Prof. Ransford Gyampo
The letter written to Prof. Ransford Gyampo over his involvement in the sex for grades documentary has been placed in the public domain.
Prof. Gyampo, a lecturer in the political science department of the University of Ghana (UG), Prof. Ransford Gyampo, was caught on tape allegedly demanding sex and marriage from an undercover female journalist who posed as a student of UG.
He is one of two Ghanaian lecturers from UG captured in the BBC Africa Eye documentary titled ‘Sex for Grades.’
The other lecturer is Dr. Paul Kwame Butakor.
Prof. Gyampo in the documentary held a meeting with the ‘student’ at a shopping in Accra and ‘proposed’ to marry her, making what BBC referred to as inappropriate comments.
He has denied proposing any amorous relationship to the lady, threatening to sue BBC.
“I will sue BBC, they must sit up otherwise they are as useless as any other media house that has lost its course,” he said on Joy FM.
Contents of BBC’s letter
The BBC’s letter to Prof. Gyampo made it clear to him that “you twice asked a woman that you had agreed to mentor – and that you believed to be an undergraduate student at the University of Ghana – to wear high heels in your office. This did not feel normal.”
BBC went on to inform him in the letter that “On Sunday afternoon, in a phone call deemed strange, you called her and teased her and accused her of always being formal around you.”
The pages letter went on “you became increasingly personal. You asked whether she had a boyfriend saying who wouldn’t want a decent, caring lady and persistently said you wanted to go over to her house that evening.”
“You were told she was not interested in a relationship. You told her she should prepare her mind because you would be coming very soon.”
It added that “eventually, you were persuaded by her to meet in a public place, a mall instead of her home later that evening.”
The letter noted that “the woman was cautious about attending this meeting because she was aware of allegations you sexually harassed female students in the past.”
According to the letter, “while at the mall later that evening you insisted on buying her heeled shoes, something she had reluctantly agreed to in the afternoon phone call.”
“You asked her three times whether she has been violently kissed before. Once the shoes had been purchased you asked her not to keep pushing you away because she was going to be your wife.”
It said Prof. Gyampo lied to the lady about his age, claiming that he just turned 33.
Former Student Speaks
Meanwhile, a former student of UG, Dela Goldheart, has accused Prof. Gyampo of tormenting her life on campus after she rejected his love proposal.
She said on several occasions he invited her over to his house to cook “okro soup” for him, and sensing there was a hidden agenda, she refused.
But she indicating Prof. Gyampo kept pestering her and her refusal led to him frustrating her over her long essay which she could not complete as a result.
She claimed Prof. Gyampo was her long essay supervisor.
“I didn’t think I will narrate this story in public this soon with a name tagged. I knew I was going to get justice and ensure that other women’s and girls’ education are not threatened because of men who cannot keep their zips closed,” she wrote.
“But here we are. I know what I am about to do is a bit risky for my future, but I also know this is a good time to say something. I was not going to talk about this until I become a powerful woman who can protect myself. But this week’s happenings have forced me to say something,” she added.
“My hope is that, by sharing my story today, the University of Ghana, Ghana, and the world would be more assured that lecturers like Prof. Gyampo need to be removed from the higher education system if women are to have equal opportunity in advancing their education programs,” according to her.
“In 2010, I was a freshly admitted student to Ghana’s biggest university, the University of Ghana, to read Political Science, my dream program (smiling). I was super excited, and that meant that attending every lecture was a must for me,” she noted in an article.
” The idea of discussing socio-economic issues and politics and international events and everything was something I had always looked forward to. Prof. Gyampo was one of my lecturers in my very first semester. He was young, super smart and always had a friendly/relaxed/snobbish attitude in class. I admired him a lot. He was in several ways, the dream of many of us, young students. We didn’t want to be old and boring before we get to positions of power. Prof. Gyampo was exactly that. Young, smart and powerful.”
The first time I will speak to Prof. Gyampo directly was after class. We had closed from lectures, and Prof. Gyampo asked to speak to me. I was standing below, and he was on the podium, she explained.
“Most students had already left the classroom. I always sit at the front so walking up to him when he asked to speak to me was easy. He said that I am beautiful and smart; why was I always asking so many questions? I smiled. I didn’t know about smart, but I knew I was beautiful,” she said
“About three weeks after our first encounter, we will speak again. This time around, Prof. Gyampo asked why I didn’t come around as he asked. Typical of my age group, I only smiled. I had no excuse. I didn’t go because maybe I didn’t take his request seriously. So I promised that I would come and I went. In his office, Prof. Gymapo asked if I knew how to prepare okro soup (I am Ewe. Okro soup is my people’s staple dish). I said yes, I knew how to prepare okro soup. Prof. Gyampo asked if I could come to his house to prepare okro soup for him. I said no, I couldn’t,” she said.
” He asked why, I said nothing. By this time, I had learned from Prof. Gyampo’s choice of words, tone and facial expressions that okro soup in his house meant something else, not food. I was young, but I was not totally naïve or stupid. I had met many men like Prof. Gyampo before starting school in Legon. If the men before him could not get their way with me, he wasn’t going to either,”
BY Melvin Tarlue
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