By George Murumba

7^th May 2012:

President Yoweri Museveni has strongly appealed to Muslim leaders in the country to resolve their prevailing leadership wrangles and conflicts that have rocked the Muslim faith in Uganda in the recent past. He said they should work towards uniting the Muslim faithful in the country for the sake of the Islamic faith, the Muslim community and for peace and development of Uganda.

The President made the appeal while meeting the Muslim leaders from the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council, led by Mufti Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubajje, and their counterparts from Kibuli Mosque, led by Supreme Mufti, Zubairi Kayongo, at his country home in Rwakitura Kirihuura district.

Museveni told the Muslim leaders that government was very concerned about the differences and wrangles among the Muslims in the country and said it was time for the Muslim leaders to reconcile and work together to find a lasting solution to those differences.

The President told the Muslim leaders that he was particularly concerned about the way the conflicts among the Muslim leaders affected the ordinary Muslims in the countryside who get embroiled into conflicts, live in a state of fear and get diverted from their main pre-occupations that should see them working towards overcoming household poverty.

“…Don’t tire and paralyze the ordinary wanainchi and make them live in fear. They have enough problems especially fighting poverty and they should not be drugged into these avoidable wrangles”, the President told the assembled Muslim leaders.

The President said that since the coming into power in 1986, NRM has always worked towards uniting all the Muslims in the country and made a breakthrough by electing the joint Muslim leadership in 2000 under the aegis of the Uganda Moslem Supreme Council. He asked them to build from that foundation and work for the unity and good of Islam in the country.

The media warned

He cautioned the media against funning and inciting violence between the two wrangling Muslim factions saying this could degenerate into bloodshed. He strongly warned media houses that continue to incite violence among the Muslim groups saying that such media houses risk punitive action from government.

On their part, the Muslim leaders from the two factions commended the President for his untiring efforts to unite Muslims in the country. They also commended him and the government for the support rendered to the Muslim community in the country in the areas of education, health, poverty eradication and the building of a number of mosques.

The Moslems leaders from both groups – UMSC and Kibuli – assured the President that they were open and ready to work for unity and reconciliation. They, however, said that such reconciliation needs to done in honesty, truthfulness and transparency using the premises of the Islamic principles as their guidance.

On the basis of this assurance, the President and the Muslim leaders agreed to institute a joint committee comprising members from the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) and the Kibuli group and representative from the central government to study all the existing differences between the two factions with a view to finding a lasting solution.

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