Advertisement Banner
e introduction of voting in this year’s Miss Tourism Ghana contest, clearly indicated the amount of hard work needed by prospective contestants to qualify for the main competition. Unlike previous editions, where 20 ladies were selected from the many and camped till the competition began, this time around, only the 12 contestants with the highest mobile votes cast qualified for the competition.
The element of voting was obviously going to be a drain in the pockets of these young ladies who were mostly between the ages of eighteen(18) and twenty two(22). A quick check of the profiles of the contestants revealed that almost all of them were students in the tertiary institutions in Ghana.
Is it coincidental that only ladies in tertiary institutions register? Or perhaps tertiary students are deliberately selected to give the show an ‘intellectual feel’? Could there be any internally agreed criteria that I am oblivious of? Well, we can leave that for another day.
The grand finale to crown Miss Tourism Ghana 2016 was slated for the 12th of August 2016 at exactly 7:00pm. I arrived 15 minutes to the scheduled hour. I hanged around the forecourt of the National Theatre, the venue for the event as I waited patiently for the clock to struck 7. I maneuvered my way into the auditorium of the National Theatre after submitting my cool Fifty Ghana Cedis (50gh) ticket to the ticket agent at the entrance.
Let us not pretend that I am a novice when it comes to late commencement of shows and outdoor programs in Ghana. Surely, I was prepared for the delayed start of the show that will obviously be caused by the decision of the organizers to use ‘Ghana Man Time’ instead of that of the Greenwich Meridian. I expected a delay to the start of the show, but not one that will start three (3) hours late. I bet you, Uncle Ebo Whyte could have staged two different shows within that time frame. Do managers of the National Theatre charged any extra money when organizers of shows over stay their time?
As I waited for the start of the show in the lifeless auditorium because there was no music being played, I wondered what the DJ who had been hired was actually doing. For a show that discernibly wasn’t going to start any time soon, shouldn’t the DJ engage the crowd with some carefully selected songs to kill the boredom in the auditorium? Perhaps, he was waiting for the Oga at the top to give him the go ahead first.
The lady who moderated the Fashion Show at Crown Apartamento before the final was quite boring in her delivery. Citi’s Fm’s Kojo Akoto Boateng came in as the MC for the night to rejuvenate the tired looking audience together with a former contest of the competition.
After the initial remarks by the MCs, an audio visual detailing the journey of the 12 finalists was supposed to have been shown but that never happened.
Honestly, the performance of the contestants was good for the night. We all know that speeches by contestants had to be rehearsed and memorized. But clear exhibition of what is termed as ‘chew and pour’ by some contestants without a conscious appeal to the audience made some of the presentations boring.
That aside, I wasn’t surprised to hear one of the contestants who represented the Volta Region say that Okomfo Anokye led the people of the Eweland to their current geographical location. (Oh saa? I didn’t know) The statement by the Western Region rep that Cocoa was a mineral and it contributed to 51% of Ghana’s GDP was not surprising either.I mean how? They might have been tensed alright but this could largely be blamed on the ‘chew and pour’ style of presentation the ladies had been taken through. Can’t we focus on making the contestants understand these cultures we want to promote and allow them present in their own unique and engaging style?
Why would a contestant who claims to be promoting Sports Tourism in Ghana wear an Emirates branded Arsenal jersey? What happened to the Accra Hearts of Oak, Kumasi Asante Kotoko and the local team’s replica jerseys on the market?
Though there were some low moments in the performance on stage, there were some exceptional moments worth commending. The second Brong Ahafo representative, had her lavaliere fall off her attire and disabled. Yet, she managed to continue her presentation smoothly without forgetting her lines and even projected well enough for the hearing of the audience seated.
I can’t talk about the stage performance without mentioning the actions of the DJ for the night. He contributed his quota towards ensuring that the show was boring. There were instances where contestants were supposed to come on stage with an entry music but the DJ was conspicuously missing. Someone suggested that he was admiring the ladies backstage. It is good to appreciate God’s handiwork.
Thanks to Kojo Akoto Boateng the MC for the night, some humor and excitement were injected into the show with his request of some ‘throw back’ songs which got spectators miming.
Fortunately or unfortunately, politics was not left out in the night’s event. The apparent whisper of amazement and giggling among audience when contestants of the five regions (Upper East, Upper West, Northern, Brong Ahafo and Volta) highly commended the great development witnessed under the Savannah Accelerated Development Authority(SADA) project can not be over emphasized. Eii! Is it the same ‘Akomfem’ cum Tree Planting SADA that these contestants are praising like that? How many of these contestants have been to the Upper East, Upper West or even the Northern Region before? Could it be due to the presence of Hon. Elizabeth Ofosu Agyare, the Minister of Tourism, Culture and Creative Arts? Interesting!
The organizers made it clear to supporters of the contestants that the final judgement before the ultimate round was not based on only the performance for that night but all other activities leading to the final. With this knowledge, some observers were still disappointed when some contestants who had excelled in their stage performance did not qualify to the ultimate round of 5. There air of suspicion of bias intensified when one of the 5 selected finalists stated that Timber was mainly used for crafting statutes of Ghana’s former Presidents. The cups of the disappointed audience were filled to the brim when another top 5 finalist could not even demonstrate by word of mouth how she will explain the concept of tourism to the people in her community.
The disappointment grew higher in the ultimate round where the winners were announced and a new queen was crowned. There was some room to suspect that the highest monetary investor was rewarded with the envious crown.
In the Ultimate round, the five finalists were asked questions each upon which a winner was to be declared. Maya Opoku, who clearly answered her questions brilliantly to the delight of the audience was not given the crown but rewarded with the 1st Runner Up position. Many could not believe that Akorfa Daniella, who fumbled continuously while answering her question placed third among the five finalists. As predicted earlier, the contestant who had garnered the highest number of votes through paid text messages took home the crown.
At the end of it all, Geraldine Atta Sappor was crowned Miss Tourism Ghana 2016.
One could sense that there are many question marks hanging on the decisions by the faculty that determined the eventual winners for the night.
We can only hope that organizers go back and review the work they have done and ensure that we enjoy something better next year.
By: Maxwell Amoofia
Advertisement Banner
No comments:
Post a Comment