The Miss Malaika Ghana 2024 pageant came to a spectacular end on Saturday, November 16 at the Palms Convention Centre in Accra.

After weeks of competition, 25-year-old Lucille Naakwaley King was crowned the winner in a dazzling finale that showcased beauty, talent, and female empowerment.

The glittering finale kicked off with co-host Bliss King introducing the top 10 contestants who came out in a spectacular display of cars by The Dream Collection, who ushered the ladies to the event in luxury cars, received on the red carpet amidst funfair and ultimately a grand entry unto the stage.

The ladies had a chance to showcase their poise and personality in a one-on-one conversation with the host, Regina Van-Helvert.

Based on votes accumulated leading up to the event, the field was then narrowed to the top 5 finalists: Marie. Delphine, Lucille, Cherise and Whitney.

In one of the most impactful segments of the night, the top 5 finalists delivered individual speeches on who their role model is, by highlighting their key achievements and how their journey inspires them on their path to becoming the women they aspire to be.

This portion gave insight into the contestants’ values, passions, and visions for creating positive change.

Lucille King chose Dr. Arikana Chihombori-Quao as her role model – an activist, diplomat, entrepreneur and founder of medical clinics.

In her impassioned speech, Lucille praised Dr. Chihombori-Quao’s many accomplishments, saying: “I want to say a big thank you, Dr Chihombori-Quoa. Thank you for proving that a woman can be many things at once. And for not only empowering me by what you say, but by what you do and who you are as a strong, female Pan-African advocate.”

This choice of role model highlighted Lucille’s own ambitions to be a multi-faceted leader and champion for women’s empowerment across Africa.

The Judging Panel
Selecting a winner from such an accomplished group of finalists was no easy task. The Miss Malaika Ghana 2024 judging panel consisted of respected figures from entertainment, business, and pageantry: Ama O. Sarpong – Miss Malaika 2010 winner, now an oil and gas professional, Trudy Arnold – Miss Malaika 2009 runner-up, now CEO of Studio 7, Chris Attoh – Actor, television presenter, producer and film director and Kojo Soboh – CEO and founder of EMY Africa and Carbon AV.

This diverse panel brought expertise from various fields to evaluate the contestants on beauty, intelligence, talent, and potential for impact.

Crowning the Queen

The final segment of the night was what many termed ‘the make or break’ point for the top 5 delegates. Where they were put on the spot and asked questions by the judges pertaining to their individual speeches.

A few minutes after the final delegate said ‘thank you for the question’ and proceeded with her response, the judges made the final and ultimate decision which answered the lingering question of ‘Who wins what’?

20-year-old Cherise Nana Ama was announced second runner up and 24-year-old Fiakegbe Marie Juniore was called as the first runner up.

Then came the big moment – Lucille Naakwaley King was crowned Miss Malaika Ghana 2024! As the audience erupted in cheers, Lucille gracefully accepted the crown and began her reign as the newest ambassador for the Miss Malaika Ghana brand.

The evening also featured a talent competition among three finalists selected during pre-judging: Lucille, Nakiya, and Marie.

This segment allowed the ladies to showcase skills beyond beauty and public speaking. Lucille wowed the crowd with an energetic salsa dance routine.

Her precise footwork, fluid hand movements, and magnetic stage presence earned her the title of Miss Talent, as determined by the judges. This additional award highlighted Lucille’s well-rounded abilities and star power.

Between competition segments, the audience was treated to spectacular musical performances from some of Ghana’s top artists: Camidoh, Olivetheboy, LalixLola and an incredible dance performance by Dancegodloyd and his crew.

These entertaining acts kept the energy high throughout the night and showcased Ghana’s vibrant music scene alongside its beautiful and talented women.

In a post-win interview, Lucille reflected on what being crowned Miss Malaika Ghana 2024 means to her.

