King Oyo’s remains expected Thursday as Tooro prepares for final rites

What the report says

The remains of the late Tooro monarch, Omukama Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, are expected to arrive in Uganda on Thursday as the kingdom and government finalise plans for his funeral rites, according to Sqoop Uganda. The body is expected at Entebbe International Airport from Nairobi at about 10 a.m., with the Office of the President saying President Yoweri Museveni will receive it and pay tribute.

From Entebbe, the remains are planned to be flown by helicopter to Kyegegwa District and then taken through Tooro in a slow procession toward Fort Portal and Karuziika Palace. The route is intended to give subjects along the way a chance to pay their respects before the body reaches the palace, where it will lie in state during a nine-day mourning period. The kingdom has said the mourning count begins when the body arrives at Karuziika, which it treats as the monarch’s official seat.

Sqoop Uganda reported that the Uganda People’s Defence Forces is expected to provide official funeral honours, including a gun salute. Preparations are also under way at Karuziika Palace and the Karambi Royal Tombs, where burial is expected to take place. Government support, including work by the UPDF Engineering Brigade, is helping with road grading, drainage improvements and clearing of the palace grounds.

King Oyo died last week at age 34 after illness linked in the report to cancer. He became king in 1995 as a child, a reign that made him one of Uganda’s best-known cultural leaders.