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2016 MAKERERE UNIVERSITY GUILD PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE

by Donnas Ojok

Promoting democratic principles and values by deepening the debate culture in Uganda’s Leadership Competition

An annual event organized in partnership with the University Forum on Governance (UNIFOG), the 2016 Makerere University Guild Presidential debate contest brought together 12 guild presidential aspirants and offered a contest for formal argumentation and a ground for intellectual engagement on their campaign manifestos.

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After the heat of the guild presidential rally held at Africa Hall on 8th March (The International Women’s day), 12 Guild Presidential aspirants crowned their day with a night time debating contest at the popular Makerere University Main Hall. The contest which started at 07:00PM and ended at 10:00 gave the aspiring candidates a platform to share their views and perspectives, discuss and debate on crucial issues pertaining to the University and how they will instigate change once elected.

The opening remarks by Donnas Ojok, the KAS Programme Officer, highlighted the two major reasons why KAS has continued to support the guild presidential debate initiative at Makerere University for the past five years, namely: the need to promote critical thinking and to enhance effective communication among student leaders. These, he noted forms a fundamental basis for promoting democracy and nurturing intellectualism among the young and emerging leaders in Uganda. Michael Mugisha, the Technical Advisor at UNIFOG called upon the debaters to exhibit their full potential during the debate because it will provide an important benchmark to help students decide whether to vote for them or not.

After the special reading of the debating rules and regulations by moderators of the night, i.e. Yusuf Kiranda and Rugambwa Ivan, the debate was commenced by giving all the 12 contenders three minutes to give opening remarks highlighting their interest, passion and perspectives on the guild race.

During this session, most of the contenders gave powerful remarks paving way for an extremely insightful debate session. Generally, the remarks revolved around initiatives to revive the past glories of the University by ushering in new ideas that will reduce/eliminate a plethora of challenges students face like missing marks, sexual harassment and poor learning facilities among others.

During the second session, tailored questions by the moderators were directed to the guild presidential aspirants to further probe and invoke their submissions during the opening remarks session.

Simon Senyonga, a Law student and a guild presidential contestant exhibited an excellent debating potential through his succinct and intellectually stimulating responses to the questions. Asked whether he thinks some courses at University are better than others, Senyonga responded, “All courses are good. But of course it shouldn't be forgotten that the education system and social dynamics in Uganda still places more emphasis on conventional courses like Medicine, Law and Engineering.”

Roy Semboga, a Medical Student and aspiring guild candidate reiterated on the need to reshape the future of Makerere University by deconstructing what the guild race is not about. He said, “This guild race isn’t a competition among all of us on this podium, but on the contrary it is about promises to improve the teaching standards, create a friendly social and learning environment and provide incentives for students and teachers to be intellectually curious”.

Asked about the top most challenge facing students at the University, Basil Mwota, an Education student cited the gap between the administration and students as major challenge. He noted, “We are tired of the university administration imposing policies without even consulting us. This is a disrespect which I will seek to address this disrespect by the University administration when elected as the guild president”.

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A filled-up Main Hall at Makerere University KAS
Contestants KAS
Ivan Rugambwa, one of the moderators questioning contestants KAS
Donnas Ojok, a Programme Officer at KAS giving opening remarks KAS
Simon Ssenyonga, making a submission KAS

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