Government will not gazette Kijanangoma as King of Tooro for now - Attorney General insists

Attorney General Sam Mayanja insists Prince Kijanangoma will not be gazetted as King of Tooro until the dispute over late King Oyo's heir is resolved.

Attorney General Sam Mayanja has reaffirmed his position that the government will not publish Prince Edward Rukidi Kijanangoma in its National Gazette as King of Tooro until the dispute over the late King Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV’s successor is resolved.

Mayanja says the Babiito clan elders’ declaration of Kijanangoma as king does not end the succession dispute because their decision remains contested.

“The Babiito clan say they have decided, but even if you are the elders, if your decision does not effectively resolve the issue, the law says you must go to court,” Mayanja said.

“It is the court that will direct [King Oyo’s] purported son to be brought forward. That is when the truth will come out,” he said.

Last week, Mayanja gave legal guidance to President Yoweri Museveni as disagreement over the Tooro throne intensified before and during King Oyo’s burial.

In his opinion, Mayanja advised that King Oyo’s will should guide the succession unless its validity is successfully challenged in court.

The will provides that if King Oyo was survived by a lawfully recognised biological son, that son would become his heir. It provides for another successor if there is no son able to take the throne.

However, the Babiito elders proceeded with their succession process and selected Kijanangoma after their first choice, Prince George Desmond Kamurasi, declined the role.

Kijanangoma has since addressed the royal clan members as king and outlined plans for his reign, including scholarships, education projects, partnerships and efforts to unite the Babiito clan and the wider kingdom.

But speaking to Bukedde TV on Sunday, Mayanja said the central government will wait before formally recognising him.

“Prince Rukidi Kijanangoma will not be gazetted as the new King of Tooro until these matters are completed,” he said.

“Once everything is settled, the Minister of Gender, Labour and Social Development, Gen Henry Tumukunde, will write to me and we shall proceed to gazette the new king and hand them items and support that kings get from the central government,” he said.

The Attorney General also explained why he advised against performing one of Tooro’s key succession rituals during King Oyo’s burial.

Under the custom, the recognised successor throws nine coffee beans into the grave of the deceased monarch, symbolising confirmation of the new king.

“I directed for the burial to take place, but I stopped the customary throwing of nine coffee beans in the grave by the king’s successor,” Mayanja said.

“The coffee beans imply that the new king has been affirmed, which is not the case because he is currently contested.”

Mayanja said Tooro had faced a similar situation after the death of King Patrick David Matthew Kaboyo Olimi III.

“Even in the case of the late Olimi Kaboyo, a similar contest was there and it was only afterwards that baby Oyo threw in the coffee beans,” he said.

King Oyo succeeded his father as a child after the kingdom resolved the succession process