MUKONO, Uganda — The Muslim community in Uganda entered 2024 with three rival muftis each heading his own faction. The fraternity has been split into factions as a result of endless wrangling caused by the mismanagement of Muslim-owned properties.

Under normal circumstances, the groups are supposed to be governed by the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council under one mufti, who serves as an Islamic legal expert. However, it was on Dec. 16 that the National General Assembly of UMSC suspended Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubaje from office for six months and elected an interim mufti in Sheikh Abdallah Ssemambo. Until that decision, Ssemambo had served as Mubaje’s deputy.

Mubaje was suspended over allegations of the mismanagement of the properties. A total of 146 delegates of the UMSC National General Assembly, who had converged at Gangu Muslim Primary School in Makindye Division in Kampala, unanimously agreed to suspend Mubaje and elected Ssemambo. Before then, the Muslim fraternity had two main factions — each headed by its own mufti — with each one headquartered on a hill in Kampala with Mubaje’s UMSC based at Old Kampala and Supreme Mufti Muhammad Galabuzi’s group at Kibuli. Ssemambo’s faction becomes the third and newest.

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Despite his suspension, Mubaje refused to relinquish power, leaving the Muslim community in a quagmire with three muftis. Mubaje refused to step aside after the UMSC General Secretary Hajji Abbass Sekyanzi Muluubya had refused to recognize the election of Ssemambo. Hajji Muluubya argued that Article 5 of the UMSC’s constitution stated that the removal of a mufti from office can only happen if a joint session of the Executive Committee and the College of Sheikhs endorses it. He insisted that the procedure was not followed to the end.

In addition, Mubaje also called the move to suspend him from office a coup d’état — describing the allegations against him that he mismanaged the Muslim properties as both “drama and comedy.” He vowed to remain in office until he has identified a suitable successor to replace him. He also said he would only hand over the office to someone committed to the development of the Muslim community and that he hasn’t yet identified one.

Although the UMSC constitution does not give Mubaje powers to identify and choose his successor, he appears to have learned lessons from the culture of African rulers who choose their successors instead of allowing people to elect leaders of their choice. Mubaje’s rivals have, however, vowed to forcefully evict him from office, and what is still saving him so far is the High Court interim order issued on Dec. 18 that stopped Ssemambo’s installation. The order — issued by the Jinja District by High Court Justice Winfred Nabisinde — came following an application by Mubaje’s faction.

Court battle over properties

The latest troubles among the Muslim groups started this past Nov. 16, when the Commercial Division of the High Court in Uganda issued a warrant of attachment and sale of eight UMSC properties, following an application for the execution order that was filed by businessman Jastus Kyabahwa.

Kyabahwa, in his application, told the court that in 2020, he bought land from the UMSC in Sembabule District, central Uganda, but that after paying 3.5 billion Ugandan shillings (about $916,016) for the transaction, he learned that the land had earlier been leased to another buyer, Enterprise Handling Services Limited for 15 years starting in 2013. It was then that he asked UMSC to refund him his money.

However, the UMSC failed to do so, citing their agreement. According to that sales agreement, UMSC promised to secure the land and hand it over to Kyabahwa within 60 days. As a result of failing to secure and later hand over the land, the interest on Kyabahwa’s money paid to UMSC kept growing by 12% each month until it hit 19 billion shillings.

The national chairman of the UMSC, Hajji Muhammad Lubega Kisambira, acknowledged that Kyabahwa bought the land and that they are willing to pay back his money — but not to the amount he wanted. On Aug. 7, 2023, the justice of the Commercial Division of the High Court,  Grace Harriet Magala, had ordered UMSC to pay Kyabahwa the 19 billion shillings, which it did not, forcing the court to issue a warrant of attachment of the Muslim properties.

Consequently, on Nov. 16, the court authorized the bailiffs of Louiza Auctioneers to sell the eight UMSC prime properties. Making matters worse, one of the plots earmarked for attachment and sale was occupied by the historical Gaddafi National Mosque constructed for the Muslim fraternity in Uganda by former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi.

The attachment of the Gaddafi National Mosque would be a big blow to Ugandan Muslims. The court had directed that if by Dec. 21 the UMSC had not cleared the debt, the bailiffs would go ahead and auction the properties on Christmas Eve. The Commercial Court also directed Ugandan authorities to help the bailiffs execute the order.

Planned sale comes to a stop

The auctioning of the eight properties would have been executed, but Court of Appeals Judges Richard Buteera, Geoffrey Kiryabwire and Irene Mulyagonja issued a new order stopping the planned sale following an application filed by the UMSC.

The appeals court stopped the execution of the warrant of attachment and sale of the properties until the main appeal against the order of the Commercial Division of the High Court to auction the properties is determined.

The pending attachment of the UMSC properties was further halted by the intervention of President Yoweri Museveni, who on Dec. 7 wrote to Chief Justice Owinyi-Dollo to personally review the decision by the High Court that had given the go-ahead to auction off the UMSC properties.

“I was most surprised to read in Mufti Mubaje’s letter that among the Muslim properties to be affected is the National Mosque at Old Kampala!!” Museveni wrote. “Really!! What sane person, let alone a judge can make such orders? How can a mosque or church be attached for debts carelessly entered into by officials of that faith? If there is no law protecting Institutions of worship, then common sense is there. I, therefore, request you to review this matter yourself and see how to restore sanity.”

It was after the chief justice received Museveni’s letter that the Court of Appeals issued an order halting the auction. It should be noted that Ugandan judges, including the chief justice, are appointed by the president and usually side in his favor.

History of infighting

These latest disagreements have rekindled decades-long rivalries that have bedeviled the Muslim community in Uganda over mismanagement and fraudulent sale of properties under the UMSC’s leadership.

Muslims constitute 14% of Uganda’s population. However, the UMSC states that Muslims — primarily Sunni — are closer to 35% of the population.

In 2006, Mufti Sheikh Shaban Mubaje and two other top leaders of UMSC, Hassan Bassajjabala and Edris Kasenene, were taken to court for fraudulently selling Muslim properties.  

At the time, Sheikh Hakkim Ssekimpi had accused them of fraudulently leasing out a UMSC building in Kampala and another property. The sale of the property on Market Street, for example, had resulted in the eviction of a section of the Salaf Muslim group headed by Ssekimpi, which sparked a bitter fight that split the Muslim community into the two main factions at Old Kampala and Kibuli. The court eventually acquitted Mubaje in that case.

As a result, a court ruling that Mubaje had lied angered a section of Muslims, igniting a total fallout between Mubaje and Ssekimpi’s camps. The fallout resulted in the appointment of a rival mufti to Mubaje of the UMSC, the late Sheikh Zubair Kayongo, in January 2008 to head the Kibuli faction. Although Sheikh Kayongo died in 2015, another mufti named Sheikh Silman Kasule Ndirwangwa was appointed to take over for him. 

This latest chapter of infighting — and with the number of the muftis in Uganda steadily growing — is yet another sign that these squabbles are not about to end anytime soon.

John Semakula is an award-winning journalist and alumnus of the Poynter Institute in Florida. He is based in Mukono, Uganda.