Parliament to honor fallen Saudi king

By Moses Walubiri & Joyce Namutebi

Parliament will next week honor former Saudi king, Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz Al Saud and one-time lawmaker in Uganda's first post-independence legislature, Jaffer Bandali.

Both Bandali and the Saudi royal died early this year in their 90s while parliament was in recess.

"Next week, we shall have a motion to honor Bandali and the fallen Saudi king. All of you know that Saudi Arabia is our ally," Speaker of parliament, Rebecca Kadaga said.

Described by many as a cautious reformer, Abdullah died last month at a military hospital in Riyadh after suffering from a bout of pneumonia.

His nine-year reign has been marked by an attempt at reform, especially towards removing Saudi women from the shadows of society. 

"In a discreet way, he was a strong advocate of women," Christine Lagarde, head of International Monetary Fund (IMF) said about the Saudi royal.

However, his critics have chided him for not pushing reforms stridently, citing the 'plight' of women who are not allowed to venture out in public without a male relative or drive cars.

A former KY MP, Bandali helped thousands of Ugandan-Asians settle in Europe, Canada and Australia following their expulsion by Idi Amin in 1972.

Bandali is credited for using his contacts in the Canadian government to convince it to accept thousands of Uganda-Asians who had been rendered stateless.

Both the Imam of the parliament mosque, Kawempe North MP, Latiff Ssebagala and the Spokesperson of Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, Nsereko Mutumba have applauded the development.

Ssebagala extolled the Saudi royal for the extensions on the mosques of Mecca and Medina during his reign, and the infrastructure to help pilgrimages to the two holy cities.

"Its great news because king Abdullah has been a custodian of Islam's two holy sites. His government has been a big funder to Islamic University of Uganda, Mulago Heart Institute and other education programs in Uganda" Ssebagala said.

Ssebagala also described Bandali as "a selfless person who contributed to the construction of Nabisunsa Girls School and Wandegeya mosque."

"Bandali spent decades in Canada but never lost his love for Uganda. He was such a selfless person," Ssebagala said.

Mutumba described both Bandali and the Saudi royal as strong pillars in the Muslim community, extolling the latter for his generosity towards Muslim projects in Uganda.

"On behalf of Ugandan Muslims, I can only thank God for his life. We got a lot of funding for different projects during his reign," Mutumba said.