Two Christians preaching on a busy street in Kampala. (Courtesy Photo.)
Muslim leaders have during a meeting with State officials proposed amendments to the existing law on street preaching in Uganda, a state linked news daily has reported.
Mr Ibrahim Kakungulu, The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council (UMSC) director of Sharia told Parliament’s legal affairs committee that “the law should be revised so that even we, Muslims are allowed to go on the street and preach.”
Changes were suggested when Mr Kakungulu told the committee about the presence of Christians preaching on streets in Uganda.
“Although there’s freedom of worship, under the equity and common law, preaching on the street is illegal. It is regarded as a public nuisance. The Pentecostals are doing it illegally. So we cannot participate in the illegality. Let the law be revised first,” another cleric who spoke to the New Vision on condition of anonymity stated.
Other members from the Uganda Muslim Uganda Muslim Supreme Council present at this meeting on 30 July 2019 included 1st Deputy Mufti Sheikh Abdallah Ssemambo, Sheikh Muhammmad Ali Wasswa and Sheikh Yahaya Kakungulu.
On several occasions, Uganda Communications Commission (UCC), National Environment Management Authority (NEMA) and Kampala Capital City Authority have called street preaching illegitimate in the country, adding that it is an infringement on the rights of citizens to peace and quiet in the city.
This directive, under the KCC Maintenance of Law and Order Ordinance, 2006, has however not stopped Christian evangelists from preaching outdoor. They urge that such a policy it is an attack on Christianity in the country.
Nsaba Buturo, the former minister of Ethics and Integrity and a born-again in 2017 condemned restrictions on street preaching, stating that the “scripture cannot be subjected to man-made regulations.”
Before her resignation, former KCCA executive director Jennifer Musisi said during a meeting attended by several Pentecostal church leaders at City Hall that “street preachers have a right to spread the gospel but they have to operate within the KCCA laws.”
And one of the laws, she explained, prohibits the usage of loud speakers, seen as pollution in public space.
It is then that Bishop David Kiganda said that a select committee of 12 people was formed to make recommendations to KCCA on how street preaching can be “regulated.” This included registering all street preachers in Uganda.
