Kampala, Uganda | THE INDEPENDENT | The Second Deputy Mufti of Uganda, Ali Waiswa, has faulted Parliament’s Legal committee for dropping proposals of Muslims in their final reports to the house.
Waiswa and the Uganda Muslim Supreme Council officials were appearing before the committee on Tuesday to give their views on the Succession bill. The Bill among other things seeks to amend the Succession Act, 1906, to conform to the Constitution for gender equality, and repeal unconstitutional provisions to eliminate discrimination regarding customary heirs and heiresses, and to protect the principal residential property of the surviving spouse.
The Bill proposes that surviving spouses should get 50 percent of the estate of the deceased, while children should get 41 percent down from the current provision of 75 percent.
The dependent’s relative is expected to receive 9 percent of the estate shares. Where the deceased leaves no person surviving him or her capable of taking the property, the shares will be divided equally between the relatives nearest in kinship to the intestate among others.
Waiswa noted that it is unfortunate that their position as Muslims in Uganda has been ignored. He said that even after appearing before the committee several times, the legal committee has dropped their views when the matter goes to the house for debate.
He says that their position as Muslims in the country has not changed in regard to the bill especially on sharing of property. The Muslims contend that the Quran specifies the distribution of the deceased’s estate.
According to the Quran, it allocates one-eighth of the property to the widow if the man dies and leaves behind children, but if the two had no children, the share of the wife is one-quarter of the whole estate.
The chairperson of the committee Robinah Rwakoojo said that the committee is not responsible for what is passed by Parliament. She says that the views of the committee may be overruled by the house.
Ashraf Ziwa the spokesperson of UMSC said the bill is in total conflict with the Quran.
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