Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I takes Tooro throne amid succession dispute

Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma has taken the throne of Uganda’s Tooro kingdom as King Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I after overnight rites at Karuziika Palace in Fort Portal. His accession follows the death of King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV and leaves a dispute over the late monarch’s reported young son unresolved.

New Vision reporters followed Kijanangoma’s procession from Rwengoma Palace to Karuziika Palace. They reported that he took part in a mock battle, speared a white cow three times and beat a royal drum at about 1 a.m. New Vision described the drum ceremony as marking the arrival of Tooro’s new king and reported that he then sat on the throne.

An overnight passage to the throne

The procession drew crowds along the route through Fort Portal, according to New Vision. Royal guards accompanied the incoming king, while people carried burning reeds to light his journey. At the palace, the rites continued through the night before he took his seat. The account establishes that the traditional enthronement rites occurred; the succession argument concerns who should have been chosen.

Daily Monitor reported that the 29 September coronation was Tooro’s first since Oyo took the throne on 12 September 1995. Oyo died on 27 August and was buried at Karambi Royal Tombs on 12 September, the newspaper said. His death ended a reign of about 31 years and prompted the selection of a successor from the ruling Babiito clan.

Why the succession is disputed

Oyo’s mother, Queen Mother Best Kemigisa, says he left a young son and that a written will naming the child was not followed when Kijanangoma was selected, according to AP. Those are her claims: the reported child has not been publicly identified, and the available reporting does not establish the will’s contents or its standing under Tooro custom. The dispute therefore cannot be described as settled by the ceremony.

The kingdom’s information minister, Charles Mwanguhya, has given a different account. Daily Monitor reported his statement that the reported son had not been presented to the kingdom, which he said was leading to acceptance that Oyo left no son. The child’s absence from the selection process does not independently establish whether the child exists. The opposing positions remain central to the family’s challenge.

Kemigisa also objected to the timing of celebrations after Kijanangoma’s selection. She said they took place metres from her son’s body and called the experience ‘extraordinarily painful,’ Daily Monitor reported. Her objection conveys the family’s grief as well as its disagreement with the choice, while the Babiito clan’s selection is the basis on which the new king proceeded to the palace rites.

Government involvement and what remains open

Daily Monitor reported that Tooro’s organising committee confirmed President Yoweri Museveni would attend the coronation. Its 23 September report said no formal government statement recognising Kijanangoma as Omukama had been issued at that point. An announced appearance should therefore not be treated as proof of a later formal recognition or as a resolution of the family’s claim.

In a message delivered at Oyo’s burial, Museveni appealed for a peaceful, legal resolution of the succession issue and for unity, according to Daily Monitor. The appeal came before the enthronement. The ceremony has now put Kijanangoma on the throne, but the reporting available does not establish whether the reported will has been independently examined or whether the family and clan have reached an agreement.

The succession matters chiefly as a question of cultural leadership. AP reported that Uganda restored its traditional kingdoms in 1993 after they had been banned in the 1960s. Traditional leaders have no formal political authority and are barred from partisan politics, it said, but retain cultural influence. In Tooro, that influence gives the choice of Omukama significance beyond the palace ceremony.

For now, the confirmed change is Kijanangoma’s accession after the overnight rites. New Vision’s account places him on the throne at Karuziika, while the claim that Oyo left a son rests with Kemigisa and the kingdom minister says no such child has been presented. Whether the competing accounts can be reconciled remains open.