FW: BBC’s 'Sex for grades' documentary not journalistic - Prof Karikari - Graphic Online

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Kissi, Edward

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Oct 9, 2019, 5:21:36 PM10/9/19
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It is getting bizarre. Now the distracting conversation over sexual harassment at the University of Ghana among some of Africa’s finest has descended into confounding claims of “racism” and BBC’s “methodologies” of journalism. What happened to basic human decency, moral rectitude, and ethical solidarity with the abused and exploited in sane society? That is what I called “moral pan-Africanism” in my 2006 article on “Obligation to Prevent” in African Security Review.

 

My deceased father was right that there are some humans who do not demonstrate a sense of moral outrage over anything unless somebody steals their fowl. I am wondering whether folks like Kofi Karikari would be talking “racism” and journalistic ethics and methodology if their daughters were victims of their colleagues’ lust.

 

And while I am at it, the BBC is not claiming (at least not yet)  that all African universities are infected and afflicted with the wily ways of their faculty (and students). So what the BBC has so far uncovered at Legon and Lagos (and to which the authorities there have responded with the appropriate moral outrage) does not in any way besmirch African universities elsewhere and the degrees they award. So the thought that this might be a BBC plot to denigrate African universities and rob the degrees they award of the weight they deserve may be an excessive stretch of the tendons of conspiracy.

 

As the Akans say in Ghana, even when someone who despises you hits the top of your head, that enemy of yours may just be asking you to strengthen your neck for you know not what might hit your face at the corner of the road. So, as an Alumnus of Legon, I am less concerned about the BBC’s journalistic methodology, or some racial bias it may or may not have. I am more concerned about the abuses of some of the university’s professoriate. It should not matter how the worm came to town, but rather that it found some idle morsels of food on the field. Something attracted the BBC to focus its cameras on a crime that we have long passed on and defended as “culture.” Karikari and his colleagues who are lambasting the BBC for this exposure (perhaps for collegial solidarity) should reflect on what Achebe says in his Arrow of God:

 

Those who bring home ant-infested firewood should not complain when they are visited by lizards.

 

 

Edward Kissi     

 

 

 

From: Edward Kissi [mailto:ekis...@gmail.com]
Sent: Wednesday, October 09, 2019 3:22 PM
To: Edward Kissi <ekis...@gmail.com>; Kissi, Edward <eki...@usf.edu>
Subject: BBC’s 'Sex for grades' documentary not journalistic - Prof Karikari - Graphic Online

 

Kalif McKinley

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Oct 9, 2019, 9:38:34 PM10/9/19
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This post is bringing light to the rape culture that is within some of Africa's universities. Edward Kissi addresses how professor's or faculty try to deflect the issue of rape and blame the BBC of racism against them. I feel like rape and sexual harassment is wrong and I completely agree with the author of this article. Sexual harassment should come with moral outrage and regardless of who puts the story out on these issues, they should all be taken seriously.

Moses Ebe Ochonu

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Oct 10, 2019, 9:43:32 AM10/10/19
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Edward my brother, indeed things are getting weirder and weirder. There is a saying: patriotism is the last refuge of a scoundrel. We should modify it to include pan-Africanism and Afrocentrism--or rather fake pan-Africanism and Afrocentrism. Some of our people reflexively invoke these false pan-Africanist outrage as a get-out-of-jail card and as an exculpatory distraction when they get into trouble because of their own poor ethical choices. They know exactly what they're doing. Focusing on the journalism of the BBC rather than on the despicable conduct of these "professors" is a calculated rhetorical move on their part. But in doing so, they debase Afrocentrism and pan-Africanism, making it more difficult for people with genuine, and to borrow your wonderful term, moral pan-Africanist angst to be taken seriously. And what is sickening about all this pretentious and amoral anti-imperial outrage is that it completely erases the victims of these abuses from the picture. Where is empathy for the victims? Where is an insistence on justice, justice not just for the victims but also as a mechanism of deterrence? You've turned your profession and position of power into a platform for serially preying sexually on your own students and when caught in the act you summon some canned and hackneyed pan-Africanist rhetorical maneuvers to your rescue. Who will buy such nonsense? As we speak/write, Nigerian twitter and other social media platforms are awash with testimonies of rapes and sexual assaults in Nigerian public universities. The victims are taking back the power, liberated out of their silence by the BBC documentary and the conversation it has sparked. They are naming their abusers with specific details of their affiliations and challenging them to deny, and their employers to take action. One hopes that this is the beginning of a movement to finally put a stop to this unspeakable crime, which has been normalized in these universities for so long.

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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Oct 10, 2019, 11:56:51 AM10/10/19
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Does the academic freedom to dissent no longer extend to this forum?  Must we all line up facing one direction 'jorojarajoro' like zombie? (apologies to Abami eniyan).

OAA





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Briana Releford

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Oct 10, 2019, 11:56:51 AM10/10/19
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This both, similar to mine, is about the “sex for grades” epidemic currently taking place at some of the most prestigious universities in West Africa. However, this post introduces a different viewpoint. BBC reporters state that “racism” and “methodologies” are contributing factors in this outbreak. Nevertheless, it is immoral and should dealt with as such. These young women are attending these universities to further their education. They should be allowed to do so without having to advance unethically.

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Oct 10, 2019, 11:56:51 AM10/10/19
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Is anyone on this forum on trial because of their ethical choices?

Has the BBC focused on any one on this forum or other commentators?

OAA



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-------- Original message --------
From: Moses Ebe Ochonu <meoc...@gmail.com>
Date: 10/10/2019 14:43 (GMT+00:00)
To: USAAfricaDialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>

Briana Releford

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Oct 10, 2019, 11:56:51 AM10/10/19
to USA Africa Dialogue Series
This both, similar to mine, is about the “sex for grades” epidemic currently taking place at some of the most prestigious universities in West Africa. However, this post introduces a different viewpoint. BBC reporters state that “racism” and “methodologies” are contributing factors in this outbreak. Nevertheless, it is immoral and should be dealt with as such. These young women are attending these universities to further their education. They should be allowed to do so without having to advance unethically.

OLAYINKA AGBETUYI

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Oct 10, 2019, 5:36:30 PM10/10/19
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Briana:

BBC did not say 'racism' and methodologies contributed to the sex for grades scenarios.  Some commentators including myself stated the racist bias is involved in the coverage by BBC.  They did not first ask the institution for their side of the story and find out if they had anti sexual harassment policies and how well it was working.  They assumed it was not working and used people who were not student to demonstrate what had not been properly researched.  They did not ask if victims reported to the authorities instead of the BBC and whether the authorities failed to act on their report.  This was why we said it was a shoddy report meant to portray African universities as inferior universities where no parents should send their wards.


OAA

OAA



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-------- Original message --------
From: Briana Releford <brianar...@gmail.com>
Date: 10/10/2019 17:00 (GMT+00:00)
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - FW: BBC’s 'Sex for grades' documentary not journalistic - Prof Karikari - Graphic Online

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This both, similar to mine, is about the “sex for grades” epidemic currently taking place at some of the most prestigious universities in West Africa. However, this post introduces a different viewpoint. BBC reporters state that “racism” and “methodologies” are contributing factors in this outbreak. Nevertheless, it is immoral and should dealt with as such. These young women are attending these universities to further their education. They should be allowed to do so without having to advance unethically.

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Julius Eto

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Oct 11, 2019, 2:17:48 PM10/11/19
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OAA

You have a point, that is, on BBC's failure to get the two universities' reactions or angles to the story/report.


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