Tabliq sect leader arrested in Kampala
Amir-umah Sheik Muhamad Yunus Kamoga delivering his speech during the opening of Arahamah Medical Center in Masaka recently. Photo by Malik Fahad Jjingo
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The arrests have caused concern among the Muslim leadership, with some equating them to the mid 1990s arrests that saw hundreds of Muslim clerics and ordinary followers abducted and kept them in the infamous “safe houses”
KAMPALA. The leader of the Tabliq Muslim sect in Uganda Sheikh Younus Kamoga has been arrested by people believed to be security operatives and taken to unknown location.
According to Mr Ayub Nyende, the general secretary of the Nakasero based sect, Mr Kamoga was intercepted in the posh Nakasero suburb on Tuesday night while driving back home. Mr Nyende said Mr Kamoga was in the company of other three occupants in the car. They were also arrested.
“We really don’t know what Police are up to. We believe that if he (Kamoga) was needed by Police, they could have presented themselves during day at his office rather than hijacking him,” he said on a telephone interview.
Prior to his arrest, Sheikh Kamoga had vowed to name disgruntled Muslim clerics who he claimed were giving false information to security agencies to mete torture and terror on innocent believers under the guise of hunting down suspects in the murder of Muslim clerics.
Both Sheikh Kamoga and ousted Tabliq sect leader Sheikh Sulaiman Kakeeto had also just met the mufti of Uganda Sheik Shaban Mubajje at the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council headquarters in Old Kampala and agreed to foster Muslim unity. The arrest comes just a day after several Muslim clerics allied to his sect were charged at Nakwa Court in connection with the recent murder of two prominent Muslim leaders; Sheikh Abdul Muwaya , the former Shia sect leader in Uganda and Sheikh Mustapha Bahiiga ,the Kampala District Amir for the Tabliqs .
Kamoga, who is the founder leader of Tabliqs in Uganda, assumed office in 2009 when the then leader late Sheikh Hakim Ssekimpi was elected first deputy supreme mufti. Some of those who have been arrested so far include; four bothers, Sheikh Siraj Kawooya, Sheikh Yusuf Kakande, Imam Abdulsalaam Sekayanja and Twaha Ssekito. Others are Abdulhamid Sematimba , Fahad Kayondo, Mulutahah Bukenya and his wife Hadija Kiyaga .
The arrests have caused concern among the Muslim leadership, with some equating them to the mid 1990s arrests that saw hundreds of Muslim clerics and ordinary followers abducted and kept them in the infamous “safe houses”. Some died while in detention and others were later released.
