By Mabinty M. Kamara
The week end’s Miss Sierra Leone 2016 beauty contest has rekindled a debate on the country’s education system.
The finals of the annual beauty pageant, which was held on Saturday, saw a young Aminata Bangura from Port Loko crowned Miss Sierra Leone 2016. She defeated 13 others who represented 11 other districts across the country, plus the Western Rural and Western Urban in Freetown.
But the aftermath of the highly publicized pageantry has been dominated by negative inferences on the less than expected performances of the contestants. This has left very little to be desired about the 14 ladies who participated. But it is the winner that has attracted much of the negative comments. From her physical look to her self-expression, everything appears to have failed to impress almost everyone who watched the event held at the Bintumani Hotel Conference Hall in Freetown.
Much of the anger is expressed on social media - Facebook and Whatsapp.
“When people advise girls and women to go to school and learn they will view you as an enemy,” one facebook user, Sarah Bomkapre, commented in Krio on the group Sierra Leone News. She said the contest was a pointer to the fact that education in the country was still a challenge.
Many commentators like her blamed the government for the situation for its alleged failure to pay premium to education.
English is the official language in Sierra Leone; it has been a core subject across all educational levels in the country - from preschool to tertiary level. But it is no secret that the Queen’s language has been a challenge for even university graduates.
But the organizers of the Miss Sierra Leone contest also have had a fair share of the blame for the week end’s experience. And many questions are being asked about their role in this.
Dr Julius Spencer, Managing Director of Premier Media, who is responsible for media and communication for the organizing committee, sounded dismissive.
Spencer said Ms Bangura has what it takes to represent Sierra Leone internationally despite the hue and cry.
“She can represent the country in beauty contests in other countries when the time comes. By then, she would have gone through rigorous training and would be ready for any of such competition,” he said.
Spencer said the board of the pageantry was due to come up with statement in response to the public outcry. He said he was speaking from a personal point of view, and he insisted that the performances of the girl were not strange.
“I have been into drama and film acting for quite some time now. It can be difficult for some people to express themselves well before camera and on stage even when they are intelligent. But that does not mean that they can’t deliver,” he said.
Spencer told Politico that the contest was organized in order to change the negative perception people had about pageantry. He lamented the fact that people were not willing to participate in the competition.
Spencer also pointed out the fact that they didn’t have enough time with the contestants as the 10 days they had in camp was not enough. The organizing board was also constrained by the effect of the Ebola epidemic, which meant that getting sponsors for the event was difficult, he said, insisting that he was not defending the performance of the contestants.
Spencer cautioned social media users to desist from the criticism, noting that it could discourage the winner and potential aspirants for future contests from coming forward. He said people should rather support the organizers in searching for the right caliber of people to contest.
“Most of them who are criticizing cannot stand in front of a crowd of that nature and do what those girls did. They should avoid destroying them and help create awareness about the competition in the next edition,” he said.
(C) Politico 24/05/16
