The titular head of muslims in Uganda, Prince Kassim Nakibinge Kakungulu, has called upon security agencies to desist from linking terror acts to Islam and Muslims in particular.
Nakibinge was speaking at the swearing-in event of the new Supreme Mufti Sheikh Muhammad Shaban Galabuzi at Kibuli mosque on Friday.
The Prince expressed dismay that security agencies continue to blame muslims for terror acts and hence called for professionalism among security agencies and justice to the population.
“Stop thinking that there is a religion which has terrorists to an extent that whenever something happens, you turn your eyes to them,” said Prince Nakibinge. “You might miss the real criminal thinking that because they are not from the profiled religion, then they can’t be the criminals.”
Nakibinge’s call follows the recent twin bombings in Kampala after which police released a list of names of alleged terror suspects arrested while trying to sneak out of the country to go to DRC. During a press conference, the UPDF Spokesperson Flavia Byekwaso read out the names and urged journalists to pay extra attention to the names read out.
Prince Nakinbinge says for someone to possess a Muslim or Arabic name doesn’t automatically mean that they are Muslim. He referred to history where former rebels making up the ruling government adopted Muslim names during their bush times. The president himself has publicly said that he was called Kassim.
Others who adopted Arabic names and still use them are Salim Saleh, the president’s brother, and the late Shaban Bantariza who was a Catholic clergyman at the time of gong to the bush, among others.
Prince Nakibinge also condemned extrajudicial killings of terror suspects by security agencies and wondered why security doesn’t deploy enough manpower when going to arrest the suspected terrorists. Recently, following the Kampala City twin bombings, security personnel killed a Muslim cleric Sheikh Abbas Kirevu for allegedly trying to resist arrest.
“You say you kill them when they are defiant, why don’t you mobilize enough manpower?” asked Prince Nakibinge. “When you are going to arrest politicians, you go in large numbers. If you deployed a hundred security officers, how would a suspect attempt to escape?”
He however called upon all Ugandans to maintain law and order and to shun acts of terrorism.
Sheikh Muhammad Shaban Galabuzi replaces Sheikh Muhamood Kibaate who was named in April this year as the acting Supreme Mufti following the resignation of the then supreme Mufti Sheik Kasuule Ndirangwa.