Moesha Boduong
CNN‘s Christiane Amanpour has registered her displeasure with Ghanaians for criticising controversial socialite Moesha Boduong over comments she made about Ghanaian women and her lifestyle in an excerpt of an upcoming interview on CNN.
According to her, Moesha has the right to speak up as a woman and urged that “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.”
But in a rebuttal statement, Ghanaian journalist Manasseh Azure said Christiane missed the point about why most Ghanaians criticised Moesha, indicating that she told “a lie” about Ghanaian women, hence the condemnation.
He also mentioned that Christiane is playing double standards with the Moesha issue because she first disapproved of her lifestyle in the interview with her but also quickly condemned Ghanaians who disapprove of it.
Moesha, in excerpts of a recent interview with Christiane for her Sex & Love Around The World series on CNN, made a general statement suggesting Ghanaian women are dependent on men to the extent that they trade sex for monetary gains just to survive.
“In Ghana, our economy is such a way that you need someone to take care of you. You can’t make enough money as a woman here. Because even when you want to get an apartment, in Ghana they take two years’ advance and I just started working. Where will I get money to pay,” she stated.
Moesha boduong and Christiane Amanpour
The comments stirred up a public outrage which caused the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Protection to issue a statement to condemn Moesha for her remarks, which it says does not represent all women in the country. The actress went ahead to apologise.
But in an article written by Christiane Amanpour, she revealed that she is disappointed that Ghanaians, including the Ministry of Gender, Children & Social Protection, condemned Moesha for opening up to her on the show.
According to her, the comments are an affront to the country’s acclaimed free speech environment to the point that Ms Boduong fears returning to the country safely.
“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 villainising 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.
“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.”
But Manasseh, who replied in another write-up on his website, suggested that Amanpour “got it all wrong”.
“Amanpour, if you will be truthful to yourself and your conscience, you will realize that much of the condemnation resulted from her generalisation and the lies about Ghanaian women.”
Moesha did not limit the conversation to her lifestyle. She suggested in your interview that the economy of Ghana was so hard that a woman could not earn a decent livelihood… Moesha told you a lie when she said a woman in Ghana couldn’t make enough money to take care of her needs. It is not true. It’s a lie. And Ghanaians had to point that out,” he said.
“If there’s any judgment, you started it. You basically told her this: This lifestyle is shameful. Your daughter should not do what you’re doing. Teach her to be different. She must not be in this bondage of sex to survive. She must be free.
It smacks of double standards on your part to disapprove of a lifestyle and condemn Ghanaians who also disapprove of it,” he added.
“And if Moesha tells you she’s afraid to come to Ghana, it is not strange. Admittedly, the economy of Ghana is hard. People who would not want to make it the hard way will look for the least opportunity to emigrate. Someone like Moesha, whose lifestyle is not sustainable beyond a certain age, has a “good” reason look for greener pastures elsewhere before her stock in trade expires, before her raw materials sag and wrinkle. You can help her to resettle for those reasons if you so wish and care, but Ghana is safe.
As an investigative journalist who does hard-hitting stories and articles that have landed people in jail and sometimes hurt the most powerful in this country, I find it extremely laughable for Moesha to pour her heart out to Amanpour about her safety because she talked about sex. She probably takes herself more seriously than we do,” he also added about Moesha’s safety in Ghana.