The Akenten Appiah-Menka University of Skills Training and Entrepreneurial Development (AAMUSTED) successfully hosted the third edition of the National Debate Championship. The open debate contest, dubbed Kumasi Debate Open (KDO), came off from June 8 to 13, 2022. Unlike the institutional championships that allow participation from only tertiary institutions, individuals with an interest in the debate could participate in the KDO.
Therefore, the championship recorded massive participation, with scores of people representing seven Ghanaian universities, two Nigerian universities, a Liberian university, and many individuals turning up.
The Universities from Ghana are Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), University of Energy and Natural Resources (UENR), University and Cape Coast (UCC), University for Development Studies (UDS), Simon Diedong Dombo University of Business and Integrated Development Studies (SDDUBIDS), University of Health and Allied Sciences (UHAS) and host institution, AAMUSTED. There were also the University of Lagos, Nnamdi Azikwe University from Nigeria, and United Methodist University from Liberia.
The Debate stream required the participants to display their analytical expertise on topics given to them on stage to speak to them in the spur of the moment. In the other stream, (Public Speaking), themes derived from phrases, pictures, videos, etc., were given to the participants to develop short speeches for presentation within a given time.
Eventually, the representatives of AAMUSTED made it to the finals of both streams of the competitions and ended up with medals for emerging among the top speakers at the event, as did others from UCC, KNUST, and SDDUBIDS.
Mr. Eziel Johnson, UHAS, and Mr. Raphael Arthur, a National Service Person, won the Open Stream contest, while the Novice Stream went to Mr. Awal Salifu and Miss Francisca Sarpong, students of KNUST and Bernard Opoku Baah winning the Public Speaking Category.
The Head of the Academic Affairs Department of AAMUSTED and Patron of the AAMUSTED Debate Society, Dr. Charles Baba Campion, commended the participants for their keenness at the competition when he addressed the closing session of the competition.
He stressed that attaining a university degree alone could not guarantee an individual’s future success, but the ability to convince people to accept their ideas and vision was essential. Participating in the debates, he said, was a good platform for them to hone that skill for a brighter future. He also encouraged them to seize the opportunity to network.
