Esi Was Robbed

I am not a keen follower of TV and radio entertainment programmes such as Mentor, The Search, etc. I am not necessarily against them, but my interest is not so much in them.

Somehow, my wife succeeded in drawing me closer to the just ended “Ghana's Most Beautiful” on TV3 especially during the last two contests.

I followed the artistic prowess of each contestant and the biased voting pattern. Somehow, I am convinced by the final results of the contest that the presence of the judges whose constructive assessment of contestants should have been the basis of the final results was irrelevant.

I fail to understand why the judges were asked to be there in the first place. The organisers knew that the result would be determined by “ghosts” who were remote-controlling the outcome.

My wife and I, together with our ten and seven-year old children had no doubt that the day was for Esi. So, as they say in football circles, the result was against the run of play. I am happy that at least some fair-minded people have also expressed similar sentiments.

I will pardon those who will disagree with me only if the programme was entirely based on physical beauty rather than a combination of beauty, artistic excellence and intelligence. In that case, the interview section was also irrelevant.

No doubt, all the contestants performed to the best of their ability. But for a multi-lingual who thrilled the audience and the viewing public with her expert switches from English to Ewe and Twi during performances, challenges that none of the remaining three could meet, if Esi was not robbed then I don't know what else could be described as robbery.

Did I hear the recitation of the National Pledge was a “compulsory” question? Did Esi not score 100% with distinction in that regard? As a witness, I can say on authority that the winner of the contest, Ama, herself became completely disorganised when she failed the compulsory test. She knew clearly that she had missed the chance to win.

Well, I don't know why I am even whining. After all, that is how we do things most of the time in our part of the world including elections to political office — not based on merit but other things.

However, for Heaven's sake, spare our children this kind of illogicalities. It will help their thinking ability. Shaaaame!

Wilson D. Archest

P.O. Box 9046

KIA-Accra