Muslim wrangles: Hoima City security committee asks court to expedite cases

HOIMA - The Hoima City security committee has asked court to expedite the process of hearing cases involving Muslim disputes as one way of solving the disputes that have engulfed Hoima town mosque.

During a meeting with Muslim leaders in Hoima town on Friday, Badru Mugabi, the Resident City Commissioner for Hoima, said that impending court cases and injunctions have increased conflicts among Muslims.

Mugabi said that at Hoima town Mosque, Imam Sheikh Swaibu Adam Ntegeka refused to hand over office due to impending court cases and injunctions, which he initiated against the Muslim leadership.

He condemned the warring among the Muslims in Hoima, saying that it has paralysed some of the works. Mugabi blamed the wrangles on personal differences that must be addressed.

“As a security committee, we have resolved to write to the court to expedite the process of hearing all the cases as a matter of priority so that sanity can be restored because we have observed that most of the conflicts are as a result of impending court cases,” he said.

Mugabi said that the district security committee intervened after Sheikh Ntegeka called them on Friday morning that a gang of unknown people had invaded Hoima town mosque with the intention of breaking through and causing destruction.

“We called in the police and heavily deployed at the mosque because we didn’t want to see destruction or see the shedding of blood in the Mosque,” Mugabi said.

Ntegeka accused a section of some Muslims in Hoima of sabotage, saying that since he was deployed at the mosque, he has found strong resistance.

Swaibu Ntegeka, the Imam of Hoima town Mosque. (Credit: Wilson Asiimwe)

“I didn’t know that this Mosque belongs to a few individuals who want to make decisions. I went to Uganda Revenue Authority and discovered that this Mosque is registered by two individuals as their private property, and it is being demanded revenue to the tune of about 100M.” Ntegeka said.

He also denied the allegations of mismanagement of the property against him and accused a section of some leaders of wanting to divert the revenue from the property.

“We have a school, and on three separate occasions, unknown people have attempted to set it on fire, destroying property worth millions of money and we do the renovations without collecting money from the Muslims,” he said.

He said the wrangles have affected key development projects and added that the wrangles have also spread to family and personal relationships, leading to breakups over alliances to rival factions.

However, Sheikh Rajab Mugenyi, the Bunyoro district Kadhi, accused Ntegeka of diverting from the UMSC constitution of addressing his concerns through the UMSC disputes resolutions and running to courts of law.

“We need to resolve issues of mismanagement at Hoima town Mosque because all the issues by Ntegeka about the Mosque and the lock-ups are not correct,” Mugenyi said.

Mugenyi said that initially, Hoima town Mosque had several programs like helping to feed the sick in the health facilities and supporting fellow Muslims to attain education, all of which are no longer in place.

Mugenyi said that they received complaints from the Muslims of Hoima town Mosque, and they also involved the headquarters, but when officials from UMSC came to resolve the issues, the leaders of Hoima town Mosque went into hiding.