UMSC leaders in panic as tenure elapses
Mufti Shaban Mubajje (second left) receives a document containing proposed amendments to the UMSC constitution from a committee chaired by the former UMSC secretary, Dr Edris Kasenene, on August 21. PHOTO/ courtesy
What you need to know:
- It is the amended constitution that is supposed to be followed while electing new Muslim local leaders right from the mosque level to the UMSC General Assembly.
The management of the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) has been thrown into confusion following the delayed completion of its draft constitution, Daily Monitor has established.
It is the amended constitution that is supposed to be followed while electing new Muslim local leaders right from the mosque level to the UMSC General Assembly.
The five-year tenure of the 230-member General Assembly, the top decision-making organ of UMSC responsible for electing key top Muslim leaders including the Mufti, expires this Sunday, April 17, 2022.
“The constitutional review process could have been completed by now and the new constitution tabled before the Assembly for approval, but this is not the case,” a member of UMSC management committee, who preferred anonymity told Daily Monitor on Thursday.
“Even the tenure of office for the Secretary-General also expired and it is the General Assembly to approve a new one. We are really in a paradoxical situation,” he added.
UMSC last organised elections for members of the General Assembly in 2012 and for the Mufti in 2000.
A member of the General Assembly who spoke to Daily Monitor on condition of anonymity said any business of UMSC which will be transacted without a new General Assembly in place will be null and void.
“It is the management committee to blame for all this confusion. When we extended our term in April 2016, they [management] had all the time to mobilise resources to facilitate the constitutional review process, but they waited until recently to start the exercise,” he said.
Hajj Abdul Nadduli, the chairperson UMSC executive committee, said ever since the commission started its work, it has not reported back and the executive is still waiting for the report.
“Their report has been delayed and we cannot blame them, we are still waiting. We are in a tricky situation, but we shall maneuver through it,” he said.
UMSC Spokesperson, Mr Asharif Zziwa Muvawala admitted that there is a crisis, but noted that the Secretary-General Hajj Ramathan Mugalu will in the due course issue a statement on the matter.
“The office of the Secretary-General will guide on what to do especially on the issue of expiration of the term of the General Assembly, let Muslims allow the leaders they entrusted with power to work out convenient solutions for the good of the community,” he said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
He revealed that the Constitutional Review Commission headed by Hajj Edris Kasenene is in the advanced stages of completing its work and its report will soon be tabled before the General Assembly for ratification.
If the draft constitution is approved, Mufti Mubajje will be eligible to occupy the office for another five years when his tenure expires in 2025.
Under the current UMSC constitution, Sheikh Mubajje, 66 who has been in office since December 2000, is supposed to relinquish office when he clocks 70 years in 2025. A draft new constitution, which Daily Monitor has seen, indicates that the Mufti should be aged at least 55 and can serve one term of 10 years until he clocks 75.
There is also a proposal to have the Mufti elected by only 21 members of Majlis Al-Ulama (college of learned sheiks), not the General Assembly as indicated in the current constitution. Under the current constitution, the Mufti only chairs the management committee and the Majlis Al-Ulama. There is a proposal to allow him to chair the executive committee, which makes standing orders that govern the proceedings of the assembly and other organs of UMSC.
Recently, some members of the General Assembly, said the process leading to the elections is flawed and suggested that it should be called off.
One member, who preferred anonymity, said the draft constitution, which UMSC plans to use during elections, was illegally amended which makes the whole process a nullity.
According to Article 23 of the UMSC Constitution, for any amendments to be made, the General Assembly has to pass a resolution supported by at least two-thirds of all the members of the Assembly.
Under the same provision (Article 23), the notice convening the meeting has to state the fact and general nature of the proposed amendments. However, this was not followed since the UMSC general assembly has not sat for over a year.
After electing Muslim leaders at lower levels, the focus will shift to organising the election of a new Mufti whose tenure expires in 2025.
Mufti Mubajje has on several occasions said that he wanted to serve as Mufti for a short time after ushering in a new constitution, but continuous internal leadership wrangles have forced him to stay longer in office. Currently, Muslims have two parallel administrations – one headed by Mufti Mubajje at UMSC headquarters Old Kampala, and another based at Kibuli Hill headed by the Supreme Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Galabuzi.
