What are Lilian’s chances at Miss World?

Tanzania’s representative at the Miss World contest Lilian Kamazima left the country last weekend for a month-long boot camp leading to the finals in Sanya, China.

She joined 120 other beauty queens from all over the world in order to compete for the coveted crown in the December finals.

With over one billion viewers across the planet, it promises to be an interesting scenario when the beauties take to the ramp in December.

Lilian was crowned Miss Tanzania after Sitti Mtemvu abdicated her throne in the wake of a noisy age-fixing controversy.

It was the first time this happened in Tanzania’s history at the pageant.

Lilian seeks to emulate Nancy Sumari’s 2005 success, a feat that has eluded the past 10 contestants before her.

When Lilian ascended the throne late in 2014, it was in a manner - as mentioned above - that had never happened before.

Whereas her election came as a relief for those who wanted Sitti out, there were others that questioned whether Lilian was the right candidate to represent the country.

Unlike the other queens, her coronation was not at a glamour filled gala with fireworks; instead, it was at a press conference with no prize money and no fans shouting out her name.

Indeed, at the time, Miss Tanzania was in a very troubled situation. Even the stellar performance by Happiness Waitimanywa at the Miss World couldn’t help their cause.

Echoes of 1967 rumbled in the background; a court case pitting the franchise holders, a public that was still yawning for the truth over Sitti’s real age were among issues that Lundenga and Co had to deal with.

There was never a result of the pageantry that had been contested to this level - to the extent that there were feelings of a vendetta.

To date, even with the release of ‘Chozi La Sitti’, her real age remains a mystery that will probably take another contest and a book to unravel.

Little known to the public then, there was more dirt stifling the pageantry two decades after it returned as one of the most glamorous events on the entertainment calendar.

But the worst was yet to come as they were branded morally bankrupt after having issued a cheque that bounced. And indeed as expected the National Arts Council (Basata) finally swung into action with a two-year ban; it wasn’t an ideal Boxing Day present by any means, but it was just the least they could do.

At that point it wasn’t raining any more but pouring!

The new beauty queen was in dilemma, the usually loud sponsors were understandably very quiet; it was only natural that they didn’t want to be part of the noise.

Even though the ban was withdrawn later by the National Arts Council, it was enough to severely damage the pageantry’s image. Addtionally, the time the committee spent in that indeterminate state affected the preparations for this year’s Miss World.

Unlike the previous beauty queens who traversed the country doing charity work Lilian Kamazima cannot claim to have been involved in these projects which are a requirement at the finals.

Of the 20 past beauty queens her preparations can only be compared to that of Lisa Jensen who was largely neglected and whose only purpose was to keep the pageantry alive in 2012.

The uncertainty in the Miss Tanzania camp plus a number of other factors typically plaguing Tanzania has left many wondering whether Lilian has the guts to triumph where many have failed.

And as we head to December the usual suspects are expected to make the Top 10 finish.

In the 17-year history of the pageantry, 2005 remains an isolated case in the Miss World pageant.

On that night in the glare of a global audience, Nancy Sumari dazzled as she walked away with the Miss Africa World crown in the Chinese city of Sanya.

As many insiders admit, they had anticipated her win which reverberated across the country and continent as she achieved what many can only dream about.

This is the furthest Tanzanian contestants have got to, whereas there were many cases of dismal shows that left fans wondering why they ever made the journey.

Some observers close to the ‘processing plant’ admit that the country is still a long way from achieving success in that area. They point fingers at the mode of preparations leading towards the World stage.

Apart from the controversies surrounding this year’s contest, the 11th hour preparations leaves contestants with very limited time to master the competition’s rudiments.

Most countries that have excelled in this competition always select their beauty queen a year in advance.

For example as cameras follow the events in China, most more successful have already got next year’s Miss World contestant.

The current mode of selection which involves a countrywide search through the preliminaries, too, has come under scrutiny as it does not give organisers enough room to interfere with the regional selections.

“The kind of the beauties that we get from these contests do not meet the criteria and yet we still have to select our winners from what we are given,” says a source privy to Miss Tanzania committee.

According to him the current scouting procedure which goes through the preliminaries needs to be disbanded.

“As we have learnt some countries like India, the scouting procedure starts with young girls who are exposed to the field of beauty at around the age of 12,” he says.

This according to him allows the selected group of young girls the apporpriate time to be tutored on skills such as etiquette - something most local contestants here lack. But even as odds rear their ugly heads, there is more that Tanzania can get from the Miss World contest than just the crown.

The source maintains that Miss Tanzania and Miss World marketing tools that are yet to be exploited, especially in the tourism sector.

“ It is common knowledge that Tanzania is the home of the most beautiful tourist attractions yet the we struggle with low numbers,” he says.He adds: “What our tourist board can do is to sponsor the contestants to come here and get tutored instead of funding campaigns that don’t bear fruit.”