Miss Photogenic Rwanda 2022, Queen Ndahiro Mugabekazi confirmed that she will represent Rwanda at Miss University Africa. Miss University Africa (MUA) is an annual international beauty pageant that was first held in 2010. Unlike most of other prestigious pageants, Miss University Africa participants are not required to compete in swimsuits or bikinis. Mugabekazi is among other 47 contestants eyeing this crown. The winner will take home 50,000$, a car and will be the United Nations Students’ ambassador. She told The New Times that she is proud to participate in MUA beauty pageant and most especially, to represent Rwanda. “Attending MUA means a lot to me because I get to represent my country with grace and love. When I go to Nigeria I won’t go as ‘Queen’ I will go as ‘Rwanda’ and that’s a huge privilege and honor.” Rwanda has been represented in the previous contests by Aurore Kayibanda (2012), Linda Umutoniwase (2017) Shanitah Umunyana (2018), Odile Uwase Sangwa (2019) and Phionah Umwiza (2021) who was crowned 4th runner up of MUA. Mugabekazi noted, “There is a lot to gain from this experience that is yet to come. I am going to be interacting with different girls from different African countries. I get to show that Rwanda is more than just a small country and moreover I want to be the first Rwandan girl to get crowned MUA.” The beauty queen is now mobilizing votes from the public by liking her picture on the pageant’s Instagram page, and the picture with the highest number of likes will get an automatic PASS to the top 10 contestants who will go through to the decisive rounds of the beauty contest. “What I would ask Rwandans is to mainly vote for Rwanda by liking my pictures on Miss University Africa’s Instagram and Facebook page and to pray for Rwanda. And in return I will do my very best to honor our country and try my level best to bring this crown home.” Mugabekazi vies with other candidates from Nigeria, Ethiopia, Egypt, Madagascar and the Democratic Republic of Congo among others. As per the rules, contestants must be active university students with a single marital status and aged 18 to 26.
