Veteran UVRI scientist Dr Louis Mukwaya, who has mosquito species named after him, rests

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The Vicar General Emeritus of Kampala Archdiocese, Msgr Charles Kasibante, has urged Christians to be more generous and give freely without expecting anything in return.

“We want to thank God for the good work that he has enabled him to carry out for a long time, Dr Mukwaya was a very good hearted person, you would be there and he would ask you for children he could help, I thought about it late but I would have requested him to help with funding education for a few seminarians, who were not financially stable,” Msgr Kasibante said.

“He has helped very many people in that way, to ensure that he helps financially unstable children by putting them in school to attain that knowledge and reach somewhere in life. Am sure he has left when he has planted that seed in his co-workers, among us and even the children know, keep your fathers good heart of helping people,” he added.

Msgr Kasibante made the remarks at the vigil of former acting director of Uganda Virus Research Institute (UVRI), Dr Louis Godfrey Mukwaya, who died Sunday aged 87.

“That’s why you see those developed countries offer aide to the underdeveloped ones because it’s human, and even Jesus Christ left it for us to do because we can not all walking at the same pace, if God has given you a chance to earn a lot, help those in need,” he said.

Dr Mukwaya’s work on mosquitoes saw a mosquito named after him — Stegomyia (Mukwaya) simpsoni, formerly Stegomyia simpsoni.

UVRI Director Prof Pontiano Kaleebu described him as a pillar. He joined in 1965 as the first Ugandan graduate at the institute.

“The institution has celebrated 90 years of its existence this year, of the 90 years, Dr Mukwaya worked at the Uganda Virus Institute for 61 years, he retired in 1999, but continued to work on projects and recently has been a consultant,” Prof Kaleebu said.

“He is well known for his research on mosquitoes, especially to understand the feeding behaviour of mosquitoes, including now understanding that these behaviours are genetically modified. The basis for the feeding behaviour is more genetic than environmental, hence now the idea of modifying mosquitoes,” he said.

“He did a lot during the difficult days when there was instability, when many people left in the 1970s, and for a period of time he was the acting director of the Institute, he was able to save a lot of specimens to ensure that the Institute continues,” he added.

“He tells you the truth and his mind, he was able to inspire discipline and ethical working practices,” Prof Kaleebu said, noting his transparent, corruption-free record.

“The experiments he did to show that some mosquitoes feed on humans while others feed on other animals and rodents that is the work we are carrying forward up to now,” he said. The institute is building archives for a museum that will depict his work.

“He used to take me to the office when we were young, and I think that’s how I ended up being a scientist. What is remarkable, I think, about him, he loved what he did. Can you imagine loving a mosquito?”

She said his work on biting behaviour linked to genetics has enhanced gene editing.

“If you can find the mutations that are linked to the biting behaviour, you delete them, you edit them, and then you end up with a mosquito that is not competent to bite, or competent to spread a parasite, or a virus, or a pathogen,” she said.

“The technologies that he was using, the older ones, a bit were more basic, it takes a longer time to get results, but you can get signals. But now, the technologies are more modern, and it takes a much shorter time to get results. The challenge now, I think, is having more vector biologists who can do the work that he could have done,” she added.

Eldest son Anthony Makumbi described him as strict but kind:

“Something very interesting about our dad, as much as he was strict, he loved children, he never used to want a child on the streets not going to school while his own kids are going to school. He would always find a way to send you back to school, whether he knows your parents or doesn’t.”

He said Mukwaya died of kidney failure complications.

“Like any old man of 87 years, they get complications as they grow, because he was immobile, he had issues with his kidneys, which basically affected every other part of the body because kidneys remove toxins,” Makumbi said.

“He got affected by all that and he died of basically failure to breathe, at the end of the day, he couldn’t breathe anymore because of the system, oxygen was not getting in the system anymore, that’s basically how he died, very peacefully,” he said.

“He died a man who had lived his life, he said it. He lived his life fully, he had no regrets about anything, he left when he was so prepared and content, he was just waiting for that day. He never wanted anything to be done to try and extend his life while he was suffering,” he added.

Dr Mukwaya was laid to rest Tuesday in Semuto, Nakaseke District.

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