According to Kibirango, during the meeting, they agreed to suspend further allocation of space to vendors to erect stalls till Monday next week when they have inspected the land. He says their findings will determine whether or not to allow the establishment of the market on the land.
Muslims
leaders in Luwero district have resolved to suspend further allocation of space
to traders on a piece of land belonging to Uganda Muslim Supreme Council-UMSC
until the dispute over the establishment of the market is resolved.
A fortnight
ago, Sheikh Ramadhan Mulindwa, the Kadhi Luwero Muslim District offered part of
the 20-acre piece of land in Kalongomiti zone in Luwero town to host agricultural
produce trader. However, the proposal met stiff opposition from Muslim
leaders allied to the Kibuli based faction claiming that the traders sell on it
products that contravene Islamic teachings.
Sheikh
Ramadhan Mulindwa is under UMSC, the mainstream leadership of Muslims in the
country. This prompted Luwero District LC V Chairperson, Erastus
Kibirango and Haji Abdul Nadduli, the Vice Chairman of Uganda Muslim Supreme
Council to convene a meeting with Sheikh Ramadhan Mulindwa and the Kibuli group
to defuse tension over the newly established market.
According to Kibirango, during the meeting, they agreed to
suspend further allocation of space to vendors to erect stalls till Monday next
week when they have inspected the land. He says their findings will determine
whether or not to allow the establishment of the market on the land. He says that the Muslim leaders will report back on Monday
on the progress made to secure the land title after reports emerged indicating
that they don’t have a title for the land.
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Sheikh Ramadhan Mulindwa, the Kadhi Luwero Muslim district, says that by the
time of the resolution they had allocated space to 350 out of the 3000
applicants. He says the traders occupy around 8.5 out of 20 acres of the land
belonging to UMSC.
According to Mulindwa, he has no problem with the resolution
because they had also stopped allocating space to more vendors because of the
COVID-19 pandemic. He, however, says that
he is happy that Muslim leaders have agreed to visit the land and make an
informed decision.
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Hajji Musa Kakande, the Chairperson of Greater Luwero Muslim District under the
Kibuli faction, says that during the meeting, it came out clearly they don’t
have a market in their strategic plan for the 20-acre piece of land. He, however, says that since traders are
already on the land, they will need to consider the market carefully and ensure
the strategic plan is also implemented.
He said some of the projects they have proposed to set up on
the land include a Technical Institute, Primary and Secondary Schools among
others but not markets. Kakande asked the Kadhi to respect the opinions of
local Muslims and bring them to the table to develop the land rather than wait
for donors from elsewhere. Alhajji Abdul Nadduli, the Vice-Chairman UMSC was
unavailable to comment on the resolutions. However, he is one of those opposed
to the establishment of the market.
In the meeting, Nadduli was tasked to expedite the process of acquiring the
title for the land after it emerged that he was in possession of original documents.
