Two lecturers of the University of Ghana cited in the BBC Africa Eye ‘Sex for grades’ documentary Prof. Ransford Gyampoh and Dr Paul Kwame Butakor have been suspended by the University.
The University released a statement announcing the suspension for the two lecturers.
The Disciplinary Committee has completed their investigations and Prof. Ransford Gyampo and Dr. Paul Butakor have been handed six and four months suspension without pay respectively.
Their suspensions take effect from January 1, 2020. In addition, Prof. Gyampoh and Dr. Butakor are required to undergo appropriate training on the University of Ghana's sexual harassment and misconduct policy as well as the code of conduct for academic staff for the University of Ghana.
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They will be required to receive a positive assessment after the training before the resumption of their duties, they are also required to undergo an annual assessment for a period of 5 years.
A fact-finding committee chaired by Justice Vida Akoto-Bamfo found evidence that they had contravened the relevant provisions on misconduct in the University of Ghana statutes and the code of conduct for academic senior members and recommended that the case be referred to the Disciplinary Committee for senior members.
The DC has completed their work and the school's management has accepted the recommendation of the Committee and has informed Prof. Gyampoh and Dr. Butakor accordingly.
The UG then assured all students and the public of its commitment to rooting out any form of misconduct, sexual harassment or any other form of harassment and it will not tolerate this from its staff.
Background
The BBC Africa Eye has investigated some academic institutions in West Africa after several allegations of sexual harassment by lecturers.
This type of abuse is said to be endemic, but it’s almost never proven. After gathering dozens of testimonies, BBC Africa Eye sent undercover journalists posing as students inside the University of Lagos and the University of Ghana.
Female reporters were sexually harassed, propositioned and put under pressure by senior lecturers at the institutions – all the while wearing secret cameras.
Reporter Kiki Mordi, who knows first-hand how devastating sexual harassment can be, reveals what happens behind closed doors at some of the region’s most prestigious universities.
Political Science lecturer at the University of Ghanan, Prof Gyampo was also cited in the documentary but the Professor has denied his involvememt in any sex for grade act.
The University has also defended him saying there is no prove in the report that the professor even though misconducting himself change the grades of any student after sleeping with them.
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But the University later interdicted the two lecturers pending further investigations.