The Law Development Centre Court in Kampala has charged businessman Abdul Kiyimba and his son Hamuza Kiyimba with incitement to violence.
On Monday, the two appeared before the Grade One Magistrate Martins Kirya and denied the charges. There was heavy security deployment at the court premises.
The court heard that Kiyimba, the former Mayor of Kyengera Town Council on November 24th, 2023 at Gadaffi Mosque Old Kampala Parish Central Division in Kampala District, with the intent to intimidate and annoy, one Zziwa Ashiraf and officials of Uganda Muslim Supreme Council-IMSC.
It is also alleged that on the same day, Kiyimba and his son incited violence against the Mufti Sheikh Shaban Ramathan Mubajje during the Juma Prayers at Old Kampala Mosque.
According to the Prosecution, Kiyimba did this by shouting or mentioning the words “Where is Mubajje? I want Mubajje” while advancing towards him (Mubajje) so that the Muslim congregations who were for prayers to rise and attack him for having sold Muslim land.
Through their lawyer Swabur Marzuq Abdul, they applied to be released on bail.
Swabur argued that his clients are innocent and that Kiyimba is of advanced age with responsibilities in the community and he has ill health as well as substantial sureties.
The prosecution objected to the bail application on grounds that Kiyimba would interfere with investigations.
In his ruling, Kirya granted the accused persons bail and ordered each of them to pay 1 million shillings cash before warning them to remain peaceful while on bail or else their bail would be canceled.
The case was adjourned to January 29, 2024, when they will return for mention of their case.
Kiyimba’s troubles stem from his involvement in protesting the November 16th, 2023 order by the Commercial Court Registrar Catherine Agwero in which she authorized businessman Justus Kyabahwa, to sell eight properties belonging to Uganda Muslim Supreme Council-UMSC so as to recover 18.9 billion Shillings.
Kyabahwa sought compensation for land in Ssembabule District. According to their sale agreement, Kyabahwa had paid 3.5 Billion Shillings to UMSC for the property.
However, a dispute arose when Kyabahwa employed individuals without UMSC’s knowledge to forcefully evict squatters from the land, leading to destruction and subsequent legal action against UMSC by the squatters, a case still awaiting final judgment.
As a result, in June 2023, Kyabahwa sued UMSC for 18.9 Million Shillings in compensation, a move that UMSC says deprived them of an opportunity to defend itself adequately.
Despite expressing dissatisfaction and initiating an appeal, UMSC says it faced rapid and unfavorable judgments from the High Court, allowing execution orders to attach their properties for recovery, even amidst pending appeals at the Court of Appeal.
Kiyimba was arrested by the security personnel who were deployed at the Old Kampala Mosque as he and other people were protesting an advert for the sale of Muslim property where he wanted to recover his money following a fake land transaction.
The mob charged at Sheikh Mubajje and the UMSC leadership for mortgaging several Muslim community properties, which are now set for auctioning within 30 days.
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