Club Pleasure 2002 Launched

Club Pleasure 2002, the 2002 beauty pageant and hip-life competition, was launched yesterday at the Labadi Beach Hotel in Accra.

The was jointly launched by Miss Ghana 2001 Miss Selassi Kwawu, Mr. Raymond Stark, Managing Director ABL and Mr. Steve Dutton, Marketing Manager Akosombo Textiles Limited (ATL).

Mr. R. D. Laryea, Chairman, Media Whizz Kids, organizers of Club Pleasure, expressed his enthusiasm about the coverage of Club Pleasure, which involves all the ten regions of Ghana, making it accessible to every Ghanaian.

He said this year the contestants in various competitive segments have the opportunity to win prizes valued at over ?300,000,000.

Mr. Laryea called on the contestants to put up the best performance at the international level to elevate the image of Ghana.

"I will urge potential beauty contestants to be motivated by the breakthrough for the Africa continent by Miss Nigeria now Miss World 2001 followed by Halle Berry and Denzel Washington who won the best female actress and the best male actor award at this year's Oscars."

He said this time, "special prizes will also go to contestants who exhibit distinction in the various segments of the Miss Ghana 2002 competition," and assured that as time goes by the base of the Club Pleasure would be further diversified. Already there is the non-competitive fashion segment and the Hiplife Talent competition aimed at unearthing musical talent among the youth.

He announced that Mr. Terry Adjetey, who represented the Central Region and won the 2001 national Hiplife competition, will launch his debut album this year.

For the non-competitive fashion segment, Mr. Laryea said representatives of the ten regions will be required to use ATL fabric to feature indigenous designers from their respective regions.

He said he was happy that the show has not only been the number one entertainment event in the country, "but also as a custodian of social responsibility, has created jobs in the music and fashion industry not to talk of charitable works by all Miss Ghana winners for the deprived and physically challenged in society."

Mr. Raymond Stark ABL Managing Director and Mr. Steve Dutton, Marketing Manager of ATL promised the support of their companies to the event successful.

Miss Ghana 2001 said, "Miss Ghana Beauty Pageant is not about glitz and glamour. I assure you there is a lot of hard work in fulfilling what you promised to work for."

She said her main project is on HIV/AIDS prevention under the theme "Abstinence, a better choice for an HIV/AIDS free life."

In the course of her campaign, she will visit six regions, Eastern, Volta, Western, Central, Northern and Ashanti, focusing on second cycle institutions.

Miss Kwawu hoped "by the end of my reign, I will have fulfilled the theme of the pageant 'Beauty with a Purpose' and will leave an impact, which will motivate my successors."

On the first leg of her project earlier, Miss Ghana was at Okuapeman Secondary School in the Eastern Region where she was welcomed by the Headmaster, Mr. Asante, officials and students with a a bouquet and a guard of honour by the school cadets.

The Chairperson for the programme was Dr. Mrs. Eugenia Quist the District Chief Executive for Akwapeman North.

Present were seven other schools from the district, making up a total audience of 2000 students and officials.

Miss Selasi Kwawu's message was very simple, she exhorted students to abstain from pre-marital sex as a preventive measure to HIV/AIDS, since statistics show that over 80% of infections are through sex.

Among her campaign team was Mr. Kofi Bekoe, a young gentleman living with HIV. He gave his testimony to the students and appealed to them to abstain from sex so they get the opportunity to enjoy the fruits of their labour.

Miss Ghana 2001 is being supported by UNICEF, Mechanical Lloyd, Allied Oil, Ministry of Health, Ministry of Education and other institutions.

By the end of her tour in the second cycle schools, she hopes to have influenced the students to adopt positive behavioral changes to prevent them from contracting the deadly HIV/AIDS disease.