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Miss Malawi, MWHA back

Former Miss Malawi Faith Chibale crowning Mtegha in 2011
Former Miss Malawi Faith Chibale crowning Mtegha in 2011

Organisers of the Miss Malawi and Miss Warm Heart of Africa (MWHA) are optimistic the nationwide beauty contests will be back this year.

Miss Malawi’s impresario Vitu Kamanga and MWHA’s Edward Kankhomba cleared the mist when asked about the future of the annual pageants which did not take place last year. The hiatus did not just leave the country with no rep in the 2012 Miss World contest after the expiry of 2011 Miss Malawi Susan Mtegha’s troubled term.

Mtegha’s long-drawn-out term also plunged into perpetual uncertainty the country’s oldest pageant, with Kamanga’s Artistic Agency telling The Nation in January that their showcase was hanging in a balance due to daunting debts.

But in an interview on Wednesday, the highly indebted agency and Kankhomba assured the nation that preparations are underway to avert the sham encountered last year.

“Our silence did not mean Miss Warm Heart of Africa is dead and the contest is on this year. Shortly, we will start running adverts inviting those interested to vie for the crown. We decided to extend the tenure of the queen Aisha Chiwaula with a year after Ministry of Tourism had endorsed her tour of various tourism attraction centres as a way of involving the queens in promoting tourism,” said Kankhomba, whose 10 Plusten runs MWHA in conjunction with Mnena Gaming.

He said apart from holding several preparatory meetings, they have already secured the gaming firm’s commitment to continue sponsoring the race. They have also devised a new strategy to change the queens every three months, meaning four every year.

On the other hand, Kamanga said the Miss Malawi organising crew at last had a roundtable meeting with Ministry of Tourism and Culture officials and they will soon be calling for applications from aspirants.

“Our discussions ended with the certainty that Miss Malawi will be crowned this year and the ministry made commitment to support us both in crowning the queen and sending her to the Miss World slated for September in Indonesia. If all goes according to plan, we will have a new queen in the office by August 1,” said Kamanga.

Kamanga’s agency has also partnered with organisers of Malawi Fashion week (MFW), Elegant Resources, to spruce up the management of the beauty contests which has been battered by controversy.

He said the next Miss Malawi will be subjected to rigorous preparations following Mtegha’s poor run at the Miss World which was largely blamed on poor homework.

This time, he said, their focus is on ability and talent and I am sure we will produce a capable queen.

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