Queen Mother mourning loss of power, not her son – Mwenda

• Mwenda claims Kemigisa is mourning the loss of power rather than King Oyo.

• He challenged the royal family to produce King Oyo’s purported son.

• He accused Kemigisa of obstructing the funeral and burial arrangements.

• The Babiito clan’s choice of Prince Kijanangoma remains contested.

Journalist Andrew Mwenda has accused former Tooro Queen Mother Best Kemigisa of mourning the loss of power rather than the death of her son, King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.

Mwenda made the accusation in a post on X amid a dispute over the succession of the late monarch.

He rejected calls for critics to give Kemigisa time to mourn. He claimed she had spent the period following King Oyo’s death trying to control the succession process.

“Best Kemigisa has not been grieving her son, she has been scheming to usurp power in our kingdom,” Mwenda wrote.

He questioned claims that King Oyo left behind a son who should inherit the throne. Mwenda challenged Kemigisa and other members of the royal family to produce the child or release his photograph.

He also noted that Kemigisa did not mention the purported son in the speech read on her behalf during King Oyo’s funeral service.

“If he left a son, can she produce the son or at least a photo of him?” Mwenda asked.

Princess Ruth Komuntale previously said her brother left a will naming his son as heir. The royal family then asked the Babiito clan to suspend the installation of Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma until lawyers had examined the will.

Mwenda dismissed the claim about King Oyo’s son. He cited remarks Kemigisa reportedly made during the baptism of Komuntale’s child on September 9, 2025.

According to Mwenda, Kemigisa said at the event that she had one grandchild and asked King Oyo to find a queen and give her another.

“One year later, Oyo had produced a 3 year old boy,” Mwenda wrote.

He accused Kemigisa of using public sympathy to promote her grandnephew’s claim to the throne. He did not identify the relative in the statement.

Mwenda also blamed her for the delays that preceded the removal of King Oyo’s body from Karuziika Palace and his burial at Karambi Royal Tombs.

He claimed security forces intervened after she refused to release the body for the church service. He also alleged that another dispute delayed the burial by more than two hours.

“If she did, it was not necessarily grief of losing a son. That was secondary. Her primary grief was loss of power,” Mwenda wrote.

The claims form part of a bitter public dispute over who should succeed King Oyo. The Babiito clan selected Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, but members of the late King’s immediate family opposed the decision.

The government has since said it will not gazette Kijanangoma until the dispute is resolved through the elders or courts.

Kemigisa had not publicly responded to Mwenda’s latest accusations by the time of publication. The claims concerning King Oyo’s purported son and the events surrounding the burial remain contested.