A succession dispute has erupted in Uganda Tooro Kingdom after the royal committee’s first choice to replace the late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV declined the throne, while the king’s immediate family rejected the committee’s subsequent choice.
George Desmond Kamurasi, 36, a non-league goalkeeper from south-east London, had been selected by the 21-member Babiito royal succession committee as its preferred candidate to succeed his cousin, King Oyo.
Fifteen of the 18 committee members who participated in the vote backed Kamurasi. But he has declined the throne, citing other responsibilities, according to committee member Fr Charles Oyo.
Kamurasi, who captains SE Dons, a ninth-tier English football club in Crayford, has not publicly commented on his decision.
Reports in Ugandan media said he was reluctant to leave London, where he has family ties. He was also due to play in an FA Vase qualifying match around the same weekend as King Oyo’s funeral.
Following Kamurasi’s refusal, the succession committee turned to Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a news anchor and editor at Uganda’s public broadcaster, UBC. He was announced as the new successor earlier in the week.
However, the decision was rejected by members of King Oyo’s immediate family, bringing the succession process into open dispute shortly before the late monarch’s burial.
The disagreement has divided members of the royal family and raised questions over who has the authority to determine the next king.
The late king’s sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale, accused unnamed individuals of conspiring against her and Queen Mother Best Kemigisa.
She also produced what she said was a will written by King Oyo in 2022. According to the princess, the document designated a “biological son” as the heir, although it did not name the child.
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The revelation came as a surprise to sections of the Tooro elite, who had not previously been aware of the alleged son and whose name was not considered during the succession committee’s vote.
The Queen Mother also claimed that she and other members of the royal family had effectively been placed under house arrest amid the dispute.
The succession dispute unfolded as thousands of people gathered in western Uganda on Saturday to pay their final respects to King Oyo.
President Yoweri Museveni called on the Batoro to resolve the dispute peacefully and through lawful means. “Once the matter of the new king of the Batoro is settled, we will be happy to work with him, just as we did with His Highness Oyo,” he said in a statement read during the funeral ceremony at Saint John’s Cathedral in Fort Portal.
Museveni urged the community to prioritize unity and avoid confrontation. The Queen Mother similarly appealed to those involved in the succession dispute to allow the royal family to mourn.
“I also appeal to those fighting over the throne: please, there will be time for all of that,” she said. “Let us grieve and bury my son King Oyo.”
King Oyo died at the age of 34 while receiving cancer treatment in the United States. He became king at just three years old and reigned over the Tooro Kingdom for 31 years. Guinness World Records recognised him as the world’s youngest reigning monarch.
Although Uganda is a republic, the country officially recognises four traditional kingdoms. The kingdoms were abolished after independence but restored in 1993.
Today, they largely function as cultural institutions without formal political authority, although their monarchs retain significant cultural influence and support among their communities.
King Oyo became a prominent international figure during his long reign and was introduced to several world leaders at national and international events.
The king’s death has been met with widespread grief across Tooro. His sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale, remembered him as someone who could easily lift the spirits of those around him.
“He had a gift to make people laugh,” she said during the burial ceremony. “He always knew how to brighten my day.”
Timothy Kalyegira, a prominent analyst from Tooro, described Oyo’s death as a loss that would be difficult for the community to overcome.
The immediate priority for the kingdom now remains the resolution of the succession dispute, with the royal committee defending its process and the late king’s family challenging the choice.
The disagreement leaves the Tooro Kingdom facing an unusual succession crisis at a moment when the community is still mourning the death of a monarch who had occupied the throne for more than three decades.
euronews
