King Oyo’s Will backed by Govt's lawyer as Museveni seeks legal opinion

The Attorney General has advised President Yoweri Museveni that the late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV’s will should guide the Tooro succession and can only be challenged in court, while recommending that a key royal ritual be suspended until the throne dispute is resolved.

In a legal opinion dated September 12, 2026, Attorney General Sam Mayanja said the will should remain the starting point in determining King Oyo’s successor.

“King Oyo’s will should be followed. Its validity can only be challenged in the courts of law,” Mayanja said in his recommendations to the President.

The opinion comes amid disagreement over who should succeed King Oyo, who was buried in Fort Portal on Saturday.

Mayanja noted that there was a dispute over both the contents and validity of the will and that the council of elders had failed to settle it to the satisfaction of the community and all interested parties.

He said the dispute could now only be resolved by a court.

The Attorney General cited King Oyo’s will dated September 15, 2022, which provides that if the monarch died with a lawfully recognised biological son, that son would become his heir in accordance with the law and Tooro customs.

“I hereby declare and direct that if at the date of my death I am survived by a son, lawfully recognised as my biological son, I appoint him as my heir to the kingdom of Tooro,” the will states in part, according to the opinion.

The will further provides that if King Oyo had no son able to succeed him, or if such a son died before taking the throne, became permanently incapacitated or was otherwise unable to serve, Prince Komwiswa Yoweri, a son of Omusuuga Charles, would become his heir and successor.

Mayanja said Ugandan law recognises birth and descent as central factors in determining allegiance to a traditional or cultural leader.

He cited Article 246 of the Constitution and the Institution of Traditional or Cultural Leaders Act, which provide for traditional institutions to operate according to the culture, customs, traditions and wishes of their communities.

The Attorney General also noted that Tooro Kingdom adopted a constitution in 1999, but King Oyo suspended its operation in 2013. He said a committee appointed to review it had not completed the process by the time of the King’s death, leaving the constitution suspended.

Mayanja said the law provides that disputes within a traditional or cultural institution should first be handled by a council of elders, clan leaders or another body recognised by the community.

Where customary mechanisms fail to resolve the dispute, he said, the matter should be referred to court.

The opinion also addressed one of the most important rituals in the burial of a Tooro king.

According to Mayanja, Tooro customs require the successor to throw nine coffee beans into the grave of the deceased king as confirmation of his succession to the throne.

However, he recommended that the ritual be suspended because the identity of King Oyo’s successor remains disputed.

“Given the dispute surrounding succession, the ceremony of throwing beans in the grave should be suspended pending the determination of the succession question,” the opinion states.

Mayanja said there was precedent for such a delay. He cited the burial of the late King Kaboyo, when the coffee-bean ceremony was conducted three months after his death and burial, once a successor had been identified.

Despite the succession dispute, the Attorney General advised that King Oyo’s burial should proceed because there was no legal obstacle stopping it.