Sheikh Kamoga: Our allegiance is to Museveni

By Jafar Mugera and Abdul Wahid Kakande

The Amir Ummah (leader of the Tablighs), Sheikh Muhammad Yunus Kamoga, has told his followers that they are duty-bound to give their loyalty and allegiance to President Yoweri Museveni.

In a short video clip circulated online by the Jamu-iyyat Tabligh Da’awah Salafiyya (JTDS) – the officially registered body of the Tabligh community – Sheikh Kamoga stressed that, as a group, their allegiance remains with Museveni until another person is sworn in as President.

“Whoever occupies State House is our leader. Once someone is duly sworn in as President, we, as Salafi Muslims, have a duty to recognise that person. I am not speaking politics, but that is the simple truth. The President we acknowledge is the one in office,” he said.

The video, recorded from an unnamed mosque in Kampala, was posted online on Monday, November 24.

President Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, is currently seeking his seventh elective term. In the clip, Sheikh Kamoga does not comment on the ongoing presidential campaigns but tells his audience that their allegiance will shift only when a new person assumes the presidency. The congregation is heard responding in approval.

Kamoga has previously had several run-ins with the NRM government, most notably following his group’s violent 1990 attack on the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) headquarters at Old Kampala. He lived in exile for nearly 20 years until December 2008, when Kenyan authorities deported him back to Uganda.

Seven years later, in January 2015, he was arrested alongside 13 other Tabligh leaders and, in January 2017, sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of “verbal terrorism.” The group successfully appealed the conviction and were released in September 2020.

Since then, Kamoga has become a frequent visitor to State House during the various meetings President Museveni holds with Muslim clerics.

Kamoga criticises Supreme Mufti

Sheikh Kamoga has criticised the Supreme Mufti, Sheikh Muhammad Shaban Galabuzi, for urging Imams under his leadership to disband Tabligh clerics from mosques.

Kamoga explained that Galabuzi must have misinterpreted his call for the Tabligh clerics to penetrate mosques under Kibuli and Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC).

“Our mission is to teach all Muslims about their religion. Allow us to teach the Muslims. How can you be a Muslim leader and stop us from teaching people?” Kamoga said.

Kamoga said they have no intention of taking over the mosques but to teach people.

“This message goes to the Supreme Mufti. We don’t have any bad intentions against our fellow Muslims. We don’t even segregate anyone because one belongs to Kibuli and the other to Uganda Muslim Supreme Council at old Kampala or that one has a beard and another does not have. We no longer do this. We only want to teach people about their religion,” Kamoga said.

Kamoga said the Tabligh community should not be judged based on their history.

“Forgive us what we did in the past. Don’t revive it. Nobody wants to take your mosques. Where can we take them?” Kamoga said.

“Some years back, Muslims used not to observe Jama in mosques. They used to lock the mosques until Friday, but it is those who you say are bad that encouraged people to observe the daily prayers in the mosques,” Kamoga said.

How it started

At the beginning of this month, Kamoga told a gathering in Kanyanya, a city suburb in Kawempe Division, Kampala to penetrate mosques under Kibuli and UMSC as a way of spreading the Salafi Aqeedah (creed) to mosques.

Awakened by what happened in early 1990s when the Tabligh community attempted to forcefully take over mosques including the UMSC headquarters, Galabuzi urged the clerics under his leadership to reflect on Kamoga’s call and not entertain them in their mosques.