Alpha Arts delivers Miss Malawi after four years

A fortnight ago, Malawi witnessed the crowing of a new Miss Malawi since the last event was held four years ago. The pageant came with some controversy, including disagreements between organisers Alpha Arts and former queen Tionge Munthali. Our Staff Reporter BRIAN ITAI caught up with lead organiser Tina Kendricks to reflect on the event. Excerpts.

Q

: You organised the Miss Malawi pageant this year after a four-year break. What was the experience like?

A

: It was multi-dimensional, I can say. It was good, but also hard and hectic. Since we were trying to bring it back, it was not easy. But here we are now.

Q

: What would you say are some of the challenges that you faced when you organised in the organisation of the event?

A

: The main problem has been securing sponsorship. The main assistance that we got was from small companies and they were mostly offering services and products and not cash. We had targeted partnerships with big corporate institutions, but that was not successful.

Q

: What was the budget for the event?

A

: For the event to run smoothly, we had targeted to raise K40 million. However, we did not raise the sum. Not even half of it.

Q

: In the absence of funds, how did you organise the event?

A

: We were using our personal resources mostly. It was only a week before the event that we got K3 million from Prophet Mary Bushiri. We had been trying to reach out to her from the word go and she eventually came through with the assistance. After the event, she pledged continued assistance to the Miss Malawi office and we are glad. The First Lady Monica Chakwera also gave us K1 million on the day of the event. So, some of the bills that needed to be paid such as cost of hiring the venue and other costs were settled using these funds.

Q

: Can you promise that Alpha Arts will be back next year?

A

: Definitely! We have already started doing the ground work for next year’s pageant. We have had meetings with some strategic players. We have even already identified a venue for next year’s event. Our wish is to have Miss Malawi hitched to a number of companies where they can work together in their different corporate campaigns.

Q

: There were voices of disapproval on how the selection for the eventual winner was done. What do you make of such claims?

A

: As organisers, we don’t have a say on who is going to win. Some of the judges had the chance to meet and interact with the contestants prior to the event. What the audience out there saw was the outer beauty. But these judges met the girls on a personal level. For the judges to choose the queen, it is not only about what happens on the stage. From that perspective, it is easy for people to raise such concerns, but it is because they don’t know the girls like the judges did. What happened on the day just contributed to a percentage of a long process which had started sometime back.

Q

: Another contentious issue was the involvement of the First Lady which eventually turned the event into a State function, more or less. Is this how you planned things?

A

: No regrets about it. It was Alpha Arts who approached them not them coming to us. We knew that with the presence of the First Lady, there are a lot of things involved in as far as protocol is concerned. On our end, it was an achievement to have her there. Honestly. Having her in attendance as it made the event huge. I know people will say a lot of things because of other things. I could see that people started politicising the whole issue, which is wrong. The Miss Malawi is a national event. The Queen is the face of the country. That means the President, the Vice-President and all citizens need to be involved. The First Lady is the citizen of the country and nothing wrong with having her there.

Q

: There was a near-hullabaloo between the organising team and the former Miss Malawi. What really went wrong?

A

: I did not mean to comment further on this, but I will just explain what happened. From the time we approached her on our intention to hold the pageant, she was not interested to be associated with the pageant at any level. She claimed she was treated badly by the organisers of the previous event. I tried to talk to her, but she would have none of it. She even barred the media from getting any comments from her in as far as the pageant was concerned. She only called days before the event indicating that she wanted to pass over the crown. We were surprised to hear that bearing in mind her previous stance. We gave her the nod to come.

But after sitting down as the organising team together with State House officials, we made the decision to assign the role of handing over the crown to the First Lady as one way of honouring her presence. We made the arrangement to have the former Queen pass over the crown to madam Chakwera to hand it over to the new Miss Malawi. We wanted something different. We made that decision and not them. So, when she came, she was briefed on the arrangement and she was not happy with it. When the time came for her to handover the crown, she was invited by State House personnel to see how she was dressed.

That was what all of us did as per protocol. This was made known to us from the first time we met her. Despite being the First Lady, she is also a pastor’s wife and the way people present themselves around her matters. Her dressing was deemed inappropriate and she was advised to change into another gear. She refused, saying the dresses were ugly. She then started shouting saying she was not going to be part of the event anymore and she left. As organisers, we are ready to talk with her for the sake of posterity. n