Sheikh Ahmad Haruna Kasujja Mutakubira is the new acting Amiir of the Jamuiyyat Da’awa Assalafiyya, commonly known as the Tabliq Muslim faction.

He was selected on December 30 as interim leader to fill the void left by the detention of Sheikh Yahaya Ramathan Mwanje. Mwanje was also in acting capacity on behalf of Sheikh Yunus Kamoga, who was also arrested in 2015 on murder charges of Muslim clerics.

Mwanje was arrested on November 27, a day after the murder of Maj Muhammad Kiggundu. Since his incarceration at Nalufenya police station in Jinja, Mwanje has not been arraigned before court to be charged formally.

Speaking at Nakasero mosque after Juma prayers last Friday, Sheikh Ibrahim Kyobe, one of the Tabliq leaders, said they were reluctant to appoint another Amiir because they had hope Mwanje would be released soon.

“The police told us they had taken him[Mwanje] briefly for questioning. Our executive agreed that we shouldn’t have another leader; not that we don’t know the importance of leadership,” Kyobe said. “It’s almost two months now but they have not released him or take him to court. Many people, including the Mufti Sheikh Shaban Mubajje have been urging us to select another interim leader to act on behalf of.”

Sheikh Kasujja, who is in his 60s, has been an executive member of Jamuiyyat Da’awa Assaalafiyya and chief advisor to the Amiir.

WHO IS KASUJJA?

He has a degree in Da’awa from Madina University in Saudi Arabia. He was a deputy director for Da’awa at Uganda Muslim Supreme Council from 1987 to 1988.

In 1998 when Sheikh Abdulhakim Ssekimpi (RIP) was arrested over rebel links, Kasujja was selected as the acting Amiir until Ssekimpi was released.

“In trying moments, our executive always thinks that I’m the person to handle the situation,” Kasujja said in his acceptance speech. “They think that when things get very hot, it’s my hands which are rough enough to handle them.”

Meanwhile, police has released all people arrested from Kiwatule mosque without charge.

RAID ON KIWATULE MOSQUE

In an evening raid on Thursday, police arrested six people, including eight Indian missionaries found at the mosque.  Yunus Kabuye, the deputy Imam of the mosque, was among those arrested and narrated his ordeal to The Observer.

He said that after Ishae prayers at around 8:40pm, the mosque was surrounded by plain clothes officers.

“One of them entered the mosque with his shoes on and ordered all of us out into a waiting car,” Kabuye said. “They took us to Central Police Station where they kept us in the car until 1am.”

He said pleas from two elderly Indians who wanted to get their medicine and food were rejected by police. They were questioned the following day before released at 5pm.

“Police said they had received information that these people [Indians] were planning something at the mosque,” Kabuye said. “But when we came with the police and searched their things and everything in the mosque, they didn’t find anything other than their legal documents that allow them to be in Uganda for four months.”

Kabuye said police officers also refused to return the Shs 15,000 and Shs 8,000 they got from the Indians upon arrest.

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