They have mastered the trick of acting intelligent (they were told face value is
not enough). Not bothering to be different, they all mention Obama and Hillary Clinton as their role models, having figured Maggie Kigozi might not sound that sophisticated.
On Saturday last week I watched as the final contestants of this year's Miss Uganda were unveiled; 19 girls, (less by two) to make the usually expected 21 contestants. All kinds of girls: the villager they just picked out of her S.6 class room (she has mock exams on Monday, like its their problem) the little confused girl who has been told by her friends that she looks every bit of "it" (what?), the tall little bodied cute face we all expect of a beauty queen, the other one that just had nothing to do after high school in this long vacation and decided to take chances (you just never know), then my glamour girl who wants to be famous and dreams of red carpet receptions, V.I.P treatment, a tiara on her head, and yes, this is the only reason she is up for this contest. Most of the other kinds are the ones who have watched too many movies and just want to catch that part in Uganda's history as Miss Uganda 2008/09.
 Dr Ida Nakuya, 2002/3 |
They have mastered the trick of acting intelligent (they were told face value is not enough). Not bothering to be different, they all mention Obama and Hillary Clinton as their role models, having figured Maggie Kigozi might not sound that sophisticated. When you read their profiles you do not need to be told that they are young and probably lack the insight to analyse what awaits them in case they win. Thanks to each one of them, yet again we are about to have this year's beauty pageant. Of course at the end of the day, we expect to have another Ugandan crowned Miss Uganda even when she turns out to be far away from the quality we all expect.
Miss UG down memory lane
Jessica Kyeyune, Miss Uganda 1990/1991, Olga Nampima Miss Uganda 1992/1993, Linda Bazalaki 1993/1994, Sheba Kerere Miss Uganda 1995/ 1996, Lillian Acom 1997; and we all thought that was the end of it. Lillian Achom remained with the crown for three years. When we had all almost un-concernedly ignored it and come to terms with the fact that Uganda was not going to have another beauty queen, we were rescued by Sylvia Owori, who bought the franchise and took over the organisation of the event in 2001. With her came Victoria Nabunya, Miss Uganda 2001/02; Rehma Nakuya, Miss Uganda 2002/03; Aisha Salma Nassanga, Miss Uganda 2003/04; Barbara Kimbugwe, Miss Uganda 2004, and all of a sudden we all thought being Miss Uganda was hot, and wished we could reach her, greet her, or get her autograph. We associated her with the sophistication and glamour the crown came with. We got involved with the individual, her looks became implanted in our heads, and just one look and one could be able to tell that Miss Uganda had just passed by. Before we knew it Sylvia was down and out of it (she refused to comment when I called her).
 Monica Kansiime Kasyate, Miss Uganda 2007/8 |
We hate to admit it, but this was a huge setback in as far as this event is concerned. I hate to shatter a young girl's dream but things are just not the same. I know this because I met that girl (what's her name again?), the one who was crowned Miss Uganda the other day, in a taxi. She looks miserable, she walks on the streets and not a single person notices she just walked by. Her brother has fought endless battles with the organisers on her behalf. I know it because I have heard their stories, they are not good tales. We all believed in the event, we associated with it because it was sophisticated; we wanted to be a part of it because it was what was cool. Now, all of a sudden it's who cares who Miss Uganda is?
It is still the Miss Uganda event. There're still committed sponsors on board, there're beautiful girls, so what exactly went wrong?
Praise Akankwatsa's story
They "crowned" her Miss Uganda without a crown that they promised to deliver and never did up to the end of her reign. She emerged from the back of the crowd (she wasn't offered a seat at the function where she was meant to hand over her "crown" or rather grief, disappointment and frustration, to another young Ugandan girl.
 Praise Asiimwe, Miss Uganda 2006/7 |
Off a table, she picked and held in her hands the crown that was supposed to have been her own and put it on Monica Kansiime Kasyate's head. That's how Praise's story ended though it all started as unbelievably as a fairy tale. "I couldn't believe I had won, at that point I remember thinking my dreams had come true, I planned to do a lot of work in form of charity, as had always been my dream", she said. Then reality started to set in. "I wrote proposal after proposal, 'they' sat on all of them. I didn't receive a single coin in form of allowances from 'them'."
Solaya Zalwango, the new director of the pageant, who could not be reached for comment, had promised her $3000, and a scholarship for a diploma in Public Relations in the UK in exchange for a car. After introducing her to a new, more expensive lifestyle than what she could afford, they were not willing to sustain it. They exposed her to the world, a pressure she admits she later failed to handle.
"My life became hell; I cried so many times, I became frustrated and almost disillusioned by all the negative media and attention." Finally, she made a decision to go back to school, start over again and lay off the whole idea, which was not easy since the media fought her. "Each time I go onto a boda-boda, it was an issue; I couldn't move freely any more and I was scared."
She hardened, wisened up and buried this whole promised-but-never-delivered-dream.
Before she knew it, they were back, begging her to appear as the model for the posters advertising the next pageant. Solaya pleaded and promised that since Uganda Telecom was now on board, they would have some money to pay her for the photo shoot and cover for the allowances they had promised to give her. She agreed and after the shooting, that's the last she heard from them; she never got paid and none of the promised prizes were ever delivered. "They exploited, exposed, frustrated and spoilt my life," she said.
