Nakibinge quits UMEA amid Kawempe school dispute

By Ahmed Idriss

Prince Kassim Nakibinge has resigned from the Uganda Muslim Education Association Limited (UMEA), weeks after the organisation admitted the Registered Trustees of the Juma and Zukulu Muslim Group in Uganda as members.

The changes are contained in resolutions filed with the Uganda Registration Services Bureau (URSB), following a UMEA Board of Directors meeting held on April 27, 2026.

The developments come as UMEA faces a High Court challenge from the Juma and Zukulu trustees over who should be recognised as the founding body of Kawempe Muslim Secondary School.

According to the resolutions, UMEA accepted the resignation of Prince Nakibinge and five other members; Lukwago Isa, Walisumbi Kigozi Juma Yusef, Ssebulime Muhamad, Ssevviiri Elias and Kakembo Sekyaya Abubakar, as subscribers and members of the company.

The board also recorded the death of Seguya Ibrahim, who consequently ceased to be a member and subscriber.

At the same meeting, UMEA admitted four institutional bodies into its membership. They are the Registered Trustees of the Uganda Muslim Community, Kibuli; the Registered Trustees of the Office of the Supreme Mufti; the Registered Trustees of the Young Men’s Muslim Association; and the Registered Trustees of the Juma and Zukulu Muslim Group.

The resolutions also provide for amendments to UMEA’s Memorandum and Articles of Association to reflect the new membership structure and objectives. The changes were subsequently filed and stamped by URSB on June 25, 2026.

THE KAWEMPE DISPUTE

The restructuring comes against the backdrop of a dispute over the history and governance of Kawempe Muslim Secondary School.

The Juma and Zukulu trustees have sued UMEA, the school’s Board of Governors and the Attorney General before the High Court in Kampala, seeking a declaration that they, not UMEA, are the lawful founding body of the school.

The trustees say a meeting of Muslim stakeholders held at their Kawempe headquarters on March 25, 1984 resolved to establish the school. They further claim that they provided about 5.3 acres of land on Kyadondo Block 208, Plot 169, where the school was subsequently established.

They argue that UMEA Limited could not have founded a school established in 1984 because the company was incorporated in June 1995, about 11 years later. They are also challenging the composition of the school’s current Board of Governors, arguing that the trustees should have been involved in its appointment.

Under Uganda’s education framework, founding bodies have a role in the composition of Boards of Governors.

COMPETING ACCOUNTS OF THE SCHOOL’S HISTORY

The dispute has exposed different accounts of how Kawempe Muslim Secondary School came into existence.

A parliamentary report on government-aided schools lists Kawempe Muslim Secondary School among institutions founded by UMEA and gives its establishment year as 1984.

The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council has, however, published an account by Dr Edris Sserugo Kasenene that describes a more complex history. According to Kasenene, the school was established in 1984 following efforts by Muslim leaders and the UMSC, while the Juma-Zukulu group provided premises for the school before it moved to its current site.

An older account attributed to Kasenene similarly says the school was inaugurated on March 2, 1984 at Kawempe Muslim Primary School before arrangements were made with the Juma-Zukulu group to accommodate it at Kyadondo Hill.