#AKOFENA2019: Preliminary Rounds of Debate begin in KNUST with over 350 debaters across Africa

Preliminary rounds of debate competition have begun in day three of the 2019 Pan African Universities Debate Championship hosted in the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).

The tournament has began with 80 teams made up of over 350 students from various universities in 16 African countries with 75 judges.

The first round of the competition begun with the motion; This House regrets the Humanization of Villains in Film and Media [i.e Joker].

The Pan African Universities Debate Championship structure which takes the British Parliamentary (BP) style; made up of 4 teams of 2, with 2 teams supporting the motion, and 2 teams opposing. Debating teams are independent and competing with each other.

The first day of the competition has three preliminary rounds, and at the end of the day, the teams with the greatest number of votes from the judges will move on to the next round. The team with the highest number of votes at the end of the tournament will eventually win the championship.

The second round of today’s competition is currently underway with the motion;  The House believes that charitable organizations [e.g Omaze] should not be allowed to obtain donations in exchange for the offer of potential prizes.

There will be one more round to go  for  the first day of the debate competition.

The Parliamentary debate is a limited-preparation event, meaning teams do not know the topic of the debate prior to the event.

Teams receive a resolution, or topic, only 15 minutes before the round. They then have 15 minutes to prepare and discuss their side of the debate before entering the round.

The debaters must have a thorough knowledge of politics, current events, modern philosophy and other topics vital to a well-rounded education in liberal arts. Teams have 7 minutes each to convince the judges they are experts on the topic they received.