Backlash as Uganda unveils 'Miss Curvy Uganda' tourism initiative

Uganda’s Ministry of Tourism has unveiled a controversial beauty pageant dubbed ‘Miss Curvy Uganda’ in a bid to promote tourism in the country, sparking a social media backlash.

The State Minister for Tourism, Godfrey Kiwanda, revealed the initiative on Tuesday at the Mestil Hotel in Kampala. The pageant is part of Uganda’s ongoing Tulambule (let’s explore) promotion, designed to showcase the best the country has to offer.

“We have naturally endowed nice looking women that are amazing to look at. Why don’t we use these people as a strategy to promote our tourism industry?” Mr Kiwanda was quoted as saying in local newspaper, The East African.

A video from the launch shows Mr Kiwanda waving a flag while women walk around a swimming pool.

The official Miss Curvy Uganda website reads: “Are you curvy, smart, beautiful and responsible?” at the top of the page, adding: “If the answer is yes, the search is on!”.

The website gives more information about the project, stating that the event has been organised “to recognize and acknowledge the big, bold and beautiful plus size Ugandan ladies.”

“This pageant aims to enhance the visibility and appreciation of curvaceous ladies as they walk the runway,” it says. “Miss Curvy is an event that will bring out the endowment of the real African woman. it will be an exceptional event that will see young ladies showcase their beautiful curves and intellect.”

“Miss Curvy seeks to celebrate true African beauty through celebrating a uniquely built figure,” the mission statement reads. “Most pageants celebrate slenderness and pretty faces, which is a more Western way of looking at beauty. Most African women are uniquely built but that does not make them any less attractive, so Miss Curvy Uganda honors uniquely built African women.”

The pageant has been widely criticized on Twitter, and activist Primrose Nyonyozi Murungi has called on the government to cancel the pageant. She wrote in a Facebook post: “It’s 2019 ladies and gentlemen. And a whole board of tourism sat down, discussed and decided to actually pass something like this,” she said. “And guess what no one said this is objectification of women!! Nope, no one said that this is undoing the work of women activists for the past centuries.”

The Uganda Feminist Forum (UFF) has launched a petition to cancel the pageant, stating: “They are objectifying us and reducing women to nothing.” It currently has over 1,000 signatures. Another organisation, the Uganda Women Parliamentary Association, has demanded an apology from Mr Kiwanda.

Ugandan politician Asuman Odaka has also spoken out against the campaign. “Mr Kiwanda’s contemptuous action only precedes caging our beautiful women to zoo-like animals,” he wrote in an article for nilepost.co.ug. “I had retired from street activism and protests, but for the sake of my daughter, her mother, my mother, my aunties, my sisters, I’m ready to fold my sleeves again and join the struggle so that my daughter is not treated like a commodity.”

The organisers have said that only those aged 18 to 35 years old are allowed to participate. In response to the backlash, Mr Kiwanda posted a video on Twitter defending the contest. The pageant is due to take place in Kampala later this year.

The Ugandan tourism industry generated $1.4 billion last year, according to government statistics. While the Miss Curvy Uganda campaign has put the country in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons, there are plenty of good motivations to visit the East African country. The country's main appeal is the mountain gorilla, which can only be seen in the wild in Uganda, Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Writing on the experience of seeing gorillas in the wild, Telegraph Travel’s Mike Unwin said: “The silverback rolls over on to his massive belly and fixes you with that deep-set gaze. Behind him, two boisterous youngsters tumble past. Meeting a mountain gorilla family in the depths of Bwindi Impenetrable Forest feels strangely intimate, as though you’ve blundered into a family sitting room – but an hour in their company is one you’ll never forget.”

Uganda’s forests are also home to other primates, including chimpanzees in nearby Kibale National Park. If you crave open space, there are lions and elephants down on the plains.