Mwenda accuses Kemigisa of role in grandmother’s death, prince’s murder

• Andrew Mwenda claims Best Kemigisa caused injuries that led to his grandmother’s death in 1998.

• He has linked her to the 1999 murder of Prince Charles Kijanangoma.

• Mwenda alleges Kemigisa blocked King Oyo’s casket from leaving the palace and delayed his burial.

Andrew Mwenda has accused former Queen Mother Best Kemigisa of causing injuries that led to his grandmother’s death and linked her to the 1999 murder of Prince Charles Kijanangoma.

Mwenda made the allegations in a post on X on Saturday, September 12, 2026, as tensions disrupted the burial of King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.

He claimed Kemigisa blocked the king’s casket from leaving Karuziika Palace for the funeral service. He said the government deployed soldiers to move it to St John’s Cathedral.

Mwenda also accused her of refusing to release the body for burial at the royal tombs. He said Tooro customs require the burial of a king before 3pm, but the dispute delayed the ceremony beyond that time.

“The only way they can get the body of the king and bury it is for the state to send in the army and forcefully grab the body from her. The optics would be terrible,” Mwenda wrote.

He accused Kemigisa of undermining Tooro traditions for more than 30 years. He also alleged that she took and sold kingdom land before keeping the proceeds.

Mwenda said Batooro had remained silent because they preferred peace over confrontation.

He then accused Kemigisa of ordering his grandmother, former Queen Mother Kezia Byanjeru, out of the palace in 1998.

According to Mwenda, men acting on Kemigisa’s orders lifted the 93-year-old woman and placed her on a pickup truck. He claimed the incident broke her hip and led to her death two months later.

Queen Kezia was the mother of King Patrick Olimi Kaboyo III and Kemigisa’s mother-in-law.

Mwenda also linked Kemigisa to the 1999 murder of Prince Charles Kijanangoma. The prince was an elder brother of the man declared Tooro’s new king.

He claimed an investigation identified Kemigisa as the architect of the murder. However, he said the state protected her from prosecution because she was raising a seven-year-old king.

Mwenda said he supported that decision at the time because prosecuting the Queen Mother could have damaged the kingdom.

Mwenda further accused Kemigisa of attempting to install her grandnephew on the Tooro throne. He also alleged that she forged King Oyo’s will and manipulated the succession process.

Former Tooro prime minister John Sanyu Katuramu was convicted over the murder and sentenced to death. Mwenda described him as an accomplice.

The claims come amid a dispute between sections of the royal family and Babiito clan elders over Oyo’s successor.

Kemigisa had not publicly responded to Mwenda’s allegations by the time of publication.