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A group known as Concerned Muslims on Thursday appealed to government to help them find out what happened to the K10 million government gave the Muslim Association of Malawi (Mam) to rebuild mosques in the North following 1999 riots.
Secretary of the group William Hajji told the media that “until today we do not know what happened to the money as no mosques have been built in the North to replace the ones that were burnt.”
Hajji said government should also help the group trace the assets of the five al Qaeda suspects who were extradited to the United States but found with no case to answer.
“We want to know the names of the people who informed on them as they were our donors and we are surprised that nothing has been done to the people who gave the false information,” Hajji said.
The five al Qaeda suspects were Fahad Al Bahhi from Saudi Arabia, Ibrahim Habachi and Arif Ulasam from Turkey, Mahmud Sardar Issa from Sudan and Khalifa Abdi Hassan from Kenya. They were arrested in 2003.
The concerned Muslims also claimed they have suffered persecution since they marched to support the budget, saying some of their colleagues had been fired and others were receiving death threats reminding them of what happened to Sheik Bugidad.
“If the budget had not been approved, Muslims would have been affected as well as they are citizens of Malawi”, Hajji said.
But the secretary for Mam Imran Shareef Mahomed said that the concerned Muslims cannot not speak on behalf of all Muslims in the country.
“The only body mandated to speak for Muslims in Malawi is the Muslim Association of Malawi and as far as we are concerned they marched as members of DPP,” Shareef Mahomed said.
But he concurred with the Concerned Muslims on the issue of the al Qaeda suspects and their assets.
“We are concerned about the matter of items such as cars, money, computers and other office items that these people had,” Mahomed said, explaining that two of the vehicles that were impounded by government were returned.
The concerned Muslims also said they are willing to work with the present government and said any Muslim was free to belong to any political party of his choice.
When asked about the K10 million, Mahomed said: “It is not fair as we have just received the report and they should have waited for us to read the report.”
The concerned Muslims consist of Ibrahim Daud as the chairman, Hashim Abbas as the sheik of the group, William Hajji as the secretary and Abdul Rafiki James as vice secretary.
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