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Prof. Celestino Obua, a great leader, scientist, trailblazer in academia and research, father, and above all, a human being, ends his journey as Mbarara University of Science and Technology’s (MUST) second vice chancellor. While his legacy and contributions at MUST will echo throughout the university’s history, his impact in my life and how he has shaped my professional journey will live with me throughout my life.
His appointment as Vice Chancellor of MUST was just 18 months after my joining the university’s Research Grants Office. Having completed my Bachelor of Commerce Degree (Accounting major) from Makerere University in June of 2012, I first hung around Kampala in the pursuit of employment, which was never forthcoming, and therefore I opted to pack my bags and move home to Mbarara. I was lucky to get a 3-month volunteer opportunity at MUST on a research project, the Uganda AIDS Rural Treatment Outcomes (UARTO), which had been studying the patterns of HIV treatment outcomes in South-Western Uganda for 15 years as of 2012. The project was led by Dr. David Bangsberg, a professor of medicine at Harvard University and its teaching hospital, Massachusetts’s General Hospital (MGH).
My high school best friend at Mbarara High School, Aggrey, who would later be my best man on my wedding, had also returned to Kabale after completing his university degree to join his mother, Mama Irene, the “money changer” at the Katuna border. Aggrey had been referred to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital to see a specialist, and because he knew I worked within the hospital, he called me to help him navigate the hospital. I vividly remember that Thursday morning phone call, which found me interpreting Runyankole to English for Dr. Anna Baylor, UARTO site director, on her clinic day.
Of course, I was happy to direct him to where the clinic was; he saw the specialist, and we met in the evening, and guess what Aggrey had for me—a job advertisement for an Accounts Clerk position at the MUST Grants Office, which he had plucked off from one of the notice boards and said while he handed it to me, “Bro, this is your job!”.
I had interviewed at the MUST Grants Office previously for the position of administrator under the MEPI MESAU Project in October 2012, a position in which my friend now turned sister Samantha Mary emerged best, and I came in second. I applied for the Accounts role and did interviews from January through March 2013. I emerged the best, and on April 4, 2013, I reported to my duty station and was received by Prof. Nozmo Mukiibi (RIP).
On October 24th, 2014, MUST received its 2nd Vice Chancellor, Prof. Celestino Obua, who had been the Deputy Principal College of Health Sciences at Makerere University, and in October 2015, he led a research team that won the first or many prime research grants from the US National Institute of Health (NIH) to MUST. It was a $3.2 million 5-year project, and I was headhunted to coordinate its training arm, probably because of my people skills.
From 2015 to date, 2024, MUST has been attracting an average of $3M per year in extra-mural research funding towards biological sciences, health, technology, agriculture, and research. Both local and international collaborations have expanded; notable of all is the Health Education Partnership Initiative (HEPI) Project, which MUST led with Bishop Stuart University, Kabale University, and Lira University under the leadership of Prof. Celestino Obua.
He challenged so many academic staff to enrol in graduate programs from Masters to PHDs under SIDA funding. For us in research management, he encouraged us to get certified, and through his MURTI grant, I was supported to undertake a $15,000, 1-year certification course at the University of Central Florida, CRA. For career and research advancement, MUST will forever be grateful to you, Prof. Obua.
Prof. Obua has opened doors for so many; a case in point is that he led a delegation of 5 people, me included, to meet Prof. Peter Mugyenyi, the founding father of the Joint Clinical Research Centre (JCRC) at Lubowa. For the half day we spent with Prof. Mugyenyi, I saw a man so humble and accomplished, and I prayed to God to let me be a tenth of him in serving humanity. From this meeting, the following week I was on a plane to Las Vegas, Nevada, to attend the Society of Research Administrator’s International (SRAI). A tradition that Prof. Celestino extended to not only his project staff but even staff of the main stream university.
September 2020, I walked my wife Merlyn down the aisle, and Prof. Obua was present and supportive through to the big day. He encouraged me to take some time off work, and what sealed it off was not his attendance nor the gift that was extended to us but his evening 15-minute phone call 2 days before the function. It was so encouraging and reassuring, and that evening I listened to a father’s voice, not my boss’ voice.
In 2021 I left his research team, one of the toughest decisions I had to make in life, but even after my departure, there is no day that I wanted something from him and couldn’t get it. From support letters to scheduling meeting appointments for collaborators, etc.
Just recently, my wife resigned from her formal employment and started a laundry and cleaning service in Mbarara called Nyonyozi Dry and General Cleaners. Among our very first visitors were Prof. Obua, and I learnt that after he requested his personal assistant, Sharon, whom I had already pitched to bring us his ceremonial gowns for drycleaning, which she did, and we didn’t disappoint as well.
In conclusion, we are grateful to God for giving Prof. Obua good health, wisdom, and demeanour for serving MUST for 10 years in the capacity of VC. We thank his family, who allowed us to share in his fatherly love and wisdom. May the good Lord keep you and protect you! Old is gold!
Keith Asiime (CRA), the writer, is a research administrator at Mbarara University of Science and Technology and an MBA student at Heriot Watt University, facilitated by MAT ABACUS.