16/12/2023
*OF THE PRESIDENT'S MISSIVE AND THE CURSE OF RESCUED RELIGIOUS PROPERTY*
By Jibril SSS
While many Muslims are still celebrating the "survival" of the National Mosque from imminent sale, some have symbolically carried President Museveni shoulder high, for his missive to the Chief Justice, that in effect has thrown the gauntlet in the ring.
In his missive, the President castigated the lack of "common sense" by judicial officers for giving the greenlight to a debtor to attach and sale the national mosque. I dont agree with the President on this. But to that we shall return later.
By implication, the President's entry into the impasse over muslim property, comes with the accusing finger to the judiciary, implicating it's officials for fueling the current impasse.
The President's intervention is characteristic of his bulldozer approach, that often elevates him to hero status. He is careful with choice of issues and timing - often going for issues of questionable legtimacy, or literally dripping with divisive politics. He often leaves smiles behind.
Invariably, faceoffs in the Muslim community have often been smothered when hope is almost lost. And the President is one of the arch-heros of rhe muslim community, when specifically, the William Street mosque (Masjid Noor) fiasco is brought into perspective. After the controversial sale of the Mosque by UMSC, in 2011, the President "nudged" govenment to re-purchase it, with the expectation of handing it back to the muslim community.
However, the mosque remains in limbo; neither owned by the muslim community, nor under use as a place of worship. Again, we shall look at the consequences of the president's interventions later.
This time a triad of developments, with the President's strong presence, are shaping affairs in the muslim community: the caveation of the national mosque, that's put it out of reach of auctioneers; the Court of Appeal's halt of the auction process, and the President's letter, that borders on interfering with the independence of the judiciary.
Thus far, the most important lesson we should learn from this impasse, is that in the eyes of the law, the UMSC isnt a special sacred society. It is an NGO with powers to sue or be sued. Good luck if it wins, and the converse is true; like this time, when the UMSC run out of luck! We now know its nether a sacred cow, nor are its assets.
Also, we now know that properties vested in religious bodies, unless accorded due respect by their custodians, or are under special protective cover, could be equated to any other common assets.
The August 9, 2020 demolition of St. Peters Anglican Church in Ndeeba, a surburb of Kampala, as well as the sale of the William Street Mosque, in Central Kampala, though unrelated, could have lifted the sacred veil off places of worship
It wasn't and isn't about muslim property. Places of worship do not necessarily have special protection in Uganda.
In both situations, President Museveni has attempted to restore the sacred veil. The President stopped the total demolition of the Church by agents of businessman, Dodoviko Mwanje, and also barred him from taking over the "church land", leaving behind an unresolved legal standoff to this day!
Like pointed out earlier, presidential interventions cause excitement but rarely are the solution. The William Street Mosque remains a haunted house; heavily guarded by security forces, but now occupied by spiders, cockroaches and rats.
St. Peters Church remains a crime scene, a nearly-totally demolished church structure, with rubble littered on its once hallowed grounds.
What would be the fate of muslim property rescued through the "presidential" channel? The community is still saddled with a shillings 19 billion debt, and a litany of law suits are in the offing, some over unpaid dues. The court of appeal orders could be a temporary reprieve, unless a new bailout plan is tabled, hopefully, with a hand from government.
But that, too, is starting to provoke the ire of non-muslims. It's causing discomfort, across the religious isle, and rightly so. Whispers of miffed Christians, 'basamize', and atheists angry over taxpayers money, including theirs, spent on rescuing muslim property sold by the same Muslims, to them, defies logic and is a bitter pill to swallow.
Muslims shall soon realise that their problems affect non-Muslims too. It's time for introspection.
With echoes of matali, played at the National Mosque, to celebrate the court ruling, on Thursday this week, fading in the background, the muslim community remains with unresolved questions and challenges.
The St. Peters Church fiasco comes with a lesson for Muslims to be careful, not to equate UMSC to Islam as a religion, or belief system, which is constitutionally protected. The church was demolished but, in no way, was the matter perceived to be an afront to Christianity!
Muslims must recognise that the Thursday court ruling was a second chance to address issues that require attention. Care should be made not to make unwarranted attacks on courts of law, but on decisions made in their name.
Back to the President's missive. Contrary to the President's position, from what we have observed above, and unless otherwise uniquely protected, Mosques, Churches or Temples could be auctioned or demolished.
And this is why the President should re-examine the contents of his letter. If muslims once sold their own Masjid Noor, popularly known as the William Street Mosque, neither out of duress, nor necessity, why would he blame a judicial officer for looking at mosques as ordinary assets?
The President himself rescued the mosque and he is thanked to this day.
The President, has emerged as a church/mosque rescue hero, yet his efforts have seldom yielded lasting solutions, like the several stalled cases highlighted above. It could be time to enact a law that would put places of worship and religious assets beyond the "sweet tooth" of their custodians, or third parties seeking to recover their financial interests.
Places of worship may be sacred, but the murky world of their custodian's actions, or society teeming with sharks, could place them into spaces of sacriledge and abomination.
In the meantime, the president is enjoying superman status, coming to the rescue of religious parties involved in fights, with the knowledge that at one time, they will run to, or wait for him, to fight back on their behalf. It's a cat-and-mouse game, with the house boss, often stepping in, when the cat is about to eat the rat.
The danger with this state of affairs, is that, one day, the boss might not turn up and the rat, would become dinner!
But beyond the law, politics and property wrangles, we need healing to reclaim the soul of Islam - a nation of believers, united by the shahadah, living in harmony, and bound by lofty values of love, respect and a stong sense of community.
Urging the community to walk in the path of the khulafa (the four rightly guided successors of the Messenger [saw]), sahaba or tabi'un, could be to a steep mountain.
How about, emulating the example of the community's own, like the times of the Muslim patriach, Prince Nuhu Mbogo Kyabasinga! How did Muslims of his time manage to live as a community, devoid of toxic wrangles?
From its humble introduction in 1844 in Uganda, Islam was observed by some, to have reached its glory days during the reign of the Muslim Kabaka, Rashid Kalema Muguluma (1888 -1889). The Kabaka, urguably the most powerful monarch in what passes for Uganda today, professed Islam, making the oldest religion in uganda, more visible and earning it more respect and adherents.
