Mubajje: Plan to sell our assets is comedy

The Mufti of Uganda, Sheikh Shaban Mubajje, has said the intended auction of prime assets of Muslims over Shs19b debt is “mere drama and comedy”.

In his first public comments made on Saturday on the land deal in Ssembabule District, which has since gone bad, the Mufti said he should not be unfairly blamed because he never signed on the transaction.

“It was the National Executive Committee of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) that signed and gave green light  to sell off that Muslim property (Sembabule land),” he said, adding, “It defeats my understanding when people like (Abdul) Kiyimba who was among those that signed to sell off that property, turn around and protests its sale.

Security last Friday ringed of the National Mosque in Old Kampala, originally named Gaddafi Mosque in honour of the slain Libyan leader who bankrolled its construction, following intelligence a group of Muslims plotted a protest over the looming sale of the properties.

Police extracted Kiyimba, the Lwengo district representative to UMSC, and dragged him out of the mosque after he allegedly shouted a call out for action against UMSC office bearers whom he accused of staking properties of Muslims for personal benefit.

Problem genesis 
The UMSC, an national umbrella body for Muslims formed in 1972 at the direction of then President Idi Amin, sold its land in Ssembabule District to a one Justus Kyabahwa at Shs3.5 billlion.

Mr Kyabahwa, however, found the land encumbered and could not take possession. As a result, he asked for a refund of his cash, with interest, if UMSC could not secure a vacant possession of the property.

After years of fruitless engagements, Mr Kyabahwa and his business partner went to court which ruled in his favour ordered a reimbursement of his money with a 12 percent per annum interest from date of judgment.

Failure by UMSC could offset the arrears which have since increased to Shs19b prompted him to return to court to seek orders to auction the mortgages, all prime properties of Muslims, in Kampala and other regional cities.

The Commercial Division of the High Court in Kampala on November 16 issued a warrant of attachment and sale of immovable property order, authorising Louiza Auctioneers, which has advertised the properties in media, to auction them by December 21 should UMSC fail to settle the Shs19b debt.

Deflecting blame
Speaking in Kayunga District on Saturday, Mufti Mubajje blamed the Judiciary for the woes and said Kiyimba, among disgruntled Muslim leaders, was singularly angry and seeking revenge after being dropped from the UMSC National Executive Committee for lacking the minimum requirement of a Bachelor’s degree to be a member. 

“No one can sell Muslim properties; this [auction order and advert] is mere comedy and drama.  Not even an inch of Muslim property will be auctioned,” the Mufti said.

He added: “All this is happening because the Judiciary is corrupt. I want to request you, the Third Deputy Prime Minister (Ms Rukia Nakadama) to inform the President that there are issues in the Judiciary whereby the poor no longer win court cases.” 

The Mufti was in Kayunga to attend the swearing-in ceremony of Dr Mohammed Haruna Bukenya as the Kayunga District Khadi at Kyerima Muslim District headquarters in Kitimbwa Sub-county.

Mufti Mubajje tendered no evidence to support his claims against the Judiciary and we were unable to speak to the Judiciary for this article. 

Deputy premier Nakadama represented the President as chief guest at the at the event attended by State ministers Amos Lugoloobi (Finance) and Minsa Kabanda (Kampala Affairs). She did not directly respond to the Mufti’s request.

Speaking on behalf of President Museveni, the deputy prime minister asked Muslim leaders to unite all Ugandans despite different political affiliations, saying a united people is a blessing.

“It is on the account of unity that the [ruling] National Resistance Movement [NRM] government has been able to ensure peace in the country,” she said, quoting the President. 

Mr Museveni donated Shs30 million to the Kayunga Muslim leadership and urged them to assist their faithful to select profitable enterprises to fight poverty.

The president, according to the deputy premier, promised to study the viability of giving each district Khadi a new vehicle as he does to Christian bishops at consecration. 

The Muslims are the third largest religious bloc in Uganda after Catholics and Anglicans, according to the 2014 National Housing and Population Census. Like other religious denominations, their nationwide footprint in development is manifest in health and educational facilities, among others.

Bouncers and soldiers guarded Mufti Mubajje throughout the Saturday event in Kayunga District where he said the intended auction of the Muslims properties “is another test to Islam [and those who] think that they can sell mosques”. 

The assets includes developed and undeveloped prime plots and places of worship.

“Are these mosques worth Shs2billion?” the Mufti asked no one in particular.
 Minister Minsa Kabanda, a hajat, said she is disturbed to see people carrying out protests inside places of worship.

“No matter who is right or wrong in this matter, it is bad to hold protests in a mosque” she said.

Creditor speaks out

In an interview yesterday, Mr Justus Kyabahwa, the creditor, said all he wants is his money --- and not the staked physical assets of Muslims.

“The Mufti and his team have proved uncooperative, we wanted to negotiate even before going to court, but they were adamant. What we want is the money, not their property. If they release our money today or tomorrow, we will definitely stop pursuing that matter in court.”

He revealed that he together with his Malaysian business partner were planning to set up a meat processing plant on the disputed two-square mile piece of land at Bukiragi Village in Sembabule.
We could be in business if we had set up the planned project, but our money was taken and we cannot access the land,” he said.

 A source at UMSC told this publication that UMSC did not immediately address itself to Kyabahwa’s threats to seek court to liquidate the mortgages because officials hoped to offset his claims using part of the Shs70billion compensation payout they expect from government for 0.205 hectare of land on Plot 6 Kitante Close in Kololo, an upscale Kampala City suburb.

“Those people [at UMSC] are just playing tricks .They have mastered the art of sealing deals and in this they deliberately created an artificial crisis that they have huge debts to settle so that the government can release Shs70b for the Kitante land. It is the greedy individuals at the top benefiting, not the community,” the source said.

Regime dogged by wrangles
Like Bukiragi land in Ssemabulie, the Kitante land in Kampala was donated to Muslims by former President Idi Amin Dada, who was very instrumental in forming UMSC in 1972. Mufti Shaban Mubajje’s 23-year tenure has been dogged with allegations by critics of dubious transactions in land around the country belonging to the Muslims. The allegations in the past claimed jobs of several UMSC officials and birthed the Kibuli-based faction headed by Supreme Mufti Muhammad Shaban Galabuzi.

In the latest wrangle, unlike the previous ones, it is senior UMSC officials plotting to oust Mubajje from office if he does not salvage the endangered assets.

Mufti Mubajje, a long-serving mufti, has lately said he wants out after ushering in a new constitution, promulgated last year, but unending court cases and internal Muslim leadership wrangles are reported to have kept him in office longer.

He has on several accusations dismissed the rival Muslims as an illegitimate and unconstitutional group that lacks moral standing. 

The Mufti insists his opponents based at Kibuli Hill are opportunists who are using the sale of Muslim property as an excuse to bring him down. Efforts including by President Museveni to reconcile the factions have not yielded fruits.