President Yoweri Museveni says he is surprised about the ‘unacceptable’ court decision that allowed the sale of Gaddafi Natiobal Mosque.
This, the President put in his letter to Chief Justice, Alfonse Owiny-Dollo, whom he ordered to review the matter.
“I have got a letter from His Eminence Mubajje, the Mufti of Uganda, regarding the quarrel about the sales of Moslem properties, ctc. The letter is dated the 29th of November, 2023. I had been hearing about those wrangles but I had not focused my attention to them because I knew there are capable National Institutions responsible for those issues, especially the Judiciary you head,” writes the President.
“However, I was most surprised to read in Mufti Mubajje’s letter that among the Moslem properties to be affected is the National Mosque at Old Kampala!! Really! What sane person, let alone a Judge can make such orders? How can a Mosque or Church be attached for debts carelessly entered into by officials of that faith?”
“If there is no law protecting Institutions of Worship, then common sense is there. I, therefore, request you to review this matter yourself and see how to restore sanity. His Emninence Mubajje alleges other examples of misconduct and collusion. You should study all those. What, however, provoked me was the audacity of attaching the National Mosque. The NRM freedom fighters and the Government they head, cannot be associated with sick logic,” added the President.
Background
On June 24th, UMSC acting through Mugalu, Mubaje, and Abdulkadir Idi Balonde, the former chairperson who has since died, sold two square miles of land to businessman Justus Kyabahwa at 3.584 billion Shillings.
In the agreement that they signed, they agreed to transfer the ownership of the land to the businessman within 150 days failure of which they would refund the money at 12 percent interest per month.
However, the land already had a 15-year lease with Enterprise Holding Services ending in 2028. Therefore, UMSC was not only unable to transfer the land but also to refund the money leading to its accumulation to the current 19 billion Shillings.
In August, the High Court gave a no-objection order to the attachment of several UMSC properties to enable Kyabahwa to recover his money. Among the property attached include; land at William Street Kampala, land at Old Kampala plot 23 to 25 comprising the National Mosque, land at Kyanja, one square mile of Land at Bukwe, Hoima, one acre of land located at Lubas Road Jinja, Plot of land at Mbale City, Shares in Uganda Ranches Limited and Commercial Holding Ltd, two square miles of land at Migyera in Buluri and plot of land in Entebbe opposite Victoria Mall.