Last Sunday's Miss African Heritage beauty pageant saw a former queen and one of the pageant coordinators squaring off on stage and supporters of the first-runner-up crying foul when the queen was announced.
Stabroek News
August 10, 2001
However, all the controversy did not spoil the night for beautiful 19-year-old Shaneze Galloway who was named Miss African Heritage 2001 in the wee hours of Monday morning at the National Cultural Centre.
But this announcement by the judges, Donald Sinclair, chief judge, Daphne Rogers, Jacquie Joseph, Donna Roberts and attorney-at-law Toussant Boyce, certainly did not go well with the supporters of Thandi McAllister who was named the first-runner-up. According to reports, the supporters of the young woman pelted the bouquet she was given back on the stage and were abusive to the judges after the contestant began to cry, registering her disappointment of not being named the queen.
Reports also indicated that after the young woman hugged the queen her supporters lifted her off the stage.
A release from the pageant coordinators, Lorri and Paula Alexander said: "As regards the gross indiscipline and wilful disregard for the safety and welfare of her fellow contestants and the general assembly, by that wayward, protesting contestant [McAllister], who outraged all and sundry by her objectional behaviour and whose attendant family and supporters nastily disgraced her and this otherwise fine classy occasion, and who with her abused and threatened the respected judges and showed disrespect for our hallowed cultural centre, a decision was immediately taken to disqualify her."
The release said that the contestant breached at least two of the pageant rules to which she signed and as such was disqualified from this year's pageant and other Miss African Heritage pageants. Stabroek News was unable to make contact with the young lady for a comment.
Because of the coordinators' decision Lourianne Pluck and Cleon McGarrell have been moved up to first runners-up. Sherilyn Solomon has been named the second runner-up and Alana Thorne is the third runner-up.
But the night was not only for the contestants as Miss African Heritage, 1999, Shauna Jemmott seized the opportunity during her final walk to publicly say that she was not given all her prizes and that she was not treated like a queen by the coordinators.
Commenting on this issue, which saw Paula Alexander refuting what Jemmott on the night of the pageant on stage, the coordinators in their release said that Jemmott was a "somewhat disturbingly-perplexed young lady" adding that the former queen was "set-up" to try and disgrace the pageant.
The release stated that Jemmott's main problem was that she had claimed to be a student of the University of Guyana but when asked to produce a contract to support her claim for the benefit of the US Embassy so as to gain a visa for her prize trip to New York she failed. This resulted in her not obtaining the visa. It was also claimed that the coordinators never had problems in the past obtaining visas for their queens.
However, when contacted and questioned as to why she chose the pageant night to make the announcement, Jemmott said she was "fed-up" with the dishonest behaviour of the coordinators. The young lady said that she was most hurt when she was told that she had to sash this year's queen on the afternoon of pageant through a friend who Mr Alexander had asked to convey the message. She recalled that Mr Alexander had seen her a few days before at the libation ceremony held at the Parliament Buildings and had asked her to model, but he did not ask her to attend the pageant and sash the queen. Jemmott said that she had not planned to make the disclosures, but after seeing the pretty contestants, she did not have the heart to allow one of them to have a similar experience as hers.
She maintained that she attended the University of Guyana and had taken time off to work. She said she was not told she had to walk with her contract to the US Embassy and had she been told this she would have complied. The former queen also said that she was forced to find US$45 to purchase her visa application, and she did this on her own, after Mrs Alexander purchased one for herself and one for that year's first runner-up, Shammane Joseph.
Jemmott said she was most embarrassed when she visited Roshan Khan's Driving School to make final arrangements for her driving course, a prize she was told she had won, and she was told that Khan never pledged anything to the coordinators.
Jemmott did not deny that she received some prizes, which included a gift hamper, a bedside table and some wicker products, but she said that she did not receive some of the prizes she read about in the newspaper.
The Alexanders' release said that Jemmott was forced to hire a taxi to take her gifts home, but Jemmott said she was travelling home with a taxi on the day and decided to stop for her prizes.
The coordinators said that as a result of Jemmott's behaviour they had removed her name from the record of queens who had won the pageant and from the special 'Queens' Shield' being now prepared to honour queens each year, and which from this year will be presented to and held for a year by each emerging queen.
Jemmott said that during her reign the coordinators did not escort her anywhere nor did she make any public appearances to help develop the African culture as was promised during the training for the pageant. She said that while she had become a stronger person because of the experience, she would not wish the same experience on any young woman.
This year's queen, who was sponsored by Gaskin and Jackson Jewellers and who is a student of the University of Guyana, won herself a trip to New York, compliments of North American Airlines. The first runners-up are eligible for trips to Dominica and St Kitts where they will represent the pageant and Guyana. A prize-giving ceremony will be held in September.