REDD’S miss tanzania-the show goes on

The Redd’s Miss Tanzania 2014 final show will go on as scheduled, this was after an earlier court injunction was quashed on Tuesday afternoon.

The announcement made in Dar es Salaam on Wednesday comes as a relief to stakeholders whose hopes of seeing this year’s final had been shrouded in mystery.

 And now, it is business as usual as fans lineup to purchase the tickets to one of the hottest events on the entertainment calendar.

The final hours of the boot camp were filled with anxiety as the future of the pageant lay in a delicate balance.

As the beauties were being put through their paces for the final gig which is scheduled to take place tomorrow, something unexpected happened.

They were struck with weirdest of news; at a certain courtroom not far from their base, a legal battle was raging. It was a brawl that was threatening to derail a whole year’s journey towards what many consider a path to glory for the 30 girls.

Whispers were heard in the corridors as the 30 beauties armed with their makeup kits struggled to find out what had really happened and what their fate would be.

And even as they remained aglow putting up the required smile, the three days were really very anxious moments.

An earlier civil case filed against Hasheem Lundenga and Co awaits a hearing which is yet to be dated.

In the lawsuit the plaintiff Prashant Patel a former associate of Lundenga, is demanding some amounts of money according to an agreement that the two sides reached in February 2012.

Patel and Lundenga were the founders of the latter day Miss Tanzania which was re-introduced in 1994 after it was banned in 1968.

Speaking at a news conference in Dar es Salaam, Lundenga said he was looking forward to a great show which according to him is going to be very unique in many ways.

“This year’s event will be quite unique and the judges are going to have a difficult time given the fact that the contestants are all of the required standards. I mean it is just too close to call,” said Lundenga.

The contest which is expected to be televised live on Star TV will be decided by a panel of seven judges.

“You cannot predict who will be the winner, we are leaving the task to our judges who have interviewed them on different aspects,” said Hashim Lundenga. He adds that the quality of the contestants is due to the hard work that the scouts who conducted the grass root contests did.

“The guys at the grassroots paid a lot of attention to detail which we had instructed them to look for and that is why any of these girls can become a winner come Saturday night,” he said.

The sponsors , too , were upbeat about the final show reiterating Lundenga’s statement that it was going to be one of a kind.

According Victoria Kimaro the brand manager of Redd’s, this time around they have lined up lucrative prizes and the winner will take home a cash prize  of Sh18 million.

“This year’s winner will not be rewarded a car, we have decided to give a cash prize so that they decide what to do with it,” said Victoria Kimaro.

 She added that the first runner-up will take home Sh6million while the second and third runners-up would be given Sh4.2m and Sh3.2million respectively. The fourth runner-up will pocket Sh2.2m for her efforts.

The sixth to 15th placed contestants will each earn Sh1.2 each and the rest will take home a consolation prize of Sh700, 000 each.

Ommy Dimpoz and Vanessa Mdee will on this day serenade the over 1,500 revellers who are expected to attend the event.

Apart from the duo, the contestants too will entertain the audience with variety of shows.

This year features 30 contestants they are;  Lilian Kamazima (Arusha), Martha John (Iringa), Nasreen Abdul (Ilala), Salama Saleh (Temeke), Patricia Pontian(Temeke), Sophia Masei (Higher Learning), and Elizabeth Tarimo (Lindi).

Also on the list are Dorice Mollel (Singida), Naomi Kisaka(Ilala), Sitti Mtemvu (Temeke), Rachel Clavery (Geita), Maria Shilla (Kinondoni), Evelyn Baasa (Arusha), Mariam Hussein (Open University) and Lucy James from Morogoro Region.

Others are Sabina Thomas(Ilala), Happiness Samuel (Kilimanjaro), Nidah Katunzi (Mtwara), Maurine Godfrey(Njombe), Nicole Sarakikya (Shinyanga), Mary Emmanuel (Shinyanga), Doreen Beno(Kinondoni), Doreen Robert (Mwanza), Camilla John (Kinondoni), Lilian Timothy (Higher Learning), Happiness Sosthenes (Ilala), Queen Latifa Hashim (Kinondoni), Junes Ndalima (Higher Learning), Jihan Dimachk (Ilala), and Naba Magambo of Ruvuama Region. Even with an illustrious list like this one it remains an interesting prospect whether another region can produce a winner to wrest away the crown from Dar’s stronghold .

The last time winners came from outside Dar es Salaam was in 2008 when Nasreen Karim and Miriam Gerald in 2010 won the crown.

This was followed by a dominance from Dar es Salaam which has seen Genevieve Mpangala, Salha Israel and Happiness Waitimanywa  all from Dar es Salaam win the crown.

Additional notes by Paul Owere