Medical Doctor New Miss Uganda

By Kalungi KabuyeShe won the crown against almost insurmountable odds. She is a Muslim and a final year medical student who missed most of the training because she had to attend classes in Mbarara. At 23 years, she was one of the oldest contestants in a field that included seven 18-year-olds.But Rehema Nakuya defied all that and won the Miss Uganda 2002 beauty contest held at the Speke Resort Munyonyo on Saturday night. And her life changed.“I know it is going to be different now that I’m Miss Uganda. But I’m ready for it,” she told a press conference held after the event. “I’m afraid I will have to put my medical career on hold as I attend to the Miss Uganda duties during the next twelve months,” she added.Nakuya is due to finish her medical studies this week and would have gone on for a two-year internship if she had not won the crown. But now she will postpone the internship for a year till she hands over the crown to the next queen.First runner-up was 21-year-old Juliet Opio, who was also voted by all the contestants as Miss Congeniality.Initial front-runner Connie Nankya, 18, was named second runner-up. She was also voted Miss MTN and Miss photogenic.On Friday, 18-year-old Leila Farid was voted by the public as their own Miss Uganda in MTN’s ‘Who Is She’ promotion, where 53, 743 people sent in their votes via SMS. Nankya was voted second, while Nakuya came third in the public’s vote. Opio was 11th.Twenty-one girls took part in the finals. They were initially cut down to the 10, then five before the three winners were announced at the end of the three-hour event.Meanwhile, Lillian Nalumansi reports that the leader of the Tabliq sect, Sheikh Sulaiman Kakeeto, has condemned the contest.He described the organisers as being no different from brothel owners who turn young girls into prostitutes. Kakeeto appealed to Miria Matembe, ethics and integrity minister, parents, religious leaders and women NGOs to fight beauty contests.“The real motives for such contests are to destroy and completely obliterate the African culture and to make quick financial gains. “The organisers do this by displaying nudity in public, which is against any culture, especially African cultural values and religion,” Kakeeto said in a statement.The statement was signed by the information secretary of the Uganda Muslim Tabliq Community, Mr. Mutebi.It said Kakeeto was speaking at the Tabliq mosque in Nakasero on Friday.“Among the negative effects of these contests, the Amir cited promotion of prostitution, cultural degradation, destruction of meaningful future for the winners and the promotion of pornography,” the statement said.He reminded parents to raise their daughters well in preparation for motherhood later in life.He said society expects a girl to be chaste and modest. On the contrary, the beauty contestants are trained to expose their feminine features such as bosoms, legs, breasts and hips to the hungry eyes of the judges and spectators. “In short the girls are trained on how to use their beauty for material and financial gains,” Kakeeto said.He said the girls always end up becoming misfits.He quoted outgoing Miss Uganda 2001 Victoria Nabunya who had a row with her father.Ends