Under-fire State Minister for Tourism, Godfrey Kiwanda, has said that he was misunderstood when he said his ministry is going to use ‘women of a certain body type’ to promote tourism in Uganda. Speaking to the media over the weekend, the minister also suggested that the misunderstanding is because of an ‘information gap’ that exists in the country, and he suggested that there is need to close this gap so people will not be getting information the wrong way.
“This isn’t the first time we’re involved in a beauty pageant and in tourism, we look at all this because there’s always a story to tell,” the minister said. “As a ministry and other stakeholders, we need to make sure that as we’re having all these contests, our culture and heritage stays intact. Most of the pictures from ‘Tulambule Eastern’ are photoshopped. We don’t settle with one person as a brand ambassador because these people have different followings and that’s what marketing entails. We’re expanding our visibility by working with people who have a following. Our ministry is a marketing ministry.”
Kiwanda also said: “I suspect there’s the issue of an information gap, we need to meet and close this gap. The organisation of pageants in the country isn’t a new thing, it has been happening. When these people(organisers) came here, they explained to us their concept which almost looked the same as all pageants and we said okay.”