Little known Luboobi takes MUK top post
I spent three years studying at Makerere University but had never heard of the name Livingstone Luboobi. It was only last March that I learnt that he is one of the only two professors of mathematics in Uganda –– the other being Prof. Paul Mugambi.
By Denis Ocwich
I spent three years studying at Makerere University but had never heard of the name Livingstone Luboobi. It was only last March that I learnt that he is one of the only two professors of mathematics in Uganda –– the other being Prof. Paul Mugambi.
Even up to two weeks ago, Luboobi was still one of the little known lecturers on the campus. But now he, or at least his name, is the most popular jingle out on campus.
From a low profile to Makerere’s pinnacle, the 59-year-old professor of biomathematics tells his story:
“I am not one of those who go around showing off... I am more of a classroom teacher.â€
Luboobi speaks softly, listens attentively, and is composed.
In a grey Kaunda suit and a modest pair of black shoes, he perfectly resembles my former primary school headmaster in Lira.
“Kaunda suit is my formal dress code,†he confesses. “Ties and jackets are very uncomfortable to me...â€
After the whistle was blown mid last year for the cliff-hanger race to fill the post of Makerere’s vice-chancellor (VC), many pollsters quickly wrote off Luboobi as a novice. But today, the man many considered a feather-weight has become the heavy-weight.
On May 14, he was elected by the University Council before the Chancellor Prof. Apolo Nsibambi endorsed him as the man to replace Prof. John Ssebuwufu.
While his competitors flamboyantly sought for votes, the soft-spoken and down-to-earth Luboobi let his 20-page curriculum vitae do the talking.
Some people, however, believe Prof. Ssebuwufu, whose contract expires next month, wooed Luboobi, a fellow scientist into standing for the post.
Luboobi admits that his “friends†coaxed him into joining the race.
He, however falls short of mentioning Ssebuwufu’s name as the “campaign manager†though he says the VC showed confidence in him by appointing him to chair the taskforce that came up with the university’s Five-Year Strategic Plan for 2000/01 - 2004/05â€.
Colleagues say Luboobi is calm and tactful in executing monumental tasks.
But he cannot forget to pay tribute to his eight children: “Whatever we do, we do it together, and we have fought together,†says the teetotaller whose wife, Margaret Namatovu passed away in 1997.
Born on Christmas day in 1944, Luboobi’s mother Sanyu Nalubega and father Lameka Serwadda were both peasants in Mitondo village, Rakai district. He grew up under difficult conditions and learnt to work hard.
“He is a soft-spoken but hardworking person,†says Dr. Tom Otiti, an Associate Professor in the physics department.
“He is honest and sincere.â€
After the interview in his tiny office at the department of mathematics, we walked side by side to the Lincoln flats, about 300 metres away, where he has another office as co-ordinator of the partnership programme between Makerere and Bergen University, Norway.
From his physique, one wonders if Luboobi will manage the vast 83-year-old institution. But those who have studied or worked with him say he is an intelligent man.
Right from secondary school, he always scored 80% and above in examinations. From Kakoma and Matale Primary schools, he proceeded to Kako Junior Secondary School before heading to Ntare School for ‘O’ Level between 1961 and 1964. He emerged the second best overall student in the country in the national examinations.
He joined Makerere College School for ‘A’ Level in 1965 for a Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics subject combination. He dropped Chemistry in preference of double mathematics.
“At first the headmaster did not accept the idea, arguing that there was no teacher for double mathematics, but I insisted on teaching myself. And when the final examinations came I had scored triple A,†he recounts, flinging his arms in the air.
He pursued a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics and graduated with a first class. He holds a Master of Science in Operations Research from the University of Toronto (1971 to 1972) and a Ph.D in Biomathematics from the University of Adelaide in Australia (1978 to 1980).
“Surprisingly in primary school my interest was more in English. But when I went to Kako Junior Secondary School (1959 to 1960), I picked interest in mathematics and since then I have specialised in it.â€
Among other things, Luboobi takes credit for successfully chairing the taskforce responsible for drafting development plans for the university. In 1990/91 when he was head of mathematics department, the then VC, Prof. Senteza Kajubi gave him the mantle to steer the task force that drafted the first locally-formulated Strategic Plan of Makerere.
Eight years later in 1999, Ssebuwufu appointed him to head a 15-member team, which produced a superb project proposal to seek for aid from the Norwegian Development Agency (NORAD) from which Makerere got about sh30b from NORAD for a five-year development programme.
The money was used for building the Department of Women and Gender studies, newly-opened Institute of Computer Science and the soon-to-open Department of Food Science and Technology –– all storied structures.
Since he started working officially at Makerere in 1973, Luboobi has been on several key committees and taskforces, including the senate and University Council.
“I am not a stranger in the administration,†says Luboobi who was dean of the Faculty of Science from 1994 to 2001.
“I love challenges. I have been part of the planning of the university and I have learnt a lot about how a university is run.â€
The task is huge, he agrees, but believes it is achievable. For instance, he wants to reform the courses, which have mushroomed before the private sponsorship programme was introduced in early 1990s to 60 by last year. Some of the courses, he says, are duplicated, and thus might have to be eliminated.
He is also aiming at speeding up processing of examination results, transcripts and other documents, which he says are “unacceptably slowâ€. Other aims are raising lecturers’ salaries and the issue of overcrowding of students. The student population, he says, has hit 35,000, and yet facilities have not improved proportionately.
