By: Usman Fambuleh
Saint Joseph Secondary School has emerged as the winner of the Jamil Sesay Memorial Debate Trophy after defeating six other schools in the Peace and Integrity Debate Competition held on Thursday, 27 August 2026, at the Tunde Cole Building, Fourah Bay College, Freetown.
The competition marked the second phase of “Catch Them Young: Combating Corruption Through Educational Debates and Peace & Integrity Training,” a Social Change Initiative led by Rotary Peace Fellow and Head of Public Relations at the Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC), Alex A. Bah.
The initiative aims to equip young people with the values and practical skills needed to promote peace, integrity, accountability and ethical leadership.
It followed a Peace, Integrity and Leadership Training held on 20 August at the ACC’s Integrity House, which brought together Senior Secondary School pupils from seven schools in the Western Area.
Following a series of competitive presentations and arguments, Saint Joseph Secondary School was declared the overall winner and received the Jamil Sesay Memorial Debate Trophy and a certificate. Participating pupils from the other schools also received certificates.
Speaking at the programme, Patrick Sandi, Coordinator of Operations at the ACC, reaffirmed the Commission’s support for the initiative and stressed the importance of nurturing integrity among young people. He encouraged the pupils to contribute to preventing corruption and promoting accountability in their schools and communities.
Wilfred Bangura, a Cohort 7 Rotary Peace Fellow and Deputy Director of the National Anti-Corruption Strategy Secretariat, also commended the initiative and Mr. Bah for equipping young people with values and skills to promote integrity, accountability and responsible citizenship.
Delivering the keynote address on “The Voice of Young People,” Mark Ivan Kapindy Vandi, Public Relations Officer at the Sierra Leone Ports and Harbours Authority, urged the pupils to recognise that having a voice comes with responsibility.
He challenged them to think critically about national challenges, develop practical solutions and engage others through respectful dialogue.
The debate provided participants with an opportunity to apply lessons from the initial training while demonstrating critical thinking, research, evidence-based argument, public speaking, persuasion and respectful disagreement.
Mr. Bah said the initiative was designed to provide young people with practical opportunities to understand and apply the values promoted through the programme. He noted that values and habits developed early in life can shape the kind of leaders young people become.
The competition also honoured the memory of Jamil Sesay. Paying tribute to him, his close friend, Precious Jah-Tucker, described him as a deeply selfless person who was always available for those he loved and regularly reached out to friends when he had not heard from them.
She remembered Jamil as a man of integrity and strong values, recalling how she would jokingly tell him that his unwavering principles would make him a poor lawyer.
She added that Jamil would have been present at the debate, invited or not, because of how deeply he cared about people.
A minute of silence and prayer were observed in his memory.
The Jamil Sesay Memorial Debate Trophy serves as a lasting tribute to his memory and a symbol of peace, integrity, intellectual excellence and positive youth leadership.
The Catch Them Young initiative will continue to promote youth engagement in peacebuilding, integrity and ethical leadership, with the debate providing a practical platform for young people to put these values into action.
