General
Tribute to Prof. Livingstone S. Luboobi: Servant leader, Mentor, Father Figure and Role Model
Professor Livingstone Sserwadda Luboobi, on 16th July 2025, you have completed your earthly journey, and you are returning to the Almighty God, your creator. It is very painful to lose you, my mentor and role model. I will find solace in your impactful legacy. I am comforted that you will live on, through the countless lives that you touched, inspired and mentored at the national and international levels.
To God be the glory, for a life well lived (25th December 1944 to 16th July 2025). A genuine human being with a pure heart. A life of good works to humanity filled with simplicity, empathy, love, respect, generosity, wise counsel and guidance, and compassion. You have been a true embodiment of the scripture in Matthew 22:39, love your neighbor as yourself.
Professor Luboobi, you were one of a kind. You have been God’s perfect gift to humanity. A very intelligent and distinguished mathematician who served as the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University from 2004 to 2009. You believed that every individual had a contribution to make in the transformation of Makerere University. I am grateful to God that I met you in the course of my academic journey, a blessing that presented me with a rich and rewarding experience that solidified my career path.
Meeting Greatness
Reflecting on my career and life journey (2004 to date), I was blessed to work with Professor Luboobi during his tenure as Vice Chancellor. I met Professor Luboobi in 2004, when I was a student pursuing a Bachelor of Mass Communication degree at Makerere University. It was in the morning hours, as he headed to the Office of the Vice Chancellor, walking along that path of the then Faculty of Arts to the Main Building. I was coming out of a lecture at the Faculty of Arts, and rushing to catch another lecture at the Faculty of Social Sciences.
A few months earlier, I had read about him as the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University in one of the newspapers. When I glanced at him walking along the same path, he stopped, and greeted me with a smile. I responded to the greeting. After the greeting, I became speechless. He volunteered to continue the conversation, with a question, “Which course are studying at the University?” I responded-Bachelor of Mass communication. And in a minute, he passed on a word of counsel, enjoy your studies and remember to read and excel. I was meeting him for the first time, but he used that minute to pass on words of wisdom. I was filled with joy that I had met and greeted the Vice Chancellor, and little did I know, that I one day, I would work directly under him.
As luck would determine, the then Public Relations Officer of Makerere University, Ms. Helen Nanteza Kawesa joined the Department of Mass Communication to teach one of the course units. Ms. Nanteza Kawesa assigned us work, and I scored 29 out of 30 in the coursework. After the lecture, she requested to meet that particular student who had scored that mark. I interacted with her, and later, I was presented with an opportunity to join Makerere University Public Relations Office for internship.
When I reached the Public Relations Office, I was introduced to the staff in the Office of the Vice Chancellor. Ms. Nanteza Kawesa also introduced me to the Vice Chancellor as a student intern who was joining the Public Relations Office. He was seated in his Chair, but he stood up, shook my hand, and with a smile, welcomed me to the Office of the Vice Chancellor. He said: “You are going to add value to the Office of the Vice Chancellor.” I felt so nice and empowered.
The following morning, Professor Luboobi presented to me a note in his very nice hand-writing: “I am certain that you are that little girl, I once met and interacted with briefly at the Faculty of Arts as I headed to my office. I did not know that a year later, you would join the Office of the Vice Chancellor, I am extremely pleased that you have joined the Public Relations Office for internship. Feel free through your immediate supervisor to participate in every activity or program undertaken by the Office.”
I read that note a number of times, and I would recall, the phrase from the Vice Chancellor, assuring me that I was going to add value to the Office. He was a source of inspiration.
During my internship, I observed that Professor Luboobi was very intelligent, but down to earth. He embodied the true qualities of a servant leader. He was people-centred and inclusive. In the staff meetings, Professor Luboobi was always calm. He accorded his staff and the student intern, an opportunity to contribute ideas on the different topics or issues that were being discussed. He was a principled and exemplary leader. He was honest and a person with the highest degree of integrity and morality. He was a team player, and he exercised an open door policy. In his presence, we felt safe, valued and respected. He believed in the team that he led, and presented each member of staff with an opportunity to shine.
Professor Luboobi appreciated the contribution of his staff. There was cohesion and we felt a great sense of belonging. As I completed my internship, I was strongly convinced that in Professor Luboobi, I had met a father figure and role model. He closely monitored my academic performance, and I knew that I had no room not to excel.
On completion of my studies, I felt that I should return to the Public Relations Office to volunteer as I applied for jobs in other organisations. When the PRO presented my request, Professor Luboobi was very receptive. When I graduated, he presented me with a card, in his neat hand-writing, congratulating me upon my academic achievement. He gifted me with a simple, but classic present that I hold dear up to this day. He also contributed a generous package towards my graduation party.
During his tenure as Vice Chancellor, I was in position to serve as a student intern, volunteer, and Administrative Assistant.
