FLASHBACK: Two years in a row, I didn’t do it – Prof. Gyampo denies ‘Sex for Grades’ allegations

The story below was first published on GhanaWeb on Monday, October 7, 2019.

It followed the explosive documentary released by BBC Investigates, titled, 'Sex For Grades.'

As part of the documentary, some university lecturers in Ghana and Nigeria, among others, were mentioned.

In Ghana's case, a senior lecturer at the University of Ghana, Prof Ransford Gyampo was cited as, perhaps, the country's biggest culprit.

Read the following story on his reaction to the release of the documentary:

Senior Lecturer at the University of Ghana Political Science Department, Professor Ransford Gyampo, is in hot waters again, this time, with evidence over allegations of trading grades for sex.

A year ago in July, Ransford Gyampo was accused of allegedly giving out grades to failed female students in exchange for sex in his office. The allegation made by Ben Kwaku on Facebook went viral.

Addressing the issue however on Starr Chat with Bola Ray, the Senior Lecturer denied having anything to do with the claims, noting that he thought he was being made a target of the malicious allegation and emphasizing that he 'doesn't do sex for grades.'

Explaining the source of that smear campaign against him, he said: "I had criticized a political party and they felt putting sexual allegations on me was a way of shutting me up," he told Bola Ray.

"I've always said that, the worst a politician can do is kill me but even with that, I'm not scared to die," he added.

Fast forward, and it appears history is repeating itself. Prof. Gyampo has again been implicated in a BBC Africa Eye expose.

In excerpts of the video released on BBC Somalia's Facebook page, Professor Gyampo persuaded the reporter to meet him at the mall where he was caught on camera making "numerous [alleged] inappropriate demands.

In the report, he also allegedly requested to kiss the reporter.

Barely hours after the release of the video, he's already denied; "I didn't see anything like that [in the video] and I have not done anything like that," he said in a Citi News interview.

In the first instance, the accuser formally apologized to Prof. Gyampo and withdrew confessing he peddled falsehood. With video proof in this instance however, the question of how he can be vindicated has been raised.

Background

The documentary was commissioned in response to allegations of sexual harassment by lecturers that have hovered over.

After initial interviews, BBC Africa Eye sent undercover journalists posing as students inside the University of Lagos and the University of Ghana.

The lead reporter in the expose, Kiki Mordi, said she was also a victim of sexual harassment when she was in school.

The BBC said its female reporters were "sexually harassed, propositioned and put under pressure by senior lecturers at the institutions* while they were wearing secret cameras.

The bulk of the excerpt released spent time in the University of Lagos and one of its lecturers alleged attempts to proposition a student seeking admission into the school.

A lecturer at the University's College Of Education, Dr. Paul Kwame Butakor, was also indicted in the investigative piece.

He has also denied the claims.

It is expected that more lectures will be implicated in the exposé.



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