Yunus S Saliu
The Honourable Minister of Tourism and Culture, on Wednesday, 11th January 2023 presided over the prize presentation to the newly crowned Miss Gambia 2022 and the two Runners-up at a ceremony held at the Ministry of Tourism and Culture in Quadrangle, Banjul.
Miss Gambia 2022 Pageant held on the 30th of December 2022 brought together 14 contestants – that made it to the final – two contestants from each of the seven regions of the Gambia, while three later emerged 1st, 2nd and 3rd positions respectively after a 10 hours showdown event held at the Coco Ocean and Resort, Bijilo.
After a well-contested event, Glorious Haddijatou Njie emerged as Miss Gambia 2022, while Haddy Saho comes out as the 1st Runner Up and Mariama Jallow was announced as the 2nd Runner Up of Miss Gambia 2022 respectively.
At the presentation ceremony, the winners – Glorious Haddijatou Njie, Miss Gambia 2022 received a cheque prize of D250,000.00, Haddy Saho and Mariama Jallow 1st and 2nd Runners Up received a cheque of D150,000.00 and D100,000.00 respectively.
Addressing the winners and the organizers of the Miss Gambia 2022 pageant, Honourable Hamat NK Bah, Minister of Tourism and Culture (MoTC) expressed satisfaction and joy over the successful host of the event.
He noted that development is not about building schools, roads, hospitals, and infrastructures alone “but it is also measured with the level of happiness of the people and welfare. When you have a nation where the people are happy it is part of development because if your people are not happy other development is nothing.”
The Minister went further to describe his impression and joy with the great attendance of people dressed colorfully to the event to enjoy themselves with happy expressions on their faces, and “the fact that we successfully organize it alone and having in attendance dignitaries, different people happy has shown that we made a positive impact in The Gambia society.”
He noted that The Gambia lacks going out and mingling with each other compared to other big countries and not going out “is not culture in us because going out is a level of happiness.”
Minister Bah encouraged everyone to uplift Gambian culture, and artists and support them “because most of these foreign musicians and singers started their careers from The Gambia when they were still nothing and today we are honouring them so much that we are dishonouring our (own) people.”
He noted that in the olden days “we have our Ifanbondi Band, Kelewar Band, Magadan Band and lots of bands were here and you will see how in those days people were so happy with them as men and women used to be happy when the weekend is coming because there are always programs.”
Coming back to the pageant event, he described it as another measure and step towards bringing Gambians closer and creating unity among, so on this “we need to commend all of you for a fantastic job. And to the organizers, I appreciated your zeal, and ultimate desire at the time to make this Miss Gambia 2022 a success.”
In an extension, he applauded President Adama Barrow for his blessing while he commended the Gambia First Lady Fatoumatta Bah Barrow who was the special guest of honour to the event for being there from the start to the close of the event.
In an extension, he thanked the Ministers for their participation especially Ministers of Basic and Secondary Education and Gender and Children Welfare, Mayors of Banjul and KMC, Her Lordship Rohey Malick Lowe and His Lordship Mayor Bensouda with other institutions, individuals that attend, and those that gave presents and donations.
Chairperson and members of the organisers, Ida S Conteh, Jainaba Njie of Fashion Designers Association, Ida Biddwell, and Miss Gambia 2022 and the two Runners Up all made befitting statements and thanked the MoTC and extolled the First Lady, Honourable Minister of Tourism and Culture for his support to make the hosting a reality.