“You cannot take on the number for whom you have no facility. The expansion has been too big in a short time, and is not well-planned,†he emphasises, describing overcrowding as a “sore in the eye for the university.â€
So when do we expect to start seeing his reforms? With raised eyebrows, Luboobi assures: “Give me one year (in office), and many things will have changed, as long as we work as a team, because nothing can be achieved single-handedly.â€
Ends
I spent three years studying at Makerere University but had never heard of the name Livingstone Luboobi. It was only last March that I learnt that he is one of the only two professors of mathematics in Uganda –– the other being Prof. Paul Mugambi.
Even up to two weeks ago, Luboobi was still one of the little known lecturers on the campus. But now he, or at least his name, is the most popular jingle out on campus.
From a low profile to Makerere’s pinnacle, the 59-year-old professor of biomathematics tells his story:
“I am not one of those who go around showing off... I am more of a classroom teacher.â€
Luboobi speaks softly, listens attentively, and is composed.
In a grey Kaunda suit and a modest pair of black shoes, he perfectly resembles my former primary school headmaster in Lira.
“Kaunda suit is my formal dress code,†he confesses. “Ties and jackets are very uncomfortable to me...â€
After the whistle was blown mid last year for the cliff-hanger race to fill the post of Makerere’s vice-chancellor (VC), many pollsters quickly wrote off Luboobi as a novice. But today, the man many considered a feather-weight has become the heavy-weight.
On May 14, he was elected by the University Council before the Chancellor Prof. Apolo Nsibambi endorsed him as the man to replace Prof. John Ssebuwufu.
While his competitors flamboyantly sought for votes, the soft-spoken and down-to-earth Luboobi let his 20-page curriculum vitae do the talking.
Some people, however, believe Prof. Ssebuwufu, whose contract expires next month, wooed Luboobi, a fellow scientist into standing for the post.
Luboobi admits that his “friends†coaxed him into joining the race.
He, however falls short of mentioning Ssebuwufu’s name as the “campaign manager†though he says the VC showed confidence in him by appointing him to chair the taskforce that came up with the university’s Five-Year Strategic Plan for 2000/01 - 2004/05â€.
Colleagues say Luboobi is calm and tactful in executing monumental tasks.
But he cannot forget to pay tribute to his eight children: “Whatever we do, we do it together, and we have fought together,†says the teetotaller whose wife, Margaret Namatovu passed away in 1997.
Born on Christmas day in 1944, Luboobi’s mother Sanyu Nalubega and father Lameka Serwadda were both peasants in Mitondo village, Rakai district. He grew up under difficult conditions and learnt to work hard.
“He is a soft-spoken but hardworking person,†says Dr. Tom Otiti, an Associate Professor in the physics department.
“He is honest and sincere.â€
After the interview in his tiny office at the department of mathematics, we walked side by side to the Lincoln flats, about 300 metres away, where he has another office as co-ordinator of the partnership programme between Makerere and Bergen University, Norway.
From his physique, one wonders if Luboobi will manage the vast 83-year-old institution. But those who have studied or worked with him say he is an intelligent man.
Right from secondary school, he always scored 80% and above in examinations. From Kakoma and Matale Primary schools, he proceeded to Kako Junior Secondary School before heading to Ntare School for ‘O’ Level between 1961 and 1964. He emerged the second best overall student in the country in the national examinations.
He joined Makerere College School for ‘A’ Level in 1965 for a Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics subject combination. He dropped Chemistry in preference of double mathematics.
“At first the headmaster did not accept the idea, arguing that there was no teacher for double mathematics, but I insisted on teaching myself. And when the final examinations came I had scored triple A,†he recounts, flinging his arms in the air.
He pursued a Bachelor of Science Degree in Mathematics and graduated with a first class. He holds a Master of Science in Operations Research from the University of Toronto (1971 to 1972) and a Ph.D in Biomathematics from the University of Adelaide in Australia (1978 to 1980).
“Surprisingly in primary school my interest was more in English. But when I went to Kako Junior Secondary School (1959 to 1960), I picked interest in mathematics and since then I have specialised in it.â€
Among other things, Luboobi takes credit for successfully chairing the taskforce responsible for drafting development plans for the university. In 1990/91 when he was head of mathematics department, the then VC, Prof. Senteza Kajubi gave him the mantle to steer the task force that drafted the first locally-formulated Strategic Plan of Makerere.
Eight years later in 1999, Ssebuwufu appointed him to head a 15-member team, which produced a superb project proposal to seek for aid from the Norwegian Development Agency (NORAD) from which Makerere got about sh30b from NORAD for a five-year development programme.
The money was used for building the Department of Women and Gender studies, newly-opened Institute of Computer Science and the soon-to-open Department of Food Science and Technology –– all storied structures.
Since he started working officially at Makerere in 1973, Luboobi has been on several key committees and taskforces, including the senate and University Council.
“I am not a stranger in the administration,†says Luboobi who was dean of the Faculty of Science from 1994 to 2001.
“I love challenges. I have been part of the planning of the university and I have learnt a lot about how a university is run.â€
The task is huge, he agrees, but believes it is achievable. For instance, he wants to reform the courses, which have mushroomed before the private sponsorship programme was introduced in early 1990s to 60 by last year. Some of the courses, he says, are duplicated, and thus might have to be eliminated.
He is also aiming at speeding up processing of examination results, transcripts and other documents, which he says are “unacceptably slowâ€. Other aims are raising lecturers’ salaries and the issue of overcrowding of students. The student population, he says, has hit 35,000, and yet facilities have not improved proportionately.
“You cannot take on the number for whom you have no facility. The expansion has been too big in a short time, and is not well-planned,†he emphasises, describing overcrowding as a “sore in the eye for the university.â€
So when do we expect to start seeing his reforms? With raised eyebrows, Luboobi assures: “Give me one year (in office), and many things will have changed, as long as we work as a team, because nothing can be achieved single-handedly.â€
Ends