Miss Rwanda: The untold story behind the glittering crown

NOT ALL that glitters is gold. This old adage sums up the real life story of Miss Rwanda. The reigning queen, Colombe Akiwacu’s current frustrations and challenges are nothing short of shocking. Four months into her reign as Miss Rwanda, Akiwacu is already questioning why the country organises the pageant. Akiwacu is not asking to be treated like royalty; however, she says she needs assistance in order to carry out her duties to the best of her ability. But that is turning out to be just wishful thinking. “We should stop running Miss Rwanda beauty pageants. It is a stressful and a difficult job. After handing you the crown every one abandons you in the wilderness, you are left on your own without any support,” Akiwacu says with a tone of a frustrated person. The journey so far “It’s been very difficult. I don’t get help from the Ministry of Sports and Culture and my manager doesn’t know what he is supposed to do. The Ministry handed me over to Rwanda Inspirational Backup Company but up to now there’s nothing they have done to ensure that my reign runs as smooth as possible,” she complains. Rwanda Inspirational Backup is a company that was entrusted to manage Miss Rwanda and any other activities related to the Miss Rwanda institution. Akiwacu says she now survives on handouts from her parents and friends to run her activities. Miss Rwanda is supposed to have a manager who among other things is supposed to help her achieve her set targets, plan her schedule and activities, organise travel documents when going to international pageants and advise her accordingly. However, Dieudonne Ishimwe, aka Prince Kid, who manages Miss Rwanda, says that they are trying their best but Akiwacu thinks otherwise. The manager also works for East African Promoters (EAP) which he sub-contracted as the Miss Rwanda pageant organsiers. “I don’t know if it’s Rwanda Inspirational Backup or EAP that is responsible for managing my activities. It is confusing and I don’t know who to ask,” Akiwacu says. International contests Being Miss Rwanda means representing the country at different international beauty contests but Akiwacu has so far missed two contests. She was supposed to travel to France and then to Spain on June 6 but her travel documents were not in place. However, she says they are working on the travel documents to South Africa and Nigeria. “I was invited to South Africa and I’m waiting for the documents to be processed. There’s another invitation that came in from Nigeria but the story is the same yet I believe that I would have gotten all my documents sorted sooner if I had a good manager.” One can easily sense the frustration in her voice when she talks about how she has been ignored and left to finance all her activities yet she has no formal job to generate an income. No facilitation Having incompetent managers has cost her endorsement deals that would have taken a huge financial burden off her shoulders. She actually laughed when asked if she gets financial support. “Imagine I don’t get any allowance to finance my activities. How do they expect me to work? I don’t get a monthly allowance yet I have to fuel my car, buy airtime and maintain myself since I have to reflect the image of Miss Rwanda.” “I don’t mean to sound spoiled but how do I walk into a corporate company and request for a deal? That is the work of my manager who I rarely see or talk to,” the beauty queen says. For one month, she had to use former Miss Rwanda, Aurore Kayibanda’s car since her car was grounded due to mechanical problem. She says, she was supposed to get a brand new Hyundai car but she ended up with a second hand Nissan ALTIMA. “I don’t understand how they can offer Miss Rwanda a second hand car. It has a lot of problems which I have to take care of myself. Luckily, I finally got the car out of the garage four days ago but it was a huge burden on me because I was doing everything myself,” she adds. Akiwacu wishes she had enough support that would help her achieve the targets she set as Miss Rwanda. The targets set In her first interview with The New Times as Miss Rwanda, Akiwacu said that she was keen on fighting drug abuse among the youth although she is yet to start the project. “I have some small projects I’ve been working on but I will get to that too. It is not an easy project because it involves a lot of logistics which I’m yet to get. I will also try to work with the National Police and many other people,” she says. The Airtel billboard In May, an Airtel billboard was pulled down for reasons most people believe were not convincing enough. It featured James Ruhumuriza, popularly known as King James, former Miss Rwanda Aurore Kayibanda and reigning beauty queen Colombe Akiwacu simultaneously pecking King James on the cheek. Asked about what she thinks about the action, Akiwacu says, “Personally I have no problem with it. Traditionally we don’t kiss but it has since been incorporated in our culture to the point that it is absolutely normal.” The way forward Although her reign is not going as smoothly as she had anticipated, Akiwacu is not about to resign. Jokingly she says, “We need heroes, so I’m willing to sacrifice and do what I was voted to do.” Ministry speaks out When contacted, Lauren Makuza, the Director of Culture Promotion in the Ministry of Culture and Sports referred us to the manager but added that they are currently reviewing and evaluating the company that was contracted to manage Miss Rwanda and her activities. On his side, Ishimwe says that they are doing their best but they have financial problems. “We are trying but there’s a huge financial problem and it is very difficult to get companies to give us deals,” he says. About the upcoming contests, he says, “We have already sent all necessary documents to the event organisers in South Africa and are awaiting their response. We also have someone on ground in Nigeria who is following up on her invite which we should be getting soon.” As for the allowance, Ishimwe says that it is not possible to offer Miss Rwanda a monthly allowance. “We can’t afford to pay her monthly stipend because the budget is tight. We realise the need but there’s nothing we can do about the situation. We are not yet at a level where we are able to meet her expenses,” he added. For Akiwacu, the hardships that are consistently coming her way will not tempt her to give up on her crown. She can only hope that things will get better as her current situation is sabotaging her plans to meet her targets as the reigning queen. For now she says her only inspiration comes from her passion to help people. “When I put a smile on someone’s face that makes my day otherwise it is too stressful,” she says.