By Brenda Twinomugisha
A World Cup-like craze continues gripping through our country as Ugandans on social media continue voting (on www.missworldvote.com) to ensure our own 22 year old Quiin Abenakyo gets the crown at the ongoing 68th Miss World contest in China. In Lusoga, her name means let her have it. In an unprecedented showing, Abenakyo was at the time of writing this story rated number 6 for the Miss Universe crown and number 2 for the Miss World crown just behind the French beauty Queen. This unprecedented showing has created a euphoria which hasn’t spared our own President Yoweri Museveni who has had to interrupt his other engagements to create more time to adequately follow events in the Chinese beach city of Sanya where the Miss World finale will be decided on Saturday 8th December 2018. Reliable sources have disclosed that Uganda’s participation in Miss World is something State House (like all citizens) had always overlooked as it looked a hugely remote possibility for Uganda to make any significant progress there. “We have had to brief him [President Museveni] on this major milestone and I can confirm to you he is right now very much interested and keenly following,” says tourism minister Godfrey Kiwanda in an interview with this news website. “It hasn’t been hard to interest him about such matters because he [Museveni] is lately a keen follower of what goes on in the social media space and his keenness has clearly re-energized everybody involved.” We have separately established that Museveni’s newly found keenness in the event has prompted Miss Uganda CEO Brenda Nanyonjo (who has always single handedly funded Ugandan girls’ participation at Miss Universe) to reach out to State House asking for financial assistance to boost the Ugandan girl’s chances at Sanya ahead of the Saturday grand finale. “She [Nanyonjo] has challenged us with her resilience and we are going to increase our support to the campaign which this girl [Abenakyo] has challenged all of us with. I have just interacted with [officials at] UTB to see how rapidly we can come in and strengthen the Ugandan campaign at the event,” says Kiwanda confirming that indeed Brenda Nanyonjo (the unsung hero whose resilience has seen Uganda come this far) is financially struggling to fly the Ugandan flag high in China. “It’s not a simple thing and we need to relieve them as government because I’m sure they have already incurred debts.” Kiwanda, whose energy and enthusiasm is reputed for the major transformation that has so far been registered in the tourism sector, says: “This is clearly unprecedented and as a country I don’t know what we can do to thank that girl [Quiin Abenakyo] enough.” Kiwanda is the man the President has designated to be the contact person keeping in touch with Brenda Nanyonjo on behalf of government as Uganda draws near to making history.
BENEFITS FOR UGANDA;
Kiwanda says as a ministry, working with UTB, they have made a lot of progress marketing Uganda as a good tourism destination and Abenakyo’s stellar performance at Miss World competitions “is an opportunity to strengthen those efforts.” The youthful minister says: “Tourism is about publicity and this Miss World event gives a lot of publicity for Uganda globally. It’s unique in that it’s largely free publicity resulting from our girl’s participation and ability to come this far. We are more than certain that this publicity she has given us will result into more bookings and visitations which is good for our foreign exchange earnings as a country.” Sounding very excited, Kiwanda adds that: “We are a powerful country but the truth is we aren’t that much known out there. Not more than 5% of the world population knows about Uganda. When you go to countries like China and India with very big population, very few people know about Uganda. The little they know is about this being home to Dictator Idi Amin. The publicity we occasionally get is bad publicity [things like police brutality] but this one is positive publicity to levels that are unprecedented.” He regrets the fact that despite the enormous PR potential it has, the government of Uganda has always overlooked and not adequately supported Ugandan girls’ participation in the Miss World event. Kiwanda says: “We have definitely learnt from our past omission and mistakes. And as soon as this [China event] ends, we are going to sit down with UTB to see how best we can harness this opportunity by supporting this girl more. After Saturday, we must make preparations to have a sustained way to benefit from the global interest and awareness she has sparked in our country. Preparation will mean more investment and training for the industry so that the resultant increase in visitations leads us to the next step. You don’t want visitors to come consequently and leave disappointed. Everything thing and the entire experience should measure up to the high standards Abenakyo has created about Uganda. Her eloquence and confidence in telling the Ugandan story to such a large world audience was unmatched.” Kiwanda says by the time she returns to Uganda, everything about her will have significantly changed: “Including better social media management to ensure sustained visibility and by the way it’s just one year in that office [Miss World] so we must maximize the benefits coming with that office for the next 365 days.” He says whereas Brenda Nanyonjo has largely been toiling alone to make use of the reigning beauty queen, the government will now consider financially taking over everything regarding the expenses associated with the Miss Uganda office. Kiwanda says “as a ministry we have been so much in miss tourism but we must now work more closely with Miss Uganda too.” At the time of posting this story, President Museveni was yet to post anything on his social media platforms but his handlers expected something soonest aimed at galvanizing the Ugandan social media community to actively participate in the online voting for the Ugandan girl. Sources said the President was open and willing to reimburse Brenda Nanyonjo with whatever she has invested in Quiin Abenakyo leading to this excellent achievement in China. Kiwanda says the big man is enthused seeing the World Cup-like excitement Ugandans have exhibited towards this year’s Miss World. “The Uganda public awareness and keenness in tourism has been rising and this is an opportunity to deepen that further,” Kiwanda says.
