Mubaje to muslims in West Nile: "If you join Kibuli faction, you have disrespected Idi Amin"

The Mufti of Uganda, Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubaje, has told Muslims leaders in West Nile that departing from Uganda Muslim Supreme Council(UMSC) and joining the Kibuli faction will be an insult to the memory of  the late President Idi Amin Dada.

Amin, a born of Koboko, was fundamental to the formation of UMSC in 1975.

Mubaje reminded Muslims in West Nile to reflect on Islam before anything else because of its historical significance as the earliest base as it arrived in their region.

"What sound reasons have they advanced in convincing you to leave UMSC which was established by your son, the late President Idi Amin?" Mufti queried.

He made the remarks during the sensitisation meeting for Muslim leaders held in Arua City.

He told the leaders that shortly after performing the lesser pilgrimage(Umra) with the late Asuman Mbubi and other Ugandans in 1991 in Makkah, they met Amin at Jeddah international Airport where they exchanged pleasantries.

He revealed that Amin asked Mbubi, whom he knew personally, to safeguard UMSC for good of Islam.

"It stuck in my mind that I needed to make my personal contribution to the institution, which has come to pass," Mubaje recounted.

He noted that the proponents of division among Muslims in Lango, West Nile and other areas of the country are former UMSC officials who failed to execute their mandate and refused to vacate their positions for new leaders.

"So, they end up claiming ownership of council properties, which were under their jurisdiction and later claim to switch sides. We are not going to allow this to continue, and we shall do whatever it will take to recover council property which is still in the wrong hands in Koboko and Lira districts," he vowed.

The UMSC secretary general Ramadhan Mugalu took the participants through the unity drive that was initiated by Mubaje, Sheikh Abdu Obeid Kamulegeya and others.

He pledged to provide transport facilities as such bicycles and motorcycles to Imams and County Sheikhs as the UMSC financial base improves, saying at the moment, the council only provides allowances to regional assistants of the mufti and two other officers.