Recently, the Spoken Arts and Debate Society made its debut at the annual Pan African Universities Debate Championship (PAUDC) which was held online. The Championship brought together participants from various African countries who took part in the week-long virtual event. USIU-Africa was represented by the SADS Debate team, led by Chantelle Mukabi (SADS Chair) and Kagia Samuel (SADS Vice-Chair). The four debate teams included: Chantelle Mukabi & Kagia Samuel, Jeremiah Kashaka & Bienvenu Faraja, Louis Gitu & Chut Giet, and Shalom Kimani & Fresher Diana. In addition to competing, the Society was also able to field some of its members to take part in the adjudication of the event. They included Stecy Atieno Onyango (SADS PR Officer), Faith Nekoye Musumba (Former Public Speaking Vice-Chair) and Lucy Njeri Irungu (Former Public Speaking Member).

After several preliminary rounds against the crème de la crème of the continental debate world, USIU-Africa had two teams breaking to the octo-finals: Chantelle Mukabi & Kagia Samuel, and Jeremiah Kashaka & Bienvenue Faraja, with Chantelle Mukabi & Kagia Samuel advancing further to the quarter-finals.

Chantelle Mukabi garnered two awards from the Championship, Best Regional Speaker of East Africa and Best Speaker of Kenya. Additionally, the PAUDC Council nominated Chantelle Mukabi and Kagia Samuel to take up executive positions in the Council, with Chantelle Mukabi securing the role of Director of Recruitment for East Africa and Kagia Samuel securing the role of Director of Sponsorship & Funding for the Council. This is the first time Kenya has gone beyond voting representation and secured Executive positions in the PAUDC Council.

SADS continues to show its resilience and adaptability by seeing the pandemic as an opportunity and not an obstacle in our continued growth. Taking part in this prestigious event was a dream come true for the SADS debaters and adjudicators and their performance was exemplary. SADS will be participating in PAUDC 2021, which will be held physically in Botswana. The Society also plans to participate in the Worlds Universities Debate Championship (WUDC), which will be held virtually in Korea this year, and in the 2022 edition, which will be held at a physical event in Belgrade.

To register as a member, contact us at sads@clubs.usiu.ac.ke