By Precious Wangu

The Spoken Arts & Debate Society (SADS) recently planned and hosted the In-House 4.0 Debate Championship which was held on the Discord application. The tournament had 5 preliminary rounds which ran from Monday to Friday at 9:00pm EAT each round, followed by a partial semi-final and semi-final on Saturday, 7 November at 1:00pm and 6:00pm respectively, and a grand finale on Sunday, 8 November at 2pm. This was the fourth and the biggest leg of the In-House Debate Series as it had the biggest turn out of all the four tournaments. Debaters and adjudicators came from Kenya, Ghana, Uganda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, Congo, South Africa, Botswana, Somalia, Sudan, Nigeria, UK and India, with 28 teams taking part in the events.

USIU-Africa was represented by Jeremiah Kashaka (IBA Sophomore), Bienvenu Faraja (APT Sophomore), Louis Gitu (Film Production, Sophomore), Chut Giet (Freshman Pharmacy), Fresher Diana (IR Sophomore), David Odhiambo (IBA Junior), Shalom Kimani (IBA Marketing and Management, Senior), Kagia Samuel (Finance Junior), and Chantelle Mukabi (APT Sophomore).

The Chief Adjudication Panel (CAP) consisted of highly experienced judges from East Africa, Nigeria and the UK, with the Independent Adjudicators drawn from the wide array of countries listed above. The debates were high quality right from the speeches, adjudicating and adjudicator feedback. The event took the random pairing format of the previous In-House tournaments to enable diversification of knowledge, debate skills and allow for an opportunity to network and make meaningful connections on a global scale.

The Partial Semi-Finals break was done by advancing 12 teams: the top 4 teams who broke first advance straight to the semi-finals and do not debate in the partial semi-finals. The SADS debaters in the top 4 teams included Chantelle Mukabi and Bienvenu Faraja along with their partners. The remaining 8 teams debated against each other in the partial semi-final, and the top 2 teams in each room then advanced to the semi-finals to debate with the top 4 teams. The 8 teams battled it out and eventually, 4 teams proceed to the grand finale.

The results were as follows:

PARTIAL SEMI-FINALISTS:

1. Louis Gitu (SADS, Kenya) and Marvelous Splendor (Nigeria)

2. Jeremiah Kashaka (SADS, Uganda) and Grace Chidinma (Nigeria)

3. Kagia Samuel (SADS, Kenya) and Maxwell DeLorenzo (UK)

SEMI-FINALISTS:

1. Chantelle Mukabi (SADS, Kenya) and Pule Mmula (South Africa)

2. Bienvenu Faraja (SADS, DRC Congo) and Kelvin Damptey (Ghana)

3. Jeremiah Kashaka (SADS, Uganda) and Grace Chidinma (Nigeria)

SADS GRAND FINALISTS AND RESULTS:

3^rd Runners Up: Jeremiah Kashaka (SADS Uganda) and Grace Chidinma (Nigeria);

Winners: Chantelle Mukabi (SADS Kenya) and Pule Mmula (South Africa).

Kagia Samuel was named as the tournament’s eighth best speaker, with Chantelle Mukabi recognized as the tournament’s best speaker.

The Society will also be representing Kenya and USIU-Africa at the Pan-African Universities Debate Championship (PAUDC), scheduled for Monday, December 14, 2020. This will be the first time USIU-Africa will be debating in this prestigious annual tournament in which we will be representing Kenya. SADS has registered 4 teams and 3 highly experienced and vetted adjudicators for the online tournament:

TEAMS:

1. Chantelle Mukabi (SADS Chair) & Kagia Samuel (SADS Vice Chair);

2. Jeremiah Kashaka (SADS Logistics Officer) & Bienvenu Faraja (SADS Inter-Club Coordinator);

3. Louis Gitu (SADS member) & Chut Giet (SADS member);

4. Shalom Kimani (SADS Treasurer) & Fresher Diana (SADS member).

ADJUDICATORS:

1. Stecy Onyango (SADS PR Officer);

2. Faith Musumba (Former Public Speaking Club Vice-Chair);

3. Lucy Njeri (Former Public Speaking Club member).

For more information on the club, please contact us on sads@clubs.usiu.ac.ke .