The Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana Prof Ebenezer Oduro-Owusu has denied sexual harassment allegations levelled against him by the CEO of Africa Integras Andrea Pizziconi.
According to him, the “claims are untrue and can never be trueâ€.
In a tweet, Andrea Pizziconi alleged that the ‘sex for grade’ investigative piece that incorporated some lecturers at the University of Ghana resonates deeply with her.
In an interview on Starr Fm on October 10, 2019, Mr. Oduro -Owusu dismissed sexual harassment claims leveled against him by Andrea Pizziconi :
“The claims are not true and can never be true. If you know me so well you wouldn’t be asking me that question. It can’ be true. I met her because of the project and I never meet her alone. I have never had any personal engagement with her. All our meetings with this woman has been extremely business oneâ€.
“I have been extremely careful not to have a one on one with her, I have always insisted we meet in teams and she rejected that but I told her my style is that we meet in teams. The last time I met her, she insisted we meet alone in my office but I went ahead to invite my Pro-VC and one other to the office and she was surprised to meet them in my office because she wanted to meet me alone. I always tried to avoid a one on one with her.â€Â
She wrote that her company Africa Integras led a US$64m infrastructure investment at UG which was defaulted upon by the current VC.
“I have remained mostly quiet despite the battery of attacks by Professor Ebenezer Oduro Owusu on my dignity. I was advised not to make waves and definitely not to raise the #metoo flag if I wanted to put the project back on track, which I do. Now I feel compelled to speak up and draw a direct line between this sex scandal and our derailed project,†she wrote.
The development follows BBC's latest 'sex for grades' documentary which accuses two lecturers of the university of sexual harassment.
She added that at a UG Council meeting on August 2017, the VC suggested that the contract which was signed between herself and the past VC was invalid “as it was signed under duress in a hotel room.
Andrea Pizziconi said Prof Oduro-Owusu declined to work with her to save the Africa Integras project on the basis that she was “far too pretty to worry her little head about the project, while declaring ‘turn around, everyone, I want to give her a proper hug’.
The BBC Africa Eye ‘sex for grade’ has opened a whole discussion on ordeals some female students go through in the universities.
READ ALSO : BBC Sex for grade - Come forward if you have evidence - Anti-Sexual Harassment c'teeÂ
Meanwhile, the two lecturers of the University of Ghana involved in the BBC documentary has been asked to step aside for investigations to be conducted into the case.
Below is Andrea Pizziconi’s tweetÂ
