The Winner of Miss University of Ghana, Legon 2025, Mariam Jasmine Saaka, is calling out the pageant organisers, alleging that the car given to her as her prize was not the new vehicle that was advertised but a faulty and dangerous one.
According to her, this falls below the promised package, which included a brand-new car, a cash prize, and a fully paid trip to Dubai.
She said the organisers have refused to honour these commitments and have instead blocked her after she questioned the condition of the vehicle.
Speaking in on HitzFM on November 26 and monitored by NewsDesksGH, she said she has received only a broken car since winning the crown.
“I was also really excited to have won this but as at now the pageant organizers have refused to give me the award.”
“The only award they have given me is a broken car. When I spoke about it they have blocked me, they have deleted the TikToks of the pageant.”
“We were promised a brand new car. The car they gave me was a broken car that was practically un-drivable,” she stressed.
She explained that the vehicle had serious faults from the start, adding that the engine was faulty, the battery terminals were broken, the alignment was off, and the car could stop mid-motion while driving.
She added that the handbrake did not work, the lights did not work, the windows were permanently shut, and the doors did not lock, among many other issues.
She said she noticed some problems the night of the pageant but had to drive it to a hotel where she was taking a course and left it there.
“So I begun using it on the 6th of September, that is almost weeks after it was given to me. At the time it was given to me, I immediately informed the pageant organizers.”
She added that the organisers told her it was unfair for her to say the car was faulty and scheduled a formal meeting with her, which she agreed to attend.
“But before that formal meeting could happen, the Womens Commissioner Antoinette Opoku called me under false pretenses to Kwapong Hall.”
She said the Women’s Commissioner told her it would be a short two-minute conversation about the issue.
“That day when the car stopped, I got scared and I cried. I called Annette and told her that the car has an issue.”
She said she later went to park it at the SRC Union Building.
“This was the day after I told them that the car has a issue and almost cost me my life, she told me that I should just pass by two minutes.”
“When I got there she told me the president is also here. So they led me to a room, the Kwapong sick bay, at the time it was under construction.”
She alleged that the Students’ Representative Council (SRC) President, known as Guru, entered the room with Antoinette and his assistant who then took Miriam’s phone.
“When they took my phone, they started the meeting. He first spoke about how the car is a bonus gift.”
“He asked me ‘why have I gone to park the car at the SRC Union building? Even if it’s a broken car if somebody has given you a gift, I’ve never heard of anybody returning it’ and I mentioned ‘it is not a gift because I entered a competition and I worked for it, people voted money’.”
“The cash prize they also advertised they told me they will not give it to me because they’ve given me a car. It was advertised but fine I left it, but even the car you claim you’ve given me, it is broken and you know that.”
She added that the SRC President later implied he could no longer be held accountable.
“He said ‘the SRC building is empty. Annette’s office is empty, my office is empty. I have passed out. So if you want to complain what are you going to do?’ From my understanding he’s trying to say I can’t hold him accountable because they’re no longer there.”
She said that after what she described as an ambush meeting, everything related to the pageant and to her was deleted from the official social media pages, and she was blocked by the organisers.
She added that Guru’s assistant, Isaac, who the SRC President directed her to speak to, also stopped responding to her messages.
She also said that when she asked other contestants to help prompt the organisers, the Women’s Commissioner allegedly instructed the other winners to lie that her phone was spoilt.
She said she kept her silence out of respect, but was forced to speak out after Guru went on a livestream to make false claims about the situation.
She is insisting that organizers do the right thing and pay attention to her issues.
