KNUST wins Pan-African universities debate championship for second time

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has been crowned the winner of the 2019 edition of the Pan-African Universities Debate Championships (PAUDC) for a second time.

The first time the KNUST won was last year in Tanzania and it was the first to win in West Africa since the inception of the debate championship.

This year’s edition of the PAUDC had about 80 teams participating in the championship from 14 African countries and Ghana was represented by the University of Cape Coast, the University of Ghana, the University of Energy And Natural Resources, the University of Health and Applied Science, the University of Education Winneba – Kumasi and KNUST.

The PAUDC uses the same structure that the British Parliament (House of Commons) use for their debates where four teams of two debate a motion.

Two teams support a motion, and two teams oppose the motion.

Debating teams are independent and compete with each other and at the end of the debate, teams are ranked from 1st to 4th.

Erasmus Segbefia & Michael Ampah who represented KNUST in the final spoke on the motion: “Ghanaian Armed Forces have detected an intercontinental ballistic missile launch. The missile is for downward Accra. An attempted interception has failed. The warhead is expected to detonate in fifteen minutes. You are a civilian emergency response official for the state of Ghana. This house would not inform the public” and won by a unanimous decision.

The pair also came sixth in the best public speaking rankings.

KNUST first participated in the Pan-African debate in 2012, alongside the University of Ghana in 2012 to represent Ghana.

The university now holds the title of being the only other university in Africa to be a two-time winner of the biggest African inter-varsity debate championships.

The other university to claim that title is South Africa’s University of Cape Town, who won the championship in 2012 and 2013.