzor's fraudulent conduct has unleashed on us.

When such programmes are commissioned in the future we should expect heightened indifference from the youth, especially because of the landmark faux pas staring us now. What quality of PR campaign can redeem the fallen image of the HIV/AIDS programme at the hands of the Ghana AIDS Commission?

body-container-line