It had rained heavily during the early hours of Saturday, July 27th in most parts of Accra Ghana, but that reason alone did not serve as a deterrent to the over 200 beautiful intelligent ladies from making their way to the plush Tomreik Hotel at East Legon for a shot at participating in the most prestigious beauty pageant in Ghana, Miss Malaika Ghana, in its 17th season!

Prior to this very first encounter, pageant organizers Charterhouse launched the social media campaign, “Tag A Queen” which saw many Ghanaians post photos of ladies they deemed fit to wear the crown and tagging the various Charterhouse handles with the hashtag, #Malaika2019.

That process saw some 24 gorgeous ladies automatically progressing to the second stage of auditions which will look a little past the beauty of face and figure and test for intellect and more.

To the over 200 who did not take part in the ‘Tag a Queen’ campaign, they had the tedious task of convincing the judges why they deserved to make it to the next round of the competition. The ladies were expected to exhibit intelligence, boldness, confidence and most importantly the ability to think on their feet and provide answers to questions ranging from current affairs, personal lives, societal issues amongst others.

Sitting in on the search panel with the task of selecting the most beautiful among the lot on Saturday were Showbiz personality, PR Practitioner and Entrepreneur, Naa Ashorkor Mensah-Doku, past queen, Naa Oyeo Quartey with Actor James Gardiner and her first time as a judge after winning Miss Malaika 2016, Miss Leah Brown.

Between the four judges, their job was to sieve through the well over 200 beautiful intelligent ladies and select the well-deserving ones for boot camp.

After careful deliberations, they came to a unanimous decision to put 26 beautiful ladies, who according to them impressed them the most, through to finishing school. The revelation came from the host, who is also a past contestant of the beauty pageant, Miss Berla Mundi.

The 26 ladies will proceed to boot camp where they will go through intensive personal grooming at the Holy Trinity Spa and Health Farm, Sogaofe.

At the end of the training, based on their individual performance, the overall score will be taken and the outcome of your scores will determine your inclusion in the final 16 who will then battle it out for a slot in the final 10.

Miss Malaika Ghana is produced by Charterhouse Productions.