Winner of the 2004 edition of Miss Universe Ghana pageant, Menaye Donkor says contestants of beauty pageants are not responsible for raising funds
The owner of the Miss Universe franchise in Ghana’s comment comes on the heels of the resignation of 2017 winner of Miss Ghana pageant, Margaret Dery, citing harassment as one of the reasons.
Apart from Margaret, a number of individuals including past queens of the pageant, have also raised red flags over the rampant allegations of exploitation by the organisers.
Major amongst them are allegations of sexual abuse and organisers forcing the queens to raise funds for projects.
Speaking in an interview with JoyNews’ Mamavi Owusu Boakye, Menaye stated that organisers are responsible for raising funds, not the queens.
“There’s a process you go through to participate in a competition. You register online and when you get a callback, great. Then we shortlist these contestants to the girls we are able to work with so it’s a process. In terms of raising sponsorships on their own, we don’t allow that. That’s not their job or responsibility. It’s the organizer’s that is what we do“, she noted.
“It’s our work. As a young lady, what you need to do is to be mentally and physically ready. I always relate it to football; my husband needs to be focused before a game. You can’t have him change diapers or bathe a child whiles he has a game in a few hours. So they don’t have to do much in the sense of helping the organizers come up with sponsorship,” Menaye added.
Nonetheless, she noted that organisers of the Miss Ghana pageant should be given the opportunity to also react to the allegations.
“I try not to listen or get too involved with other pageants because there are always two sides to a story. I don’t judge an individual because someone said something about them. Before the news gets to you or me, it would have been dissected and all sort of stuff happen to it. So I need to hear that person’s side of the story as well and it’s only fair for Ghanaians to give the directors an opportunity to speak,” she said.
Menaye who is wife to Ghanaian footballer Sulley Muntari also advised organizers of the Miss Ghana Beauty Pageant to come out and address the controversial issues surrounding their brand
“I think from an organizers point of view, I would come out because when someone talks about you or the media is constantly talking about you in a very negative way, you need to defend yourself. This is your brand, you have to have reasons and we need to hear your side. We can’t just conclude and say this is who they are”, she said.