Uganda crowns journalist amid succession dispute.
The appointment of Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I, a 56-year-old journalist, as the new king of Tooro has triggered a crisis that has shaken the royal family and all of Uganda. The official ceremony took place on September 29 at a thanksgiving service at St. John’s Anglican Cathedral, in the city of Fort Portal, located in western Uganda. Tooro, Buganda, Bunyoro and Busoga are the four traditional Bantu kingdoms of the country. Founded at the beginning of the 19th century, they were abolished in 1967 by the Milton Obote regime and restored in the 1990s under the mandate of the current president, Yoweri Museveni, who has now been in power for more than 40 years.
The succession to the throne took place after Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, considered the youngest king in the world when he ascended the throne in 1995 at just three years old, died at the age of 34 in the United States, where he was receiving treatment for cancer. His body was repatriated for a state funeral. After a brief ceremony at Entebbe International Airport, the coffin was taken by military helicopter to Fort Portal, capital of the Tooro kingdom. He remained there for nine days until the burial, which coincided with the anniversary of the king’s coronation. For three days, national flags flew at half-mast throughout the country. The Ugandan Parliament paid special tribute to him, calling him a modernizing monarch, a defender of education, health and opportunities for young people.
While the royal family mourned, the 21 elders of the succession committee appointed the next omukamaa title in the local language by which the king of Tooro is known. The chosen one, a cousin of the deceased, had worked as a presenter on the state broadcaster UBC TV. A footballer in the United Kingdom, George Desmond Kumurasi, also had a chance to reach the throne, but rejected the offer for personal reasons.
The appointment was not liked by Oyo’s family, who understood that a son of the deceased should be the heir. Even Princess Ruth Komuntale led the rejection of the newly appointed. According to the BBC, his brother left “very strict instructions” in which he provided alternatives in case the boy could not access the throne. However, Charles Kayondo Kamurasi, head of the Babiito royal clan, from whose members the kings of Tooro are chosen, maintains the opposite: “Nothing is known about the child in question,” he told the BBC. Tradition establishes that, when a child is born, it is presented to the elders so that they can meet it and ceremonies and rituals are celebrated. In this case this did not happen, which suggests that the deceased had a child out of wedlock. As the Africanews portal summarizes, “Oyo was single. He was not officially married and never declared an heir.
Meanwhile, the Ugandan Government, through the Minister of the Interior, Juma Witonze Kisekka, has asked the people of Tooro for calm. After consulting the president of the country, who agreed with the committee of elders, the new monarch, Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I, ascended the throne.
In the image above, Charles Kayondo Kamurasi, head of the Babiito royal clan, leaves the Karuziika royal palace before the burial of King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, on September 12, in Fort Portal (Uganda). Photograph: Hajarah Nalwadda/Getty
