We'll protect, look after Queen Mother, reaffirms Musuuga

The head of Tooro’s Babiito royal clan, Charles Kayondo Kamurasi, has pledged to protect and care for Queen Mother Best Kemigisa, regardless of the bitter disagreements that have emerged between her and the royal clan over the succession of her late son, King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV.

Kamurasi, the Omusuuga of the Babiito, said on Monday that although Kemigisa currently holds no formal role in the kingdom’s succession structure, she remains part of the royal family and deserves its support.

“Currently she has no role, but she is our mother. She is both the king’s wife and the king’s mother,” Kamurasi said.

“It is our responsibility to protect her and look after her, and I affirm that as Tooro Kingdom we shall look after her.”

The assurance follows weeks of disagreements between Kemigisa, members of King Oyo’s immediate family and the Babiito elders over who should inherit the Tooro throne.

Following King Oyo’s death on August 27, the royal clan started the process of choosing his successor.

A committee of Babiito elders led by Kamurasi initially selected Prince George Desmond Kamurasi. He later declined the throne, citing personal responsibilities.

The elders then selected Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, who has since presented himself as the king-designate and outlined plans for his reign.

Kemigisa and other members of King Oyo’s immediate family have challenged that process.

The family maintains that King Oyo left a will providing for his biological son to succeed him. Princess Ruth Komuntale, King Oyo’s sister, also publicly called for the succession process to be halted until the will and the claim of an heir were considered.

The Babiito elders, however, maintained that they had followed Tooro customs and had the authority to identify the new monarch.

The disagreement later spilled into preparations for King Oyo’s burial, with the two sides differing over the succession process and rituals that ordinarily accompany the burial of a Tooro king.

The government eventually intervened.

Attorney General Sam Mayanja advised President Yoweri Museveni that King Oyo’s will should be followed unless successfully challenged in court. He also said unresolved disagreements over the successor should be referred to court where the competing claims could be tested.

Mayanja stopped the traditional ceremony in which the recognised successor throws nine coffee beans into the grave of the deceased monarch. He said performing the ritual would amount to affirming a new king while the succession remained contested.

He has since said the government will not gazette Kijanangoma as King of Tooro until the dispute is resolved.

Kemigisa became Queen of Tooro through her marriage to the late King Patrick David Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III. 

She later became Queen Mother when her son, Oyo, ascended the throne as a child.

Kamurasi said those ties remain even after King Oyo’s death and regardless of the disagreement over his successor.