The Mufti of Uganda, Sheikh Ramadan Shaban Mubajje, has urged the government to eliminate imbalances in allocation of job and education opportunities between the Muslims and other religions.
While meeting Ms Hadijah Namyalo, head of the Office of the National Resistance Movement Chairman (ONC), Wednesday, Mufti Mubajje said Muslims occupy few top leadership positions and yet there are many faithful who have attained the required qualifications, such as education.
The meeting was held at Old Kampala Mosque.
“When Public Service Commission displays the lists of government employees for ministries, departments and agencies (MDAs), you will find that some agencies have a few or no Muslims at all. For instance, in the Judiciary and Uganda Revenue Authority, there is no single Muslim employed at the top yet we have qualified individuals in these sectors,” Mufti Mubajje said.
He added: “When you look at the government sponsorship opportunities at higher education, Muslims still need more consideration, at Makerere (University) less than 15 students were recruited on government scholarship out of over 300 students.”
Mufti Mubajje also asked the government to enforce the operationalisation of Islamic banking to enable borrowing at zero interest.
“Islamic banking was approved under the national financial laws. However, Bank of Uganda has failed to operationalise it on unjustifiable reasons, this is not fair and it has excluded several Muslims from the money economy,” he said.
In 2016, Parliament passed the amended Financial Institutions Act, 2016 which the president later asseented to, with provisions allowing for the establishment of fully fledged Islamic financial institutions to offer Islamic banking services. Among others, the Islamic banking system prohibits payments or receipt of interests of any nature.
Ms Namyalo said she will work closely with the authorities to ensure that Muslims are not left behind in all government programmes and that their concerns are addressed.
“I have noted with concern the issues of Muslims in this country, both from the supreme Mufti in Kibuli and the grand Mufti at Old Kampala. I will engage all the relevant authorities to ensure that Muslims are well represented at all levels,” Ms Namyalo said.
She added: “It is very important to engage religious leaders because they play a big role in the implementation of government programs through mobilization. I encourage them to propagate government programs like PDM among the believers.”
Ms Namyalo also delivered food items such as rice, sugar, maize flour, sugar and soap, among others to the fasting Muslims at the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council.
Muslims in Uganda started fasting on March 23. Fasting will end on April 20, if the crescent moon is sighted.
