Cindy Osei Kuffour, a native of Kwahu Obomeng in the Eastern Region of Ghana, is the new Miss Ghana in Italy.

The 16-year-old student, studying to become a Chattered Accountant and representing the Ghanaian community in Bergamo, won this year’s beauty pageant of Ghanaians in Italy (the 3rd edition of the contest) before a packed house of enthusiastic fans in the Italian city Brescia.

The massive turn out of this event was enough to send home a message how the contest has generated a great deal of interest within the Ghanaians communities, a good number of other nationals and companies in Italy.

The over 800-seater auditorium of the Chamber of Commerce, located in the city centre of Brescia where the event took place, was completely sold out and some fans who have travelled distances to see the show were unable to get in. They came from far, many outside Brescia - the Italian city with the highest number of Ghanaians - to witness this colorful display of the Ghanaian culture blended with its costume, music and dance.

The exquisite nature of the auditorium with its beautiful red carpet is better to be seen than to describe. I described the venue of last year’s contest in Vicenza as splendid but this structure with its internal designs at Brescia is an extraordinary piece of work (fantastic) – its shows the ingenuity of Italians in the art of architectural designing.

All 12 contestants in the contest thrilled the over excited audience with various acts: performing a sketch of a movie scene, singing, dancing and showing different designs and cuts of the Ghanaian traditional ‘kaba’ dress.

The teeming fans, not compared to the two previous contests, made cheers that almost put away music from the gigantic loud speakers and when Contestant No.1, Antonette Ama Aggrey (representing Verona) with a sleek body, wearing a black swim wear walked on stage for the first appearance she was shocked facing the packed house and retracted her steps but she managed to put her acts together and cat walked across the stage in responding to the rapturous ovation. She was followed by Adjoa Kraba Annan (representing Brescia), Lina Oparebeah Manu (Modena), Linda Pecku Boateng (Lecco), Stella Dankwa (Modena), Linda Opoku Frimpomaa (Mantova), Cindy Osei Kuffour (Bergamo), Rachel Osei Baah Kokroko (Vicenza), Silvia Asare Adade (Mantova), Comfort Eshun (Reggio Emilia), Gifty Ofosua Boakye (Pordenone) and Bernice Akua Pebea Sakyia (Modena) in that order.

The bright lights on stage in the spacious auditorium, with its TV screens, glittered them more beautifully as they were called upon to introduce themselves. Before they walked off in the first scene there were indications what’s in store for the night. Each stage performances of the contestants was separated with other performances from other artistes among them Sanahene, Cash Moe, T.U.C, Yaw Roger and Zaggidi – all Ghanaian artistes.

Under subsequent sessions, the contestants displayed their skill in singing - performing as professional artistes, others put up a sketch acting a scene from an African movie, some went on to display their skill in the Ghanaian traditional ‘adowa’ dance, another delved into the history of Ghana reminding the audience of its independence under the First President - Dr. Osagyefo Kwame Nkrumah - and the rich mineral resources of gold, diamond and bauxite of the country. In delight the audience responded with cheers these youths with their in-depth knowledge on the history and customs of their country and the ability to exhibit their talent in extraordinary fashion.

After displaying their wares with cultural activities, dancing, singing each contestant also faced a question of what she thinks of U.S President-elect, Barack Obama, making history as the first African-American to win an US election.

Whilst some of them said the victory of Obama will inspire Africans to educate themselves well, others were of the view his victory will open doors and for Africans not to consider themselves as inferior to white people and to work hard to achieve greater heights, some think Barack’s election will help in solving the problems on racism.

The five judges who decided the night’s winner took into consideration appearance of the contestants, their dress combination, greetings, dancing to Ghana’s highlife tunes, a talent performance, stage control, public appeal and how they answered questions.

Winner, Cindy Osei Kuffour, scored a total of 174 points. The second spot went to Linda Pecku Boateng with 170 points whilst Rachel Osei Baah Kokroko got 164 points to place third. All the contestants received consolation prizes but there were other special prizes which went to Antonette Ama Aggrey as Miss Popularity, Bernice Ama Sakyia as Miss Eloquent, Gifty Ofosua Boakye as Miss Photogenic and Linda Pecku Boateng as Miss Elegant.

Elated Cindy Osei Kuffuor said later after the show: “After weeks of pondering, I have participated and emerged the winner. The preparation stages wasn’t easy, even deciding to participate was with its own hustle. Some people who had a stake in my life were difficult to convince but after a while all worked in my favour. My advice to my fellow Ghanaian girls out there is, taking part in a beauty pageant is not all about being beautiful but being intelligent as well and they should concentrate on their education very well. Let us educate ourselves to educate the whole nation.”

She pointed out that in her reign as the Miss Ghana in Italy 2008 she will seek assistance from the Ghana Embassy in Rome to go to the Mayors of cities in Italy to promote the image of Ghanaians in Italy. “I will also help in establishing that my fellow Ghanaian youths don’t go astray because we are Ghana’s future, we are going to be leaders in Ghana some time to come, so let us educate ourselves and use our God-given talent very well,” she mentioned, adding: “I want to thank God for making this program a successful one and thanks to my beautiful and lovely mum, Beatrice Bossman, for her support. I thank all those who stood by my side and encouraged me when I nearly gave up participating”.

The night’s program was organised by the Council of Ghana Nationals Association in Italy (COGNAI) and sponsored by Ben Boamp Music Promotion, Ghanacoop, Rete Brescia TV, Shepherd Radio, Gye Nyame Radio and O.B.E TV.

Special invited guests were Jonathan Bartels-Kodwo(Minister-Consular of the Ghana Embassy in Rome) and Virgilio Baresi (President of Rete Brescia TV). Also present were Mavis Owusu (last year’s 1st runner-up) and Jennifer Asare Yeboah (last year’s 2nd runner-up)

A good night of entertainment and the people who added more shine on it were the fans.