Kalanguka is Miss Uganda

Miss Uganda

What you need to know:

Miss Uganda. Leah Kalanguka stood out because of her confidence.

Kampala

While the rest of the contestants shivered and stammered during the question and answer session, Leah Kalanguka, was articulate, confident and demonstrated brilliance. It is probably these traits that made her stand out and saw her crowned Miss Uganda 2014/2015 on Saturday night at Speke Resort Munyonyo.

In a nerve-wrecking session, the final 20 girls were zeroed down to 10 and later five as a panel of judges fired the contestants with questions on current affairs and agriculture, in line with this year’s current theme “Promoting Agricultural entrepreneurship among the youth”. Brenda Iriama, 22, from Karamoja was crowned first runner-up, while Yasmin Taban, 19, a student at Cavendish University emerged second runner-up.

Speaking at the event, Ms Brenda Nanyonjo, the chief executive office, Miss Uganda, said this year’s winner will be involved in various agricultural projects that will be supported by Namukekera Rural Industrial Centre (NRIC).

“We are here to change the perception that agriculture cannot co-exist with beauty. The contestants have been taken through 25 modules of agriculture and have had their hands dirty at some points to get to know how things are done. The regional winners together with the overall winner will champion agricultural projects in the next one year,” said Ms Nanyonjo.

Before driving away in a brand new car, Kalanguka said she wants to advocate for value addition in the sector through packaging, processing, cooling, and drying, so that farmers can benefit more from their produce.
“I want to come up with an agro-incubator that supports agro-entrepreneurs who have ideas on value addition. I would also like to work with NRIC and Naads (National Agricultural Advisory Services) that already have these resources,” the blissful 23-year-old said.

The new beauty queen, who will represent Uganda in the Miss World 2014, Indonesia in December, attended Nakasero Primary School, Nabbingo Girls’ School and will be graduating from Makerere University with a Bachelors degree in Software Engineering.

Regional winners

Sharon Auma- Northern Region
Carol Nantambi- Central Region
Christine Tayebwa- Western Region
Flavia Constance Ibyara- Eastern Region