A large number of Ghanaians and fans of the Miss Malaika beauty pageant were shocked when Gerry Partington was declared the winner at this year’s Malaika pageant held at the Accra International Conference Centre last Saturday.
As soon as Gerry Partington, a 22-year-old student of the University of Ghana was declared the winner, instead of Alexandra Ayirebi-Acquah, also a student of the University of Ghana, a large number of fans expressed shock and surprise at the judges.
When it was time to announce the winner, the hosts of the programme, Chris Attoh and Naa Ashorkor, announced that there was a tie between Gerry and Alexandra for the first and second positions.
It was clear that the tie was a deliberate arrangement to give Gerry a second chance to redeem herself and also pave the way for her to grab the crown.
The two were asked to define three qualities a woman of the millennium should have. Alex, who pulled the magic wand, was smart and on point.
Gerry on the other hand fumbled in her attempt to answer the question. Her response, according to a section of the audience, was not good enough to get her the nod.
The five judges, which included hiphop artiste D-Black who was only looking for the prettiest lady among the 10 contestants, scored them either first or second on their score sheets.
In a bid to prove to Ghanaians how transparent they (judges) are, Naa Ashorkor and Chris Attoh, the hosts, read the judges’ score cards live to the audience. The two hosts announced that Alex had won on 3 of the judges’ cards with Gerry winning two. A representative from Media Edge, which collated the results, confirmed that indeed the results were accurate.
Though the results went in favour of Alexandra, things took a dramatic turn and Gerry was declared winner, which was met with stiff resistance by the audience.
A large number of Miss Malaika fans who were surprised at the turn of events are considering a boycott of next year’s event. “This is pure rigging. Ghanaians will never forgive you. God save mother Ghana,” some of them lamented.
Gerry’s win, according to some fans, proved that there was no transparency in the organization of beauty pageants since her final performance as compared to Alex’s in the tie-breaker raised a lot of questions.
According to them, this is the second time that the declaration of a winner of a Miss Malaika pageant has been shrouded in controversy.
A section of Malaika fans who spoke to BEATWAVES soon after the event declared that the organizers and the judges had clearly demonstrated that this year’s event was not about brains and performance but about beauty.
They argued that the organizers had been unfair to Alexandra as well as Ghanaians and that they should come out boldly to render an unqualified apology to Alexandra Ayirebi-Acquah.
BEATWAVES gathered that the judges were looking for someone who had the physical attributes of a queen and by striking a balance between brain and beauty, it was clear that Alexandra Ayirebi-Acquah had the brains and qualities but Gerry Partington had the beauty.
Although it was the judges’ decision to choose the winner, BEATWAVES’s investigations revealed it was all about looking for someone who is beautiful and could promote the Miss Malaika brand.
Source: George Clifford Owusu
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