He enhanced my leadership abilities. In one of the interactions, he disclosed to me that over time, he had observed that I was gifted with leadership abilities. I informed him that I had been a leader from nursery, primary and throughout my secondary school level education. He looked at me with a smile, and then said, “you are now going to be a leader guiding the Vice Chancellor, and your ideas will matter.” I looked at him, trying to understand what he exactly meant.
He assigned me tasks that enabled me to understand and appreciate the role of a Vice Chancellor. He said: “I am going to present you with an assignment.” If you became the Vice Chancellor today, what issues would you focus on? What issues or current practices would you wish to change? He requested that I should return with the written report the next morning. I have vivid memories of this assignment, I spent long hours at night, to ensure that I do not disappoint. In the morning, I walked into his office. He listened to my ideas as he took notes. After my presentation, he thanked me for contributing such wonderful ideas, and he gave me some chocolates. A week after, he convened a meeting for the staff in the Office of the Vice Chancellor, he shared those ideas with them. He then requested each member to provide his or her input. Thereafter, he organized a retreat off campus, for members of staff in his office, to provide more ideas on building strong systems within the Office of the Vice Chancellor.
He presented me with opportunities that grounded me in my career path: In office, he would ensure that the mandated office executes its work. He respected systems and worked within the hierarchy.
However, outside of the office, when his personal friends reached out to him to identify a person excellent in public relations and communications, he would strongly recommend me.
He nurtured my strategic planning potential: After some months, he assigned me another task. “I am working on the Strategic Plan for the University. It is going to be a consultative and participatory process. However, a leader does not go to a strategic meeting without any sense of direction. I have my ideas of what should be in the strategic plan, and I would like you to provide your ideas as a recent graduate of Makerere University, who has served as a student intern and volunteer in the Office of the Vice Chancellor.
“You are the first person that I am presenting this task with. After your submission, I will engage the members of staff in the Office the Vice Chancellor, Deans and Directors, and other stakeholders.”
I felt exceedingly humbled and challenged at the same time. To be sincere, at that time, I had never come across any strategic planning document. Sensing that I was overwhelmed, he said, let me simplify the task in form of a question. “What would you like Makerere University to be in the next five years? or What would be your vision for Makerere University in the next five years?”
When I went to his office the next day, he presented me with his strategic plan working document. He told me to read and critique it. I will never forget this experience!
I did not feel bold and grounded enough. In a very calm tone, he looked at me straight in the eye, and requested me to give it a try and critique it. Since he would listen to our opinions or ideas, I suggested to him that I felt that fellow Professors or Senior academics would critique his work. He welcomed the idea and he requested me to provide the names of the Professors or Senior academics that I thought would critique his work. I provided five (5) names and he wrote them down. Professor Luboobi said, you have presented me with a team of experts and I will involve them at the next stage.
However, I have a team leader in front of me, gifted with the knowledge of identifying a team of experts, I would like such a person to critique my work. I must acknowledge that this was not a simple task, but I read his document and I provided my input.
He also requested for my written report about my vision of Makerere University. After reading it, he informed me that he had selected some ideas that would enrich his working draft. He convened a meeting involving the Professors or Senior academics that I had proposed as his team of experts and all the staff in the Office of the Vice Chancellor to enrich the strategic plan working document. Thereafter, he requested the Planning and Development Department to organize a retreat bringing onboard leaders of the different academic, administrative and research units to contribute ideas to the strategic plan of the University.
At the level of Administrative Assistant, Professor Luboobi mentored me, to understand and appreciate the roles of a Vice Chancellor, he involved me in key critical decision making processes, he nurtured my strategic planning potential; he linked me with experts in the different disciplines for mentorship; he entrusted me with managing team-building engagements in the Office of the Vice Chancellor, to mention, but a few.
Over the years, I have served as Communication Officer, Senior Public Relations Officer, and Principal Public Relations Officer of Makerere University.
The team in the Public Relations Office, will forever hold dear Professor Luboobi’s visionary leadership that streamlined the public relations function within the University. During his tenure as Vice Chancellor, Professor Luboobi championed the recruitment of more staff in the Public Relations Office, bringing on board Corporate Affairs, Web management, Branding and Marketing experts. By providing this strategic direction, he significantly contributed to the visibility of Makerere University at the national and global arena.
He was truly called to the teaching profession. He loved his work and served people with distinction and humility. He was selfless, dedicated and committed to duty throughout his life. He generously shared his vast knowledge and skills with humanity.
He was humane. He espoused the most important ethos of a true human being. He lived the ‘Obuntu’ style. In Luganda, ‘abadde musajja omuntumulamu, omwetowaze era ow’empisa.’
Professor Luboobi, I will forever remain eternally grateful to God that I crossed your path. You will always remain my mentor and role model. Thank you for impacting my life positively. Fare-thee-well.
