Sex for Grades: UG SRC demands full copy of Justice Akoto-Bamfo’s report

The Student Representative Council (SRC) of the University of Ghana has put in a formal letter to University management demanding the full report from the five-member fact-finding committee probing two lecturers of the University.

The lecturers, Prof. Ransford Gyampo and Dr Paul Kwame Butakor were investigated by the committee for allegedly soliciting for sexual encounters from students in exchange for academic favours.

The probe was necessitated after allegations were made in a BBC investigation that uncovered alleged sexual misconduct by lecturers in Nigeria and Ghana.

A letter, under the letterhead of the General Assembly, Speaker of the House, Rt. Hon. Kwaku Ampem, “humbly requested the report of the work of the fact-finding committee instituted by the University management.”

The letter explained that the request was in line with article 10 clause 5 of the SRC constitution that mandates the SRC to make recommendations on issues that affect the welfare and interest of students in the University.

“As the highest decision-making body of the students’ front and in line with the exercise of a constitutional mandate as provided in Article 10 (5) of the Student Representative Council Constitution, the House expresses interest to study the report,” the letter continued.

The 5-member committee, chaired by Justice Vida Akoto-Bamfo, a retired Supreme Court Judge, noted in its report to the Vice-Chancellor that the actions of Prof. Ransford Gyampo and Dr. Paul Butakor were contrary to Paragraph 6.4 of the Code of Conduct for Academic Staff of the University of Ghana which stipulates that “Academic Staff shall at all times comport themselves in ways that will enhance their image and that of the University.”

The Committee further found prima facie evidence of misconduct contrary to Statute 42(1)( e )(ii) of the University of Ghana Statutes, which states that “…no member of the University shall engage in a course of vexatious conduct that is directed at one or more specific individuals, and that is known to be unwelcome…”.

The Vice-Chancellor has accepted the Committee’s findings and forwarded the report to the Disciplinary Committee for Senior Members, the appropriate adjudicatory body, for immediate action.