Between Miss Malaika and Miss Ghana

It’S a fact that most pageants are more beauty-influenced than brains and the two most prestigious pageants in Ghana—Miss Ghana and Miss Malaika are no exception. Since beauty is subjective, it makes sense if that is overlooked in determining which of the contests is slightly ahead of the other.

I have a strong aversion to comparison because all fingers are not equal and it’s in this vein that I will never compare Miss Ghana and Miss Malaika. Comparing the two pageants will be like forcing a square peg into a round hole – it will never fit.

Miss Ghana was launched to propagate Ghana’s cultural values. Its core aim was to protect our heritage and our culture. Fast forward to today, that beauty pageant is now all about empowering young women to positively impact society as well as fulfil their aspirations.

Young ladies are desperate to be beauty queens as they find it a relatively easier route to getting closer to their dream.This has put beauty pageants in high demand, and seeing how gullible some of these ladies are, people are taking advantage and introducing all forms of pageants.

Beauty pageants have seen major growth. The numbers keep increasing all the time. It’s like every now and then; a new beauty pageant is introduced, perhaps due to the financial dividends that come from organising such pageants.

It is not certain it is the financial gains or because it has become the in-thing but beauty pageants have multiplied in Ghana. I, however, believe that the numerous challenges Miss Ghana and its organisation faced in the past has also contributed to this new phenomenon. People had to fill the void created by the no-show from the Miss Ghana organisers by introducing new pageants.  

After successfully crowning a new queen for 2013 recently, the Miss Ghana franchise owners, Exclusive Events Ghana Limited headed by Miss Ghana 2004, Inna Patty is on a ‘Thank You’ tour to the offices of the sponsors of this year’s edition of the pageant.

Miss Inna Patty takes the three queens, Miss Ghana 2013, Miss Giuseppina Nana Akua Baafi, and her two runners-up, Margaret Kuma Mintah and Selorm Amudzi, with a couple of media personnel to visit and show appreciation to the companies whose support saw this year’s pageant come on successfully.

After one of such visit, we retired at a food joint to munch on some food as we were hungry. After the meal, the queens decided to share their experiences prior to the event and after. A lot of things were said but quite shockingly, two of the queens confessed that they were approached many times through phone calls to dump their Miss Ghana dream and jump on the Miss Malaika train.

Reasons were given on why they should take part in the Malaika pageant instead of Miss Ghana. Some of the reasons were very ridiculous and not to be taken serious.

For instance, the then contestants were told the prizes for the Malaika ladies were much bigger than Miss Ghana’s. Also, they were told that if they took part in Miss Malaika, they would have more travelling opportunities because Miss Malaika is more popular.

This means someone is trying to compare Miss Malaika and Miss Ghana. Now it’s time for me to join and compare both pageants in just three areas which formed part of their discussions—popularity, prizes for the winners and travelling opportunities.

Mind you, every individual has his or her preferences, so it’s not for me to say or force down the throat of Ghanaians which of the two is better.

Popularity:

Without doubt, Miss Malaika is one of the prestigious beauty pageants in Ghana. Also it’s one of the pageants which has gained as a result of Miss Ghana’s rough years.

Organisers of Miss Malaika cannot be blamed for that though, but I found it hilarious why a relatively new pageant will be compared to one which is several decades old.

Growing up, Miss Ghana was the most popular event on television, even though there weren’t too many television stations then. Now thanks to the power of more television channels and perhaps, sponsorship deals, Miss Malaika is the most popular beauty pageant in Ghana. Why? I still believe Miss Ghana’s bad years have benefitted Miss Malaika in its popularity.

The organisers of Miss Malaika, Charter House, own GhONE Entertainment television station, so in terms of popularity in coming years, Miss Malaika might edge out Miss Ghana as the latter would have to negotiate for more airtime on other television stations, if they are interested.

And if the coverage of this year’s showing of Miss Ghana on television is anything to go by, then that pageant will soon be lagging behind.

Prizes for winners:

Miss Malaika is yet to crown its 2013 winner, something Miss Ghana has already done, so let’s use 2012 edition prizes here for this comparison.

Miss Malaika 2012, Sharon Cofie took home GH¢6,000, a KIA saloon car, beauty products, wardrobe and other souvenirs from the sponsors. Miss Ghana 2012, Naa Okailey Shooter went home with GH¢3,000 plus a Hyundai Accent 2012 model, beauty products, wardrobe and other souvenirs from sponsors for a year.

Comparing the two queens, the Miss Malaika queen received more money in the year but other prizes that came with Miss Ghana make the Malaika prize look inadequate. I’m not saying so;” it’s on the face of the ‘Pink Sheet’.”  For instance, Naa Shooter will get to represent Ghana at the Miss World competition this year.

There is no international competition for the Malaika queen to compete in.

There is also a year’s accommodation for the queen and her two runners-up, who will be residing at the plush Miss Ghana House, donated by Manet Properties.

Also, there were other exciting offers which included full educational scholarships worth USD 220,000.00 ($110, 000.00 each) to two lucky finalists, to study with one of the best universities; Benedict College in the United States of America.

Miss Ghana’s two runners-up have an official car for a whole year. I’m not aware of such an arrangement for the Miss Malaika runners-up.

Travelling:

I stand to be corrected, but I’m not aware of any travelling opportunities for the Miss Malaika runners-up. I know that their counterparts from Miss Ghana represented Ghana at international pageants which came with travel opportunities. They are even scheduled to travel to London as part of their prizes according to a release last year.

From these three points, it’s easier for readers to also make their own conclusions. But remember, no matter how you look at it, competition is good, if not, why will we be talking about these two pageants?

By Ebenezer Anangfio/Graphic Showbiz/Ghana
eanangfio@hotmail.com or tweet @anangfio