The journalist who became a Ugandan king

Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma (56) has been crowned king of Uganda’s Tooro kingdom.

The new monarch has long been a familiar face in the East African nation, where for many he was known not as the heir to the throne, but as a storyteller – a long-serving anchor and editor at the state broadcaster.

But King Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma Nyabongo I has become the subject of media attention himself as his rise to the Tooro throne sparked controversy and widespread reactions beyond the country.

Tooro is one of Uganda’s four main officially recognised historical kingdoms.

For the last 31 years, it had been headed by King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, who was once known as a ‘boy king’, after ascending to the throne as an infant.

Oyo became king in 1995 at the age of just three, following the death of his father. Then the world’s youngest monarch, he ruled until he died last month from cancer, aged just 34.

The coronation is a day for celebration, involving traditional practices that started at midnight.

Kijanangoma has had to perform various ceremonies and walk about 4km to the official Karuziika royal palace where he has now been crowned.

The Tooro kingdom’s information minister Charles Mwanguhya told the ‘BBC Focus on Africa’ podcast that a mock fight would follow his crowning to signify that kingship does not come easy.

Kijanangoma would then be blessed by members of the royal Babiito clan, he said.
But his selection was far from straightforward.

According to tradition, a recognised son of the late king should have succeeded him.

Close members of the royal family said Oyo had left a young son and a will with instructions that the child should be next on the throne.

But the son has never been revealed to the public and nor was he recognised by the committee of 21 Babiito clan members who choose the king and eventually selected Kijanangoma.

The late King Oyo was never publicly married, and little is known about his wife or their son.

Nonetheless his mother, Queen Best Kemigisa, argued that the late king’s will ought to have been respected.

However, the royal succession committee ignored her wishes, insisting their selection process was conducted in accordance with Tooro customs and traditions.

The new king has thus found himself at the centre of a succession dispute, with Kemigisa and her close relatives unhappy with the outcome.

Kemigisa referred to Kijanangoma selection as the “announcement of a second king” being “made after the will of King Oyo was read to members of the royal family”.

“As a mother, that was extraordinarily painful,” she said, describing celebrations for the next king taking place “only metres from where my son’s body lay”.

The queen later said Oyo’s son, who was in the US state of Texas, had been due to return home but that could not happen amid a “tense and polarised succession dispute”.

“No child should be placed in circumstances where returning to his father’s homeland could mean being drawn into hostility and conflict,” Kemigisa asserted in a post on X.

But according to the Tooro kingdom’s information minister, the son being talked about “hasn’t been presented anywhere, which means there is a growing acceptance that sad as it may be, King Oyo didn’t leave a son behind”.

While King Oyo inherited the crown from his father, Mwanguhya told the BBC “the crown has moved to a different line within the ruling clan”.

A king must come from the Babiito clan, specifically the lineage of King George David Matthew Kamurasi Rukidi III, according to royal palace sources.

Kijanangoma and the late King Oyo are cousins. Both are grandsons of Rukidi III, the 11th king, or Omukama, who ruled the Tooro kingdom from 1928 to 1965.

Kijanangoma was among several people who were considered for the role, including Prince George Desmond Kamurasi, who plays football for one of the UK’s best-known amateur clubs.

According to the succession committee, the South East Dons captain and goalkeeper declined the offer of the throne, citing other responsibilities.

After he was formally announced, Kijanangoma promised that the palace would be open to the people, while vowing to focus on unity and development.

“I ask you for one thing – they have given me this title as king but I cannot work alone, I have to work with you,” he said.

Uganda’s traditional kings have no formal political authority, but they retain cultural influence and command significant loyalty in the communities they lead.

The country is home to four main kingdoms, the largest and most prominent being Buganda in the central region, which encompasses the capital Kampala.

The kingdoms were abolished in 1967, but the government under president Yoweri Museveni restored them in the early 1990s.

The government said this was to promote cultural pride and national unity, but the move has also been interpreted as a way of appeasing communities and fostering political loyalty.

Amid the succession dispute, the government backed the Babiito clan’s choice of Kijanangoma.

Attorney general Sam Mayanja said the Tooro kingdom was cleared to go ahead with the coronation, as there had not been a formal complaint against him.

The date of the coronation was announced by the government with Museveni attending the ceremony.
– BBC

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