‘’Winning the crown means more to me than many may think. It means that I can more rigorously fulfil my purpose in life- helping people. I have always wanted to make changes, and improve people’s lives, but until now, it has felt like an improbability task. I am so grateful for the platform to help others, and I am looking forward to doing so via my first project which is aimed at children with Autism and Down syndrome,” she said.

according to her, “These children are isolated, misunderstood, neglected, and sometimes even ridiculed. I want to help change this. I want people to realize how worthy of love, or at the very least, respect and dignity children with these conditions are. I want to share their stories, to humanize them and show the country that they are different, yes, but still worthy and valuable.
’’
Miss Malaika Ghana is one of the country’s most prestigious beauty pageants, organized annually by Charterhouse Productions. More than just a beauty contest, Miss Malaika Ghana aims to discover, nurture and promote talented young Ghanaian women.

The competition emphasizes: Intelligence and eloquence, leadership potential, commitment to community service, celebration of African beauty and culture amongst others.

Participants of Miss Malaika Ghana often go on to successful careers in business, media, and public service.

The pageant provides a launching pad for young women to make their mark on Ghana and beyond.

The 2024 edition of Miss Malaika Ghana was proudly brought to you by Club Shandy, JAC by Tryton Motors, Brussels Airlines, Big Blue Resort, The Pinnacle Apartments, Your Cruise People, airing on Joy Prime TV, GHOne TV, DGN TV, MX24 TV, LifeStyle TV, and powered by Charterhouse

The Queenmother of Agave Tradi­tional Area, Mamaga Anyagadze, has advised Ghanaians not to regard chiefs and queenmothers as evil or idol worshipers.

“They are not evil or idol worship­ers. We should rather take the nec­essary steps to learn more about the custodian role that traditional rulers play in protecting the rich culture and tradition of the people.”

Mamaga Anyagadze gave the advice at the installation and outdooring of Togbe Nornorkuadzi-Tsigbe II and Mama Kumorxe II as chief and queen­mother of the Fievie Clan, a division of the Agave Traditional Area.

The stool has been vacant for the past 100 years.

According to Mamaga Anyagadze, there was nothing evil about chiefs and queenmothers, irrespective of the various traditional practices.

“The Holy Bible identified kings and their roles in the affairs of men, therefore, it is important for Ghana­ians, particularly the youth, to know much about chiefs and the cultural practices of their respective tradition­al areas.”

Mamaga Anyagadze observed that it was unfortunate families and friends related well with people but the mo­ment they became chiefs, they distant themselves from them with the mind that the chiefs and queens indulge in evil.

The queenmother of the Agave Traditional Area explained that the fundamental roles of traditional rul­ers, including leading and providing leadership that would promote peace and unity, were vital to development, and had nothing to do with idol wor­ship and evil spirits.

According to her, the greatest thing citizens could offer traditional rulers was to support them by offering con­structive criticism instead of outright condemnation as evil men and wom­en.

This, she said, was a misconception without any basis at all.

A Senior Divisional Chief of the Adaklu Traditional Area and the Chief of Adaklu-Anfoe, Togbe Agbobada, who was the guest speaker, said due to the vital roles chiefs played, it was mostly difficult to get one, a situation that affected the Fievie Clan of Agave traditional area for over 100 years, stressing the need for the people to safeguard jealously against any act that would distract the new tradition­al rulers.

Togbe Agbobada noted that chiefs were the symbol of hope, peace and unity of every society, and, therefore urged the people of the Fievie Clan to work hard and support the new traditional rulers for the rapid devel­opment of the area.

The newly installed chief, Togbe Nornorkuadzi Tsigbe II, lauded the kingmakers for the confidence reposed in him and the queenmother, Mama Kumorxe, and promised to serve the people to the best of their abilities.

Moreover, Togbe Nornorkuadzi urged the people to uphold the rich cultural practices of Agave, to pave the way for meaningful development, saying without upholding the cultural and traditional values of the area, there could be no meaningful development.

Present at the ceremony were Secretary to the Paramount Chief of Agave Traditional Area, Togbega Xedihor Hlitabo, Mr Charles Amenyo, Deputy Secretary, Mr Holy Kofi Ahia­bu, the Custodian of the Chieftain of the Agave Paramount Chief, Mr Alfred Woyome, the Head of Fievie Clan of Agave, and Togbe Kpegla Aheto.

From Samuel Agbewode, Dabala