Muslim council sacks Mubajje

The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council general assembly last evening sacked Mufti Shaban Mubajje over claims of dishonesty and incompetence.

During a closed-door six- hour sitting at Hotel Africana in Kampala yesterday, the members appointed his deputy Sheikh Abdulhai Mukiibi to serve as acting mufti.

Interestingly, as the impeachment session was going on, Sheikh Mubajje was in the next conference room representing Muslims at a meeting on national reconciliation organised by the Inter-Religious Council.

Deputy in charge
Announcing the declaration, Hajj Ahmed Wadriff, the UMSC vice chairman, said: “This general assembly sitting this 1st day of December 2010 has unanimously resolved to relieve Sheikh Shaban Mubajje of his duties and he is no longer the Mufti of Uganda. We are requesting the deputy mufti to take charge until the assembly elects a new mufti.”

But the UMSC spokesperson, Hajj Nsereko Mutumba, speaking on behalf of Mufti Mubajje, dismissed the sacking, saying it flouts the council’s constitution.
“Council meetings are not conducted in hotels and I think those ones if they are really genuine members of the assembly were in a wedding meeting or something else,” he said, referring to the assembly.

But Hajj Wadriff said Sheikh Mukiibi, the former Luweero District Khadi, will serve for six months before a new mufti is elected.

The assembly also reinstated businessman Hassan Basajjabalaba as UMSC chairman, saying he was unlawfully removed from office.

“We also hereby overturn the suspension of Mr Basajjabalaba as chairman because the Mufti who purported to have suspended him had no right since he was already impeached,” said Wadriff.

In June both Mubajje and Basajjabalaba claimed to have sacked the other amid accusations of dishonesty and incompetence.

Last Friday, Mubajje installed Dr Abdukadir Balonde, a lecturer at the Islamic University in Uganda, as chairman, saying his name had been endorsed by the UMSC Joint Session which comprises 42 members of the executive committee and college of sheikhs (Majris Al-Ulama).

Lack of separation of roles in the UMSC constitution has been cited as the root cause of the current bickering that threatens to split the already divided Muslim community. The assembly further extended its term that was expiring on December 8 for two more years to allow a review of the UMSC constitution and appoint new members on the council electoral commission.

Prof. Mukwanason Hyuha, a member of the assembly representing Tororo District, said they tasked the executive to ensure that the resolutions made are implemented.

“What we want is sanity at the council and we are tired of being a laughingstock as Muslims,” he said
The general assembly is the supreme organ of the council that elects or sacks the mufti. It comprises 126 members drawn from 35 Muslim districts.
A beaming Mr Basajjabalaba said whatever was passed will be implemented immediately. “The entire council has been in a crisis because of one person but I assure you that all the resolutions are going to be implemented at all costs,” he said.

Mufti Mubajje, 54, has been under fire since 2006 when a section of Muslims accused him of fraudulently disposing community property on William Street and Port Bell Road in Kampala.

The conflict ended up in court, with Mubajje, Basajjabalaba and former secretary-general Edris Kasenene facing criminal charges. The trio was acquitted by court but the anti-Mubajje faction rejected the ruling and on January 27, 2009, named a rival Mufti, Sheikh Zubair Kayongo, at Kibuli.

Ironically, the assembly that sat on December 10, 2000 to elect Mubajje met in the same hotel where yesterday’s pronouncement to sack the mufti was made.