Meet Monica Amekoafia, winner of the first ever Miss Ghana contest on 4th March, 1957.
Monica represented the Trans-Volta Togoland as contestant Number 9. This is why people from the Volta Region are called Number 9.
Born on June 30, 1934 at Alavanyo, a town in the Volta Region of Ghana, beautiful Monica later married a Ghanaian diplomat, Henry Kofi Marrah. Monica and her husband lived in various countries including the United Kingdom, Czechoslovakia and Hungary before finally returning to Ghana in February 1966.
Her parents were Augustus Amekoafia and Anastasia Apau.
Out of the five contestants from Western Province, Eastern Province, Ashanti and the Northern territories, 22-year old Monica Amekoafia was named Miss Ghana 1957.
In addition to numerous travels for her winning prize as Miss Ghana 1957, Monica had the privilege to visit London where she met the mayor.
In her honour, a statue was unveiled at Hohoe in the Volta Region during Ghana’s golden jubilee celebrations.
Monica died on 4th June 1990, 5 years after she lost her husband.
In 1957, by the first President of Ghana, Osagyefo Dr. Kwame Nkrumah started The Miss Ghana Beauty Pageant to offer “Independent” Ghanaian women a platform to impact society positively.
