Dispute over the throne of the Toro Kingdom erupts in Uganda
In Uganda, elders of the Toro royal clan have chosen 56-year-old television presenter Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma as the kingdom’s next monarch. The closest relatives of the late King Oyo rejected the decision, BBC News reports.
King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV died last month at the age of 34 while receiving cancer treatment in the United States. He ruled Toro for more than three decades and, until his death, was the world’s youngest serving monarch. The king’s body was brought to Uganda on Friday, and the burial is due to take place on Saturday in the royal tombs near the palace in Fort Portal in the west of the country.
The family’s position
The late monarch’s sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale, said that Oyo left a will drawn up in 2022 in which he named his son as his successor. The boy’s identity has not been publicly disclosed. According to Komuntale, the document also named other possible heirs should the son be unable to take the throne. This position was supported by the senior representative of the royal family, Princess Elizabeth Bagaaya.
Oyo’s mother, Queen Best Kemigisa, said that royal guards had been removed from the palace and soldiers deployed there instead. According to her, this restricted the movement of family members and their ability to receive visitors. She appealed to the military leadership and President Yoweri Museveni to allow the family to mourn and bury the king peacefully.
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The clan’s decision
The royal clan’s succession committee announced Kijanangoma’s selection at a press conference in Fort Portal. He is Oyo’s cousin, a news presenter for the state broadcaster UBC, the son of Prince Christopher Paul Kijanangoma and the grandson of former Toro King George David Rukidi III. According to the committee, the decision was signed by 19 of its members.
Clan representatives said that, by tradition, they have the right to choose the omukama, the local title for the Toro monarch. They said that information about the existence of Oyo’s son was insufficient for succession, as the child had not been presented to the royal clan in accordance with custom. A date for Kijanangoma’s coronation ceremony has not yet been set.
Toro is one of Uganda’s traditional kingdoms. Its monarch has no formal political powers but plays an important cultural role in the west of the country. Traditional kingdoms were abolished in Uganda in 1967 and restored in the 1990s under Museveni’s presidency.
