Sex for grades documentary; BBC must come clear

In principle, I am against sexual harassment of any form or shape. It’s inappropriate and unethical for teachers/lecturers/officials/appointees or anyone in position of trust, to use one’s position as a conduit to lure and abuse innocent and vulnerable people sexually or harass them whether they are women or men.

On the much-publicized BBC so-called “Sex for grades”, which was aired yesterday, I am not a journalist neither am I an undercover investigator, but I think BBC given its stature in the international media landscape, they did very unimpressive work.

I watched the video yesterday as shown by BBC and I personally felt disappointed that especially the part about Prof. Ransford Gyampo as far as what was aired or what I watched yesterday is concerned, I think his accusations were purely exaggerated.

There may be some other incontrovertible evidence elsewhere about him regarding what he is accused of, that one I don’t know and can’t speak to that. But what I saw yesterday, is a completely different thing compared to what the BBC earlier puts out ahead of the documentary. I did not see any direct sexual advancement in the video I watched.

In as much as sex for grades or jobs are not condonable in principle but I think we all need to be careful not to create ‘sex monster’ for ourselves as a people.

We need to have a national conversation about such unacceptable behaviour by some people in our educational institutions and at the workplaces but we must be careful. Otherwise, people could easily conspire with others and frame up innocent people just to destroy their lives.

Politicians and political office holders could become easy targets for such setups and frame-ups by their detractors or opponents. Let’s broaden the conversation dispassionately and identify the weak links in our systems and fix them rather than glorifying what could easily become a monster to us as Ghanaians.

Baba Musah
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