Muslim Tabliqs dismiss leader
Newly-appointed Tabliq leader Haruna Jemba (L) speaks at a press conference in Kampala yesterday. Looking on is Sheikh Umaru Swidiiq Ndaula. PHOTO BY MICHAEL KAKUMIRIZI
What you need to know:
Complaint. Yunus Kamoga is accused of disrespecting sheikhs –something they say has led to many being ridiculed by their followers
KAMPALA.
The power struggle within the Tabliq Community has taken a new twist with a section of executive members passing a vote of no confidence in their supreme leader, Sheikh Yunus Kamoga, accusing him of dictatorship and fanning flames of hatred and divisions within community.
“As executive members of this community, we have today (Thursday) moved a vote of no confidence in our leader, Sheikh Yunus Kamoga. He can remain head of Ummah House –a project he is spearheading, but he is not our leader,” said Sheikh Swidiiq Ndaula, the chairperson of the executive committee, at an impromptu press conference in Kampala yesterday.
The group also accused sheikh Kamoga of disrespecting Sheikhs –something they say has led to many being ridiculed by their followers.
‘He (Kamoga) has resorted to glorifying ignorance and using illiterates as people who are to decide on matters of Islam,” he said
Sheikh Kamoga’s executive comprises 23 members, but the petition in which the former was relieved of his duties was signed by only 13 members.
Sheikh Ndaula said members had elected Dr Haruna Jjemba, a Makerere University don, to serve as new Tabliq leader.
The development comes two weeks after Sheikh Kamoga stripped four members of his executive of powers to run William Street Mosque.
The decision to sack the four officials followed complaints from worshippers accusing them of dominating affairs of the mosque yet they also sit on the national executive as well as failing to give proper accountability of money collected from the mosque.
Sheikh Kamoga could not be reached on telephone yesterday as he was reported to be attending a burial in Butambala District. But Ayub Nyende, the secretary of Tabliq Community, said whoever passed the pronouncement did so in his individual capacity and his boss was not ready to handover office.
“We have systems in place and we use those if we have anything we want to change. We have no plans to change our leader now,” he said yesterday.
Who is Jjemba
Haruna Jjemba, 56 is currently a don at Makerere University teaching religious studies and Arabic. He initiated a court battle against Mufti Shaban Mubajje which eventually led to a breakaway of the Kibuli group.
