New Vision (Kampala)
Sebalamu Kigongo
1 November 2009
Kampala — THE Miss Nkumba University 2009/10 beauty pageant was supposed to kick off at 1:00pm (a rather odd time for a beauty contest), but by 8:00pm, the sound people were still wiring their machines.
The fact that the pageant took place at Kingdom of Katomi Hotel in Bulega, about 7km from Kitala, off Entebbe Road and miles away from the university, must have constrained the public because very few were in attendance. The crowd was dominated by students who had to be ferried by bus.
At 9:00pm, emcee, Kudzu from Vision Voice FM stepped onto the podium in the courtyard of the hotel, and announced the show was officially on. All the 17 contestants sashayed about the catwalk, dancing along for us to see who was who.
Then two unknown struggling musicians followed. However, before we could make out what they were even saying, the glitches started - the lights went out, the sound was muffled and the microphones went dead! When the crowd protested, the guys left the stage.
Singer Bebe Cool, who came on next, had better luck, but he too had to struggle through. However, when he went back stage to ask for his pay after his performance, there was no one.
Furious, he came to the sound guys and asked them to switch off until the organisers paid up. They obliged.
Subsequent pleas from the organisers to have the sound back on were met with defiance as the sound people too demanded their deposit before the show proceeded.
At that point, even Kudzu refused to return to the stage until he got his money. Apparently, none of these people had received any form of payment, partial or otherwise.
It took the intervention of the Vice-President, Prof. Gilbert Bukenya, the owner of the venue (who took the protesting parties away and paid them) to get the party back on track.
It was now past 11:00pm and Kudzu was joined by KFM's Aisha Alibhai. But by 1:00am, Aisha too refused to return on stage until she had been paid. She never was.
Meanwhile, the girls had done office, evening and creative wear on stage, but the behind-the-scenes crisis had overshadowed all this.
Finally, at 3:00am, Kudzu and a Warid Telecom official announced the three top girls.
Sheila Peyton was the winner, while Doreen Kabarole was first runner-up and Christine Nagawa the second runner-up.
Each of the girls reportedly won a home theatre system and a goodie pack from Warid Telecom, who co-sponsored the function with Club Beer. In addition, Peyton won tuition for a year.
The prizes, however, were not available at the function.
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