Ritah Namisango is the Principal Public Relations and Communication Specialist at Makerere University.
Before becoming an optometrist, researcher, programmer, and eye health entrepreneur, Timothy Khabusi walked barefoot to school along rough roads in Manafwa District, Eastern Uganda. For most of his primary school years, Timothy walked more than nine kilometres each day from his home to Bubulo Mixed Primary School in Manafwa District.
He would leave home at about 6:00 a.m., walk to the highway, and join other children on their way to school. On the murram road, sharp stones pressed into his feet. When the rains came, he sometimes arrived at school completely drenched. Occasionally, a truck carrying market vendors would stop and offer them a lift. “Those were few lucky days,” Timothy recalls.
At the time, however, Timothy did not see his life as unusual. It was simply how life was for many children in his village. What he did not yet know was that those long walks were helping shape a determination that would eventually take him from rural Manafwa to Makerere University and, later, the University of Edinburgh in Scotland.
Timothy Khabusi is the sixth of eight children (5 boys and 3 girls). His father, 68, a retired primary school teacher, and his mother, 60, a small retail shop owner, had limited resources but were determined to give their eight children opportunities they had not enjoyed themselves.
The family tried several ways to make ends meet. His mother ran a small local brew joint, selling malwa, a traditional fermented cereal drink. When Timothy was about ten, the family closed the malwa joint and moved on, first trying farming and later, in 2009, opening a small retail kiosk with money earned from selling a small coffee harvest.
The family kiosk changed things. Timothy started taking snacks to school and also began developing an interest in business. He sold sugarcane and later teamed up with his younger brother, Mark, to make mandazi, a popular delicacy among schoolchildren.
Behind these modest ventures were sacrifices his parents made for their children’s education and health. His father took loans to support the family through school, while both parents repeatedly emphasised the importance of education.
Timothy’s own academic journey was far from perfect.
At rural Bubulo Primary School, Timothy performed very well and earned a place at one of the best secondary schools in Eastern Uganda, Mbale Senior Secondary School, in Mbale city.
At Mbale Secondary School, he became a strong academic performer and earned a renewable merit-based bursary that covered most of his school fees. Mr Mabaku, his Mathematics teacher, taught him to connect classroom concepts to real-life problems—a way of thinking that would later shape his interest in technology and programming.
Then came a setback.
Timothy’s A-level results (15 points in Physics, Chemistry, and Mathematics) were far lower than he had expected. For someone who had always seen himself as a top student, the outcome was deeply disappointing, and he missed out on the much-coveted government scholarship. He even wondered whether university was still possible. He considered repeating his A-levels but instead applied to Makerere University on private sponsorship. He was admitted to study Optometry, although he had initially wanted to pursue Medicine and Surgery.
Then came the opportunity that changed everything.
In 2017, Timothy became a Mastercard Foundation Scholar at Makerere University, receiving support that enabled him to continue his university education. The financial uncertainty that had threatened his university education was resolved. What initially felt like failure became an opportunity that redirected him towards a field he had not planned to enter. Through optometry, he discovered a profession that linked clinical care with science, technology, research and public health.
His career journey after graduation.
After graduating from Makerere University in January 2022, Timothy set out to fulfil his ambitious mission to improve eye health in Uganda. His career began far from his village home in Manafwa: he started at a private clinic in Arua town, West Nile, hundreds of kilometres from Manafwa in Eastern Uganda. Asked why he didn’t find a job in Kampala, as most of his peers did, Timothy quickly explained that his mission is to provide the best eye health care to communities with limited access to these services.
After working for one year in Arua, he returned to Kampala. He first worked at Dr. Agarwal’s Eye Hospital from 2023 to 2025, then moved to Med-Optics, another popular eye clinic in Kampala. In February 2026, he opened his own eye clinic, Khabusi Vision Care Centre, a modern optometry centre dedicated to providing eye care services at subsidised rates to individuals and families who may face financial barriers to accessing these services.
His leadership journey
For Timothy, leadership is not about collecting titles. At Mbale Senior Secondary School, he led the Science Club, organising seminars and holiday revision programmes. At Makerere, he served as a minister at the College of Health Sciences and as a leader in the Optometry Students’ Association. Those experiences shaped a simple philosophy: leadership means seeing what needs improvement, taking responsibility, and bringing others along.
That philosophy now drives his ambitions for Khabusi Vision Care. In the coming years, he aims to strengthen the organisation’s clinical, public health, digital and research work. His longer-term vision is to build a major Ugandan eye health organisation with branches across the country, comprehensive services, research programmes and locally developed diagnostic and ophthalmic technologies.
Impact in the community
Asked about his impact in the community, Timothy quickly pointed to the number of patients whose sight he has helped restore at a modest cost they otherwise couldn’t have afforded.
“I am proud to have treated more than 10,000 patients and enabled them to see better since I began my optometry practice in 2022. Among the patients, I vividly remember a police woman who was on the verge of going completely blind due to a misdiagnosis she had received at different facilities she had visited in Kampala, until she came to Khabusi Vision Care Centre in Kyanja, where I was able to help correct the optical issue she was grappling with.” Timothy proudly states.
Timothy further enumerates the number of young people he has mentored and continues to mentor in optometry. He also offers graduate internships at his clinic and employs five young people as permanent staff. He also conducts regular community outreach activities, offering free eye check-ups in the community and subsidised treatment for those who need it.
A word to the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Community
Timothy expressed his gratitude to the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program and Makerere University for giving him the opportunity to pursue a quality university education at a time when he had lost hope of attending university after failing to secure a government scholarship.
“I am forever grateful to Mastercard Foundation and Makerere University for giving me a scholarship that changed my whole life; without the scholarship, I would not have been able to afford the university fees; therefore, I wouldn’t have become what I am today,” Timothy points out.
Asked what advice he would give to current Mastercard Foundation Scholars, Timothy urges them to take advantage of the additional skilling and development programmes the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program offers.
“I urge my young brothers and sisters on the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program currently to take the capacity-building training the Mastercard Foundation Scholars Program offers; it is what will give you an advantage over others in the job market,” Timothy advises.
Looking ahead
Beyond healthcare, Timothy is a writer, programmer, and researcher. He has published “From the Slopes of Mount Elgon”, a novel about a young girl who confronts poverty and betrayal while pursuing education and dignity. Timothy’s story is not a straightforward journey from challenge to success. It is about unexpected turns: the barefoot walks, the disappointing A-level results, the unexpected scholarship, and the career he never originally intended to pursue. His advice to young people comes from that experience: one disappointing result or difficult season need not decide the rest of your life. Sometimes, you have to keep walking.
“Keep learning, keep improving, and when opportunity comes, use it—not only to change your own life, but to create opportunities for others,” Timothy advises.
Timothy is now pursuing a Master’s degree in Patient Safety and Clinical Human Factors at the University of Edinburgh. The programme has reshaped his approach to healthcare. Rather than focusing solely on individual mistakes, he examines the systems that allow failures to occur and how to redesign them to improve patient safety.
On October 5, 2026, Makerere University welcomed Mrs. Anne Twinomugisha Muhairwe, the Deputy Inspector General of Government (DIGG) and her delegation for a courtesy visit ahead of the International Ombuds Day 2026 commemoration under the theme “Ombuds: Office of Options”.
The delegation was received by Professor Barnabas Nawangwe the Vice Chancellor of Makerere University in his office where they discussed the Ombuds Day theme, the university’s successful reconciliation-based conflict resolution, ongoing infrastructure projects, and a renewed commitment to institutional partnership.
Mrs. Twinomugisha Muhairwe, who also spoke as the President of the African Ombudsman and Mediators Association (AOMA), emphasised that her office aims to be a partner in building and strengthening public institutions rather than merely a critic. Therefore, this visit marked a big step in the evolving relationship between public institutions and the Office of the Ombudsman at the Inspectorate of Government, where it is headed by Director Kakooza Savio Ntensibe, who was also part of the delegation.
The DIGG shared that the office provides essential options for resolving grievances such as administrative injustice, where people feel victimised, and unheard.
Reconciliation Underscored
While addressing the delegation, Professor Nawangwe, framed the visit as a turning point in the institution’s relationship with oversight bodies. He welcomed the DIGG, an alumna of Makerere, and commended the Ombuds methodology that prioritizes reconciliation as initiated by neutral persons or bodies to resolve disputes.
“The style of reconciliation has worked very well for us as well, ever since we started talking to the students, it has kept peace in the university,” the Vice Chancellor remarked.
“We started talking to the students and… eventually, they started to understand. Today, if you come and begin talking of strike, fellow students will tell you, ‘We came here to study’”, added the Vice Chancellor.
The engagement also discussed the practical realities of student welfare. Mrs. Twinomugisha Muhairwe, with specific interest, probed the Vice Chancellor on the status of hall renovations. In response, the Vice Chancellor explained the phased approach to renovations, noting that the university is systematically upgrading facilities to improve the living conditions.
The Vice Chancellor thereafter invited Mrs. Twinomugisha Muhairwe and her team to visit the university museum, as a gesture to underscore the spirit of the day where the Ombudsman and the university stand together.
About Ombuds Day
Ombuds Day is an international observance held annually on the second Thursday of October to raise public awareness of the ombuds profession.
According to the International Ombuds Association, an ombuds is an independent, neutral, and confidential professional who helps resolve disputes, investigate complaints, and address systemic issues within an organization, government agency, or institution.
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