Miss Ghana-Canada Pageant controversy

...The Chief Judge Speaks Out!! The Chief Judge at the controversy ridden Miss Ghana-Canada Pageant, Mr. Jayson Schwarz, a Toronto Legal Practitioner has pointed out that as far as he is concerned, Anita Aboagye won the crown on the night of the Pageant.. Appearing as Special Guest on a Talk Show “Nsem Pii” hosted by Mr. Kwadwo Okyere Bonnah before a live studio audience, on Saturday, January 26, 2002, at Eddystone Ave. Downsview, Toronto. Mr. Schwartz insisted that Miss Anita Aboagye was the clear winner because she had the most votes. As the Chief Judge he did not vote, but his job was to collate the results and tallies from each of the judges, tabulate them and give the final result to the announcer. But according to Mr. Schwarz, something happened after he handed the result to George Fynn’s assistant. For reasons which he doesn’t know, the results were switched and a wrong name was given to George on the stage. He said when they announced the 1st runner up Freda Adjei as the winner, he was shocked and within 5 seconds he had to make a decision to correct the mistake. He jumped to the stage and insisted that the crown be removed from Freda Adjei to Anita Aboagye because Anita was the winner. “That was the hardest decision I have ever made in my life. My job was to do the right thing, not only for the girls but also for the community at large”, Jason emphasized. Mr. Schwartz said he accepted the invitation to come to the show to tell his side of the story because of the love he has for our community. He said that when the crown went to the wrong girl his heart was broken and if he had not stopped it right away he would have betrayed the purpose for which he was there as the Chief Judge. After he corrected what would have been an injustice, one of the organizers came to him to say that they could not crown Anita for immoral reasons. He refused, telling them that he did not care about that because legally Anita is the winner. He was brought there to judge what went on at the contest but what ever they want to do after that was their own business which had nothing to do with the judges. In an answer to a question as to what he will do if the case goes to court, Jayson said he cannot give any opinion, but said that he will not represent either George or Anita. They need to engage their own lawyers but he will be a witness. The bottom line, he said, is that Anita won the show. George Fynn, he said, is a nice guy so he wishes that they should both sit down and sort things out. He will be prepared to mediate, if they ask him to. He feels that the Miss Ghana-Canada pageant is not about Anita nor about George but about the community. He believes that George Fynn is “stuck between a rock and hard place”, but the fact that he is stuck between a rock and hard place should not be held against him. He however said he has offered George Fynn a series of recommendations for any future pageant. These include setting up a protocol contract for all the girls and that the envelope from the chief judge to the announcer should not be opened. Two weeks earlier, George Fynn, the Pageant Director, had appeared on the same show to tell his side of the story. He maintained that the pageant reserved the right according to its own laws, to strip Anita off the title, so in his view nothing illegal has been done. But in answer to the question as to when he knew about Anita’s past , he said it was “one of my African organizers, Albert, who said three of the girls engaged in stripping and he saw one himself”. According to George Fynn, he had a difficult time believing it and he took it as a serious allegation. He said he questioned one of the girls at that time. The girl got mad so he took it as rumors and a dangerous hear say. He said since he did not have the facts he decided to let go so that it did not spoil the Pageant.
He decided to deal with it later.