In a speech that officially closed the National Inter-University Debate Championships held at Gulu University, deputy Speaker of Parliament Jacob Oulanyah had one screaming message for the youth: “For heaven’s sake, do not bring negative energy to the vote. Participate positively.”
He urged the youth to shun chaos but positively participate in all electoral activities in the run-up to the 2021 general election. International University of East Africa finished top of the pack last week followed by Mbarara University of Science and Technology in second and Uganda Christian University in third position.
Oulanyah, who was the chief guest at the finals, urged debaters to carry on the spirit of debate as the country heads towards the 2021 general elections, which he said some people had made it look like a do-or-die situation. He said students should promote dialogue and intellectual maturity when addressing different issues in society.
“Debate is completely about wits,” Oulanyah added.
The vice-chancellor of Gulu University Prof. George Openjuru requested for more government support to enable Gulu University establish more infrastructure that can accommodate 10,000 students.
“We are proud of the support we have received from the government and we still demand for more to enable us build infrastructure because we are among the biggest universities in this country,”Openjuru said. He also applauded the notion of debate among student leaders especially at university level to address different issues a ecting students instead of violence and provocations.
He said, “...debate promotes an intellectual attitude that problems can be addressed through dialogue...”
On behalf of the debate organizers, Wakib Bunnya, the team leader of Open Space Uganda, expressed his commitment to having more and better debates in the future.
“We are trying to activate debaters to play an active role in the upcoming 2021 electoral period...” Bunnya said.
He also added that Open Space was planning to host online campaigns to ensure that potential youthful politicians with intentions to contest for any elective position in the upcoming 2021 general elections get all the necessary training and support.
The annual ultimate inter-university debate is organized by Open Space Uganda in conjunction with ActionAid and the NGO Forum, among others. The nine-day event attracted students from over 22 universities from across the country and two visiting universities from Kenya.
Students debated different motions inspired by the theme “Voter 2021” using the British parliamentary system of debate. Strathmore and Pioneer universities from Kenya were the two visiting universities that participated in this year’s debate tournament.
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