Raising funds to support a project of a beauty pageant is the responsibility of organizers, says Menaye Donkor, owner of Miss Universe franchise in Ghana.
Her comment comes in the wake of allegations by former Miss Ghana Queens that they were forced by Exclusive Events Ghana to raise funds for their projects.
The former queens added trying to raise funds led to sexual exploitation, and also physical and verbal abuse by the organizers.
Donkor stated that raising funds is “not their job or responsibility. It’s the organisers’ responsibility that is what we do, it’s our work. As a young lady, what you need to do is to be mentally and physically ready.”
The wife of Sulley Muntari also shared an analogy on why contestants shouldn’t be tasked with the responsibility of raising funds for their projects.
“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 while 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.” explained the 2004 Miss Universe Ghana winner to JoyNews’ Mamavi Owusu Aboagye.
“There’s a process you go through to participate in a competition. You register online, when you get a call back great, then we [Miss Universe] 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.”
Donkor is however of the opinion that Exclusive Events Ghana be given the opportunity to address the issues raised by the former queens.
“I try to not 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 because, 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 is only fair for Ghanaians to give the directors an opportunity to speak.”
