Exposed: How models were conned millions during the Miss Pan African Beauty queen contest in Ghana

By Mary Kathini Ngula

Nairobi

The Miss Pan African pageant has been a letdown or else a scam for the last few year’s worst of all this year.

The pageant was hosted in Ghana this year bringing together models queens from different countries all over Africa.

The participants however were not randomly chosen. They had to work their way and compete against each other to be enrolled for the pageant.

They participated in activities such as making short introductory clips, getting votes from their friends and even getting sponsorship for the pageant fee and transportation, which the pageant organizer did not provide.

The first voting link, which was not free, had a problem. The organizer then made another link with a free vote each day.

 Christabel Azangalala is a Kenyan model who participated in the beauty pageant and was conned.

  She kept pushing and in the end of the second phase of the pageant, she emerged a winner.

Azangalala and Akinyi Grace were the two participants chosen from Kenya who went to Ghana in March this year for the competition.

 In an interview with The County Splash, Azangalala said that she booked a one-way flight to Ghana through the Kenya Airways early before the arrival date since she had other errands to run ones in Ghana.

“On arrival, I called the organizer Trendy Emerevu Isaac Ediziki who picked her up. The first thing they asked me was my pageant fee which was $800 (Sh86, 400),” Azangalala said.

Afterwards he checked her to His Majesty’s Hotel in Accra Ghana where Grace Akinyi who had arrived earlier was.

"We all thought we would be staying in the hotel but we were shocked when we were moved to a three bedroom apartment in Kaswa village which was a remote place outside Ghana," Azangalala said.

Azangalala says that the organizer, Trendy did not have a team. He was the Manager, Founder, social media personnel and the Director; he had no one to help him.

 This was Azangalala’s first day in Ghana for the pageant. Her and Akinyi were given supper and later on introduced to Frank their trainer who was a Ghanian.

On March 15^th, the arrival date of all the other participants was the second day for Christabel and Akinyi. Caroline Nunu (Miss Ghana) was the first to arrive and gave Christabel and Akinyi a tour around the hotel.

 Later on in the afternoon, Gigi Munyor (Miss Zimbabwe) and Joyce Tunor (Miss Sierra Leone) arrived too.

Azangalala and the other pageants were shocked when the organizer said they were moving out of the hotel.

“ The organizer kept lying to us that we were still in Ghana but Caroline Nunu (Miss Ghana) had already informed us that they were no longer in Ghana. The three bedroom apartment was not even a rented premises but it belonged to a friend of the organizer,” said Azangalala

“We all thought we would be staying in the hotel but we were shocked when we were moved to a three bedroom apartment in Kaswa village which was a remote place outside Ghana,” Azangalala said.

 She added : “ The organizer kept lying to us that we were still in Ghana but Caroline Nunu (Miss Ghana) had already informed us that they were no longer in Ghana. The three bedroom apartment was not even a rented premises but it belonged to a friend of the organizer,”

On arrival at the apartment, they found three other men staying there.

 “We were even forced to use our own money to buy food. They even had us do the dishes and clean the house after supper each day," Azangalala said.

 Not only did they feel insecure but also the accommodation was not ideal. Each room had one mattress on the floor. The ladies were allowed to occupy two rooms. After settling in, they had supper and slept.

On March 16, the third day they woke up and did not even get breakfast and went out for training till noon. They had lunch and supper and retired to bed. This was the same routine on March 17.

 “We were even forced to use our own money to buy food. They even had us do the dishes and clean the house after supper each day,” Azangalala said. Blessing (Miss Nigeria) arrived the same day.

On March 18, the trainees did their morning workout and were later ferried to Hotel Trafix in Ghana which was paid for by the sponsors. They were offered free food and went back to the apartment when five other girls were brought in to represent other countries, which did not send participants.

The accommodation went from bad to worse. They were forced to share one mattress among four people. Some were even forced to sleep on the floor including Franck the trainee.

They were taken out told to take pictures with kids they did not know and taken back to the house.

Azangalala claims that the pictures they took are now being posted on their social media pages with captions that they are helping the kids through charitable programs. 

Come 19 March, all the participants were taken to a guesthouse in Accra. The pageant was supposed to take place this day but they postponed it to the next day. Azangalala says they were not given anything to eat until 3pm.

When they complained the organizer in his own words said “queens don’t complain and talk too much” Frank tried standing up to the organizer because he knew that they had paid participation fee and were supposed to be treated better but the organizer Trendy did not listen to his pleas.

“We did not receive our prizes till now, on asking, he promised to give the prizes within 5months without a contract and to worsen the situation, the previous winner has not been fully given her prize and it has been 2 years down the line,” said Azangalala.

On 20 March was the competition day. The event was hosted at Gold Coast Lounge Bar and Restaurant in Accra Ghana.

The competition day had its fair share of disappointments as the pageants did their own make up, while others used the trainer. To make it worse some of the ladies almost went without their make up on the stage.

Despite all these drama, a Zimbabwean took the crown; Kenya secured a spot as the first runners up while Sierra Leone took second runners up.

“We did not receive our prizes till now, on asking, he promised to give the prizes within 5months without a contract and to worsen the situation, the previous winner has not been fully given her prize and it has been 2 years down the line,” said Azangalala.

She added: “After the event we were left on our own without a place to sleep and in a foreign country, luckily the organizer was convinced to take us back so that we could leave the next day. I was lucky not to fall prey during the pageant, the organizer wanted to borrow from me around Sh21, 600 to clear some debts but I did not give him,”

To top it all up, the Ghanaians were not spared either as they were also scammed by the Nigerian fellow.

The Nigerian allegedly told the Ghanaians that he was single handedly taking care of everything and that the pageants didn’t pay even a cent.

The Ghanaians felt sorry for the guy and offered a helping hand to a brother by transporting the pageants, taking them to hotels and catering for food.

At times I think if it weren’t for these Ghanaians we would never have left the house in Kaswa and the event would never have happened at all. The media coverage was also done by the Ghanaians who to us were a gift from heaven. 

The Ghanaians finally found out that we had paid a lot of money to cater for everything during our interactions and they got so upset as they felt they had been taken for a ride.

The Ghanaians decided not to release any of the pictures they took until they had been paid in full.

I managed to secure a place to stay for the remainder of my time at one of my sponsor’s friend’s place.

Before I left, the Nigerian was almost beaten up by angry Taxi Ghanaians who he had also scammed until he coughed up money and paid them.

It is such a let down when people’s hard work is taken for granted by a few individuals who feel like they can get away with anything.

End