Why Debate?

It is a lovely, sunny Saturday morning as I walk through the gates of IFAK Secondary school. I'm on my way to a debate competition as I always do once a month. And as always, my level of excitement and expectation is at its highest. As I enter the school premises, I find myself surrounded by a throng of students from over 25 high schools in and around Kigali; some chitchatting after a month of not seeing each other, some buried away in books, laptops, and cellphones doing a last minute research. In a few minutes, we gather in a hall where one of the competition coordinators repeats the boring rules and regulations of the day(boring because virtually everyone in the room has been debating for some time now and would repeat them in his sleep). Then round pairings are announced, classrooms and judges assigned and I walk to my own room to judge.

In judging mode

The day's motion is whether or not Rwanda should adopt the East African treaty through a Common Market, a Monetary Union, and a Political Federation. As I judge, it gets harder and harder to know where I myself am standing. I'm in awe at the amount of research these students have done and the statistics they throw at each other. Further along the debate, I realize that one of the debaters from Agahozo Shalom has actually read the WHOLE treaty. The Proposition speaker presents an outstanding five-year action plan to achieve the goals outlined in the topic. These include a gradual economic convergence policy and a rotating cycle for the presidency of the Federation. The rebuttal from the opposition is no less amazing: the speaker gives GDP per capita, aid reliance and inflation statistics proving East African economies are so disparate that convergence in only five years is so unlikely; effectively stating it took the significantly more advanced European economies 30 years to achieve a semblance of convergence. He then goes on to explain that for a Federation to be effective, people need to let go of their national identities in favor of an East African one, and that this will be a very difficult task since ethnic and local identities are more prevalent in some of the member countries.

Debater from Agahozo Shalom

I have been working with iDebate for three years now, first as a debater when I myself was a student, and now as a volunteer. This Non-Governmental Organisation was started back in 2012 by three young Rwandans with the aim of changing the Rwandan society -particularly the youth- through the art of debate. Since then their range of activities has greatly expanded, from just a monthly debate with 15 schools to debate camps attended by more than 250 kids, US tours where they build partnerships with American universities and annual East African debate championships. And when I look at the progress that has been made, the change in attitude, the confidence build up, the critical thinking and public speaking skills that these students have acquired I can't help but feel, more strongly than ever, that debate is one of the best ways towards the reconstruction and development of the people of Rwanda. Why do I say that, you might ask?

Roughly 22 years ago, people in Rwanda who were educated-ministry clerks, hospital nurses, businessmen and such -people who were considered intellectuals- scrambled to the windows of their cars and buses to check out RPF soldiers on their way to Parliament Building and see the horns and tails they’d been led to believe the latter had. This kind of propaganda, and the population’s predisposition to believe it are one of the key elements that led to the irrational phobia and hatred that culminated in Genocide of the Tutsi.

Now Debate teaches a person to not just swallow everything he/she is told. Debate teaches the person to think critically, to analyze rationally and to look for the truth in a statement. It teaches the person to question the surroundings and identify the problems in the status quo; which is the first step towards solving them. A citizen like this one is the kind of citizen our Rwanda needs. And these are the citizens of the future that are being nurtured with debate, through the work of organizations such as iDebate Rwanda. Citizens who won't just believe whatever they're told just because it is their parents or the radio saying it. Citizens who won't sit idly by as things go south but will stand up and fight for what is right with their words, with their pens and if necessary, with their arms. And as I watch the winning team and the best speakers walk up to the stage to receive their trophies on this sunny Saturday afternoon, these are the citizens I see all around me.