Tourism beauty pageant pacifies Uganda’s cattle-rustling warriors

UGUNDA (eTN) – Ever since the Miss Tourism pageant was revived in Uganda two years ago by the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, the beauty pageant has finally reached the most remote corn

UGUNDA (eTN) – Ever since the Miss Tourism pageant was revived in Uganda two years ago by the Ministry of Tourism, Wildlife and Antiquities, the beauty pageant has finally reached the most remote corners of the country reminiscent of the quintessential explorers’ Africa.

For the first time in its history, the event, organized by Miss Heritage Uganda, Miss Aisha Nagudi, themed My Culture, My Pride, was held at Mount Moroto Hotel in Moroto town located in northeastern Uganda where seven contestants strutted the runway on Saturday, June13 ,2015.

The traditional attire impressed the judges and the audience, since it was the first time the Karimojong culture, better known for gun trotting cattle rustling and pastoralism, and very similar to their better known Maasai “cousins” in Kenya and Tanzania, was accorded such visibility.

Uganda Tourism Board’s Safie Ali who was on the panel of judges said of the attire, “Each of the contestant’s dressing had a story to tell.”

The eventual winner was Karen Nyagan, first runner-up, Acheng Celestine, and second runner-up, Grace Nyagan, a result that brought some inebriated revellers, who instead of accepting defeat elected to settle the result with bare knuckles in characteristic nomadic fashion.

The guest of honor, Moroto Deputy Resident District Comissioner, Hellen Pulkol, took the opportunity to call upon investors, tourists, and traders to visit Karamoja.

“It is time for Moroto to heal from the wounds of cattle rustling. There are lots of opportunities waiting to be tapped,” she said.

For several years since the country’s independence in 1962, this region never saw the benefits of development programs, with successive government forces engaged in battle to disarm marauding warriors pitted against rival clans including the Jie, Matheniko, and Pokot clans across the Kenya border.

The benefits of the Miss Tourism Pageant are finally being realized – a fact that would be music to the ears of IIPT’s (International Institute of Peace Through Tourism) President Louis D’ Amore as well as the country’s First Lady, Janet Kaataha Museveni, under whose docket, pacification of the Karamoja region falls.

The region is also home to Kidepo Valley National Park, Uganda’s second largest yet undiscovered by the mass safari market but rich in large ungulates, carnivores, over 475 species of birds, vast savannah plains, open skies, mountain ranges, and the little known Ik tribe, traditionally a hunter-gatherer tribe of about 10,000 people.

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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