Did Lies Cost Miss Uganda Crown?

Dec 07, 2004

The Miss Uganda institution has again been plunged into controversy, this time, at an international level.

By Timothy Bukumunhe
The Miss Uganda institution has again been plunged into controversy, this time, at an international level.

The reigning beauty queen, Barbara Kimbugwe, said on the official Miss World website that she had met Bishop Desmond Tutu, a South African civil rights activist.

When asked to give details of charitable work undertaken, Kimbugwe said, “... Recently I was honoured to go to northern Uganda with the World Peace Programme where I met one of the greatest World Peace initiators, South African Bishop Desmond Tutu, visited camps and donated essentials…”

Records show that Tutu has not visited Uganda in the last 18 years.

Neither the Ministry of Foreign Affairs nor the internal affairs’ immigration department have records of Tutu’s stay in Uganda for the World Peace Programme in Gulu district.
He was slated to attend but did not come.

Had the blatant lie about having met Tutu been picked by Miss World officials?
Could that be a reason why she did not figure at all in finals last Saturday?

Ranked 50th by bookmakers, Kimbugwe was among 108 girls who contested for the crown in Sanya, China.

Miss Peru Maria Mantilla Garcia was on Saturday crowned Miss World.

A spokesperson at Ziper House, home of Miss Uganda Ltd, said, “Kimbugwe has never met Tutu. Yes, it was true he was supposed to come to Uganda for an event in Gulu but he never made it.”

It was Salma Nassanga’s turn to lie in 2003 when her nationality was questioned.
In a public declaration, she confessed that her father Cisse Abu-Baker was Senegalese while her mother Ms. Zaina Nalugo was from Masaka.

She, however, said she preferred her mother’s nationality.

In 2001, barely days after being crowned Miss Uganda, Victoria Nabunya made headlines when she publicly denied her father, John Kabuye.
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