The organisers of the local franchise of Miss World have agreed to enter into arbitration with recently dethroned winner Kimberly Farrah Singh, who had filed an injunction against the franchise seeking justice over the decision to remove her.
Singh was crowned Miss T&T on July 25 and was expected to represent the country in the Miss World competition in China next month. However, in October she was dethroned and replaced by Daniella Walcott.
Singh claims that her dethronement was “unfair” and a breach of her contract with franchise holder Miss Oneness T&T and the national director Vanessa Sahatoo-Manoo.
While no official statement has come from Miss Oneness T&T on the dethronement, the former queen showed letters from the attorneys of the franchise citing failure to attend events, training and not sourcing funding as some of the reasons for her being stripped of the title.
While Singh claims to have evidence to prove otherwise, she remains adamant that the organisers were “out of order,” as her contract states: “It is mutually agreed that any dispute under this agreement shall be referred to arbitration in accordance with the arbitration laws of Trinidad and Tobago before any relief is sought from any courts of law in Trinidad and Tobago.”
She claimed that this made her dethronement, and subsequent replacement as the Miss World candidate by Walcott, questionable, as no attempts were made until now to satisfy this clause by Miss Oneness T&T.
In addition to this, five other women from previous pageants held by the Miss Oneness T&T organisation have reached out to Singh and have given statements to support her case should the matter reach to court.
The date for arbitration has been set for November 12.