The University of Ghana has reacted to the BBC’s #SexForGrades documentary saying there is no evidence to prove its lecturer, Professor Gyambo Ransford, actually slept with the female student to give her better grades.
Two Ghanaian academicians, a Political Science lecturer, Prof. Ransford Gyampo and a lecturer at the College of Education, Dr. Paul Kwame Bukator, were indicted in the ‘Sex for Grades’ exposé.
Reacting to the documentary, the Chairperson of the anti-sexual harassment committee of the University of Ghana (UG), Dr Margaret Amoakohene, had an interview with Citi News, a Ghanaian-based media outfit, where she stated that she has watched the documentary and could not find a concrete evidence to backup claims of sexual harrassment or exploitation.
She said “If you look at the transcript that they added, there is no evidence of sex for grade. I agree that the lecturers misbehaved and so you will discuss these as unacceptable behaviours that should be investigated but there was no indication of sex for grades. In one case, it was about the national service placement. Who needs grades at national service? She completed and she was looking for placement. In the other case according to the transcript, the lady approached him [Prof. Gyampo] and said she wanted him to be a mentor. She actually confirmed she wasn’t his student but asked that he mentors her. So where is the grade involved in this? You are able to discuss grades and sex when you find a lecturer who is dating his own students, and either unnecessarily giving them grades that they don’t deserve or marking them down because they have refused your advances. But in the two cases that are cited, I don’t see sex for grades”