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Jinja, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Uganda Muslim Supreme Council has been granted access to Jinja cemetery.
This is after the route to access the facility was blocked by personnel from UPDF’s engineering brigade who were contracted to construct a perimeter wall along the 4.6-acre land, which was contested between UMSC and Jinja Hospital for over a decade.
On Monday, the Lands minister, Judith Nabakooba, Health Minister Ruth Aceng, and members of the Uganda Muslim Supreme council-UMSC, unanimously agreed on having an alternative access route to the Jinja cemetery.
Aceng says that the land granted to UMSC is triangular, which lies between Clive Road and Bax Road respectively. She said that this land would provide both the access route and decent parking space for the mourners.
Aceng noted that the land is free of charge and the resolution delved into strengthening the friendship between both UMSC and Jinja Hospital, whose relationship thrives on supporting surrounding communities.
Aceng directed the Jinja hospital officials to draft a resolution of no objection to granting UMSC the agreeable 0.5 acre of land.
Aceng said that they will dispatch surveyors, who will liaise with Jinja city authorities to amicably curve off the 0.5 acres of land in favour of UMSC and ensure proper planning of the remaining land under the custodianship of Jinja Hospital.
She says that the remaining land will enable the establishment of more specialist services like a blood bank, heart institute, and cancer institute, among other development initiatives.
Nabakooba said that they don’t have powers to overturn the court decision, but the harmonization meeting was geared towards expediting the process of finding access to the cemetery in the shortest time possible.
Nabakooba however, says that the space in the cemetery is almost full and has since advised UMSC to look for a 10-acre piece of land outside Jinja city’s CBD, which she can convince the president to purchase for them.
She says that such a move will enable members of the business community to decently send off their dead without harbouring any contestations with their neighbours.
The UMSC Chairman, Dr Mohammed Lubega hailed both ministers for drafting a long-lasting solution to their current problem. Lubega further called upon members of the Muslim community to thank God for the access route, which has been granted them, adding that, this has provided them with a baseline of hope for other collective achievements to better their well-being.
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