Imams, UMSC in bitter row over Museveni Hajj coupons

By Sarah Nalule and Abdul-Wahid Kakande

Tensions are brewing between the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) and the National Assembly of Imams and Duat Uganda over the 2025 Hajj coupons procured by President Yoweri Museveni to benefit needy Muslim leaders in Kampala. The head of state is understood to have secured 100 Hajj slots from his Saudi Arabian friends before the State House asked UMSC to work with the Imams’ association to identify the beneficiaries.

The fight for the Hajj coupons came to the fore on Tuesday, April 8, when the Imams called a press conference at a mosque near Kalerwe along Gayaza road in Kampala to vent their anger against the country’s Muslim apex body.

“It is unfair for UMSC to hijack the process because it is we who reached out to the President for this facility,” Sheikh Saidi Kasawuli, the chairman of the National Assembly of Imams and Duats Uganda, told the media.

“When we met the President in 2011 at State House in Entebbe, we requested him to sponsor about 20 Imams for pilgrimage to Mecca annually and two years ago, he wrote back to us saying he had accepted our request and increased the number to 100 Imams. However, he indicated that UMSC will approve the list we would have generated. However, UMSC has deviated from this and instead wants us to share the slots with it equally, something we oppose,” Kasawuli added.

Museveni’s communication to both the Imams and the UMSC indicated that at least 100 Muslims would be sponsored annually for the Hajj pilgrimage, depending on the availability of opportunities.

According to Kasawuli, Museveni’s Hajj sponsorship was specifically intended to benefit Imams and Amirats from Kampala, cutting across all Muslim affiliations. He expressed concern that by UMSC taking control of the distribution process, many deserving Muslims—especially those not aligned with the UMSC—are at risk of being unfairly left out.

He claims that UMSC has already taken 60 per cent of the slots and unjustly left only 40 per cent for the Imams.

“Given that this is the first time the offer is being implemented after such a long wait, we included some Muslim leaders from districts like Gomba, Kayunga, Kyotera, Mukono, and Masaka. Unfortunately, they are likely to miss out due to the current confusion,” he said.

“UMSC should have consulted us before moving ahead to select the beneficiaries. We urge them to prioritise Imams and Amirats since the initiative was originally intended for both male and female Muslim leaders,” he emphasised.

Kasawuli also called for a review of the agreement with the State House to ensure equal and non-discriminatory distribution of the pilgrimage slots.

“We request the State House to intervene in this matter because it will be unfortunate to leave out Imams that have been waiting since 2011 because they don’t subscribe to UMSC leadership,” Kasawuli said.

UMSC SPEAKS

However, Sheikh Muhammad Ali Aluma, Deputy Secretary General of UMSC, dismissed the allegations, saying the Imams were misinformed.

“Sheikh Kasawuli is the one spreading misinformation, yet we met with his team and agreed on key issues,” Aluma said, adding, “To date, we agreed to share the slots equally—50 for UMSC and 50 for the Imams. If they’re now complaining, then there seems to be confusion on their side.”

Aluma also said that Kasawuli’s group should not claim any credit for the offer since Museveni acted in fulfilment of a pledge he made ahead of the 2011 elections to sponsor 100 Muslims for the annual Hajj and that the Mufti, Sheikh Shaban Mubaje, has long been engaged on the matter.

He added that regional Kadhis have already been contacted to submit the names of five individuals from each district, ensuring wide representation.

Commenting on the same matter, UMSC spokesperson Ashraf Zziwa Muvawala said Imams should register with UMSC to stand a chance of benefiting from the program because the National Association of Imams and Duat of Uganda is not a department of UMSC but an individual organisation.

However, the senior presidential advisor in charge of political mobilisation, Moses Byaruhanga, said that Museveni made the offer for Kampala Imams and that both parties were directed to come up with the list of the beneficiaries.

This year, Uganda was allocated 1,700 slots by Saudi Arabia according to Sheikh Zakariyah Kyewalyanga, the chairperson of the Uganda Bureau of Hajj Affairs (UBHA).

Departures to the holy land are expected between May 24 and 29.