King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who had ascended the throne of Uganda’s Tooro kingdom at age three, died on 27 August while receiving cancer treatment in the United States. The monarch’s passing has triggered a bitter succession dispute within the royal family.
On Wednesday, the royal clan’s succession committee announced that Oyo’s cousin, Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a television news anchor and editor at the public broadcaster UBC, had been chosen as crown prince. Later that day, Oyo’s sister, Princess Ruth Nsemere Komuntale, declared that the king’s will named a previously unknown son as his heir, citing a clause that directed the throne to a “lawfully recognised” biological son.
Queen Mother Best Kemigisa Akiiki denounced the committee as a “self‑appointed group” that had acted without the will, claiming the royal family had been placed under house arrest and that troops had been deployed around the palace. Prime Minister Calvin Armstrong Rwomiire Akiiki, who announced Oyo’s death on social media, said the son’s identity would be formally revealed in accordance with Tooro traditions. He urged calm and a thorough examination of the will and customary law.
Other potential successors included Prince George Desmond‑Kamurasi, a goalkeeper for a London amateur club, who reportedly declined the throne. In Tooro, a king’s son may only succeed if born to a queen officially married to the king. The dispute underscores the fragile nature of succession in Uganda’s traditional kingdoms, which, while lacking political power, wield significant social influence and are governed by customary law rather than formal sovereignty. The king’s burial is scheduled for Saturday at the Karambi royal tombs in Fort Portal.
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