Museveni pledges Shs2 billion to Muslim women’s council
President Yoweri Museveni takes a group photo with the Muslim Women Council in Kampala on October 8, 2024. PHOTO/SHABIBAH NAKIRIGYA
What you need to know:
- Sheikh Mubajje encouraged the women to continuously give time for studying Islam and serving their country.
President Museveni has guaranteed to give Shs 2 billion to the Savings and Credit Cooperative Organisation (SACCO) of the women’s council affiliated to the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC), the governing body of Muslims in the country.
The money is geared towards backing the economic prosperity for the Muslim women in the council.
“I will mobilise 1 billion now and 1 billion in July, next year,” President Museveni said in response to the event’s co-emcee Ms Hadijah Namyalo Uzeiye’s request asking for funding to support women in the council.
He made the pledge while speaking at the inaugural Muslim women leaders conference at the field grounds of Old Kampala Senior Secondary School on October 8 which was organised under the theme, “the role of women leaders in socioeconomic transformation.”
The head of State further applauded the Muslim community for achieving remarkable success in the respective fields of their faith and education sector.
“During Amin’s time, the people who were in charge had got money from Saudi-Arabia to build a mosque but had not done so…[Instead], they had built a crooked structure which had a crooked tower. Now, the Muslim leaders kept telling me about the mosque until I talked to Muammar Gaddafi [former Libyan leader assassinated in 2011] and he agreed to build the mosque and the mosque is now here and the other structures that you heard the Mufti speaking about, the shops and so on,” Museveni said before a cheerful crowd who included students.
“So, I am very happy that our simple efforts result into something permanent like this,” he added.
The idea of building the mosque was embarked on [by former Ugandan President Idi Amin Dada] during the 1970s after the realisation that Anglican and Catholic communities had well established prayer homes compared to those in the Islamic faith. Gaddafi Mosque also known as the Uganda National Mosque, situated at Old Kampala Hill, was subsequently funded to completion by Gaddafi in the 2000s.
President Museveni continued in his speech to applaud the other achievements attained in the Islamic community.
“Then, you have King Fahad Plaza, in town there, again, I talked to somebody. I think in Saudi Arabia…...how to support the Islamic University of Mbale and they gave me 7 million dollars [about Shs 25 billion] which was used for building that King Fahad Plaza and that has been helping the University of Mbale,” the President elaborated.
He added: “Now, the University [Islamic University in Uganda-IUIU] itself. Some of the people had rejected the idea of an Islamic university, I said why? They said that they were trying to make us an Islamic country, I said no, some of our people are Muslims, there is no harm in having something Islamic because some of the people are Muslims. I therefore gave Nkoma SS, a government school, to them and they started that university with that school. Now, these days, wherever I go, I find so many young people who have graduated from that university.”
On his part, the Mufti of Uganda, Sheikh Shaban Ramadhan Mubajje praised women in the Islamic community for being involved in running the affairs of both their religion and country.
“Uganda Muslim Council was not [previously supporting women] to be in the public space…but, then we came to a realisation that the mothers of the nation have to be involved in the affairs of their religion and the works of their country because they are in suitable positions to mold or give peace in the future. So, when the Supreme Council put up an amended Constitution, it is why we are seeing the women here at the forefront [running affairs] of their religion and their country, as a whole,” he said.
Sheikh Mubajje encouraged the women to continuously give time for studying Islam and serving their country.
The event also saw the inaugural swearing-in of the UMSC women’s council intended to strengthen female leadership in the advisory body.
The Chairperson of the National Muslim Women Council Ms Safina Sofia Kenyangi said the women’s council will provide an empowering platform for supporting female Muslims in their respective programs.
“This council will empower us to drive the social economic growth by ensuring that our sisters in Uganda are in the journey of transformation,” Ms Kenyangi said.
