Winner of the 2004 edition Miss Universe Ghana pageant, Menaye Donkor says contestants of beauty pageants are not responsible for raising funds.

The comment by owner of the Miss Universe franchise in Ghana comes on the heels of the resignation of 2017 winner of Miss Ghana pageant; Margaret Dery, citing harassment as one of the reasons.

Apart from Margaret, a number of individuals including past queens of the pageant, have also raised red flags over the rampant allegations of exploitation by the organisers.

Major amongst them are allegations of sexual abuse and organisers forcing the queens to raise funds for projects.

Speaking in an interview with JoyNews’ Mamavi Owusu Aboagye, Menaye stated that organisers are responsible for raising funds, not the queens.

“There’s a process you go through to participate in a competition. You register online, when you get a call back great, then we [Miss Universe] shortlist these contestants to the girls we are able to work with so it’s a process. In terms of raising sponsorships on their own, we don’t allow that,” she said.

The wife of footballer, Sulley Muntari explained that, raising funds is “not their job or responsibility. It’s the organisers' [responsibility] that is what we do, it’s our work. As a young lady, what you need to do is to be mentally and physically ready.

"I always relate it to football; my husband needs to be focused before a game. You can’t have him change diapers or bathe a child while he has a game in a few hours. So they don’t have to do much in the sense of helping the organizers come up with sponsorship.”

She noted that organisers of the Miss Ghana pageant should be given the opportunity to also react to the allegations levelled against them.

“I try to not listen or get too involved with other pageants because there are always two sides to a story. I don’t judge an individual because someone said something about them because, before the news gets to you or me, it would have been dissected and all sort of stuff happen to it.

"So I need to hear that person’s side of the story as well and, it is only fair for Ghanaians to give the directors an opportunity to speak,” she said.