The journey to the crowning of the Miss Uganda comes to an end on Saturday, March 18. All roads lead to the UMA Multi-Purpose Hall in Kampala, where 20 carefully selected and choreographed gorgeous beauties will tussle it out to be crowned the 2023 beauty queen.

Ugandan beauty pageant crowning follows a similar script. A few minutes past midnight, the weary judges, looking stylish, sexy and elegant, will make their announcement. In the crowd, there will be heightened anticipation, exasperation and deafening cheers.

Shall we have the awkward Steve Harvey moment – when he named the wrong winner at the Miss Universe pageant live on TV in 2015 or will the crowd rise in unison to a grand standing ovation following the announcement of the befitting winner? Only time will tell.

However, in the history of Miss Ugandan pageantry, grumbles have since become louder following the announcement of the winners.

Today, March 16, we have a long list of the “Not-so-Miss-Uganda” winners, especially in the eyes of the public. Beauty is, of course, an eternally subjective concept. But there is an enduring archetype of fairytale beauty.

When Sheba Kerere was announced Miss Uganda winner in 1996, she was described as breath-taking. Social media hadn’t taken root then. She, however, graced the magazine cover of a now defunct magazine called Chic. In the eyes of many, she was the best thing to happen to the Miss Uganda franchise.

When Leah Kalanguka, a former mushroom and poultry farmer, was named Miss Uganda 2014, the grumbles were deafening. She was ‘rejected’ from the start in Uganda even though the UK’s Daily Mail tipped the BA Computer Engineering Kalanguka among the top 10 people to win the Miss World crown.

Kalanguka wasn’t the first. A number of Miss Uganda winners have been outrightly rejected from the start. In no particular order, we bring you some notable faces.

Phiona Bizzu (2012)
When Phiona Bizzu’s name was read out as the winner of the Miss Uganda crown, there was none of that deafening ululation that comes from behind the judges as the audience celebrates the triumph of their favourite contestant. People booed and walked instead.

The grumbles were audible and many argued, “She wasn’t beautiful enough.” In their estimation, Miss Uganda wasn’t about quick wit.

Even with her black gum, neat white small teeth laid out in a wavy dental formula, slightly slit eyes and square jawline, smooth dark complexion and a slim hourglass body shape, there was nothing extraordinary.

However, according to the Miss Uganda chaperone, Brenda Nanyonjo, Bizzu’s forte was her warm heart and eloquence. Today, more than a decade ago, Bizzu’s warm heart is still radiating at the Miss Uganda pageant, where she works with Nanyonjo.

Heyzme Nansubuga (2010)

A row erupted over the winner of the Miss Uganda 2010 pageant. Heyzme Nansubuga, a sales representative, 25, was crowned after defeating 11 other contestants.

But shortly after she had been announced winner, Allan Kasujja, one of the four judges, told journalists that Nansubuga was not the contestant the judges had chosen as the winner.

Kasujja said they had unanimously chosen Aisha Nagudi as winner. Nansubuga, according to the judge, was the first runner-up.

But Joyce Church, the Miss World license holder for Miss Uganda then, said the judge’s decision was not final since winning was not solely based on the activities of the evening.

Lillian Achom (1997-2001)

Lillian Achom was cute and sweet, but was viewed as a passing fad. She was the longest serving beauty queen, but one who faced a lot of stick.

“Miss Uganda is not about just smiling,” many said after she was declared winner.

A student at Makerere University, she confessed she contested as part of a dare from her roommates at Mary Stuart Hall. When she won, she literally didn’t know what to do with the crown. The organisers either ran out of cash or lost interest in organising such events.

It is right to argue that by the time Achom was declared winner, the organisers were tired, and gave up the franchise. It took a combined effort of MTN Uganda, Uganda Breweries and Sudhir & Jyotsna Ruparelia to revive Miss Uganda and hand it over to Sylvia Owori.

Dr. Rehema Nakuya (2002)

When Sylvia Owori was handed the Miss Uganda franchise, she hit it off on a mountain of hype and swagger. The event that had the likes of Zuena Kirema (Bebe Cool’s wife) was the biggest on the social media calendar.

After the countrywide search, many people thought they would handpick the winner(s). They were wrong. Dr. Rehema Nakuya, a medical student that became a doctor during her reign, was chosen winner.

Owori was accused of handpicking her because she wanted to give credibility to the pageant. Nakuya never attended training camp because of her studies.

Aysha Salma Nassanga (2003)

Shortly after she was crowned Miss Uganda, the media was all over her that she was not a Ugandan, but Senegalese. Her parents, a Senegalese father and Muganda mother, were forced to come out into the open in defence of their daughter.

Salma admitted her father was Senegalese, but insisted she was Ugandan.

“I cannot deny it. My father Cisse Abu-Baker is Senegalese. However, I am a Ugandan. I was born here, grew up here and went to school here,” she insisted.

Miss Uganda franchise owner Sylvia Owori called it a mudslinging campaign.

Betty Nantunga (1995)

It turned out the 1995 winner did not have her father’s blessing, who hadn’t even known that she had taken part in the contest. He threatened to take the organisers to court, and shipped Nantunga off to India for university, where she spent her year as Miss Uganda, out of sight.

Praise Akankwasa (2005)

Unlike others who learn of their fate in front of crowds and after undergoing gruelling sessions, Praise Akankwasa found out she had won while in a taxi from the Old Taxi Park.

That year’s contest took all of one afternoon at Bat Valley, and Akankwasa was handpicked among a long list of applicants. Easy come, easy go. Nobody ever took Akankwasa seriously, and neither did she give the pageant the seriousness it merited.

A few odd public relations jobs here and there, a failed political attempt as Woman MP in Rukungiri; she is now a common face around Ntinda bars. She still curses the time she was Miss Uganda.

Leah Kalanguka (2014)

The organisers were accused of doing a ‘Phionah Bizzu’ again, and Kalanguka was bashed for being ‘not beautiful’. She spent a lot of time personally visiting media houses to show that on the night of the crowning, it was the cameras that were faulty. The opinion on her beauty never changed though. She had a flawless reign.

Oliver Nakakande (2019)

She was so unpopular, it took the intervention of Uganda Communications Commission (UCC) to clamp down on media outlets that took turns bashing her.

A TV show was suspended for dwelling on her attributes (or the lack of them). That Nakakande took over from Quiin Abenakyo, one of the most heralded Miss Ugandans unearthed ever, was a disservice on her part.

She was later de-crowned by the organisers Kezzi Entertainment. Nakakande was crowned Miss Uganda in 2019-2020, but continued serving because the beauty pageant couldn’t happen due to COVID-19.

Nakakande opted to pursue her studies consequently in Dubai and declared she wasn’t able to execute the duties of the office of Miss Uganda. As such, Miss Elizabeth Bagaya, who was the first runner-up, was chosen as the interim Miss Uganda 2020/21 to carry on with the duties of the office of Miss Uganda.

Since then, Nakakande became a renegade.