Minister Otafiire testifies against Basajja

Aug 30, 2007

CITY businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba pressed the local government minister, Maj. Gen Kahinda Otafiire, to lift the caveat on Muslim property, allowing it to be sold, court heard yesterday.

By Charles Ariko
and Edward Anyoli

CITY businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba pressed the local government minister, Maj. Gen Kahinda Otafiire, to lift the caveat on Muslim property, allowing it to be sold, court heard yesterday.

Otafiire told Buganda Road Court that he gave permission to lift the caveat on plots 30 and 102 on William Street after Basajja and the Commissioner for Lands, Jonathan Tibasaasa, requested him to do so.

“I remember there was a request for lifting a caveat from a property that was requested by the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council,” said Otafiire, who was then minister for water, lands and environment.

“The message was given to me by the Commissioner for Lands. He came to seek my permission. Since the request was from the Muslim Supreme Council, I had no objection.”

Basajja was the vice-chairman of the council at the time the property was sold.
The caveat had been placed by some members of the executive committee of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, who were opposed to the lease or sale of Muslim property.

Otafiire is the eleventh witness to testify against the Mufti, Sheikh Shaban Mubajje, who is jointly charged with Basajja and Edris Kasenene, the general secretary of the council, for selling Muslim property.
When asked by the prosecutor, Andrew Odiit, on what transpired afterwards, Otafiire just said: ‘They went away.”

Asked whether he knew the accused persons, Otafiire said he knew only Basajjabalaba, whom he had met on several occasions in 2005.

“I know only Basajjabalaba. The others I just see their photographs. I don’t know them,” Otafiire said.

Otafiire’s testimony took about 10 minutes. He left court immediately afterwards, shaking his head.

None of the three lawyers representing the accused asked any questions when Chief Magistrate Margaret Tibulya gave them the chance to cross-examine the minister.

At the start of his testimony, Otafiire amused the court when he was asked in which language he preferred to testify.
“English, Runyankore or Kiswahili,” he replied, before taking oath in English.

The conflict over the sale of Muslim property has created a sharp rift among Muslims, with some of them calling for the resignation of the Mufti and other supreme council members implicated.

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