By Angel Musomba

The USIU-Africa’s Spoken Arts and Debate Society (SADS) once again delivered a noteworthy performance at the inter-university CUETA tournament. The tournament was held at Tangaza University College and utilized British-parliamentary style debate. Based on the theme “Morality and its dilemmas through the lens of a contemporary society”, it succeeded in encouraging constructive discourse and healthy competition among participants.

SADS was represented by 9 teams, all of which delivered admirable performances, with two of the four teams that reached the finals hailing from SADS. A USIU-Africa team that has achieved numerous victories at preceding tournaments, Wanjiru Karugu and Joshua Wambugu, was able to defend its title. The speakers gave exceptional speeches that led to them breaking to the finals and claiming the first runners-up position.

Imani Naitore and Angel Musomba stood out and were able to break into the finals and emerged as third-best speakers, an incredible feat considering this was only Imani’s first tournament.

It is worth noting that the teams that represented USIU-Africa’s SADS mainly consisted of novice speakers who were new to the debating arena. For majority of them, this was their first tournament. Therefore, it was vital in introducing them to debate, fostering speaking skills, enhancing partner dynamics, and enabling them to interact with experienced debaters in the community.

The speakers were able to rise to the occassion. Leonardo Govini and Geoffrey Gikungu, for instance, formed a team that was only one point away from breaking into the semi-finals. Given the strong performance exhibited, SADS holds great confidence in its newest members. Infinite potential has been observed, and SADS believes there are countless future victories to be celebrated.