The Supreme Mufti, Sheikh Muhammad Shaban Galabuzi has slammed the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council-UMSC constitutional review process.
Sheikh Galabuzi, who heads the Kibuli based Muslim faction has asked believers to ignore the calls from the UMSC leadership at Old Kampala to participate in the ongoing constitutional review process.
Addressing muslims at Masaka City central mosque, Sheikh Galabuzi claimed that the Kibuli-based administration enacted its own constitution, which they will soon unveil to the Muslims under his leadership. He, however, failed short of revealing how the constitution was drafted and whether or not they conducted consultations.
He explained that following their breakaway from UMSC arising from the management of Muslim properties, his predecessors waited for their Old Kampala counterparts to exhibit remorse and correct the previous mistakes in vain, which he says is an outright sin of rigidity. Sheikh Galabuzi also revealed that the Kibuli based administration is now a legal entity with its own constitution and called on its lower leadership structures and followers to remain steadfast.
Sheikh Galabuzi also assured the faithful that his administration has close collaboration with state security agencies, which will help to prevent arbitrary arrests of Muslims based on falsehoods by characters taking advantage of disputes to frame others for selfish intentions.
Sheikh Mahad Kakooza, the Second Deputy Supreme Mufti said that their leadership is working on the process of generating a clear inventory of all Muslim properties as one of the ways of preserving and finding ways of putting them to effective use.
However, Engineer Sheikh Siraj Zaid Kavuma, the leader of the UMSC consultation team in charge of Central Buganda, said the ongoing constitutional amendment process is a grand opportunity for every Muslim to make an input in the management of their affairs, which he says can ably address the prevailing uncertainties.
He says that despite the divergences among the Muslims, every Muslim needs to embrace the review process, which he says is the right step to the much-needed unity. “This is the time that we get formal solutions to all our problems, well spelt in a constitution we all agree upon. Some of these are determined on unwritten human wisdom, which instead confuses many of us,” he said.
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