Africa-Press – Uganda. A section of vendors including Imams have defiantly gone ahead to erect market stalls on a piece of land near Luwero District main mosque despite objection from council authorities.
On June 22, 2021, Luweero District Town Clerk, Ms Irene Nakamate in a letter copied to the district Kadhi, Sheik Ramadhan Mulindwa and several area authorities advised the Kadhi to halt construction and allocation of market stalls in an area that has never been gazetted as a market.
The proposed market on the land owned by Muslims is illegal, she indicated.
However, the vendors backed by Sheikh Mulindwa insist that the market project targets securing the land from encroachers and also raising income for the local Muslim community. By Monday, at least 300 stalls had already been erected.
“Nobody will stop our plan to develop part of this land that has been idle for more than 40 years. We are only giving out part of it to the Imams, their wives, the faithful and any other interested individuals to erect stalls. We are not interested in fighting the useless wars by a section of our Muslim brothers backed by the town council authorities,” Sheikh Mulindwa, the District Khadi said on Monday.
On June 21 ,a meeting attended by Veteran NRM politician and former Minister without portfolio Hajj Abdul Nadduli whose group is opposed to the market project and another group led by Sheikh Mulindwa- ended prematurely when the latter stormed out of the meeting in protest.
Although Sheikh Mulindwa claims that Luweero Muslim District executive rightfully gave the vendors the opportunity to tentatively develop a market on the land, a section of Muslims led by Hajj Nadduli claim that the ‘Muslim land’ should not be used by vendors since markets are known to sale items that contravene Islamic faith, including beer and pork.
Hajj Musa Kakande, the Chairman Greater Luweero Muslim District and aligned to the Kibuli based Muslim leadership said Sheikh Mulindwa’s leadership failed to interpret the Islamic guidelines in regards to establishment of development projects on any ‘Muslim land.’
Asked to comment on the matter, Hajj Nadduli who openly opposed the attempt by Luweero Muslim leadership to establish the market in 2019 when the market project was first unveiled said: “I have no comment now. The meeting ended prematurely, but we have scheduled another meeting.”
Luweero District Chairperson, Mr Erasto Kibirango last week said the area town council did not sanction the market project.
Mr Ibrahim Ssembatya, one of the vendors who have already erected stalls at the controversial market, said a section of the Muslim leaders claim that markets are unholy places yet many purchase items from the different markets.
“Our leaders must learn from some countries like the United Arab Emirates (UAE) where they have markets. UAE is not in the West, but in the Middle East which is predominantly a Muslim region,” he said.
