Ghana’s reigning Investigative Journalist of the Year, Edward Adeti, has taken a scathing swipe at the overwhelming public support and financial backing poured into TV3’s Ghana’s Most Beautiful (GMB) pageant.
According to Adeti, it is a disturbing reflection of a society that glorifies vanity while ignoring real human suffering and potential.
The outspoken journalist, who is also the 2023 Ghana Journalist of the Year, penned an emotional reflection after learning that the Upper East Region’s contestant in this year’s GMB grand finale Asakia Hawawu Hanaan, held over the weekend, received hundreds of thousands of Ghana cedis in donations from individuals, public figures, and institutions.
“It has been a sad day since morning. I find it so saddening. Very sad,” Adeti wrote on his Facebook wall on Monday. “In my next world, I would like to be a medical doctor, live a quiet life and just observe things from a corner like a recluse.”
‘Hundreds of Thousands for a Crown, Nothing for the Crushed’
In his article titled “Upper East and Ghana Most Beautiful”, Adeti questioned why such unprecedented mobilization of funds and enthusiasm is never extended to the region’s deprived, disabled, and gifted youth, whose stories often fade after brief moments of public sympathy.
“I wonder why the same huge amount of public support, drive and donations is never seen when we see stories about the struggles of the deprived people around us,” he lamented.
He recounted a series of heartbreaking cases from the Upper East Region – stories he has personally covered as a journalist, that have received little to no public intervention.
Among them is 16-year-old Maximilian Asakiwine Anyoka of Sirigu, who lost the ability to walk after a road accident and now lives with a damaged spinal cord. The boy cannot control his bladder or bowels, wears diapers constantly, and missed the BECE 2025 because of his condition.
“His story drew sympathy from only a few,” Adeti noted. “Nobody has supported the family in any way. Nobody knows who the boy can be tomorrow.”
He also cited Mercy Saah, a mentally ill young woman impregnated by another mentally ill man in Nabdam District. Her baby was saved only through the heroic efforts of midwife Lydia Ayine and Philip Asoba, who bore the costs themselves.
Despite their appeals for help, Adeti says “the response has been close to nothing.”
‘A Region That Praises Crowns and Forgets Its Geniuses’
The journalist further recalled the plight of Emmanuel Akolgo Awuni, a man confined to a wheelchair for nearly 20 years after an accident sustained while helping the needy, and Emmanuel Alenwiira, a brilliant young inventor from Vea in the Bongo District who builds working aircrafts, buses, and electrical appliances from scratch.
“Throughout my 23 years of media practice, I have not met a person more gifted than that young man,” Adeti declared. “Nobody, I mean nobody, is greater than that boy in this region.”
Adeti lamented that while hundreds of thousands of cedis are raised for beauty contests, “not even one big man or woman” in the region has reached out to support Alenwiira, whose innovation he likened to “divine inspiration.”
“What is not known,” he stressed, “is why a region will pay excessive attention to a crown and neglect a future global icon from Vea.”
‘This Region Is Not Poor – It’s Deprived by Silence’
The award-winning journalist described the phenomenon as a moral failure.
“This region is not poor; it is only deprived, deprived by the silence of its own people where it matters and by the failure of some duty bearers,” he said. “This is not a matter of misplaced priorities. This is a matter of non-existent priorities because the priorities do not even exist.”
He illustrated his point with a haunting cartoon he drew years ago, depicting donors spraying cash on beauty queens while a dying child sits ignored in a corner with a vulture waiting nearby.
“That child represents the deprived people and disadvantaged talents we ignore around us,” he explained. “The vulture stands for the social vices and destruction that await the vulnerable people we think do not merit our pity.”
‘We Major in Minor Things’
Adeti also bemoaned the long-abandoned Upper East Regional Theatre and Bolgatanga Arts and Crafts Village, saying their neglect symbolizes the region’s misplaced values.
“Must massive support be shown only when there is a competition?” he asked. “How do we major in minor and yet expect a region to grow into the panoramic oasis we want?”
‘God Is Watching Us from a Distance’
Known for his fearless commentary and integrity in journalism, Adeti said he is unbothered by those who hate him for “telling the immortal and liberating truth.”
“We can decide to continue neglecting the people who need the same energetic support we are consciously investing elsewhere,” he concluded. “Those who have been supporting the needy from your hearts, God bless you. I salute you with great admiration. As the famous song goes, God is watching us from a distance.”
Background: Ghana’s Most Beautiful 2025
TV3’s Ghana’s Most Beautiful is one of Ghana’s most-watched cultural pageants, celebrating the country’s regional diversity and promoting tourism and tradition. This year’s finale, held over the weekend, sparked intense debate over perceived voting bias and questions about the show’s transparency, a controversy now deepened by Adeti’s emotional critique.
Source: www.KumasiMail.Com/JosephZiem
