Teso’s Pauline Akurut wins Miss Tourism

(L-R) 2nd runner up Karen Nyangen, Miss Tourism Pauline Akurut and 1st runner up Sheila Kirabo

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 contestants in their cultural outfits

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.

Peace Atim’s creative wear raised eyebrows

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

The search is on for Miss Tourism 2015

Miss Tourism 2014/2015, Babirye Patricia at the launch

It’s getting to that time of the year when beauty pageants go into overdrive. Leading the way this year is Miss Tourism Uganda.
The pageant launched its 2015 edition last Friday night at Fairway hotel, with the torch passed over to the regional clusters to begin the search.
The contest supported by the unwavering hand of the Minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Maria Mutagamba, is to be even more fun-filled this time round with two new tourism clusters joining the contest – that is Karamoja and West Nile. Last year’s search only had nine clusters: Busoga, Buganda, Ankole, Teso, Tooro, northern Uganda, Kigezi, Bunyoro and eastern Uganda (Bugisu).
Speaking at the launch, Mutagamba assured clusters of increased financial support that should be able to ease their work.
“Last year, we gave the clusters Shs 1 million, but we shall this year give them Shs 4 to Shs 5 million,” she said.
The cocktail event was also graced by the reigning Miss Tourism, Patricia Ntale Babirye, and last year’s contestants, ministry of tourism officials, airlines sponsoring the pageant, Uganda Tourism Board (UTB) and representatives from some of the clusters.
Mutagamba said Miss Tourism Uganda has given the ministry of tourism the kind of image that she always desired.
“When I joined the ministry, I felt there was something missing, and that was a face of the ministry. I am glad that Miss Tourism has done just that,” she noted. “Women contribute greatly to tourism and the pageant is also empowering women by exposing them to the different tourism sites both locally and internationally.”

Maria Mutagambwa at the launch

The contest will run under last year’s theme: “Discovering the wonders of Uganda.” And like last year, it will be scouting for an attractive and intelligent girl who is enthusiastic about tourism and ready to be Uganda’s tourism ambassador.
Last year, Uganda notably featured at Miss Tourism World, Miss Tourism International, Miss Heritage World and Miss Heritage International. Babirye represented Uganda at the Miss Tourism International and came 5th, Roberta Jean-Marie, who was the 2014 Miss Tourism Uganda second runner-up, represented Uganda at Miss Tourism World and was among the top 20.
Some of the regional Miss Tourism winners Florence Namwase represented Uganda at Miss Heritage World and came 6th.
According to Joram Muzira, one of the pageant’s scouts and trainers, contestants should be between the age of 18 to 29, must have at least completed A-level or its equivalent, and be able to express themselves in English. They should also not be below 5’7 and must be Ugandan by nationality. Good moral conduct is vital.
The launch of this year’s pageant was kept lively with performances from artistes Jackson Selugye and Chris Evans who performed a couple of songs that also aim at promoting the country’s tourism.

Babirye wins Miss Tourism Uganda

Ntale after being crowned

With no hesitation, Patricia Babirye Ntale answered the questions fired at her by the judges.
They were random and unexpected questions such as “what is the name of the elephant at UWEC?” but she demonstrated that she had the answers at the tip of her fingertips.
By the time she was done explaining the challenges facing the Ugandan tourism sector, it was clear that she had done her homework.
It was no surprise when the 20-year-old from Rakai district in the central region was announced Miss Tourism Uganda 2014/2015 at the Kampala Serena hotel last Friday night.

The question-and-answer session had edged out her competitors.
The Kyambogo University’s student of Bachelor of Administrative and Secretarial Science conciseness pushed her strongest competitor, Busoga’s Roberta Jean-Marie Magooba, to the first runner-up.
It was a cutthroat competition from the start; however, it was stiffer between Babirye and Magooba, who both exhibited great knowledge of Uganda’s tourism sector.
Magooba’s undoing was when she was asked noticeably harder questions during the final session.
The 18-year-old presenter with Wavah FM was asked which marketing tools she would use to market Uganda, and to name Uganda’s ‘big five plus two’.
The second runner-up was Gulu’s Norah Atim. This year’s pageant began with regional competitions organised under the different tourism clusters in Buganda, Ankole, Busoga, Bunyoro, Teso, Tooro, Kigezi, Eastern Uganda (Bugishu) and Northern Uganda.
The top three girls from each of the nine regions participated in the national competition before they were screened down to the top nine.
Trained by top model trainer, Sarah Nyamwenge, the nine girls exhibited a high level of intelligence and eloquence, which made the judges’ job extremely difficult.
The night’s MCs: Capital radio’s Flavia Tusiime and comedian Patrick ‘Salvado’ Idringi did a good job keeping the overflowing audience’s spirits up, with jokes and performances from singer Jackie Chandiru and Crane Performers cultural troupe.
The chief guest, Vice- President Edward Kiwanuka Ssekandi, acknowledged that women are at the forefront of marketing Uganda locally and internationally. He encouraged the winner to represent Uganda effectively.
“You will show and carry the image of Uganda. I believe that you will shine brightly on the world stage and also represent Africa effectively,” Ssekandi said.
The minister of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, Maria Mutagamba, said her ministry, together with Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), revived the beauty contest last year in order to popularise tourism to the locals who think it is a white man’s business. The clearly-ecstatic Mutagamba said the first runner-up would travel to London to participate in a travel exhibition while the second runners-up would go to Berlin in February.
Babirye took home a car and will represent Uganda in Miss Tourism International. She takes over from Barbara Nakitto, who represented Uganda at Miss Tourism International, emerging number five out of 60 contestants and was also crowned Miss Friendship International.

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