Sex for jobs in Takoradi timber firm

The Western Regional branch of the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) are investigating allegations of persistent sexual harassment brought against two Lebanese nationals working with Metro Star Wood Processing Company, a Takoradi-based timber firm, by Ghanaian female employees of the company.

The Ghanaian Chronicle says it gathered that harassment of the girls for sexual favours has become so unbearable that some of them, with their ages ranged between 18 and 24, have been compelled to tender in their resignation and left.

Those who refused to give in to the sexual demands of the Lebanese but insisted on working with the company were given dismissal letters without tangible reasons, according to the paper.

Those girls, who had nowhere to go if sacked, were however said to have yielded to the demands of their Lebanese bosses to keep their jobs.

Contacted, the managing director of the company, Isam Backly, vehemently denied the allegation against his employees claiming it was a conspiracy to tarnish the reputation of his employees and that of the company.

The paper says however, that the allegation has been brought to the attention of both the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) and the Women in Law and Development in Africa (WILDAF) who have begun the investigations.