Miss Ghana 2005 vies for world title

After her court battles, Miss Ghana 2005 Lamisi Mbillah is in Poland to participate in the Miss World pageant. But for her squabbles with the organizers of the Miss Ghana contest, Lamisi should have participated in last year’s global pageant. She went to court a few weeks ago (days before the 2006 Miss Ghana show) to demand her tickets to the Miss World pageant. The court promptly ruled in her favour and the tickets were handed over to her.

She joins ladies from over 120 countries to vie for the Miss World title. She and the other contestants have already participated in the beachwear contest to decide who gets fast-tracked to the Miss World finals on September 30th. There are three other fast track events: talent, sports and beauty with a purpose. Winning a fast track event means automatic qualification to the continental finals, without going through the preliminary question-and-answer sessions and the global vote.

This year’s Miss World will be the most interactive ever. A combination of star judges and a world wide vote will decide who is crowned the 56th Miss World beauty queen.

Before leaving for Poland, Lamisi joined the national campaign to promote the use of iodated salt. Lamisi, who has just completed her bachelor’s degree in Zoology, plans to begin a postgraduate degree in Public Health next year. One of the most interesting jobs she has done so far was working as a conservationist collecting turtle eggs from the beach for the hatchery and looking after them. The 23-year-old is also carrying out a number of social programmes as an ambassador for guinea worm eradication. Her proudest moment was when two of her poems were published in the anthology, ‘Calypso Young Writers’ in the UK. If you want to vote for Lamisi, her number is MW 606.