The Mufti of Uganda, Dr. Sh. Shaban Ramadhan Mubaje, has condemned the assault of Muslims during the recent distribution of iftar packages at Kololo ceremonial grounds.
Last week, Hajjati Hadijah Namyalo, the chairperson of the Office of the National Chairperson for the ruling National Resistance Movement, invited Muslims to Kololo grounds on Wednesday for the distribution of Iftar packages.
The distribution coincided with the launch of Salaam Bank, the first Islamic Bank in the country. However, the distribution of the Iftar packages turned chaotic, forcing soldiers to clobber Muslims to contain the situation.
Several Muslims sustained severe injuries resulting from the assault by the soldiers. Now, addressing Muslims shortly after the Friday prayers at Gaddafi National Mosque, Sheikh Shaban Ramdhan Mubaje condemned the assault of Muslims.
“I want to condemn what happened at Kololo. Muslims were invited, and the president was going to give them iftar packages. They even invited my Regional Assistants. They called Kadhis and Imams…….. But the way soldiers beat up people with sticks like animals, it looks like it was premeditated because there are no sticks at Kololo,” he said.
“We are receiving reports that there are some casualties resulting from the beating. This is very bad, especially that people used the name and the office of the National NRM Chairperson, stating that he had invited Muslims for iftar, but they instead ended up receiving lashes,” he added.
Sheikh Mubaje noted that the good thing the incident at Kololo happened as the president was hosting Muslims at the official annual iftar dinner at State House Entebbe.
“If that wasn’t the case, people would think that the president was serving fasting Muslims sticks at Kololo,” he said.
He compared the situation at Kololo to what is happening in Palestine, where Americans are airdropping food to the starving people in Gaza while supplying bombs used by the Israelis to kill the same people.
“We call upon the organizers of the iftar distribution program at Kololo to come out openly and apologize to Muslims and the entire country for this unfortunate event. Because this is the month of Ramadan, and Muslims got injuries instead of the packages they were promised,” he demanded.
The Mufti announced that he had instructed the social services office to organize iftar packages for the affected Muslims. “We shall ourselves distribute the food packs on Tuesday,” he said.
