Cracks emerge in Kamoga’s Tabligh leadership

By Jafar Mugera

Internal wrangles within the leadership of the Jamuiyyat Da-awah Tabligh As-Salafiyya (JTDS) are threatening the authority of Sheikh Muhammad Yunus Kamoga, with divisions increasingly spilling over into the wider Tabligh community.

The rift came into the open last Friday at Masjid Taqwa in Kisenyi, Kampala, where local Muslims openly rejected Kamoga’s authority over the mosque and removed a management committee believed to be loyal to the Amir Ummah.

Police and other security agencies were heavily deployed ahead of Jumu’ah prayers as tensions escalated. Kampala Resident City Commissioner (RCC) Umar Lule Mawiya warned that the authorities would not hesitate to close the mosque if necessary to prevent violence.

“If it means closing the Masjid for calm to prevail, we shall close it. It is better for you to pray from anywhere else than fight over the mosque,” Mawiya said.

Mawiya said the security deployment followed petitions from rival factions at the mosque, as well as separate letters from Sheikh Kamoga and presidential adviser Katenda Luutu, all expressing fears of possible bloodshed.

MISMANAGEMENT

The dispute at Masjid Taqwa centres on allegations of mismanagement of rental income generated from shops attached to the mosque complex, registered as Taqwa Islamic Centre Ltd.

The complex was previously administered by a locally elected committee until about five years ago, when the Amir Ummah appointed a management team from Nakasero to oversee its day-to-day operations.

“They were supposed to serve for only three months, during which fresh elections would be organised. To our surprise, they have remained in office until now without proper accountability,” an aggrieved Muslim said.

In a statement, JTDS said it became involved in the dispute in August 2021 after a group of youths petitioned the Amir Ummah’s office over governance and administrative concerns at the mosque.

Following consultations with petitioners, mosque leaders and other stakeholders, JTDS appointed Sheikh Twaha Kakande to head an interim management committee tasked with addressing the grievances and establishing a governance framework for the mosque.

JTDS maintains that Masjid Taqwa has always remained under its administrative supervision. It argues that the subsequent incorporation of Taqwa Islamic Centre Limited was intended only to facilitate transactions related to the mosque’s relocation and compensation, and did not transfer ownership or administrative control.

WIDER TENSIONS

However, sources familiar with developments at the Nakasero headquarters told The Friday Call that the Masjid Taqwa dispute reflects growing discontent within the Tabligh community, fuelled by the disappearance of more than Shs 1 billion from the Nakasero Muslim Savings and Credit Cooperative Society (SACCO). (See: “Tablighs revolt over missing Nakasero SACCO funds”, The Friday Call, June 12–18.)

The first significant challenge to Kamoga’s authority emerged last August in Masaka after the removal of Sheikh Abdallah Mutazindwa as district Amir and the appointment of Sheikh Muhammad Haroona Mwebe as his successor.

A section of Muslims rejected Mwebe’s appointment, while Mutazindwa also declined his elevation to regional Amir, arguing that his removal as district Amir had not followed the constitutional procedures of the organisation.

The Masaka standoff persisted for more than six months before it was resolved during the last February, when the JTDS Shuura Council convened in Masaka and Mutazindwa agreed to assume his new role as regional Amir.