The debate series finale which took place at the Cross roads Hotel in Lilongwe, saw The Polytechnic team finishing as runners up where they got away with a prize of K500, 000 while the winners received K750, 000.

The competition, which commenced in September 2019, had eight Universities participating namely; Chancellor College, Lilongwe University of Agriculture and Natural Resources, Malawi Assemblies of God University, Catholic University, University of Livingstonia, Mzuzu University, Blantyre International University and The Polytechnic.

The theme of the debates was  ‘Inclusive and Sustainable Economic Growth’ where the topic of discussion for the final round was;  ‘Does Agriculture offer the largest potential for Malawi’s Economic growth?’

In his remarks, The Guest of Honour, who was the Controller of Agricultural Services in the Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Water Development, Dr Alexander Bulirani explained that the youth engagement initiative by the EU and ECAMA is an innovative and a welcome development to the Ministry of Agriculture.

“The EU has helped Malawi implement a number of life changing programs by offering technical support to the government of Malawi in a number of areas like Education and skill development, water and sanitation, road infrastructure development and many more,” Dr Buliyani said.

The Team leader for Economic, Trade and Governance in the EU delegation to Malawi, Jose-Maria Medina Navaro explained that the series of debates aims at opening platforms for the youth in Malawi so that they should have a say in the policies governing the country.

Later, ECAMA president Chikumbutso Kalilombe told the gathering that the mission is to provide practical solutions to the Malawi’s development challenges.

“It is through these debates that ECAMA in collaboration with EU is providing an opportunity to the youth to air out their views which we wish policy makers would take into consideration.” Kalilombe said.

The Polytechnic team President Hlazo Ngwenya, commended EU and ECAMA in coming up with this competition which he said has been an eye opener to the students.

“Apart from the prize money, we have learned to work as a team in sourcing out relevant information regarding the topics which were at hand, the representatives have also learned public speaking and creative thinking skills,” Ngwenya said.

Also present were; the Director General of the National Planning Commission, Dr Thomas Chataghalala Munthali, The Marketing and Public Relations Manager of the Institute of Chartered Accountants Mr Patrick Achitabwino, The Dean of the Faculty of Commerce of Polytechnic, Associate Professor, Dr Betchani Tcheleni and other delegates from EU and ECAMA.