It looks like a lot is happening in the pageant world, particularly at Miss Universe.
Miss Universe Kenya Irene Ng’endo Mukii announced that she is resigning from her title.
“After careful consideration, I have decided to send in my termination notice to the Miss Universe Kenya organisation. To all of you who have shown support, thank you. The focus remains to be transformational leadership to empower underserved and marginalised communities.
“I am excited for what’s ahead to inspire revolution. Let us continue working together for the good of our people,” read Mukii’s statement.
She added that one of the reasons that made her to distance herself from Miss Universe Kenya was that the organisation didn’t support her as promised.
“The organisation promised a comprehensive training program, including public speaking, media management, runway practice, and styling consultations. Unfortunately, many of these commitments were not actualised,” said Mukii.
The Miss Universe Kenya organisation replied to the statement and accepted her resignation.
“The Miss Universe Kenya organisation acknowledges the decision by Miss Irene Mukii to step down from her role as Miss Universe Kenya 2024.
“While this is regrettable, we respect her decision and wish her well and wish her well in her future endeavours. The organisation is yet to announce her replacement.”
In other news, Mukii is not the first beauty queen to call it quits. A few days after being crowned the first runner-up for Miss Universe, Chidimma Adetshina announced that would take a break from pageants to focus on her education since her dream of participating in Miss Universe had been fulfilled.
“I am done with pageants,” she said. “I feel like I really did well, I made myself proud, I made Nigeria proud, and that’s really what I wanted.”
While in Mexico for the competition, Adetshina went through a health scare and was told to go to the hospital but she refused.
“They told me that I had to choose to go to the hospital and not participate,” she said. “After all the things I’ve been through, I was like, ‘No, let me walk that stage’.”
Miss South Africa 2024, Mia Le Roux, also withdrew from the Miss Universe competition due to health concerns, although some South Africans speculated there was more to the story.