On Thursday last week during the European Union’s Democracy Day and Access to Information Day celebrations, a 24 year old plumber was crowned winner of a video contest that had been running in commemoration of Democracy Day. The announcement was made during the EU’s celebrations at Makerere University.

24 year old Timothy Balyejusa, took first place in the video contest that was ran to gather youth’s opinions on what democracy meant to them.

Contestants were required to submit one-minute videos on the theme ‘My Democracy Is’. The challenge was taken on by 65 contestants, with only three of them being from female participants. The competition was part of a series of activities that the European Union was running as part of their democracy celebrations

Speaking during the prize handover, Ms. Sandra Paesen, Chargee d’Affaires at the EU Delegation remarked “Congratulations to all the winners, and everyone else who participated in the challenge. You should all be proud of your submissions. Your opinions demonstrated how much you are passionate about your country and politics.”

As the overall winner, Timothy received and walked away with a brand new Samsung Galaxy S8; second winner, Ivan Masaba won himself a Samsung Galaxy S7 while third position won Doreen Musiimenta a Samsung Galaxy J2. The other seven winners won hampers containing an EU T-shirt, flash disk, stationery and a certification of participation.

The European Union marked the Access to Information Day by organizing and hosting a round-table and plenary discussion at Makerere that had panelists comprising of Isaac Imaka, Prof. Goretti Nassanga, Nicholas Opiyo and Eshban Kwesiga. NTV’s On the Spot show host, Patrick Kamara graced the discussion as moderator. The discussion focused on the access to information in the digital era as an enabler for democracy and development; also highlighting challenges and opportunities for Uganda as a nation. The discussion culminated into a students’ debate, which brought the event to a close.