The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council has launched celebrations to mark 50 years of its existence, events that will culminate on Dec. 12.

Idi Amin, Uganda’s former president, established the UMSC in 1972 with the objective of uniting the Muslim community. However, instead of uniting the community, the last 50 years of the UMSC have seen deep divisions. The power struggle among members of the UMSC have been responsible for dividing the Muslim faithful into two distinct factions — each with its own mufti. These factions have vied for control, perpetuating a cycle of power struggles that has severely split the community.

Despite numerous attempts at reconciliation, including a major push by President Yoweri Museveni in 2022, a long-term solution remains elusive. Today, one of the two major Muslim factions is based at Old Kampala and is led by Mufti Sheikh Shaban Mubajje; the second is based at the neighboring Kibuli Hill and is led by Sheikh Muhammad Galabuzi. The two mufti don’t see eye to eye, and the factions are as old as the UMSC itself.

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The UMSC’s turbulent history dates back to its early years under Amin. In 1975, the government ousted the first Chief Kadhi (Mufti), Sheikh Maulana Abdul Razak Matovu, replacing him with Sheikh Yusuf Sulaiman Matovu.

A year later, Amin also dismissed Matovu from the office of Chief Kadhi, leaving the UMSC leaderless. It was not until Prince Badru Kakungulu, another top Muslim leader, intervened that the UMSC saw a semblance of stability with the appointment of Sheikh Kassimu Mulumba as the new chief Kadhi in 1979.

Since then, the Muslim fraternity has been gripped by endless divisions.

Despite endless efforts to unite Muslims, the UMSC has continued to grapple with political interference and internal power struggles. In the years following the overthrow of Amin, the UMSC faced intense persecution and violence, with many senior leaders who had supported Amin going into hiding or fleeing into exile. The roots of these internal conflicts trace back to the very foundation of UMSC and the political interventions. The leadership disputes have often escalated into legal battles, further polarizing the Muslim community.

In 1994, at the peak of the Muslim wrangles, two rival sheikhs, Saad Ibrahim Luwemba and Muhamad Mukasa, kicked one another in front thousands of Ugandans in a fight for a microphone to lead prayers at the Independence Day celebrations at Kololo Airstrip. The fight started when the master of ceremonies asked the mufti to come on the podium and lead in the word of prayer without specifying the name of which mufti — forcing the two religious leaders from different factions to stand up and head towards the podium from where the fight erupted.

Yet in 1991, in the chaos that ensued in an attempt by the militant Tabliq faction to kick out the leadership of the UMSC from the headquarters at Old Kampala under the guise of protecting the Muslims property against mafias who were illegally selling them, the tabliqs killed a police officer before circumcising his lifeless body.

Adding to the turmoil, the Muslim community in Uganda has been rocked by the mysterious murders of at least 15 prominent sheikhs over the past 15 years. These murders — mostly occurring during the National Resistance Movement’s leadership under President Yoweri Museveni — remain unsolved despite numerous investigations, perpetuating a climate of fear and mistrust.

The murders included those of Sheikh Abasi Abubaker Kiweewa, killed on June 22, 2012 at his supermarket in Kyanja, Kampala, and the double assassinations of prominent Muslims Yunusu Madungu and Hajji Muhammad Maganda, gunned down on Eid el-Fitr, also in 2012. Such high-profile slayings have drawn intense scrutiny from the government and police, with critics arguing that the repeated nature of the attacks point to significant security lapses.

Observers have warned that the unresolved murders could trigger greater unrest if not adequately addressed. Prominent clerics such as the late Sheikh Nuhu Muzata had called for radical measures, expressing frustration over the police’s inability to prevent such attacks. Other sheiks who have been assassinated in the last two decades also include Karim Sentamu, a Muslim scholar who was gunned down in April 2012; Abdul Kadir Muwaya, a Shiite leader assassinated from his home in eastern Uganda by unknown assailants on Dec. 26, 2014, and Sheikh Ibrahim Hassan Kirya, the former spokesman for the Kibuli Muslim faction, gunned down at Bweyogerere Trading Centre in Wakiso District in 2015 while returning home after work.

At the heart of these murders lie deep-seated sectarian conflicts within Islam in Uganda. Many murdered sheikhs are believed to have had ties with the Allied Democratic Forces. The ADF is a Muslim-led rebel group fighting Uganda’s government from the neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo.

For instance, Major Sheikh Muhammad Kiggundu, a former ADF member who returned to Uganda under an amnesty program, was assassinated while serving as a liaison between security forces and the different Muslim factions. His death, along withthat of others, like Sheikh Hassan Ibrahim Kirya, highlighted the lethal nature of these internal disputes. The killings are also marked by a chilling pattern: The victims are often trailed by assailants on motorbikes before being gunned down, a modus operandi seen in 12 of the murders. Despite police promises of protection, the Muslim community continues to live in fear, demanding justice for slain sheikhs.

