Sembabule Muslims clash over slaughter of animals

A man buys meat from a butchery

What you need to know:

  • Solution. The warring factions petitioned the Sembabule Resident District Commissioner, Mr Henry Baguma, to help resolve the conflict.

SEMBABULE.

A wrangle has erupted between two Muslim factions in Sembabule District over authority to slaughter animals in the district.

The dispute pits a faction loyal to Mufti Shaban Mubajje-led Old Kampala Muslim sect against another, which pays allegiance to Sheikh Silman Kasule Ndirangwa, the leader of the Kibuli-based faction.

In Uganda, since time immemorial, Muslims have been in charge of slaughtering animals meant for public consumption. However, some Pentecostal Christians question this tradition.
The warring factions petitioned the Sembabule Resident District Commissioner, Mr Henry Baguma, to help resolve the conflict to no avail.

Mr Baguma had advised the warring factions to bury the hatchet and allow members of both factions freely slaughter animals in the district.

“I laboured to show them the need to be united since they are all Muslims who are mandated to slaughter animals, but this was hardly accepted,” Mr Baguma said during an interview last week.
Mr Baguma, however, explained that since President Museveni had instituted a commission of inquiry to investigate Muslim wrangles, he would wait until their differences are amicably solved at the higher level.

He observed that the whole conflict appears not to be about which faction does the slaughtering, but rather on money collected from the activity.

“The Old Kampala faction wonders why the Kibuli people, who have been carrying out the slaughtering, are not willing to take money to Old Kampala, which is the umbrella body of Muslims in the country. Of course they take it to Kibuli, which the former is protesting,” Mr Baguma said.

Sheikh Juma Mukiibi, the official in charge of slaughtering animals in Sembabule District, validated Mr Baguma’s observation. He said since 2000, the Kibuli faction has never sent any money generated from slaughtering animals to the Old Kampala-based Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC), adding that they are required to do so. The Kibuli-based faction broke away from UMSC.He explained that he wanted Mawogola Muslim county to benefit from the income that is generated, adding, “It is unfortunate that the Kibuli group do not want to accept it and have kept remitting the collected revenue to Masaka District.”

Sheikh Mukiibi said the Muslim leadership in Sembabule had a plan which they were supposed to follow and shared it with the RDC, where they agreed that all revenue collected must be declared and shared according to the set percentages.

According to Sheikh Mukiibi, they had initially agreed to share the revenue from slaughter of animals with local mosques getting 25 per cent, Mawogola Muslim county (25 per cent ), Sembabule District Council (20 per cent) and UMSC headquarters (30 per cent).

Hajj Abdallah Jumba, the secretary of the Kibuli faction in Sembabule District, said whatever his group is doing is within the law.

He said they cannot allow the Old Kampala faction take charge of slaughtering animals in the area when they have the least number of mosques in the district.