Muruli Denies Anti-Islam Statement
Sep 27, 2002
State minister for security Muruli Mukasa yesterday disowned reports that he said mosques were recruiting bases for rebels.
By Jude Etyang
State minister for security Muruli Mukasa yesterday disowned reports that he said mosques were recruiting bases for rebels.
Addressing muslim leaders at the opening of the muslim council’s first General Assembly at Old Kampala, Muruli said he never said “anything to the effect that rebels are being recruited in mosques.â€
“It’s not what I said. It’s not true that rebel recruitment is being carried out in mosques.†Muruli represented the minister for the presidency at the function.
The event, one of the biggest events on the muslim calender, was attended by Mufti Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubajje and his deputy Twaib Mukuye, the “Grandfather†of Islam in Uganda Prince Kassim Nakibinge, former mufti Rajab Kakooza, the Saudi ambassador to Uganda Sheikh Abdu Wahid Alif and 126 district delegates to the General Assembly.
Muruli was recently quoted in the press as having said that subversive activities were being carried out in some mosques, a statement which evoked strong protests from the muslim community.
The three-day assembly will be held behind closed doors at Kampala International University in Kasanga, Kampala.
The assembly, chaired by Hajji Muhammad Ali Andrama, is the legislative arm of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC). It has not held its annual meeting since since 1987 because of leadership wrangles then.
Bassajabalaba is the deputy chairman of the General Assembly and is said to have offered to accommodate and feed the delegates.
Mubajje said last year that the General Assembly did not sit because the UMSC “accounts were dry.â€
He urged muslims to consolidate the unity they have achieved since his election two years ago.
Ends
State minister for security Muruli Mukasa yesterday disowned reports that he said mosques were recruiting bases for rebels.
Addressing muslim leaders at the opening of the muslim council’s first General Assembly at Old Kampala, Muruli said he never said “anything to the effect that rebels are being recruited in mosques.â€
“It’s not what I said. It’s not true that rebel recruitment is being carried out in mosques.†Muruli represented the minister for the presidency at the function.
The event, one of the biggest events on the muslim calender, was attended by Mufti Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubajje and his deputy Twaib Mukuye, the “Grandfather†of Islam in Uganda Prince Kassim Nakibinge, former mufti Rajab Kakooza, the Saudi ambassador to Uganda Sheikh Abdu Wahid Alif and 126 district delegates to the General Assembly.
Muruli was recently quoted in the press as having said that subversive activities were being carried out in some mosques, a statement which evoked strong protests from the muslim community.
The three-day assembly will be held behind closed doors at Kampala International University in Kasanga, Kampala.
The assembly, chaired by Hajji Muhammad Ali Andrama, is the legislative arm of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC). It has not held its annual meeting since since 1987 because of leadership wrangles then.
Bassajabalaba is the deputy chairman of the General Assembly and is said to have offered to accommodate and feed the delegates.
Mubajje said last year that the General Assembly did not sit because the UMSC “accounts were dry.â€
He urged muslims to consolidate the unity they have achieved since his election two years ago.
Ends