Africa-Press – Uganda. A fresh power struggle is brewing at Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) with embattled secretary general Hajj Ramathan Mugalu declining to convene a meeting sanctioned by the newly elected chairperson Hajj Muhammad Lubega.
Despite Mr Mugalu’s spirited fight to block the Joint Session meeting which convened Friday, the meeting went on uninterrupted and instead relieved him of his duties. The meeting was chaired by Hajj Lubega at UMSC headquarters at Old Kampala and among other things elected Mr Muhammad Ali Aluma to serve as acting secretary general. Moments after being elected, Mr Aluma took an oath of allegiance and promised to serve well in his new position.
Mr Aluma, a lawyer by profession, has been working with the UMSC education department.
The Joint Session (executive and College of Sheikhs – Al Majlis Ulama) meeting discussed among other issues; the controversial sale of Muslim cemetery land in Mbarara City and also sworn in new members of the UMSC Property Trust & Shura Council committees.
In a statement on Friday, UMSC spokesperson Mr Zziwa Ashiraf said Mr Aluma will serve in an acting capacity for three months.
He said a five-member team appointed by the Joint Session Committee on April 1, 2023, to investigate the validity of the contract of Hajj Mugalu discovered that the latter was illegally occupying the office.
“The team chaired by Counsel, Mr Musa Kabega authored a 9-page report indicating that the tenure of Dr Mugalu had long expired following his nomination and appointment by a similar organ on January 21, 2015, in line with the UMSC Constitution,” Mr Zziwa said.
“Counsel Dr Adam Rajab Makmot Kibwanga read the report to the attentive members who later deliberated the findings and resolved to appoint an acting Secretary General pending the election of a substantive office holder within three months,” he added.
According to Mr Zziwa, the names of two candidates – Hajj Muhamood Kateregga and Muhammad Ali Aluma were presented as candidates and in the end, the latter carried the day. Mr Abubaker Were Wadangho, the acting UMSC Electoral Commission Chairperson presided over the elections.
On Saturday, Hajj Mugalu could not be reached for a comment as he did not pick up our repeated telephone calls by press time. But a source at UMSC told this publication that Hajj Mugula might bounce back as he has done in the past.
“Mufti Mubajje [Shaban] has always acted like a politician in his leadership. He can push you out now when he doesn’t need you and bring you back to save him at some critical point, that is him,” a source said.
The UMSC executive had last July fired Hajj Mugalu over allegations of abuse of office, corruption, extortion and failure to provide accountability of funds from various Muslim community properties sold off to individual developers across the country. However, the Joint Session reinstated him in a dramatic move that was protested by a section of the General Assembly, the top decision-making organ of UMSC.
Mr Mugalu’s 8-year tenure in office has been characterized by endless accusations of engaging in dubious land transactions, which have cost the Muslim community some of its prime properties in Kampala and several major towns across the country, allegations he has on several allegations denied.
Hajj Mugalu assumed office in 2015 replacing Eng. Zaid Siraj Kavuma. Before becoming secretary-general, Hajj Mugalu was serving as deputy secretary for education and social services and later secretary for social services at UMSC.
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