"They promise you the world and they don't deliver even a pinch of it," she concluded.
 Victoria Nnabunya, Miss Uganda 2001/2 |
Monica Kansiime Kasyate's story
Ever since Monica Kansiime Kasyate was crowned Miss Uganda, her family, especially her brother - journalist Simon Kasyate, has been in endless fights with the Miss Uganda organisers. It all started with the car, which the organisers promised that the winner would walk away with. It was a month, two, and then three, and the car was nowhere to be seen. After a few fights here and there, they were finally pressurised to deliver the car - an old little pimped Rav 4 suspected to be one of those the organisers drove around to organise the pageant.
"Since that car was delivered, I have serviced it, fuelled it and repaired every damage; even on the first day they delivered it empty of fuel," an emotional Monica said. "Each time I went to them, Solaya told me there was no money," she continued.
She says that the Miss World experience was her worst. They just called and told her to pack clothes and prepare to leave for China in a few days. They did not give her clothes to wear at the pageant. Stella Atal and Catherine Woodin donated a few clothes to her, Abantu did her hair and Brenda Nanyonjo lent her some jewellery.All this she went around soliciting for. When the day came, they called her and told her to pick her ticket and go to the airport. "I was shocked when they said bye to me without giving me a single dollar; how did they expect me to survive?"
Her brother gave her some money and she left after they promised that they would wire her some money, which they never did. "I had to beg around for some money from the friends I had made there," she said. She returned frustrated and this is when she started to realise that this dream was full of empty promises.
Not one proposal she wrote ever made it for the proposed projects.
Up to today she has not been given a single coin for allowances, and she has not received the $3,000 dollars they promised. "Each time I ask them about the money they tell me that they have to sit down as a committee and decide whether I deserve the money," she said. Her tales are endless. "I only pity the next person; I really hope she is strong enough to endure all that I have been put through," she concluded.
She had heard Praise's story but admits that it's hard to believe a story unless you have experienced it, especially when there is a "golden" opportunity right in front of you.
We all know how this story ends…
A few years ago, when a former minister referred to the pageant as an exploitation of the girl child, she was making a point. Now I see her opinion in a new light. What is Miss Uganda about? Is it about one group of people using young innocent girls for their own financial benefit? Is it a well shaped hollow dream? Or is it the girls that are just not working hard enough? Do the rules, ideas and the hype change depending on who the steward is?
Former Miss Uganda Aisha Salma Nasanga's story is different. Everything she was promised was delivered, she got a car, a comfortable trip to Miss World, where dressing and most of the other things were catered for. She received a monthly allowance as Miss Uganda.
"That is how a beauty queen is supposed to be treated, so that other people can have reason to respect you," she said. She condemned the idea of a courtesy car, saying that it is a rip off. It's introducing someone into a life style that you later take away and force her to sustain, which could be terrible for her life.
Jessica Kyeyune, Miss Uganda 1990, who was part of the organising committee for last year's Miss Uganda, stepped down this year and refuses to comment about this, saying it was for completely personal reasons. However, she says that human beings are extremely hard to work with and to her, the concept of Miss Uganda should lead individuals to work for what they want, not sit back and expect things to be done for them. The tales are endless, the journey long. In a few weeks, we shall be receiving another national beauty, another of our own. I wonder, will the story be any different?
Getting Solaya Zalwango was hard. When I finally got her, she said she was busy and asked me to talk to Joy Masaba, the person in charge of production and communication. I asked Masaba what Miss Uganda was all about because I honestly did not understand the way things were being done.
From her point of view, the pageant is about getting a beauty queen from our land to go and compete with the rest of the world. It's an obligation for the organisers much as it is an opportunity for the winner. They must send someone to the Miss World competition. That is what it is about. That's why they have the franchise. That is their business. However, saying that sending the winner to Miss World is one of the big rewards is almost ridiculous. They do not have a choice anyway.
When I mentioned the car, she suddenly got defensive. She tried to explain to me the concept of a courtesy car. "It is supposed to facilitate her duties as Miss Uganda, and it does not have to be one car, they can be different cars as long as she moves." Strange.
"We try to teach our girls to be responsible. That's why we didn't service the car through and through. We also noticed that Monica was misusing the car later on," she added.
When I asked why their company went with the idea of a courtesy car instead of giving the winner a prize in form of a car, she answered, "In the past years they gave the girls small cars, we gave Monica a Shs125m car."
"We also found out that the girls sold off their cars in the past so we decided to reward them with money," she said. But a prize is a prize. Isn't one allowed to do whatever they want with what they have been given?
Masaba then said that the $3,000 can only be given to the winner after their committee agrees that she has carried out her contractual duties at the end of her reign. She denies that they ever promised Akankwatsa such money.
"We introduced the idea this year so there is no way we could have promised her," she said.
Masaba sounded unsure, and denied that they promised Akankwatsa a scholarship. So what did they promise her? She promised to send me a copy of the contract that was given to Kasyate so that we could clearly see what they promised these girls.
The contract had not been sent in by press time though. I still wonder if it will be able to explain their failure to deliver as expected.
--
Jean-Louis Kayitenkore
Procurement Consultant
Gsm: +250-08470205
Home: +250-55104140
P.O. Box 3867
Kigali-Rwanda
East Africa
Blog: http://www.cepgl.blogspot.com
Skype ID : Kayisa66
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment