KAMPALA – St. Lawrence University has on Friday, February 17, 2023, paid tribute to renowned educationalist and its founder Prof. Lawrence Mukiibi at an inaugural memorial lecture in his name.
Prof. Lawrence Mukiibi Memorial Lecture took place at the university campus in Kampala.
The theme of the lecture was Entrepreneurial Education, a pathway to a sustainable livelihood.
The lecture was delivered by Prof. Augustus Nuwagaba, an international consultant on economic transformation with a wealth of central bank monetary policy on commercial bank competitiveness.
Besides hailing the many firsts and achievements of Prof. Mukiibi, panel discussants that included Prof. Badru Kateregga, the Vice Chancellor at Kampala University, Mr. Raymond Musiima, and Prof. Charles Ssekyewa among others debated and discussed the need to vocationalise Uganda’s education system.
On the person of Prof. Mukiibi, Dr. Mike Ssebalu, the chairperson of the University Council
Nuwagaba said, “Prof. Senteza Kajubi’s life and legacy as a teacher, educator, and leader of several higher educational institutions, is nothing short of astounding. Today we celebrate a life profoundly lived and a legacy worth emulating”.
“The man we are celebrating this afternoon belongs to categories of great men and tribute is the best thing that could have happened at this point in his life. If you unpack the life of Professor Mukiibi, every aspect of it is a lecture of its own,” Dr. Ssebalu said.
“You will get a lecture on commitment. You will get a lecture on hard work, you will get a lecture on resilience. You will get a lecture on purpose. You will get a lecture on consistency. You will get a lecture on simplicity. His life was a lecture and that that’s why we are having a memorial lecture simply so that we consciously learn from his life,” he added.
Dr. Ssebalu said that Prof. Mukiibi who started the university and a number of St. Lawrence schools and colleges impacted many lives and in the process, his legacy will forever live.
He commended the family for keeping the candle burning and for standing strong and standing out of the crowd.
Presently made up of eight school campuses, St Lawrence Schools and Colleges were established in 1993. The first campus, Kabaka’s Lake, started with only six students. However, even when the numbers grew and people imagined he and the schools were making lots of money, Mukiibi’s simplicity wasn’t faltered.
Mukiibi mostly wore simple suits and, during celebrations, it was mostly matching the colours of Kabaka’s lake and Creamland campus uniforms – cream trousers, a short-sleeved white shirt, and a maroon blazer and tie – the joke was that he ordered the suits at the same place where he ordered for the uniforms.
This simplicity was even seen with the choice of cars, mostly simple Toyotas – they were easily overshadowed on visitation Sundays, totally sandwiched among monster cars that belonged to parents. It wasn’t surprising that the rumors about the schools not being his surfaced, and the students would also be a party to them, but that was just his life.
He wanted to be simple, smart, and orderly. But he took the smartness very seriously. For instance, he was always interested in ensuring that people put on their white stockings and had a white handkerchief on them – the inspections that were mostly random used to take place during assemblies.
He argued that white wasn’t the benchmark of cleanliness, but the commitment to keep them clean every day. In fact, there are many occasions he pardoned people that many believed were meant to be expelled, but then there were many more occasions that people got expelled for having sagging pants, being untidy, trespassing…
‘Procrastination is a thief of time,’ he would say. At times, he would check books to see if students had written the statement on the first page of all their books or files.
Prof. Nuwagaba said Prof. Mukiibi is an icon of Uganda’s education sector.
“There’s no way you can talk about Uganda’s education sector without talking about St. Lawrence Empire of schools. He built this empire from scratch was able to mobilize resources and put up this empire as you can see,” Prof. Nuwagaba said.
Dr. Sarah Nkonge Muwonge, a vice chairperson of St. Lawrence University’s Council and school proprietor said Prof Mukiibi was a mentor of most of the private schools.
“He was a voice. He took us to President Museveni when we had issues with multiple taxes and licenses and we managed to convince him.”
“Today as we celebrate our icon, we remember that he is a man who initiated private education and we thank the family for maintaining the legacy of this great man,” she added.
