William street mosque had become a hub for hate speech-UMSC

Religion 

Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) has explained that it repossessed the administration of William street mosque because it had become a hub for hate speech.

UMSC secretary general Haji Ramathan Mugalu made the revelation during a press briefing at old Kampala yesterday (Thursday).

"Many people have been wondering why we took over the administration of William street mosque.  We repossessed it because it had become a hub for hate speech. Secondly, the mosque management had failed to account for the money collected since 2006 and as custodians of Muslim property we decided to repossess it," Mugalu explained.

Mugalu however said the mosque will remain a worship center for all Muslims.

"The process to institute leadership at the mosque is underway and Muslims should not be worried because it is only administration that is going to change," he noted.

The mosque has been under the administration of the Tabliq Muslim community but Mugalu said they failed to remit part of the money to UMSC.

UMSC claims that the dismissed administration failed to account for over sh11b.

In 2008, UMSC leased property to businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba who later sold it to Drake Lubega. This led to creation of a parallel Muslim administration at Kibuli.

President Yoweri Museveni has since compensated Lubega and returned the land to the Muslim Community.

Mugalu explained that UMSC leased the land because its lease had remained with only two years to expire yet they had no money and sought it wise to get a developer.

"We thank those who resisted against the takeover of the mosque and President Museveni who bailed us but this didn't mean that it had become an individual property," Mugalu explained.

Ssembabule land

In regard to Ssembabule land, Mugalu confessed that they sold it. He however declined to reveal that exact figures arising out of the deal.

"We exchanged the two square miles of land in Ssembabule with a monthly income generating project in Kampala.  We are going to unveil it to the Muslim community very soon," Mugalu said.

Mugalu said they chose to sale the land because it has been redundant and they feared losing it to grabbers.

"We had over 25 square miles in ranches but we lost 80% of them through the Government restructuring programme in 1989.  We have suffered a lot when it comes to land matters since colonial times. We had some land given to Nuhu Mbogo but his descendants have since turned it into private property," Mugalu said.

Mugalu blamed Muslim land wrangles on earlier leadership which never bothered to develop it.

The two square miles piece of land is located at Bukiragi village, Ntuusi sub-county in Ssembabule district. Documents seen by NewVision indicate that the land was sold to Enterprise Handling Services Limited owned by businessman Albert Muganga.

It is claimed that the land in question is among the properties demarcated for the intended Uganda-Tanzania crude oil pipeline project.

 Mugalu hits back at Muslim lawyers

Mugalu also attacked Muslim lawyers under their umbrella body the Uganda Muslim Lawyers Association (UMLAS) for criticizing whatever initiative the UMSC brings without giving guidance to it.

"We have always sought advice from them but unfortunately they only come out to criticise us. We are however not bothered," Mugalu said.

Citing a case of a man who sued Muslims for calling God as Allah, Mugalu said they reached out to them but they never replied.
On Tuesday, Muslim lawyers' president Hakim Lubega criticised UMSC for selling Muslim property and asked the Mufti of Uganda Sheikh Ramadhan Mubajje to resign.