KAMPALA, UGANDA: Makerere University Business School (MUBS) are the 2022 winners of the 6th National Inter-University Poetry and Debate Championship on climate change.
The debate was organised by the Uganda Dialogue Arena (UDA) under the theme ‘Climate Change and the Environment: Youth Voices and Actions on Achieving Net-Zero Emissions by 2050,’ and took place from October 5 to October 7 at Kyambogo University in Kampala.
MUBS students; Daphine Arinaitwe and Melvin Wanjiru defeated their colleagues from other universities such as the International University of East Africa (IUEA) and Kyambogo.
IUEA’s Survival Arinaitwe and Rutendo Moyo were the first runners up. Ashraf Harid Mugoya from IUIU emerged the best male speaker while Denis Ayebare emerged the overall best speaker.
The hosts, Kyambogo University, had their own, Stephen Ongia Okwiri, win the poetry title.
The chief guest, First Lady Janet Museveni, who was represented by Prof Fabian Nabugoomu, commended UDA and all partners for organising the event. She called upon everyone to join the fight against climate change and called for penalties to culprits.
She noted that the culture of dialogue and amicable conflict resolution was beginning to erode and instead violence, blackmail, hate are being promoted. She asked the young people to live in harmony and make Uganda a better place than they found it. He said the Ministry of Education and Sports will do all it takes to support such youth initiatives.
UDA Chief Executive Officer Fredrick T. Musiimenta expressed gratitude to all who made the event successful, especially the students that travelled from as far as Arua, Kabale, Soroti and Lira, among other places.
He said he was proud that his efforts in empowering and mentoring young people have not been in vain.
The Executive Director of Uganda Biodiversity Fund (UBF), Mr Ivan Amanigaruhanga, thanked the organisers and credited them for engaging in such important and sensitive topic of climate change.
He said Uganda has a deficit of $8.4 million (close to Shs30 billion) for biodiversity conservation of Uganda’s forests. He further reminded the attendees that only 20% rainforests left and there is urgent need to empower youth being the largest group among the population to put an end to this.
Solidaridad Projects Manager Joshua Rukundo, who was speaking on behalf their Country Manager, called upon the students to advocate what’s being debated and walk the talk to organize similar climate based dialogues in different parts of the country.
The National Patron, Mr Fagil M. Mandy, said in a message read that young people must know that the world is moving very first and no room for spoon feeding and second chance. He implored them to work hard and avoid begging for it under mines their creativity and independent thinking.
During a panel discussion, the British High Commissioner in charge of East Africa Climate change desk, Mr. Alex Crook, implored the young people to put in more effort in ensuring the environment is conserved. He appreciated the leaders of UDA and the partners for their steadfast move in fighting for climate justice.
***DailyMonitor***
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