Eronda
JF-Expert Member
- Dec 16, 2025
- 952
- 530
Attorney General Sam Mayanja has advised President Yoweri Museveni that the late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV’s will should guide the succession to the Tooro throne, raising fresh legal questions over the recent enthronement of Edward Rukiidi Nyabongo I.
In a three-page opinion submitted to Museveni on Saturday, Mayanja said Uganda’s Constitution, the Institution of Traditional or Cultural Leaders Act and the customs and traditions of Tooro provide the legal framework for determining who succeeds a deceased king.
The opinion comes as Nyabongo has begun his first traditional rituals as Omukama, accompanied by Omusuuga Kamurasi, senior Babiito elders and members of the royal family at the royal burial ground in Fort Portal.
The rituals followed the burial of Oyo, 34, whose death on Aug. 27 triggered a succession dispute within the Babiito royal clan that spilled into the arrangements for his funeral.
The succession process took a different turn from the initial decision of the Royal Succession Committee.The 21-member committee initially selected George Desmond Kamurasi as its preferred successor. Kamurasi, however, requested more time to consult his family before proceeding with the succession.
The committee did not grant him the additional time he sought and instead proceeded to select Edward Rukiidi Nyabongo I, who was subsequently enthroned as Omukama.
Nyabongo has since begun the traditional rituals associated with the new reign, signalling that the royal clan is moving ahead with the installation of a successor despite continuing questions over the process.
The Attorney General’s opinion now brings Oyo’s will directly into the dispute.
Oyo’s will
Mayanja said the law recognises succession to traditional leadership primarily through birth and descent and argued that a valid will left by a deceased king should be respected.
“The law recognises that, in ascending to the throne, allegiance principally is derived from birth and subsequently by descent,” Mayanja wrote.
“It therefore follows that where there is a direct descendant of the King by birth, that person, in accordance with King’s valid will would ascend to the throne in accordance with the culture and customs of the Batooro people.”
Mayanja cited Oyo’s will dated Sept. 14, 2022, in which the late king provided for his successor.
According to the Attorney General, Oyo stated that if he was survived by a son lawfully recognised as his biological son, that son would become his heir to the Tooro Kingdom.
However, Tooro Kingdom officials say the succession committee asked Oyo’s family to present the deceased King’s son or photograph in vain, compelling them to choose a new king from the Kijanangoma family.
According to Mayanja, Oyo’s will also provided an alternative succession arrangement.
“If at the time of my death I have no son able to succeed me or if my son dies before he can assume that role, is permanently incapacitated or is otherwise unable to succeed or assume the duties and responsibilities of the throne, then my cousin Prince Komwiswa Omukama of Tooro, Yomeri son of Omusunga Charles shall be my heir and successor to the throne,” the document states, according to Mayanja.
The Attorney General recommended that Oyo’s will should be followed unless its validity is successfully challenged in court.
“King Oyo’s will should be followed. Its validity can only be challenged in the courts of law,” he said.
Tooro constitution remains suspended
Mayanja also ruled out the suspended Tooro Kingdom Constitution as the immediate basis for resolving the succession dispute.
The kingdom promulgated its constitution in 1999, but Oyo suspended its observance in 2013, citing, among other reasons, provisions he considered inconsistent with Ugandan law.
The suspension was subsequently upheld by the High Court in George Kusemererva v King Oyo, according to the Attorney General.
Oyo later established a committee to review the constitution, but the review had not been completed when he died.
“As such the Constitution remains suspended,” Mayanja said.
He instead relied on Article 246 of Uganda’s Constitution and the Institution of Traditional or Cultural Leaders Act, which provide for traditional leadership to be established in accordance with the customs and traditions of the people concerned.
Court could decide dispute
Mayanja said conflicts within a traditional institution should initially be handled by a council of elders or cultural leaders.
But he said the current dispute over Oyo’s will had not been resolved to the satisfaction of all interested parties.
“The dispute may only be resolved by a Court of Law,” he said.
His recommendation potentially shifts the succession dispute from the competing decisions of the royal succession committee and traditional ceremonies towards a legal contest over the validity and effect of Oyo’s will.
Key succession ritual suspended
Mayanja also advised that one of Tooro’s traditional succession rituals should be suspended until the dispute is settled.
Under Tooro tradition, nine coffee beans are thrown into the grave of a deceased king by his successor as confirmation of succession to the throne.
“Given the dispute surrounding succession, the ceremony of throwing beans in the grave should be suspended pending the determination of the succession question,” Mayanja said.
He cited the burial of Oyo’s father, the late King Kaboyo, saying the ceremony was conducted three months after his death and burial, after his successor had been identified.
Mayanja nevertheless said there was no legal impediment to Oyo’s burial proceeding.
“Subject to the foregoing, the burial ceremony should proceed as there’s no legal impediment to the ceremony being conducted,” he said.
Succession dispute
The legal opinion comes after Oyo’s burial was delayed by disagreements within the royal family over the succession and funeral arrangements.
The late king, who became Omukama at the age of three in 1995 following the death of his father King Kaboyo, reigned for more than 30 years.
His burial at the royal tombs in Fort Portal was preceded by a standoff over the movement of his body, with security forces intervening before the remains were taken to St John’s Cathedral and later to the burial grounds at Karambi.
The subsequent enthronement of Nyabongo and his first traditional rituals have given the kingdom a visible successor, but Mayanja’s opinion makes clear that the legal question of succession remains unresolved.
The Attorney General’s advice also gives the government a basis to allow Tooro’s cultural institutions to continue functioning while leaving the contested question of succession to the traditional dispute-resolution mechanisms and, ultimately, the courts if necessary.
Source: Chimpreports
