Miss Malawi organisers, Alpha Arts, have acknowledged that they are yet to honour prizes for the queen, Jescar Mponda, first princess Hlezipe Chikhwaza and second princess Roberta Kanjelo.
The development comes as the organisers have announced that the opening of registration for Miss Malawi 2023 will start soon.
The cash prize was K1 million for the queen with her first princess and second princess receiving K800,000 and K500,000, respectively.
One of the players from Alpha Arts, Tina Kendricks, who is also former Malawi News Model of the Year queen, indicated that companies that pledged prize money did not honour it.
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“We are struggling as a company with the economic challenges on the ground but we are trying to make sure that we give the queen and her princesses their prizes. We actually engaged all of them to be paying them gradually after we noticed that companies are failing to honour their pledges,” she said.
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Kendricks said they did not misappropriate any funds for the prizes, adding that since the grand finale, they have been using their own resources to support the queen and prizes.
“We will honour their prizes and let me also say it here that we have struggled to get support. We want to do better and all we ask is for players to give us support,” he said.
While conceding that there are a few things that she is yet to get, which is as a result of the original sponsors not honouring their pledges, Mponda said she was optimistic that organisers will honour the prizes.
“Miss Malawi is a leadership and mentorship platform for young women allowing them to effect change in society by meaningful engagement. The crown is beyond the prize. Suffice to say I have gotten most of the prizes promised to me as a winner,” she said.
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Mponda said her trip to Dubai courtesy of Blueberry Travels was honoured and that she got a laptop and part of her cash prize of K1 million.
Chikhwaza, however, indicated that she has not received anything.
Kanjelo also said she was yet to get her prize money but could not be drawn to disclose any information referring us to the organisers.
Meanwhile, Kendricks has said they want to do more for the pageant this year and that their plan is to hold the grand finale in December.
“We will communicate our plan soon but we are also looking at regional auditions. We also want to work hand in hand with the government through Ministry of Tourism, Ministry of Local Government, Unity and Culture and other players,” she said.
