#SexForGrades: I denied Prof Gyampo’s call for ‘Okro soup’ – Dela Goldheart

Staunch feminist, Amelia Amedela Amemate, popularly known as Ame Ame or Dela Goldheart, has added her voice to that of several other women calling for the head of Professor Ransford Gyampo of the Political Science Department for his involvement in the BBC Africa Eye exposé 'Sex for grades'.

In a Facebook post, Dela Goldheart narrated her ordeal of how Prof Gyampo allegedly harassed her while she was a student at the University of Ghana.

She said she was shocked at Prof Gyampo's consistent demand for sex, knowing how reserved and powerful he was, many of her colleagues saw him to be “young, smart and powerful”.

“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.”

Dela Goldheart noted that Prof Gyampo quizzed her why a ‘beautiful and smart’ lady is ‘always asking so many questions’ which in return she responded with a smile.

She stated further that the Political Science lecturer requested that if she comes to his house to prepare okro soup for him but she turned down his request realizing that his “choice of words, tone and facial expressions that okro soup in his house meant something else, not food.”

She said Prof Gyampo acted similarly to other lecturers conduct by demanding sex for grades which led to her not completing her thesis at the university, after several attempts and persuasion to other lecturers who demanded for sex.

“I came to learn that Prof. Gyampo is not an exception. He is just following the tradition of those before him and around him. Lecturers were so desperate to sleep with female students that, even when you said you couldn’t while in school, they will tell you that they will wait on you.”

Dela Goldheart, however, urged female students in the university not to be afraid to speak up any time they are harassed by lecturers.

In a BBC Africa Eye documentary, Prof Ransford Gyampo was heard asking a lady if she had been ‘violently kissed’ before. He also proposed marriage to the said lady even though reports indicate that he is legally married with children.

In an interview, Professor Gyampo denied the allegations levelled against him in the documentary claiming that the lady was not his student and had never engaged in any sexual relationship with her.

He then threatened court action against the British Broadcaster (BBC).