Rwandan school wins Kampala debate championship  

The competition was opened by the First Lady Janet Museveni last week

Gashora Girls Academy from Rwanda   have emerged the best debating school in the 2017 African Debate Championship  after beating off stiff competition from Mengo SS, the outgoing champions in Kampala.

Mengo SS, which hosted the gala, took the second position in a contest dubbed, "African Debate Championship of 2017" at Parliament of Uganda on Friday. 

The stiff competition attracted 30 schools from the African continent. On their way to reach the final, Gashora beat Tembisha High School of South Africa as Mengo SS eliminated Ntare School in semifinals.

The annual debating competition, which is organised to help youth find solutions to problems that affect them, saw winners walk away with gold medals and a trophy.

The seven-day event, which was organised by the education ministry, was opened  last week by the First Lady Janet Museveni.

Under the motion "This house believes Pan Africanism is racism", Gashora Girls Academy defeated other Ugandan schools and hosts Mengo by a spilt vote of five to two hence becoming the winners.

Five out of the seven judges from different African countries ruled in favour of Gashora Girls Academy as the winner, while Mengo S.S (the host), which  emerged  the second.

Nathan Joseph Onyango, the chief adjudicator of the Uganda Debating Society, said Gashora Academy used vivid examples to show that Pan Africanism is not racism, urging on the belief that unity is vital to economic, social, and political progress and aims to unify and uplift people of African descent.

Onyango said Mengo SS failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt to the judges that failure by some Arab countries to attend the 2015 Pan African conference which took place in Ghana, was a sign of racism. 

Cynthia Cyuzuzo, one of the debaters from Gashora Girls Academy, attributed their victory to commitment and hard work, saying their teachers had equipped them with diverse knowledge on the topic.

Out of 30 schools that participated in the competitions, only 16 schools made it to the national level pre-selection process.

The outgoing deputy Chief Justice, Steven Kavuma, who is also an old boy of Mengo SS, lauded all schools that took part in the championship.

"In 1967 we sat under a tree at Mengo and started a debate club'' he reminded the participants not to despair  and assured them that debating skills will pave way for their professional  lives as legislators  judges, lawyers, nurses and teachers.