www.newvision.co.ug The Libyan Leader, Muammaral Qathafi, will open the newly-built Old Kampala Mosque, President Yoweri Museveni has said.
Inspecting the final touches on the magnificent structure on Old Kampala hill , Museveni said he had written to Gaddafi, asking him to open the mosque in October.
“I want to thank my brother Gaddafi for this gift of a mosque to the Muslims of Uganda and Uganda as a whole. I have spoken to him twice the last two days on phone. I have now written a letter to him, formally proposing that we open this mosque in October,” Museveni told Muslim leaders at the mosque.
“NRM believes in freedom of worship. We welcome all religions as our philosophy, not like other groups that previously took sides with some religions,” he said.
He said Ugandans were free to belong to any faith as long as they did not break the law and did not mix religion with politics.
“Politics is politics and religion is the relationship between Man and God,” he said.
He said Saudi Arabia had given US$57m to the late Idi Amin to build the mosque but it was squandered. “When we chased Idi Amin in 1979, I asked, where is the mosque? I found a crooked structure here,” he said.
He hailed the Muslims for uniting, saying disunity was not only destabilising their faith, but also the whole country.
“In the past, there were Muslims of Saudi Arabia, Muslims of Libya, and Muslims of Iran. But now, you are all Muslims of Allah. That is what I wanted it to be. Muslims of Allah and Muslims of Uganda,” he said.
The Mufti, Sheikh Shaban Mubajje, thanked the president for appointing Muslims to his Cabinet. The construction committee was led by Eng. Badru Kiggundu. |