In 2016, Sheikh Umar Sadiq Ndawula, head of sheikhs among Tabliq Muslims, urged Uganda's government to take decisive action in response to the growing inexplicable murders of clerics.

“We no longer want to see reports of our brothers' murders. We want you to investigate, arrest and prosecute those responsible,” Ndawula declared, emphasizing the community’s dissatisfaction with the unyielding police investigation and need for justice as no suspects have ever been convicted. 

The other big challenge facing the UMSC has been corruption. Several top officials have been accused of illegally selling valuable Muslim assets. One high-profile instance concerned the recent unlawful sale of 2 square miles of land in the Sembabule district to businessman Justus Kyabahwa, which forced the Uganda Muslim Lawyers Association to file a lawsuit against the current Mufti Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubaje and others under him, alleging that the transaction was fraudulent and meant to cheat the UMSC and the Muslim community.

The resulting lawsuit against the sale of the land uncovered how the agreement signed between the leadership of the UMSC and the buyer included illegal inducements and interests that contravened with Shariah. Recently, the High Court in Uganda had allowed Kyabahwa to the attach the UMSC prime properties, including its headquarters at Old Kampala, in order to recover the burgeoning debt from the land transaction, which has now swollen to $4.9 million (19 billion Ugandan shillings).

This corruption scandal is not isolated. It only reflects a broader pattern of mismanagement of the UMSC’s properties that has plagued the council for years, further eroding trust within the community and stoking internal tensions. In 2006, Sheikh Shaban Mubajje and two of his colleagues in the leadership of the UMSC, Hassan Basajjabalaba and Dr. Edris Kasenene, were taken to court by Sheikh Abdul Hakkim Ssekimpi over the illegal sale of the Muslim properties, including a building in Kampala . Although the trio were later acquitted of the offense, the court ruled that Mubajje had lied.  

Call for reconciliation

As a result of the endless problems among Muslims, several prominent people have come out to advise on how the conflicting factions under UMSC can unite.

Ashad Sentongo, director of Africa programs at the Auschwitz Institute for the Prevention of Genocide and Mass Atrocities, called upon Muslims in Uganda to have a dialogue and resolve their differences. He quoted the Quran chapter that calls for reconciliation in case your enemy is inclined towards peace.

“If the enemy is inclined towards peace, reconcile and end the war. We need to have conversations about our history and where we are going as Muslims of Uganda,” he said.

Museveni, Uganda’s president, has also on several occasions initiated reconciling talks among the leaders of the different factions of Muslims, usually noting that the NRM government strives to unite all citizens.

“For us in the National Resistance Movement, we have been preaching unity because it is a religion on its own; unity is strength. We are looking for good people, not religion. I, therefore, commend the Islamic community in Uganda for arriving at this decision,” Museveni said in a tweet after meeting the Muslim leaders in 2022 at State House in Entebbe for reconciliation talks.

Prince Kassim Nakibinge, Uganda’s legendary “grandfather of Islam,” also recently acknowledged the source of the disagreements among Muslims in Uganda but voiced optimism in overcoming them.

“God has given us the gift of unity," Nakibinge remarked in 2022, applauding the president’s support for Muslims’ reconciliation.

In doing so, he also praised Museveni’s pledge to help draft a constitution to guide and protect Muslim property, whose mismanagement had for long been a source of the disputes.

Notable achievements

Despite these challenges, the UMSC has made some major achievements over the past 50 years, and one of its most significant accomplishments was the construction of the Uganda National Mosque, formerly known as the Gaddafi Mosque, which was opened in 2007 a year after its construction works started.

The state-of-the-art facility — funded by former Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi — now stands as a symbol of the community’s resilience and dedication. Additionally, over the last 50 years, the UMSC has overseen an extensive network of academic institutions, including primary schools, secondary schools and universities — contributing significantly to the social and educational development of Uganda’s Muslim community.

The UMSC also runs a chain of mosques and hospitals across the country, providing food and medical treatment to Ugandans.

So as the UMSC marks 50 years of existence, there are renewed calls from the different corners to address the underlying issues that have plagued the council including resolving the internal conflicts, combating corruption and ensuring justice for the murdered sheikhs as critical steps towards achieving the unity envisioned at its founding.

Many Muslim leaders, meanwhile, are optimistic that addressing these challenges will pave the way for a more unified and prosperous future of the UMSC. As the UMSC leaderships looks to the next 50 years, Ugandans are hopeful that the lessons learned from its tumultuous past will guide them toward a future marked by unity, integrity, and justice for all.

Yasiri J. Kasango contributed to this report.

John Semakula, an award-winning journalist and alumnus of the Poynter Institute, is a Religion Unplugged correspondent based in Mukono, Uganda.