Christiane Amanpour is livid at Ghanaians, especially the media for condemning and judging Moesha Boduong for engaging in transactional sex to survive.
The Ghanaian socialite was berated on social and mainstream media when she told the CNN anchor that the Ghanaian economy compels young women to rely on married men to make a living. “Ghana, our economy is such that you just need someone to take care of you because you can’t make enough money as a woman here,” she told Amanpour.
The upcoming actress has since apologised to Ghanaians for generalizing her comment. “I have been humbled by all that is going on and I have also learnt a lot in the last few days since the CNN video came out. I have had a lot of time to think and reflect and I APOLOGIZE TO ALL, ESPECIALLY MY AFRICAN SISTERS,” she said in an Instagram post.
Reacting to the development, the veteran international journalist said she was “hurt and angry” to see Moesha being crucified for opening up about “such intimate details about her personal life.”
“So it was quite distressing to hear that one of our contributors, Moesha Boduong, has been the target of public shaming by the Ghanaian press and the Ministry of Gender, Children and Social Protection. Numerous media outlets in Ghana have taken to villainizing this young woman based on an excerpt of the conversation included in a 1 minute, 30 second video of “Sex and Love.”
“As the host and the namesake of this series, I feel compelled to speak up on behalf of our contributor. I want people to recognize Moesha’s right to speak up and the courage she showed by sharing such intimate details about her personal life,” Amanpour said in an article published on CNN.
She added: “As a woman and a journalist, I’m hurt and angry to see such an innocent woman condemned by the press and by many people on social media in this way. It’s to the point that Moesha is not sure she can return to Ghana safely. I am so surprised to see this happening in Accra, a city that has rightly got so much attention recently for being one of the most economically and politically successful capitals in Africa. Indeed I was heartened while I was in Accra, listening to a speech by the President himself, defending the rights of the free press to report fully, accurately and fairly.
“That is what we did, with help from the many wonderful Ghanaians who participated in this beautiful story. It was a range of women, young and mature, single, married, divorced, widowed, Christian, Muslim, Vodun, a bead seller, an OBGYN, even a market queen: Everyone acknowledged that love in Accra is complex but no one judged the choices another woman makes in the pursuit of love and happiness. And in this city that calls itself the most religious in the world, we spoke to men, too, including the Archbishop of the Action Chapel megachurch who told us “We don’t put women down in our society. We don’t do that. I’m surrounded by women. The success of my ministry, many, many ways I can equate it to the women around me.”
“I urge my colleagues in the Ghanaian press to reserve judgment for the whole episode, and for the people to understand that all must be seen in context, not judged on one excerpt.
“I also respectfully urge the President of Ghana and the minister of Gender, Children and Social Protection to stand up for the rights of one of their own who was simply enjoying a carefree, boisterous and mostly humorous conversation with me.”
“I want women all over the world to know they can and should be able to talk about matters of sex and love without fear and without shame,” the award-winning journalist concluded.
Source: Ghana/Starrfmonline.com/103.5FM
