RAMs, Kadhis Disassociate Themselves from Ggangu Resolutions
Regional Assistants to His Eminence the Mufti of Uganda Sheikh Sheikh Ramadan Mubaje, District Kadhis and their Assistants have disassociated themselves from the purported Special General Assembly that led to the appointment of Sheikh Abdullah Ssemambo as acting Mufti.
This is part of the five key resolutions endorsed by the Nine Regional Assistants to the Mufti-RAMs, 70 Kadhis and 50 Deputy Kadhis shortly after holding their meeting at the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council-UMSC Conference hall on Thursday. The Kadhis are part of the UMSC General Assembly. The RAMs and Kadhis also resolved to condemn the 25 members of the general assembly who participated in the said illegal meeting held at Ggangu Muslim primary school in Busabala in Wakiso district, saying it contravened the UMSC constitution. They also asked the Gov’t and its agencies to always use the UMSC constitution to resolve Muslim affairs and asked Justice Faridah Bukirwa Ntambi to refer to the UMSC constitution, while reviewing the judicial orders she issued leading to the Ggangu meeting and subsequent appointment of Sheikh Ssemambo as acting Mufti.
Prior to the signing of the resolutions, the UMSC Secretary General Hadji Abbas Sekyanzi Muluubya briefed the members that the petition that led to the issuance of the court orders for the special meeting was filed in May last year and not as a result of the last UMSC General Assembly.
“Don’t be deceived that this petition was a result of the General Assembly held in November 2023. It was filed earlier on. We filed our submissions and the judge promised to deliver her judgement in three weeks but didn’t come until after the last General Assembly,” he said. He urged the RAMs and Kadhis to assure Muslims that everything is at ease at the UMSC headquarters and they should go about their duties normally.
He also informed them that they had written to the Inspector of Police-IGP informing him about the court order halting the implementation of th Ggangu resolutions. “It’s now your responsibility to ensure that nobody disturbs your areas until court reviews this matter,” he said.
Speaking at the same meeting His Eminence Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubaje, the Mufti of Uganda applauded the RAMS and Kadhis for standing firm in the face of bribery. “I want to thank you Kadhis because I didn’t hear that you had gone for the speech day at Ggangu. Only Sheikh Katwingire was there but don’t look at him with bad eyes because he left after realizing what was going on. I actually deployed a lot of spies to monitor what was going on. Thanks for standing on the truth unlike the past, this time you behaved the way you were expected to. I have taken note of all the Kadhis who have managed to attend this meeting. We have 78 Kadhis but eight haven’t shown up some with genuine excuses we shall follow up on the rest to understand why they didn’t make it,” he said.
“After the constitutional amendment with the help of the Gov’t and establishment of various administrative structures, what is remaining is to offer services to Muslims, consolidate our constitution and not to fight for positions. Whoever tries to do that using short cuts will fail,” he added.
He also asked the RAMs and Kadhis to assure Muslims that the proposed auction of Muslim property is no longer on the table. “We acknowledge receipt of Justus Katabahwa’s money and we are ready to pay him without going through a fundraising that some of our colleagues were proposing,” he said. Katabahwa paid Shillings 3.5billion for the UMSC ranch in Ssembabule but the transaction hit a stalemate because of opposition from squatters and other settlers on the land.The UMSC National Chairperson Prof. Dr. Muhamadi Lubega Kisambira urged the RAMs and Kadhis to advise Muslims to ignore the propaganda being spread on social media and some media houses. ‘It is so embarrassing that even renowned media houses like Bukedde, CBS and BBS TV have been involved in spreading fake news and misinformation. The court says one thing they publish another thing all together,” he said. “You need to inform our people the truth. Nobody is taking Muslim property. Some of you have been calling me to inquire whether you are still Kadhis. When you were being appointed Kadhis were you appointed over the radio? The processes, tools and functions that are used to elect our leaders are known. I assure you that courts can’t decide who is the Mufti of Uganda. What happened is like three of us sit and complain about the president and the court allows us to call a meeting where we elect our president, dismiss parliament and the speaker. Does that really make sense to you?” he asked amidst applause from the gathering. He argued that what is killing Islam in Uganda is greed. ‘People have turned Islam into a business. People are earning a living out of peddling lies about UMSC. Whenever we fight they benefit,” he said. He explained that first it was about Muslim property but they were only singing one thing, the Mufti should go. “We stopped the sale of the Muslim property and they still continued shouting. Your child is dying you cry and when the child gets better you still cry. What exactly do you want?” The meeting was attended by Second Deputy Mufti, Sheikh Muhammad Waiswa and UMSC Deputy National Chairperson, Haji Muzamil Abon among other top officials.