7 July 2009
Kampala — The Government will ensure unity among Ugandan Muslims, President Yoweri Museveni said yesterday.
Meeting about 300 Muslim women and district kadhis, the President said: "I am ready to unite all Muslim factions. I am going to try to bring them together and that is what I am doing now."
Muslims are embroiled in a leadership wrangle between Mufti Sheikh Ramadhan Mubajje and Zubair Kayongo. Rivalling groups have for moths clashed over management of mosques.
The meeting took place at State House Entebbe on Monday. Museveni thanked the group for their support in the past elections and said no one would again destabilise Uganda.
State House said in a statement that Museveni also attributed the Government's successes on wananchi's support. "We succeeded because you supported us with your votes and we had enough time to stabilise the country," he said.
The President said stability was not only for the country but for personal safety and development. "Whoever tries to bring fujo (unrest) will be handled. All efforts should now be used to develop the country," he said.
On morality, Museveni advised parents to be close to their children. "Be friendly to your children. They will love to be at home and will take interest in listening to the positive advice a parent gives them," he said.
On poverty, the President called on Muslim women to embrace the Prosperity-for-All programme and join savings and credit societies.
Museveni assured all women in the country of government support, describing them as the nucleus of the family and a base for development.
In a memorandum, the group hailed Museveni and the Government for the peace, the Islamic University in Uganda and the Old Kampala mosque.
They noted that the mosque had become a spiritual centre and a tourist attraction and had made all Ugandan Muslims proud.
Meanwhile, the Muslim break-away faction has vowed to defy a court ruling that their leader, Sheikh Zubair Kayongo, is not the mufti of Uganda and must stop acting as such, reports Madinah Tebajjukira.
In the verdict on Monday, the court said the Muslim constitution provided for only one mufti, a position now held by Ramadhan Mubajje. Accordingly, it ordered the "Super Mufti", as Kayongo's supporters describe him, to stop appointing district kadhis and imams. However, Kayongo's spokesperson, Sheikh Hassan Kiirya, yesterday said the group would press on with its nationwide mobilisation activities.
He added that Kayongo had never appointed any kadhis or imams. Instead, he argued, some corrupt imams and kadhis had been kicked out of office by grassroots Muslims. Kayongo only presided over the swearing-in ceremony of the new clergymen, he said.
He also condemned the Muslim constitution, which he described as "full of loopholes". "We don't believe in that constitution because of its many loopholes. So what constitution are they talking about? This is not politics, but matters of religion."
Kayongo, he asserted, was implementing the Koran, which he said encourages Muslims to disobey deceitful leaders. The anti-Mubajje saga dates back to 2006 but boiled over earlier this year when the court acquitted Mubajje of the fraudulent sale of Muslim properties but said he had repeatedly lied to his community about the transaction.
Kiirya also urged government officials to stop "meddling" in Muslim affairs and warned of long-term consequences. He said three government officials had advised Mubajje to seek an injunction to block Kayongo, and that they influenced the court ruling.
Kiirya said although his group had been peaceful, they would not stomach "continuous provocation" but fight back in self-defence.
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