Miss Ghana 2019
Beauty pageants in the country, over the years, have groomed young beautiful ladies and exposed them to great opportunities and successful careers. Most top female media personalities, models, actresses, and even musicians were discovered through beauty pageants.
As a result, many young women aspire to be crowned beauty queens. However, there have been controversies that are gradually tainting the image and validity of the pageants.
GhanaWeb has listed some top controversies that have greatly affected the pageant industry in the country.
Miss Ghana accused of being an escort agency
In December 2017, three former Miss Ghana beauty queens stated that the pageant abuses, exploits, and pimp young ladies to older men in return for money and sponsorship deals.
According to Antoinette Delali Kemavor, one of the beauty queens, Inna Patty, the organizer of the pageant told her to be ‘sweet’ and ‘acceptable’ of anything a man they were seeking sponsorship from would demand of her.
She mentioned that Inna Patty later took her to dinner at the man’s residence. The man later revealed to her that he thought ‘she was sleeping over’ after she said she wanted to leave.
And to her, it suggests that Inna Patty had a sex for sponsorship agreement with the man, which involved her.
Miss Ghana pageant organizer calling Miss Ghana 2010 ‘ugly’ and ‘unfit’
Inna Patty, organizer of Miss Ghana called the winner of Miss Ghana 2010, Stephanie Karikari ugly in public. She also said the beauty queen was not fit to be on the same billboard with the then Miss World.
Stephanie Karikari opened up about the traumatic incident to news portal, Ghanacelebrities.com
Stephanie Karikari
“She told me that ‘Stephanie, I don’t think you are pretty enough and I don’t think a lot of people like you enough for you to be put next to Miss World on a billboard’,” she reported.
Miss Malaika 2006 wrongfully accused of stealing a $35,000 Toyota Hylander 4-Wheel drive
In November 2011, Hamamat Montia, winner of Miss Malaika 2006, was accused by Vesa Keskinen, her European ex-boyfriend of stealing a 4 wheel drive. She was taken to court and apparently won the case.
Hamamat, with her ex-boyfriend, Vesa.
It turned out that the man happily bought the car for Hamamat as a gift on her birthday, and had it registered in her name. When they broke up, he made a U-turn and accused her of stealing it.
Ghana’s most beautiful winner stripped off her crown for allegedly stealing in the UK
In January 2018, there were reports that Ghana’s Most Beautiful queen, Nasara Miriam Abdul Rauf had her title and crown taken away by the pageant organisers because she was caught up in a mobile phone theft scandal in the United Kingdom. But Nasara told NEWS-ONE that she had never been to the UK and never stolen any phone.
Nasara Miriam Abdul Rauf
“I use three phones; a 2010 brand 26-gigs I-Phone, a Black Berry, a Nokia 5800 with a 32-gig capacity that is also a 2010 brand and I have three new phones in my wardrobe. Why would I steal a used phone? What for? ” Nasara debunked the allegations.
The crown was handed over to the first runner up.
Some Ghanaians trolled Miss Ghana 2019 Finalists, calling them ‘ugly’
In July 2019, the winner of Miss Ghana 2019, Rebecca Nana Adwoa Kwabi, 1st runner up Sarah Odei Amoani and 2nd runner up Deborah Opoku Sarfo, were trolled by some Ghanaians on twitter for not being ‘attractive enough’ to represent Ghana at the Miss World pageant.
It began when television station, Citi TV posted pictures of them during a live interview on their social media. Some of the trolls questioned how they won the pageant because to them, they were not attractive enough. Others also tweeted that the ladies should take off their weaves and makeup to show their true identity.
Nana Adwoa Kwabi
“I am beautiful, confident, and very capable of representing Ghana at the Miss World. Nothing can stop me,” Nana Adwoa Kwabi jabbed back at the trolls
CEO of Miss Commonwealth Ghana drags contestants to juju man over stolen money
In October 2019, a top 5 contestant of the Miss Commonwealth pageant was beaten and injured with a cutlass after the CEO of the pageant sent her and 10 other contestants to a juju man over some GH¢500 that got missing from the pageant house during their stay. The juju man fished one contestant out as the thief and brutalized her with a cutlass.
Recovering assaulted contestant
“We were 10 in number and the juju man gave us an egg with powder to throw if you are innocent yours will break but if not yours will turn out cooked I did and mine turned out cooked. I was asked to naked myself by the juju man and he started beating me with Cutlass,” parts of her revelation read.
