{"id":106544,"date":"2025-03-30T23:02:31","date_gmt":"2025-03-30T21:02:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life"},"modified":"2025-04-04T16:02:02","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T14:02:02","slug":"bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life","title":{"rendered":"Bring debating back to intellectual and social life"},"content":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. <\/strong><\/span>Title:<\/b> The Winning Debate: Public Speaking Redefined<\/p>\n

Author:<\/b> Frederick T Musimenta<\/p>\n

Price:<\/b> Shs40,000<\/p>\n

Availability:<\/b> African Studies Bookstore<\/p>\n

Pages:<\/b> 167<\/p>\n

Published:<\/b> 2024<\/p>\n

Any book about debate is welcome. This welcome is particularly open-armed in these times where any intellectual pursuit is frowned upon by many Ugandans. Gone are the days when debating prowess was respected in society.<\/p>\n

In 1960s, debates made the leader and leadership made the person. This is how Milton Obote, an excellent debater, was able to scale the dizzying heights of political notoriety. He was not alone. Again, in the 1960s, counsel Akena Adoko took on Prof Ali Mazrui in a debate themed \u201cWhat is the role of an intellectual?\u201d Both of them fought their corners with the forensic footwork of debaters, who landed punches in bunches in the shape of hard-hitting facts.<\/p>\n

Professors Mahmood Mamdani, Dani Nabudere, Omwony Ojok, Yash Tandon and several others also added to this intellectual tradition. They were all switchblade sharp intellectuals, who cut to the core of an argument without abuse or recrimination. And that is rare today.<\/p>\n

In the 1990s, when president Museveni\u2019s regime was still consolidating its hold on power, Uganda was everywhere alive with the pyrotechnics of intellectual jousting. I have fond memories of when I saw Aggrey Awori take on John Nasasira on Uganda Television (UTV). This was 1994. Awori needled Nasasira on the need to open up the political space for political pluralism. Nasasira, who was surprisingly eloquent back then, told him that the \u201cno-party\u201d dispensation at the time was \u2018transitional\u201d. I will never forget Awori\u2019s response. \u201cWe cannot wait because even life itself is transitional,\u201d he replied.<\/p>\n

Frederick T Musiimenta puts up a spirited case for bringing debating back to the centre of intellectual and social life. He also surveys \u201cThe History of Debate and Public Speaking In Uganda\u201d in chapter two. Although he covers several bases, he does not go very deep. A history of debate and public speaking in Uganda is a very wide topic, one that could make for serious academic study. Sadly, the author seems to be more interested in ingratiating himself with president Museveni than laying down the history that frames this chapter.<\/p>\n

Here, take a look: \u201cFurthermore, debate, public speaking and mass mobilization are synonymous with General Yoweri Museveni,\u201d writes the author. \u201cFrom being a Secretary of the Debating Cllub while in Senior Three at Ntare School, Mr. Museveni in his book \u2018Sowing the Mustard Seed\u2019 states that he was inspired to seriously engage in debate both at school and in the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

The author gives the reader the impression that Mr. Museveni is like the \u201cowner of words\u201d Nwaka who was a very wealthy man from Umunneora, one of the six villages of Umuara (Nigeria) in Chinua Achebe\u2019s seminal book, Arrow of God. This is a false impression.<\/p>\n

Mr. Museveni is a very good communicator. His use of imagery to explain his point of view in a painterly fashion is only rivaled by Norbert Mao\u2019s masterly diction. But to say \u201cdebate, public speaking and mass mobilization are synonymous with General Yoweri Museveni\u201d is rather laughable. That aside, the author has overly focused on debate as a somewhat placid team sport. Yet debate may correctly be called a full contact bloodsport between intellectual gladiators.<\/p>\n

As Denzel Washington, acting as Melvin B Tolson in the film The Great Debaters, said: \u201cGentlemen and lady, debate is combat, but your weapons are words. Debate is blood sport; you must destroy your opponent, not only verbally but physically.\u201d<\/p>\n

Feel free to disagree or debate.<\/p>\n

For More News And Analysis About Zimbabwe<\/span> Follow Africa-Press<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Africa-Press – Zimbabwe. Title: The Winning Debate: Public Speaking Redefined Author: Frederick T Musimenta Price: Shs40,000 Availability: African Studies Bookstore Pages: 167 Published: 2024 Any book about debate is welcome. This welcome is particularly open-armed in these times where any intellectual pursuit is frowned upon by many Ugandans. Gone are the days when debating prowess […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":106543,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[19],"class_list":["post-106544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-all-news","category-culture-and-art","tag-zimbabwe"],"yoast_head":"\nBring debating back to intellectual and social life - zimbabwe<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Title: The Winning Debate: Public Speaking Redefined Author: Frederick T Musimenta Price: Shs40,0 ...\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bring debating back to intellectual and social life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Title: The Winning Debate: Public Speaking Redefined Author: Frederick T Musimenta Price: Shs40,0 ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"zimbabwe\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-03-30T21:02:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-04T14:02:02+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2025\/03\/sm_1743363341.141177.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1280\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"cfeditoren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"cfeditoren\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/#\/schema\/person\/068c7ab4e9634ae78ec5d54ec46598bb\"},\"headline\":\"Bring debating back to intellectual and social life\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-30T21:02:31+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-04T14:02:02+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life\"},\"wordCount\":611,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/static.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/sites\/14\/2025\/03\/sm_1743363341.141177.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Zimbabwe\"],\"articleSection\":[\"all news\",\"culture and art\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.africa-press.net\/zimbabwe\/all-news\/bring-debating-back-to-intellectual-and-social-life\",\"name\":\"Bring debating back to intellectual and social life - 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