Former TV anchor crowned king of Uganda's Tooro Kingdom after succession row
Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, a former news anchor, was enthroned as the 13th Omukama of Tooro, ending a succession dispute over the late King Oyo Nyimba's heir.
A former television news anchor has been crowned king of Uganda’s Tooro Kingdom, becoming the 13th monarch of the Batooro people in a ceremony marking the end of a bitter succession dispute.
Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma, 56, was enthroned on Tuesday in the kingdom’s capital, Fort Portal, taking the royal name Edward Rukidi Nyabongo I. The enthronement included traditional rituals: the slaughter of a bull, the sprinkling of a hen’s blood, a midnight procession to Karuziika Palace and a mock battle for the crown.
Kijanangoma, who worked as a news anchor and editor at the state broadcaster UBC, was selected by a 21-member committee of the royal Babiito clan. He succeeds King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who died in the United States on 27 August aged 34 while receiving cancer treatment. Oyo drew worldwide attention in 1995 when he was enthroned at the age of three — the “boy king” — and was buried at the Karambi Royal Tombs on 12 September.
The succession has been contested. Oyo’s mother, Best Kemigisa, and his sister, Princess Ruth Komuntale, say the late king left behind a young son named as his heir in a will. The Babiito clan rejected the claim, saying the selection followed Tooro custom; a Reuters source said Uganda’s central government pushed the decision through over the mother’s objections.
Uganda is a constitutional republic, but its four pre-colonial kingdoms remain influential symbols of identity and heritage despite holding no political power.
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