Babiito reject Attorney General’s advice on Tooro succession

What the report says

The Babiito royal clan of Tooro Kingdom has rejected advice from Uganda’s Attorney General that the late Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV’s purported will should determine the succession process. According to The Independent Uganda, clan spokesperson Fr Charles Oyo said the legal opinion was written to President Yoweri Kaguta Museveni, not to the clan, and therefore does not require the Babiito to take action.

The Attorney General, Dr Sam Mayanja, issued a three-page opinion dated September 12 and addressed to the president, arguing that the king’s will should be followed and that any challenge to it would have to be made in court. The opinion came amid a broader dispute over who should succeed King Oyo, who died on August 27 while receiving treatment in the United States and was buried on September 12 in Fort Portal.

The Babiito maintain that a 21-member committee they formed under Tooro custom had the authority to handle the transition. That committee later named Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma as successor, but several members of the royal family, including Queen Mother Best Kemigisa and Princesses Ruth Komuntale Nsemere and Elizabeth Bagaya, rejected the choice. The family has instead pointed to the alleged will, which reportedly refers to King Oyo’s son and, if necessary, two other possible heirs.

Fr Oyo said the clan was never shown the child named in the document and questioned whether he exists or is available to assume the throne. He also said Tooro custom does not allow a king whose father is still alive, which the clan says rules out the two alternative names mentioned. The succession dispute remains unresolved.