With so many unexpected turns of events, the Miss Tourism finale held at the Kampala Serena hotel had guests scratching their heads wondering which girl would take the crown.
The girls were beautiful, confident and had clearly done their research on the tourism sector. The slow pace at which everything moved only worked to increase the audience’s anticipation.
The first competitive phase was the creative wear – where Busoga’s Enid Mirembe and Karamoja’s Celestine Dan Acheng impressed with their outfits. The latter’s was designed by a blind woman in Karamoja while Mirembe’s was a beautiful gown inspired by Uganda’s big five animals.
Northern region’s Peace Atim had many heads turning in her controversial outfit; she simply sprinkled sim sim on her bare breasts. The crowd could not believe her bravery.
The competition was especially stiff between Ankole’s Jaylor Birungi and Buganda’s Mable Namala, who already had followings since they have competed in other beauty pageants.
They were the crowd’s favourites as they could not stop shouting their names whenever each of them walked on stage. In a surprise twist, however, Birungi was kicked out because she was shorter than the other contestants. This left Namala, Akurut, Karamoja’s Karen Nyangan, Ankole’s Sheila Kirabo and Toro’s Kethen Kajumba.
At 2am, during the final Q&A round, however, it was clear that Teso’s Pauline Akurut had taken the lead. While the other contestants mixed up and stuttered out their answers, her confidence and articulacy was impressive as she talked about herself and why she deserved the crown.
“Uganda is gifted with so much but poachers are destroying our gifts. If I am chosen to be Miss Tourism 2015, I will spearhead a campaign against poaching,” Akurut said.
It was no surprise when South African Airways also chose the tall, beautiful and graceful YMCA student to be its face. The 19-year-old, who was the youngest contestant, is also Miss Tourism Teso and is the first non-Muganda to win the contest since its inception. Karen Nyangen came as first runner-up while Sheila Kirabo was the second runner-up.
This year’s pageant also had a special needs category dubbed Miss Tourism Independent. This had two contestants: Busoga’s Aisha Bahati and Buganda’s Joan Namubiru, who are disabled, facing off on the stage. Bahati, who is blind, stole the audience’s hearts when she sung Rema Namukula’s Kukaliba. This was after she had plaited the night’s MC Flavia Tumusiime’s hair.
The minister of tourism, wildlife and antiquities Maria Mutagambwa said that she had included the category so as to involve people living with disabilities in tourism.
“Uganda has so many people with disabilities and they are all left out of tourism activities. This is the first step in involving them in tourism activities,” she said.
Other winners
Face of radiant – Mable Namala
Face of EgyptAir – Jaylor Birungi
Miss conservation – Melody Nekesa Modesty
Miss personality – Jaylor Birungi
Miss talent – Camilla Namatovu
Face of Shumuk – Jaylor Birungi
Miss congeniality – Mable Namala
CONFESSIONS256 