Organisers of the Miss Malawi beauty pageant, Artistic Agency, have said they are concerned with challenges the current Miss Malawi Susan Mtegha is facing in her office.
The agency has cited insufficient funds and government’s inability to arrange full funding for the Miss Malawi office.
According to managing director of Artistic Agency, Vitu Kamanga, the queen, who is currently, in China for the Miss World competition, is struggling in her activities because of lack of funds.
“This condition also affected her preparations for the world pageant where she is also not performing excellently,†said Kamanga.
He said when the Miss Malawi office was in the hands of government between 1970 and 1980, it received full support, something that led to tangible results.
“It is sad that today’s Miss Malawi just carries the national name when the nation does not recognise her as its ambassador. She struggled a lot to leave for China and we had to knock on government offices at the eleventh hour,†said Kamanga.
He also said the Ministry of Tourism should review its activities and identify the role of a national beauty queen in tourism. Kamanga wondered why Miss Malawi does not have an office at the Tourism offices in Lilongwe.
“Miss Malawi is an ambassador of the country, wherever she goes, she carries the Malawian flag. So, why is it difficult for government to give her full support?†queried Kamanga.
He added that the queen was recently a disgrace when fellow beauties from Zimbabwe and Botswana visited the country, but she had nowhere to take them for administrative activities.
But in an interview, deputy director of arts in the Ministry of Tourism Wildlife and Culture, Bernard Kwilimbe, said there are a lot of issues to be looked into before putting the claims into consideration.
“From 1970 to 1982, we had the secretariat that was organising the Miss Malawi. [The year] 1982 was when we had the last Miss Malawi beauty contest. After democracy, people came in with various pageants and giving them national names, still they get support from government through Ministry of Tourism and I wonder where things are going wrong.
“What I would be interested to hear is harmonisation by those venturing into beauty pageants, that aspect should be turned into courtship and then into an operational framework because I hear there is someone who owns Miss Malawi as a branch, let them clear that first. Beauty pageant is broad and it touches both cultural and tourism and so they need to remove all silent aspects first before complaining,†said Kwilimbe.
He added that his office believes in sustainable initiatives and he is aware that the office of Miss Malawi needs to be respected and supported but the question should be on operation frame work and sustainability.
Meanwhile, Miss Malawi has not made it in any of the various categories at the Miss World. She only qualified for the Top 20 in dancing competition but has not made it to the finals. Other categories where she has not done well are sports, talent and top model catwalk.
Directors of Artistic Agency, Kamanga and Tadala Chakhaza, are expected to leave the country this week to join the queen in Mongolia, China for the finals of the beauty pageant scheduled for August 18.
