By correspondent
A court battle over the control and management of Kenya’s Hajj program is gaining moment as Supreme Council of Kenya Muslims (Supkem) locked horns with a new association of Hajj and Umra agencies.
There are fears that this year’s hajj preparations in the country may be jeopardized after a group went to court demanding recognition as the local facilitators of Hajj and Umrah, The Friday Bulletin, a weekly publication by Jamia Mosque reported this week.
“I am certain that this was deliberate because the applicant has a clear intention of taking over the issue of Hajj and Umra in Kenya which cannot be permitted,” Supkem Chairman Yusuf Nzibo said in a court affidavit.
“I verily believe that that the applicant has sought to obfuscate issues of a purely religious nature and muddled them with diplomatic issues”
According to the bulletin, the Association of Hajj and Umra-Kenya which was registered in December last year has filed a case against the Ministry of Foreign Affairs demanding it to be recognized as the link between the governments of Kenya and Saudi Arabia in matters Hajj and Umrah.
The case was reportedly filed under a certificate of urgency at the high court where the Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs and the Attorney General are both scheduled as respondents. Supkem is required to appear as an interested party.
Court documents filed by the association gave details of how Supkem is ‘a private organization” lacking statutory and constitutional powers to advise the ministry of foreign affairs’.
Represented by Tom Ojienda and Associates, The Association of Hajj and Umra-Kenya asked the court to halt and bar any Supkem official from traveling to Saudia Arabia over discussions on Hajj preparations.
For years, the foreign affairs ministry has been engaging only Supkem in matters Hajj and Umrah and the entry of this new association into the management of multimillion religious program may complicate the whole process.
And this latest court battle against Supkem, an institution that has been the sole representative of Kenya Muslims for decades, will affect preparations for 2018 Hajj.
