Tooro Kingdom is facing succession disputes in its history after Queen Mother, Best Kemigisa challenged the process that led to Prince Edward Rukidi Kijaangoma’s selection as the next Omukama before the late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV is laid to rest.
The Queen Mother, in an emotional statement appealed for the succession battle to stop until King Oyo is buried, saying the royal family deserves the dignity to mourn before the kingdom determines its next ruler.
“I write this with a heavy heart,” Kemigisa said.
She recalled that she was only 26 when her husband, Omukama Patrick David Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III, died while she was in the United Kingdom seeking treatment for her daughter Cecilia, leaving their son Oyo only two years old.
“I came home to bury my husband, Omukama Patrick, and grieve, but instead we immediately had to fight for my son’s right to be King,” she said.
Kemigisa said members of the Babiito Royal Clan had argued that Oyo was too young to become king at three years old and claimed his uncle should inherit the throne under the will of Omukama Rukidi III, but the matter was settled in court in Oyo’s favour, she said.
She also recounted losing her daughter Cecilia to leukemia a few years later, saying many of the clan leaders now involved in the succession dispute neither comforted the family nor attended the burial, she said.
Kemigisa said Oyo went on to serve Tooro for 31 years, winning admiration across Uganda and internationally, while President Yoweri Museveni stood by him as they built the kingdom together, she said.
She thanked President Museveni for ensuring Oyo’s body was returned home with dignity after his death on August 27 and praised the UPDF Engineering Brigade for constructing the royal grave and improving roads leading to the royal tombs under the direction of the Chief of Defence Forces, she said.
“We thank him. We thank the CDF,” she said.
The Queen Mother, however, said the succession controversy erupted before the royal family had even reached Fort Portal with Oyo’s remains after Andrew Mwenda announced that another king had already been selected, she said.
“Not one of them had called me to say sorry for the loss of my son or ask about his will or plans King Oyo had left,” she said.
She further alleged that three days before Oyo’s burial, Gen Kayanja Muhanga removed palace guards without notice, deployed troops around Karuziika Palace and took away the Musuuga, the traditional Prince Regent, to an undisclosed location, she said.
Kemigisa said Oyo’s will was later read before members of the royal family and government representatives, including the Musuuga Charles Kamurasi, Princess Ruth Komuntale, Princess Margaret Komubaizi, Msgr Father Mayombo, Fr Oyo and Maj Gen Henry Tumukunde, who represented President Museveni, she said.
“The Will clearly set out the order of succession to the Tooro throne,” she said.
She said the meeting agreed to reconvene the following day under Tumukunde’s chairmanship, but alleged that some clan leaders held a press conference that same evening and declared their own king while Oyo’s body was still lying beside the family, she said.
“They chose to jubilate while my son was still lying in his casket next to them. That is what has hurt us most,” she said.
Kemigisa said heavy security around the palace had left the family unable to freely receive visitors or leave the premises, making a direct appeal to Gen Kayanja Muhanga, the UPDF leadership and President Museveni to allow the family to bury Oyo peacefully, she said.
“We are under house arrest. Please allow us to send him home with the dignity and respect he deserves,” she said.
Her statement came after Prince Edward Rukidi Kijaangoma was announced on Wednesday night as the next Omukama following a succession process defended by senior journalist Andrew Mwenda and leaders of the Babiito Royal Clan.
Mwenda rejected suggestions that the selection was made by a self appointed group, insisting it followed Tooro’s established cultural institutions and customs, he said.
“This is a gross insult to our kingdom and its cultural institutions,” Mwenda said.
He explained that after Oyo’s death, more than 100 princes and princesses gathered at Karuziika Palace on August 28 for a general meeting of the Babiito Royal Clan, where they elected a 21-member Royal Succession Committee headed by the Musuuga to guide the succession process, he said.
According to Mwenda, the committee officially began work on August 31 and considered four candidates namely George Desmond Kamurasi, George David Kamurasi, Prince Edward Rukidi Kijaangoma and a boy presented as Oyo’s alleged son, he said.
Mwenda said Patrick Kawamara, the Queen Mother’s brother and representative on the committee, introduced the alleged son but failed to provide photographs, identify the mother’s Toro relatives or consistently state the child’s name, leading the committee to reject the candidature, he said.
“The committee found this dubious and decided to remove Oyo’s purported son from the list of considerations,” Mwenda said.
He said the committee initially selected George Desmond Kamurasi after he secured 15 votes in a secret ballot, while the remaining candidates received one vote each, he said.
Mwenda said Kamurasi did not reject the throne but requested time to consult his wife and business partners in London, prompting the kingdom to move to the next suitable candidate because of time constraints, he said.
That decision culminated in the announcement of Prince Edward Rukidi Kijaangoma as the new Omukama on Wednesday night, although the declaration has since come under fresh challenge following the Queen Mother’s statement.
Mwenda also defended the handling of Oyo’s will, saying a meeting on September 8 brought together the Queen Mother, the Musuuga, Msgr Mayombo, Fr Oyo, Patrick Kawamara, Misaki Kawamara, Mujaguzi and other family members before another meeting where Princess Ruth Komuntale and Princess Margaret Komubaizi attended the formal reading of the will, he said.
He said the will, written on September 14, 2022, contained only a hypothetical heir rather than naming a specific successor, while adding that Tooro custom does not automatically make a king’s son heir unless he is born to an officially recognised Mutoro queen, he said.
“Toro needs to know the mother and her background,” Mwenda said.
As competing interpretations of the succession process continue to emerge, Tooro Kingdom Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomire appealed for calm, warning that the kingdom was living through one of the most painful moments in its history, he said.
“His Majesty Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV has passed away, and even before we have laid our King to rest, sharply differing positions have emerged regarding succession to the Crown of Tooro,” Rwomire said.
He acknowledged that one group had announced a new king while another relied on Oyo’s will, but insisted the kingdom’s unity should come before competing claims, he said.
“The Crown of Tooro has existed for generations and will endure long after all of us. Nothing is so urgent that we must sacrifice the dignity of His Majesty’s final journey,” Rwomire said.
He urged all sides to lower tensions, allow Oyo to be buried with honour and let the proper cultural, legal and institutional processes determine the succession afterwards, he said.
Rwomire also appealed to the Government of Uganda to help preserve peace and order without taking sides in choosing a king, saying respected elders and cultural leaders should help guide an orderly path forward, he said.
“History will remember not only how the succession question was resolved, but also how we behaved when our King died. For now, let us mourn together. Let us bury our King with honour,” Rwomire said.
The dispute has now left Tooro Kingdom at a crossroads, with Prince Edward Rukidi Kijaangoma’s announcement as the next Omukama facing scrutiny as the royal family, clan leaders and government navigate one of the kingdom’s most sensitive transitions in decades.
