The Debate Team of Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology has qualified for the finals of the world championship to be staged in Malaysia in December this year where they would meet the likes of Harvard, M.I.T, Stanford and London School of Economics.
The just ended sixth edition of the competition took place at the University of Calabar, Nigeria from 25th November to 7th December last year. The team swept six awards at the competition.
The Vice Chancellor of KNUST, Prof William Otoo Ellis, has interacted with the KNUST Debate Team and the executives of the Students’ Representative Council. With the VC were the Pro Vice Chancellor and the Dean of Students.
The Vice Chancellor congratulated the debaters on their achievement. He also added that the University Council would continue to support the debate team to achieve more honors for the university. He therefore encouraged them to vigorously pursue their individual abilities, ambitions and interests. He also advised anybody who wanted a position of leadership to be truthful.
The Dean of Students, Dr. K. O. Owusu-Daaku, congratulated the Debate Team for their hard work. He encouraged them to continue to work hard and take advantage of the unique opportunity which gives them exposure. He added that they should never forget where they came from once they had achieved their goals.
The President of the University Debate Team Duke Sasu Aaron, a third year Economics student who was adjudged the best public speaker in Africa, thanked the Academic Board of the University for their continued support for the debate team. He said he had met students from universities in South Africa and Nigeria who were proud of the achievements of the team and who had good impressions of KNUST. He proudly asserted that the best three debaters in Africa were from KNUST. They were himself, Isaac Nyamekye Boakye, a second year student of Actuarial Science and Irene Berengar Duku, a second year student of English who placed second and third respectively. He concluded by encouraging his team members to continue to work hard for themselves and for the University.
Duke Sasu is the first student from Ghana to have won the award since the inception of the Pan African Public Speaking Competition in 2007. Ghana was represented by eight students from KNUST, two from the Islamic University and three from the University of Ghana.
The President of the KNUST Students’ Representative Council, Caleb Fugar, thanked the University Council for the maximum support given to the debate team. He told the team that each trophy they won meant a lot to KNUST.
This is the second time KNUST has participated in the competition after being kicked out at the preliminary stage during last year’s contest in Pretoria, South Africa. This year’s performance speaks volumes of the statement the University wants to make to the academic world so far as debate competitions are concerned.