MIGEREKO’S TAKE;
Daudi Migereko, who chairs Uganda Tourism Board (UTB), is equally excited and says “Abenakyo has done us great because even mere participation in Miss World at preliminary stages is good enough but the progress she has made has surely exceeded everybody’s expectation.” The former tourism minister says the momentum the beauty queen has created is something UTB and other relevant authorities can’t afford to let go. “Yes she is there as Abenakyo but whatever she does or achieve is about Uganda and it’s our flag that is being raised high. Just imagine the whole world audience and the resultant awareness about Uganda. The visibility she has given us is going to deepen the world’s understanding and appreciation of our country. It means every Ugandan product we ever wished to sell is now easier to sell out there because of the increased positive awareness about our country,” says Migereko. “She has also communicated a lot out there about our education system because it’s not a mean achievement for a young girl at her age [just 22] to tell her country’s story so eloquently, calmly and confidently and with so much clarity in such a short time. She managed to eloquently and confidently tell the Ugandan story about early pregnancies and judges were unanimous she deserved higher ranking. That way she demonstrated a combination of beauty and intellect because it’s not about just physical appearance. One must have brains to appreciate things around you, the country and the world and she stood out because all that came out very well in her submission.” Indeed by the time Abenakyo finished her presentation, the audience gave a standing ovation and the judges all of them ex-Miss World crown holders (for the head to head challenge) inside Moulin Rouge Theatre were unanimous she had dwarfed the Argentine girl-and qualified passing onto the next stage ahead of the Saturday finale. She emotionally connected so well with everyone in the audience that Miss World presenter Frankie Cena spontaneously described her as “bright, beautiful and very empowering young woman.”
WHAT ABENAKYO TOLD THE WORLD;
She had just 90 seconds to overcome Argentina’s Victoria Soto to be ranked among the 10 finalists and she didn’t disappoint. This is what the Mubs Business Computing student submitted in the 90 seconds allocated to her: “Good evening ladies and gentlemen. My Beauty with a Purpose project is ‘Fighting Teenage Pregnancies’. One out of four girls, aged 13 to 17, is either pregnant or a mother. This is very disheartening, and as I look at all the ladies here, I must say we are really blessed that we don’t have to go through all this. But we can’t say the same for our sisters out there. There is a certain story of a Daisy. Daisy was molested by her father at 12 years old. The father passed away and she had to go live with her grandfather, and the grandfather did the same thing. Now this girl gave birth – imagine giving birth to your grandfather’s child! And this is happening a lot in Uganda. I come from the eastern part of Uganda and it has the highest rate of teenage pregnancies. What am I doing about it? Together with the Miss Uganda Foundation, we have a ‘Keep a Girl Child in School’ programme and this is to enable and encourage these girls to go back to school. Give them the necessary resources and skills that will enable them go back to school. I believe when you educate a girl child, you are educating the entire community. So, the biggest platform one can ever have is Miss World. I have talked to a few of the other contestants and we all have this problem in our countries. How about we all come together, come up with common goals and objectives to fight this, so that we can stand up for our sisters that cannot do this for themselves. Thank you so much.” Migereko says the eloquence and great public speaking credentials she exhibited must have left lasting impressions about the supremacy of Uganda’s education system and specifically the academic institutions she attended. “It was simply powerful and as people in the tourism industry we are very grateful that the Ugandan story came out very credibly giving us huge mileage. Now the name and image of our country is up there. And this is something we must take advantage of to grow our tourism,” says Migereko renowned for his strong private sector presence in the Jinja hospitality industry where he owns one of the best hotels. “Many people across the globe are now voting Uganda and not just Abenakyo which is proof she has captured for us a large viewership. She has now become a real good will ambassador for Uganda and something is clearly changing about our tourism. Abenakyo (whose Kisoga name means let her have it) hails from Magamaga trading center in Mayuge district-not very far from the army barracks. Her grandfather worked with Uganda Tea Growers Corporation and at some point grew to the rank of General Manager (in the 1990s). Her father Sembera was a teacher and a marketer. She was crowned Miss Uganda (2018-2019) during a low key ceremony at Sheraton Hotel last August. Kiwanda says Abenakyo’s performance at Sanya shows its high time government begins working with Brenda Nanyonjo more formally to adequately exploit potential associated with the Miss Uganda beauty pageant. Voting continues on www.missworldvote.com. For comments, call, text or whatsapp us on 0703164755.
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